To effect change in underserved, rural communities by helping to improve access to higher education and social opportunities for talented young people from marginalized communities in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa.
Our Story
KLM was founded in 2004 by two Peace Corps volunteers serving in South Africa, Bowen Hsu and Allison Howard Berry. Over the course of their two-year assignments, Bowen and Allison worked in rural villages and townships and met extraordinary young people who possessed great intelligence and talent, but no opportunities for a high-quality education. The conditions in rural government schools were lamentable – teachers were ill-trained and poorly compensated, learning resources were non-existent, and even the brightest students didn’t have meangingful opportunities to learn. Moreover, without adult role models to introduce options for professional careers, children often couldn’t even envision a life beyond rural poverty.
Bowen and Allison, like all Peace Corps volunteers, met numerous young people who never made it to university for all the wrong reasons. Further, they worked alongside several South Africans who were bound by schooling based upon rote learning, therefore unable to make a leap in their careers even years later. Both volunteers knew that superstars existed in rural areas, they just needed a chance to shine.
KLM was founded to help these rural high performers reach their full potential.
