The Hands On Foundation

The Hands On Foundation Empowering Children Through Technical Education

08/09/2026

He sings because music connects people. He wants to engineer because he wants to build something meaningful and beautiful.

Grade 10 at LEAP 1, engineering faculty. Taking maths, EGD, and two languages. Part of the school choir. And on his way to becoming a civil or mining engineer.

This is who we build these facilities for. It’s learners like him who will build our country’s future.

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19/08/2026

Grade 10. Engineering faculty. Future civil engineer.

She plays sport, she plays chess, and she’s already thinking about the person she’s building herself into. Her words: “a successful civil engineer. Female. I have to say.”

That “I have to say” is everything. Because in a sector where women are still the exception, saying it out loud is the first act of changing it.

She’s 15. She’s just getting started.

TechnicalEducation SouthAfrica FutureEngineers YouthEmpowerment

53% of our engineering learners are women.It’s not the result of a quota or a recruitment drive. Nobody engineered it. A...
17/08/2026

53% of our engineering learners are women.
It’s not the result of a quota or a recruitment drive. Nobody engineered it. And that’s exactly the point.

When you remove the barriers, the transport, the separate enrolment, the having to be the only girl making the trip, young women choose technical subjects at the same rate they choose physical sciences.

The workshop on the same campus as the maths classroom changes everything.

For Women’s Month we unpacked what’s behind the number, what it means for an industry still short of 10,000 artisans a year, and what Project Director Marika Abrahams of Berman Brothers Group had to say about the young women entering the built environment.

Her words: “Women have a unique place in the industry — it’s not about mimicking the roles of our male colleagues, but about bringing our own strengths to the table.”

The full article is on our website. Link in bio.

SouthAfrica BuiltEnvironment ArtisanTraining

13/08/2026

Marika Abrahams is Project Director at Berman Brothers Group. She runs projects from inception through planning, construction and delivery. And this Women’s Month, she had something to say to every young woman in our engineering faculties.

Her advice isn’t about fitting in. It’s about showing up as yourself.

Read the full article on our website — link in bio.

SouthAfrica LEAPSchools FutureEngineers

12/08/2026

53% of our engineering learners are women.

It’s not the result of a quota or a recruitment drive. Nobody engineered it. And that’s exactly the point.

When you remove the barriers, the transport, the separate enrolment, the having to be the only girl making the trip, young women choose technical subjects at the same rate they choose physical sciences.

The workshop on the same campus as the maths classroom changes everything.

For Women’s Month we unpacked what’s behind the number, what it means for an industry still short of 10,000 artisans a year, and what Project Director Marika Abrahams of Berman Brothers Group had to say about the young women entering the built environment.

Her words: “Women have a unique place in the industry, it’s not about mimicking the roles of our male colleagues, but about bringing our own strengths to the table.”

The full article is on our website. Link in bio.

SouthAfrica BuiltEnvironment ArtisanTraining YouthEmpowerment

She is exactly who the 53% looks like.This Women’s Month, we’re introducing you to the young women inside our facilities...
05/08/2026

She is exactly who the 53% looks like.
This Women’s Month, we’re introducing you to the young women inside our facilities who are building futures in spaces that were never designed with them in mind— until now.

SouthAfrica FutureArchitects YouthEmpowerment

53% of our engineering students are women.In a sector where women make up less than 15% of the engineering workforce in ...
03/08/2026

53% of our engineering students are women.

In a sector where women make up less than 15% of the engineering workforce in South Africa, that number means something.

It means that when you put technical education inside the right schools, in the right communities, with the right support, young women don’t just participate. They show up and they lead.

This Women’s Month, we’re celebrating every young woman who picked up a tool, drew a technical diagram, and decided that engineering was for her too.

Watch this space. You’ll be hearing from some of them.

hashtag hashtag hashtag hashtag

31/07/2026

This is what it looks like inside.

Real tools. Real equipment. Real trade skills, taught by qualified artisans, inside the same school where learners study maths and English every day.

No transport to another facility. No separate enrolment. No choosing between an academic future and a vocational one. Just a workshop on the timetable, in a building they already call theirs.

Langa and Crossroads. Over 100 students. And the work is just beginning.

SouthAfrica YouthEmpowerment SkillsForLife

28/07/2026

Grade 10. Engineering faculty. Future mechanical engineer.

She reads after school, plays netball in her free time, and wants to understand how machines are made and how they work. That curiosity is exactly what this is all about.

This is a student at LEAP Seven in Paarl, and she’s just getting started.

TechnicalEducation SouthAfrica YouthEmpowerment

What does a technical faculty inside a township school actually look like?We wrote about it. Walk through the workshops ...
20/07/2026

What does a technical faculty inside a township school actually look like?

We wrote about it. Walk through the workshops at LEAP Langa and LEAP Crossroads, see what’s inside them, and understand why the design works.

The short version: the workshop is on the same campus as the classrooms. No transport. No separate enrolment. No choosing between an academic future and a vocational one. It’s on the timetable, taught by qualified artisans, in a building learners already attend every day.

South Africa needs 30,000 new artisans qualifying every year by 2030. The current figure is closer to 20,000. The gap doesn’t close without infrastructure built earlier — inside the mainstream high school timetable.

That’s what we’re building.

Full blog on our website — link in bio.

Crossroads ArtisanTraining YouthEmpowerment SkillsForLife

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