This last weekend the Schools 4 Schools team got a chance to travel up to Johannesburg with Phakamani, the Gold Facilitator who is currently travelling around Australia on the Speaking Tour. While in Johannesburg we had the opportunity to visit both The Apartheid Museum and Soweto.

The Apartheid Museum opened in 2001 and is acknowledged as the finest museum in the world dealing with 20^th century South Africa, at the heart of which is the apartheid story. The Apartheid Museum is the first of it’s kind and illustrates both the rise and fall of apartheid.

The 7 fundamental values that were drawn up in South Africa’s constitution are represented by pillars, shown below, on arrival to the museum: democracy, equality, reconciliation, diversity, responsibility, respect and freedom. These  are represented in different ways as you make your way through the museum.

The Pillars of the Constitution outside the Apartheid Museum (Photo by Jodie)

“A history forgotten is a future lost”. These were the strong words that remained with us as we entered the museum through two different entrances. Race classification was the foundation of all apartheid laws. It placed individuals in one of four groups: ‘native’, ‘coloured’, ‘Asian’, or ‘white’. As we got to the museum we were given a card where our classification of white or non-white was handed to us and we were only allowed to enter through the gate allocated to our race group. As we entered the museum we found the identity documents that were used as the main tool to implement the racial divide.

The entrance to the Museum through the two different gates showing the racial divide

As we made our way through the museum, the real shock started to sink in. The words written and images displayed could only really give us a glimpse of what life then must have truly been like, and even that was so hard to see and read.

We then got a chance in the museum to visit an exhibition on Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela who has inspired and uplifted the lives of so many. Mandela is not just a president. Mandela is a character, a comrade, a leader, a prisoner, a negotiator, a statesman and so much more to so many people. Mandela once said,  “There are few misfortunes in the world that you cannot turn into a personal triumph if you have the iron will and the necessary skill.” This is truly shown by the man Mandela was and has become.

One of the other places we got to experience was Soweto. Soweto is not only where the home of Nelson Mandela is, but is also the scene of the Soweto uprising in the midst of apartheid.

The Soweto Uprising was a series of riots and clashes between the black youths and the South African authorities. We were lucky enough to have an incredible tour guide through Soweto who was living there when the uprising occurred and shared his own personal experiences with us as well as all of the remarkable history of the place. We had a chance to enter the house where Mandela lived, which still shows evidence of gunshots as well as other hardships the Mandela family went through.

After visiting the house of Mandela, we had a tour around to some of the symbolic places around Soweto. One of these places was the place were 13 year old Hector Pieterson was shot and killed by the police during the uprising on the 16^th June 1976. The image of Hector being carried by a young boy and Hector’s sister running next to them is seen as the iconic image of the Soweto Uprising.

The image of 13 year-old Hector Pieterson after he was shot dead by the South African authorities on 16th June 1976. This memorial is just outside the Hector Pieterson museum. (Photo by Jodie)

We also visited the Hector Pieterson museum, the museum named in his honour, which covers the events leading up to and during the Soweto Uprising. One of the strongest messages for me at least was a poem that was written by a man named Don Mattera in 1976 called ‘First Victim…’

“A bullet burnt

Into soft dark flesh

A child fell

Liquid life

Rushed hot

To stain the earth

He was the first victim

And now

Let grieving the willows

Mark the spot

Let nature raise a momentum

Of flowers and trees

Lest we forget the foul and the wicked deed…”

Once out of the museum we had one more stop on our tour. This was the Regina Mundi Church. This is the one church in Soweto that stood up to the authorities. All churches at that time were banned from holding mass funerals for the blacks killed during the uprising and this was the only church that ignored that rule. This church was bombed several times and today you can still see evidence of bullet holes in the walls and other damages from that time.

Here you can see one of the pillars that was smashed by the authorities in the church. (Photo by Emily)

The Schools 4 School team, as well as Phakamani, learned so much about the Apartheid struggles during our time in Johannesburg. It was definitely an eye opening experience. Here is one quote to leave you with to think about by Nelson Mandela.

“Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is a protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life.” – Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

Salani Kahle everyone!

What is a Track 4 you ask?

A Track 4 is a young person who has been through the GOLD Peer Education Program at high school. This means they have completed Track 1 Peer Education in Year 10, Track 2 Peer Education in Year 11 and Track 3 Peer Education in Year 12. Since they have enjoyed being part of the program so much at school, these young people have applied to become a GOLD Track 4 after finishing high school. Out of many applicants, only six lucky people were selected to become T4s for the schools that S4S works with.

So what does being a Track 4 actually involve?

The T4s undertake a structured one-year course, training them to become GOLD co-facilitators for their IO and equipping them with skills and knowledge to continue to make a difference in their community. As part of this one-year program, T4s undertake an elective called ‘Advocacy and Programme Visibility’ and this is where Schools 4 Schools comes in.

How does Schools 4 Schools fit in with Track 4s?

The T4s ‘Advocacy and Programme Visibility’ elective is designed to transform T4s into ‘special advocacy and media agents.’ What does this mean? Basically the T4s will learn to be the voices for GOLD, their community and their IO, so that they can raise awareness of issues, promote the work they are doing, advocate for themselves and their community and share their stories with the world. Through S4S, the T4s are able to reach out and share their stories half way across the world and have an impact on young people throughout Australia!

Track 4s and YOU!

To be more specific, the T4s have a number or outputs they produce over the course of their year-long program, some of which are directly used for S4S. T4s interview and photograph Peer Educators for the S4S Peer Educator of the Month profile. They take photos of schools and gather information for S4S School Profiles & Updates. And they also assist Peer Educators in Letter Writing Clubs, to respond to letters from you guys in Australia! So basically this content you receive is what the T4s have created for you!

The six inspiring Track 4s we are working with this year are:

From left to right: Mthokozisi Mvalelwa, Brian Nabilika, Sphelele Zuma, Manqoba Kuzwayo, Princess Ngcobo & Thandeka Mngomezulu

GOLD Track 4 Peer Educators

Stay tuned to the S4S blog, Facebook page and YouTube channel to hear all about our training days with the T4s, as well as photos and a special video message from the T4s to YOU!

On Monday this week the Schools 4 Schools team was able to attend a GOLD training session where facilitators were trained on how to deliver the GOLD peer education program to Track 1 (year 10) students/peer educators. It was an extremely inspirational day! The facilitators are young South Africans (aged 20- 30) who generally live in the community in which their particular GOLD school is located.

The facilitators wrote down what their expectations for the training were. (Photo by Emily)

The facilitators in the GOLD training room (Photo by Emily)

The key theme that emerged from the day was that young people have an incredible capacity to instigate a great change in their communities, and that it all starts with self transformation and role modeling.

The day began with a discussion of the GOLD model which asserts that “individual transformation leads to group transformation leads to community transformation.” So what does this mean? The facilitators made various statements about the steps involved:

1. Personal transformation – Change starts within. Facilitators and peer educators experience personal change and make positive and healthy decisions with vision and purpose for their lives.
2. Group transformation – Peer educators are role models for their colleagues. Peer groups and micro communities are influenced to make positive and healthy decisions with vision and purpose for their lives.
3. Community transformation – change in peer groups and micro communities impacts on larger community social norms and these communities are influenced to embrace positive and healthy decision making with vision and purpose

When they were asked the question “what is a facilitator” they had very creative answers:

• We are farmers. We plant seeds in peer educators and watch them grow. The seed is not just for here and now, but it’s something that will be with us forever.
• We are drivers. We must believe in ourselves. We must take others and drive them in the right direction. We must be good drivers.
• A facilitator is the first agent of change.

When they were asked to consider what facilitators believe, they responded with:

• All people can change and should be given a chance.
• It is not only what you say, but who you are that will influence others to change.

The values and beliefs mentioned above are central to GOLD’s strategy to combat HIV/AIDS. Their vision is to see young African leaders confronting the root causes of HIV through peer education.

After attending the training session, I really began to understand that the philosophy of self transformation and role modeling can be used to combat more than just HIV/AIDS. It is a social change mechanism and can be applied in any circumstance to address complex social problems.

There were so many thoughts and ideas buzzing through my head on the drive home from the GOLD training. I believe that the day’s discussion can be summarised by a Mahatma Gandhi quote:

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

Just Paul demonstrating how to "be the change! "

Paul, Emily and I with the Mayibuye crew in Hammarsdale

We had a chance to visit Mayibuye, which is based in a township called Hammarsdale, located between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. The township is full of life and activity. There was however a key issue that emerged from our interactions with the Hammarsdale community… unemployment.

An ANC (political party) advertisment in Hammarsdale proposing that they will solve the unemployment problem and create jobs. (Photo by Emily)

One young man who I spoke to in Hammarsdale asked me if I had any ideas of how he could create a job for himself, as there simply wasn’t one for him. He had completed secondary school and tertiary studies, and yet was unable to find a job in his own community. He asked me whether he would be able to find a job in Australia. Aside from feeling totally inept to help him with the challenge of creating a job for himself, it saddened me to think that for young people from townships such as Hammarsdale, finding a job will very often mean leaving behind your friends, family and community and heading elsewhere for employment. The other alternative is finding a job in Durban or Pietermaritzburg (see map at the end of the post) This is however not a great alternative as the cost of public transport (taxis) for 7 days of work can sometimes equate to 80% of that week’s wage. And that’s not the only transportation challenge. The taxis stop running around 6 or 7pm. So what if you can’t leave your shift until 8pm? How will you get home?

But issues surrounding employment in South Africa are not just related to lack of job opportunity. Being employed in an area where jobs are scarce can also mean trouble. A higher demand for jobs often results in unequal power relationships between employers and employees. Over dinner on Wednesday, one of our friends, Nonhle was telling us about the traumas of her past jobs.  She has worked for employers who treated her like a second-class citizen and showed her no respect. They would yell and abuse her in front of customers and make her sweep the parking lot even though she was employed as a cash register attendant. She told us stories of colleagues who were instantly dismissed if they got held-up and money was stolen from their cash registers. The employer said to them, “It’s your fault your register was robbed, you should have taken more care.”

There are numerous stories of employers exploiting their workers in townships such as Hammarsdale. Just recently a protest with picket signs took place on the streets of Hammarsdale. The community members were protesting against a company who allegedly only employed people if they slept with the boss.

So what do you do? Stay in a job but lose your dignity and self-esteem? Or speak up for yourself as an individual with rights to equal treatment at the risk of losing your only source of income?

The aim of my blog today is not however to create a sense of despair. It is to share with you a message of hope. I have met so many amazing and innovative young people who are working in their South African communities to create a better future. Nonhle for example, has a wonderful business plan. She would like to start up a mobile library through Hammarsdale because currently the township only has 1 library, which many members of the community can’t get to because they can’t afford to catch a taxi.

The mobile library would be her very own business and she wouldn’t have horrible employers treating her like dirt. “When I have my own employees, I will treat them like family,” she told us. I couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of admiration for Nonhle and her courage to take on the hurdles that lay ahead of her in turning her vision into reality. Her determination not only to lift herself out of the unemployment crisis, but to take her community with her, is truly inspiring.

Location of Hammarsdale:

So….What is GOLD?!

Gold is an amazing program which is enabling a generation of young African leaders to confront the root issues of the HIV and AIDS pandemic through uplifting their communities and imparting vision and purpose to present and future generations. Basically GOLD runs a peer education program at high schools to mobilize influential teenage leaders to be positive role models and agents of change in their schools and communities.  See the image below which illustrates the roles of GOLD Peer Educators…

Diagram illustrating the role of peer educators. This image was extracted from the GOLD Annual Report 2008

GOLD runs at various schools through implementing organizations who provide facilitators for the program. We are working with 4 of these implementing organizations, which facilitate the GOLD program at the 11 schools we are working with. Basically, the facilitators visit their schools on a weekly basis to run the program with the Peer Educators.

See the diagram below, and this may make more sense!

After some intensive training on GOLD, Gina took us on a drive out to the schools listed above which are located in the Valley of 1000 Hills, Umlazi , South Coast and Pietermaritzberg. It was extremely exciting to see the schools that I had heard so much about in Australia!

This is the view from outside Sidelile High School which is located on the South Coast, KwaZulu Natal. Photo by Emily.

Landscape surrounding the Sethani schools in the Valley

Last Tuesday I was also able to meet with the Olive Leaf Foundation which is the Implementing Organization I am working with.  They run GOLD at Sidelile, Siyabonga, Swelihle, Mcothoyi and Qhilika. The facilators who run the GOLD program at the schools were all there. They were really inspirational and shared many stories with us about the fantastic work they do with the peer educators at their schools. Currently the facilitators are conducting interviews to select peer educators for 2010.

Stay posted for updates on the schools and our activities over here!

The new team has arrived in South Africa … Paul Mason, Emily Macdonald and me, Natascha Sommer. We await the fourth member of the first semester team, Jodie Goldmsith, who will be with us in March.  Check out the ‘about us’ section for personal bios.

South Africa has been great for us so far, and we are very excited about the work that lies ahead of us. Over the last week or so we have been trying to learn as much about South African people and culture as we can. We had a great introduction to Zulu culture over the weekend when we participated in Vuk Africa which means “Arise Africa.” Vuk Africa is a business which runs overnight tours through Zulu communities in the Valley of 1000 Hills. All profits are used to support a non government/ not for profit organization called Light Providers which works with youth in the community. Light Providers empowers young people through life skills training and engages them with recreational activities.

Our tour started off at Light Providers where we were greeted by our tour guide, Sanele. Sanele took us to see a Sangoma, a Zulu witch doctor. We were invited into her circular hut where burning incense was creating intriguing smells. The Sangoma taught us about her role in Zulu society, the kind of work she does and how she uses her medicines for cures and communication with the ancestors. Fascinating stuff!

We had lunch at a local butchery, visited an orphanage, and heard the Light Providers Choir perform. Soon it was dinner time and chicken was on the menu. There was a catch – ‘chicken tonight’ in Zulu culture does not necessarily mean opening your freezer, and defrosting and cooking the chicken. We were required to walk through the township to find a house selling LIVE chickens, catch the chicken, and carry it back to our home stay family. As a vegetarian, I felt justified leaving the carrying of the chicken to Emily, and the decapitation to Paul. Although the chicken saga was not my favorite part of the tour, it certainly painted more of a picture of a typical day in the Valley of 1000 hills.

So as you can see, life has been eventful so far and we are very much looking forwards to sinking into our work with Schools 4 Schools!

Farewell from all of us!

Today marks our last actual day of work as part of the Schools 4 Schools South Africa 2009 Semester 2 team. We’ve survived the aftermath of a fire, a flood, and a lightning strike. We’ve had people come and go, frustrating lows and exhilirating highs. We’ve worked hard, played hard and relaxed hard, soaking up the sights and sounds of Africa along the way. We’ve been inspired, saddened, annoyed and delighted by both the people we’ve met and the people we’ve found ourselves to be. We’ve seen the best and worst of what South Africa has to offer, and love it regardless. We depart with stories, experiences and friendships which reinforce our place in the world and our responsibility to contribute to it. And we thank all of those who played their part along the way. Salani kahle.

When I first met Nosipho I heard that she was in a rape support group and it was difficult to talk because she spoke mostly Zulu. She was a friend of a friend so it took a little while to get to know her. Over time I have got to know Nosipho more and she is one of my favourite people here. We have been on picnics together, to the beach with friends, we share our Christian faith and we have prayed together – now we see each other most weeks. Nosipho is so much fun – I have come to associate her with fun and laughter more than anything. She has helped me a bit with my Zulu and helped me lots with Zulu dancing – I am now ‘pretty good’ at ‘the snake’. I have learnt more recently about her situation. My friend Nosipho, is an orphan, the eldest of 6 children, and has spent her teenage years raising her brothers and sisters, she is the head of her household. Raped when she was young she now usually dresses like a boy to detract attention from herself. Her younger sister is also a part of the rape support group, and I found out on the weekend that her sister has a child, around 6 years old, that she gave up for adoption and still visits. Now 22 years old and with her siblings old enough to go to school, Nosipho has decided to finish her secondary education. She is incredibly intelligent; her favourite subjects are maths, physics and tourism. Nosipho will graduate year 12 next year, at the age of 23. My friend is such an incredible example of hope. She has encountered so much in her life, yet she is a source of joy to so many people that she meets. Put in such a terrible situation by poverty, she is still aiming for the highest. I have great faith in her, and I am so blessed to have her as my friend.

* Not her real name.

Paul, Gina, Stef, Jess & Grace in front of The Sentinel

We conquered the Amphitheatre!

Taking a dip in the 'jacuzzi' at Tugela Falls

Go team!

Mountain climb or not, we always have energy for a 'Toyota shot'

This week was a short one, as we took a few days off to go to the Drakensberg after working a few weekends in a row. The ‘Berg was beautiful, and we enjoyed relaxing by the pool and having the gorgeous mountains on the horizon. The mountains were to get a lot closer than the horizon though, as we did a 12.5km hike up to the top of the Amphitheatre! We then hiked to Tugela Falls, the second highest waterfall in the world, and swam in the rock pools there. Then we climbed down chain ladders, hanging off the side of the mountain with only our grip between us and a rather long drop to the bottom. That’s probably a bit dramatic, but it was pretty high! Although it’s been a shortened week it has still felt very busy, as we’ve been preparing Paul Mason to take over in 2010. We’re writing lots of handover documents to try and make the transition from 2009 to 2010 as smooth as possible. I can’t believe we’ve only got two weeks to go! Crazy…

Yesterday a group of us went into Durban City to go for a walk around the city with an organisation who work with street kids called Umthombo. After walking down a main street in Durban we happened across a rubbish strewn median strip home to 50 or so street children. Much like the Bliss n Eso film clip the kids stared at us with glazed eyes pumping glue fumes into their lungs. One young girl caught my attention; she stumbled towards us and was intercepted by a young guy who grabbed her, twisted her arm and stole her glue bottle. Enraged she grabbed a jagged glass bottle, threw it at him and ran over the shards of glass after him. Shortly after we heard a commotion and looked up from our conversations and the same young girl was lying pulsing with pain on the main road after being hit by a car. The white car yard guards from across the street were screaming that she had robbed them and aggressively lurched towards the growing groups of street kids with their shambocks (sticks). The police arrived  and without a second glance at the girl (still lying in the middle of the road without any form of protection or barricade) they immediately listened to the white story before even looking at the young girl. It wasn’t until the Umthombo emergency medical van arrived that anyone got down on their hands and knees and stroked her hair or touched her arm to comfort her.

She is one of 500 homeless children - nameless, alone, one of hundreds who prostitute themselves daily, most likely HIV+, begging to buy glue, no one to advocate against the white witness, black and living in poverty without an ID card. Apartheid is over but economic segregation and the legacy of the past means the Zulu people continue to have inferior education standards and extremely low matriculation rates with little hope of employment. Comparing this to the hope, positivity and energy of the Peer Educators that we have spent time with is phenomenal. The Peer Educators have similar stories of abuse, drugs and crime; the difference - the hope they have for the future, the belief and confidence they have had instilled in their ability to do something about their situation and the opportunity to practically do something about it. While GOLD is sometimes hard to quantify, it is easy when faced with 33 vibrant young people at a Schools 4 Schools weekend workshop who, despite their backgrounds, are bursting with energy and enthusiasm – it is simply 33 young people in one year level who have had their lives changed as a result of an amazing program.