Schoolchildren in South Africa face many challenges: overcrowded classrooms, understocked libraries and a dire lack of textbooks. In late 2013, a group of children at Sinenjongo High School in Cape Town became so sick of these circumstances that they used social media to ask the nation for help. At the same time, the neknomination social drinking game was sweeping the globe. When the craze reached South Africa, it became something different.

It evolved from a drinking game into a way for corporates to nominate each other to perform random acts of kindness.

When cellular network provider MTN was neknominated, we wanted to use this opportunity to answer the schoolchildren’s online plea. Within 12 hours of receiving the neknomination, we shared a video with the kids at Sinenjongo High School announcing that MTN was zero-rating mobile access to Wikipedia, opening up a world of knowledge to the 3.5 million South African school children who don’t have access to learning materials.

Our decision struck a chord with a nation tired of an education system in decline. Even Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales was so touched by the story that he shared it with the world at the 2014 TED conference in Vancouver. But ultimately, this pales in comparison to the most important result of all: millions of South African learners are now armed with the knowledge they need to forge a better future.