Day 3 (cont'd) - Soweto and Kliptown Youth Program

After our tour of Constitution Hill, we made our way through downtown Johannesburg and southwest to the townships in Soweto.  Along the way, we stopped in Walter Sisulu Square.  It was here in 1955 that members from groups who fought against Apartheid (the African National Congress, South African Indian Congress, etc.) created their own ‘Bill of Rights’ to counter the injustices and discrimination of the times.  Known as the Freedom Charter, this document attempted to articulate an honest, non-discriminatory list of rights for all the people of South Africa.  Its opening lines make it clear that this is intended to be a document for all citizens of the country:

We, the People of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know:that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people;

There were 10 tenets in the Freedom Charter, ranging from governance, to sharing in the country’s wealth to equality before the law.  The major ideas for each of these 10 tenets have been inscribed in a huge stone and metal disc (probably 12 feet in diameter) that sits in a tall conical, brick structure.  It was hard to get a great shot of the actual memorial (due to the size and lighting), but here is the first section:

It says:

The People Shall Govern!  Every man and woman shall have the right to vote for and to stand as a candidate for all bodies which make laws;

(for the complete wording of the Freedom Charter, visit the ANC’s website)

From Sisulu Square, we made it to Kliptown, one of the oldest parts of Soweto.  Our purpose was to visit the Kliptown Youth Program (KYP).  This is a program that offers after-school activities, food and educational support to those in the immediate area.  We spoke briefly to Thulani Madondo, the KYP director and were fortunate to get a tour of the area and a long meeting with KYP’s deputy director, Thando Bezana.  Thando explained just *some* of the major issues facing residents of Kliptown.  The government has not created local schools, so children have to walk long distances for education.  The area lacks running water, requiring the 44,000 residents to get water for cooking and washing from taps located throughout the area.  As Thando was explaining this to our group, we saw one woman with a basket of clothes making use of a tap in this area:

With no plumbing, the runoff from this washing is tossed away on the road, where it makes its way down the side of the road, collecting at a lower place in the area.  In addition, there is no reliable source of electricity, so clothes are often dried by hanging them on a fence:

Thando also explained that there is a lack of even basic sanitation here, so the government has installed portable toilets in certain areas.  About 8 to 10 families share one of these facilities, with each taking turns cleaning it and making it usable.  We were able to visit one of the homes in this area and noticed a paraffin stove.  Thando pointed out that gas is not available from local utilities, so cooking is done by means of this stove, which burns kerosene.  Of course, this produces a lot of smoke, so cooking must be done outside or very close to an open doorway and the risk of a fire is a real danger.

In the midst of this environment, Thulani, Thando and the KYP staff have created a youth program that provides a safe place to play, tutors to help with school work and activities to keep kids focused and busy rather than roaming the streets.  In just five years, this program has taken on partnerships that have allowed expansion and growth in what KYP offers.  For example, , a grant from a local company has produced a modular unit that now houses KYP’s computer center: six desktops, a printer and scanner.  To insure there is a reliable power source, KYP has purchased a generator that produces eight hours of power each day for their complex.  Another grant has allowed the director and his staff proper office space and renovations to take place for new kitchen facilities:

After a tour of their library and a discussion on KYP’s goals for the future, we had a chance to watch the children relax and play in the yard area.  They didn’t have much in the way of toys or sport equipment (e.g. an orange served as an impromptu soccer ball), but they had fun and seemed to all get along with one another.  They played an interesting game with three bricks.  The bricks were placed on the ground, but spaced apart.  The children had to jump over each brick, but they were only allowed one jump per brick and could not stop in between jumps.  When the game started, the bricks were placed close enough so that even the smallest child could make it between each brick with only one jump. As the game progressed, the bricks were moved further and further apart until only the biggest jumpers remained in the game.  At the end of the game, the bricks were almost 5 feet apart (look below and you can make out the bricks!):

While we sat and watched the kids at play, Thando discussed the state of life in Soweto under the current conditions in South Africa.  At first, he was reluctant to make any detailed statements, often ending a conversation with “Don’t get me started.”  However, as the topic turned to resource allocation, he came alive and talked about recent spending decisions from the government that made no sense to him.  He explained the decision to spend 23.4 million Rand (about $3 million!) on a 4-star luxury hotel in Soweto.  “Why do we need that”, he asked, “when we have no schools, no running water, no electricity?  It makes no sense!”…  Thando told us he was interviewed by the French newspaper Libération and this very topic came up.  If you’re interesting in hearing his perspectives on life in Soweto and get a better look around the township, please check out this video:

After the recess period, the children were dismissed and the after-school program began.  KYP provides services to about 400 children, but their limited space cannot accommodate every child at once.  They structure their after-school program sit gat different age groups come on different days.  Today, we were invited to sit in with grade 9-11 students.  Since there were six of us in the tour, we split up and sat with different groups of students.  I was fortunate to get a group of ninth grader studying English.  They had just started a new class novel, Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning by Danette Haworth.  We all introduced ourselves and I was pleased to get to know these eager young ladies:

Ntombizanele, Nomthandalo, Lehlohonolo, Amanda, Matshaha & Mr. Padula (I’m the old one!)

These girls helped me understand that the goal of today’s lesson was to read the first two chapters of their novel and use their notebooks to record any vocabulary words they did not understand.  They said they were going to read the book aloud, and asked me to correct any mispronunciations.

They were VERY eager to get started, so they jumped right into the reading.  I was impressed with how well all these girls read and how much energy and interest they put into their work.  English was not their first language (three spoke Zulu and two spoke Xosha), but they really gave their full attention to the text.  Amanda seemed to be in charge of this lesson, urging the other girls on, pointing out unknown works, and quickly writing them down in her notebook.

When we took a break, I asked the girls question about KYP and school in general.  Amanda was the first to answer, telling me with a serious face that school was important to her.  She said it taught her skills she needed to get a good job.  She didn’t hesitate to tell me that her goal in life was to be a mining engineer.  She was clear about the need to ‘learn a lot of math’ as well as English. 

By the time the lesson was completed, the girls had several words they had to look up from a Zulu-English dictionary.  Some of them (e.g. recoil, slits, Detroit), we talked about as a group, others (like Silverdome) I just explained because I knew they would not find that word in their dictionary.  For such a simple story, I have to say that the writing contained a number of fairly tricky inferences.  For example, after Violet, the main character, has a conversation with Melissa, the pretty new girl from the city, the author writes:

My eyes return to slits and I fix them on Melissa.  Poison darts shoot from them.

I was worried the meaning would be lost on them.  However, all I had to do was explain what it meant to have your eyes become ‘slits’ and they all were able to tell me that Violet definitely did NOT like Melissa! I have to say that I was truly sorry when time ran out and the lesson ended.  I was so amazed and impressed by these girls and the people of Kliptown.  Their spirit is strong and, given the right opportunities (like what is going on with KYP), they can and will do great things.