About Us
Trust, checked in person
The personal bridge between German donors and grassroots education projects in Lesotho and South Africa
OUR NAME
Sawabona (Sawubona)
“I respect you. I value you. You are important to me.”
We use this greeting to honour those we support, and those who support us.
WHY WE EXIST
Not another charity. A trusted funding partner.
” I always wanted to give back. I believe education is the way out. I had a good education under apartheid, and I could not ignore the inequality around me. But living in Germany, it made sense to support the charities already doing the work on the ground, rather than starting my own. German donors needed a trusted link to them, and that is what we became.”
Zilla was born and trained as a lawyer in South Africa, and later studied psychology. She moved to Germany in 2006 to work at adidas. Wanting to move out of data management, she studied corporate social responsibility alongside her job. That study sparked a search: what would actually get a German donor’s money to a small community project safely, and keep it accountable? The answer was not her own charity, but to back the people already doing the work and stay close enough to know what happens to every euro. In 2021, that search became Sawabona Africa e.V.
WHY THIS MATTERS
A Broken System, and It Is Urgent
Three numbers show the gap we are working to close:
81%
of Grade 4 children in South Africa cannot read for meaning
PIRLS 2021 / SA Dept of Basic Education, 2023
1 in 3
South African children under 5 attend a pre-school.
UNICEF South Africa
28%
of 2- to 4-year-olds in Lesotho join any early learning activity.
UNICEF Lesotho, 2021
Transparency & connection
How we answer donors’ two questions
Where does my money go? What did it achieve? I visit every partner in person, and each one reports back on what your donation made possible
— Zilla, founder
Newsletter and social media keep you updated. We report on our impact every year.
- Registered German non-profit (e.V.)
- Spendenbescheinigung (German donation receipt) on request
- 100% of every donation direct to projects
On the ground with our partners
Seeing it for ourselves.
We visit the projects, open classrooms and work alongside the teams. Supporters such as Wild Life Culture Tours bring guests too. This is the proof behind every claim here.
VOICES FROM OUR COMMUNITY
What our donors say.
Thank you to our partners
Five grassroots partners, doing the real work.
Sawabona Africa only exists because of the people running these projects every day; Bright Start, PYMA, Help Lesotho, Uthando and Impande. Thank you.