Yima, angizwa kahle, what do you mean there’s no money for the tombstone?” Baba Majola pressed the phone closer to his ear to hear what the woman at the insurance company was telling him.
“But … but we paid. I thought the policy covered everything. Surely the tombstone was part of the package? Do you know we used all our savings on that policy?”
So begins ‘Moving up with the Majolas, revealing a very important lesson from the get-go; life has a way of delivering unexpected financial knocks that may derail all of our best-laid plans.
This engaging tale of the Majolas doubles as a financial literacy course sponsored by financial services provider Metropolitan and hosted on FunDza; an online literacy portal dedicated to helping South Africans better their reading, writing and learning skills.
Says Claire Klassen, Group CSI Consumer Financial Education Specialist at Momentum Metropolitan, “To help South Africans productively pass the time while ‘self-isolating’ and ‘social distancing’, Metropolitan is running its new financial literacy course from 9 April – 30 June 2020, encouraging individuals to use the opportunity to brush up on their financial knowledge.”
The course tells the fictional story of the Majolas, while covering a number of educational themes – from personal financial management, to setting up a new business – all packaged in a fun and easy-to-follow format. Each one of the course’s 10 chapters covers a specific financial principle, followed by an information section where the lesson is expanded upon. Participants are later quizzed on their learnings through a series of surveys.
The online course is free and requires zero-data across all networks (excluding Rain mobile). Each person who successfully completes the course is awarded a certificate of completion, while top performers stand to win prizes.
Klassen explains that would-be learners simply need to register on the site to gain access to the course. “Each chapter and information section need to be completed by 30 June 2020, to qualify for the certificate and potential prize.”
Registration also provides users with free access to the rest of FunDza’s ‘library’ of books, short stories, essays, blogs, plays and poems – all aimed at getting South Africa’s youth reading and learning.
The initiative forms part of Metropolitan’s focus on supporting communities through improving financial literacy.
“Decisions about money can be daunting, and ill-informed decisions can lead to high levels of indebtedness, trapping South Africans in a vicious cycle that can span generations.
“Financial education equips citizens with the knowledge and skills they need to make sound financial decisions, providing tools that will help build wealth,” concludes Klassen.
‘To register for the course, please click here.’
