In the black townships and squatter camps of Nelson Mandela's South Africa, the word is masizakhe, which means "we build together." Although years of apartheid have left 80 percent of the black population illiterate, for many of the previously disenfranchised the only way out of continued grinding poverty is through self-development. The challenge is clear: Improve from within the lives of people who have extremely limited resources. In the Kayamandi settlement of Cape Province, the Net has become part of the solution.

The tin shanties of Kayamandi ("place of pleasant dwelling") house some 10,000 squatters, over two-thirds of whom are unemployed. Lacking basic literacy skills or even knowledge of spoken English, many are considered unemployable. But in Kayamandi, masizakhe is more than a word to describe the concept of self-help; it is the name of a community group dedicated to that purpose. Founded by eight women who had participated in the liberation struggle prior to the 1994 elections, Masizakhe works with a Catholic development group called Community of Living Water to find and download from the Net vital information and adult-education programs they would not be able to afford -- or perhaps even know about -- otherwise.

Masizakhe's successes have been most dramatic in two areas: literacy and farming. Now that Angeline Nontsikelelo Phalla, one of the pioneers of the group, has passed her third level of Adult Basic Education (equivalent to two years of high school), she goes online herself to find knowledge the community seeks. Several of the websites Nontsikelelo regularly visits focus on vegetable farming, a significant component of her community's struggle for self-sustenance. Relying on instructions and advice found online, the members of Masizakhe recently harvested their first crop. Following native tradition, they distributed the fresh vegetables to the community -- bountiful proof that the residents of Kayamandi, with the help of the Net, are emerging from decades of isolation.