Day 4 - Kingsmead College and the Student Sponsorship Programme

Our next day in South Africa provided us with perhaps the biggest contrast we could have imagined.  After our visit to Soweto and the grassroot work of the Kliptown Youth Program, we made our way to downtown Johannesburg to visit Kingsmead College.  This institution isn't actually a college, but an elite prep school for girls.  Kingsmead has two programs in essentially the same location.  They have a Junior School, which covers grades 0 (Pre-K) through 7 and a Senior School, for grades 8 to 12.

Our group was stunned with just the image of their campus (borrowed from their website):

(Quite a contrast to what we saw in Soweto...)

We were introduced to the Headmistress, Mrs. Lisa Kaplan and her director Jillian.  They explained the philosophy of Kingsmead and their dedication to providing a world-class education to all their students.  We had a chance to talk about their curriculum and teaching methodology, including their drive to instill proper study/research habits into their students from the early grades.  We also toured their campus and visited their computer center, where students were putting the finishing touches on their web-based research projects, as well as their gym:

(A bit different than the outdoor yard and bricks at KYP)

With tuition and fees on the order of R76K-85K ($9500 - $10,600) per year for the Senior School, this school is clearly out of the range of most middle class South African families, never mind township families.  However, Jillian explained that the school also enrolled several students from local townships.  How?  The answer is an organization called Student Sponsorship Programme (SSP).  This organization seeks to give educational scholarships to worthy children in the townships and get them into some of SA's better schools.

Mrs. Kaplan let us speak with eight students who attended Kingsmead thanks to SSP scholarships.  The dedication and drive of these students was more than commendable, it was truly amazing.  One girl said she routinely got up at 4:30am so that she could get on a bus at 5:30 to get to school at 6:45.  When school was over, she then took a bus at 5:00pm and got home around 6:45pm.  Another girl spoke to us about the dual nature of her new life.  When she was at Kingmead, she was expected to speak English, but when she returned home, the language was Zulu.  "Speak English and everyone where I live thinks you're a snob," she said. Later, when we spoke to some senior SSP students, one very outspoken girl had a different take on this dilemma.  She said "Don't try to fit in, then you conform to what they want.  Just be yourself and adjust to whatever comes your way."  Another student simply said "Accept what you have and don't compare yourself with others."

However they dealt with juggling school with their home life, all the students we talked to were happy to be at Kingsmead and understood that the hard work they were putting in now was laying the foundation for their future. 

To insure the SSP scholars are doing well in their schools, SSP assigns staff members to each school as a contact for their students.   Kgaogelo Seemola is responsible for SSP students at Kingsmead. Kgaogelo joined us for our morning meeting and reinforced how much these girls have overcome to get to where they are today and how hard they work every day.  In listening to Kgaogelo, it seemed clear that the idea of a contact for every school lets these students know they are not alone out there and that they have someone to turn to when they have questions or concerns.

After our experience at Kingsmead, we drove to SSP's offices in downtown Johannesburg.  Here, we met with Sibongile Khumalo, SSPs Academic Director.  She is the one responsible for creating partnerships with organizations so that SSP can expand its scholarship offerings.  Currently, SSP is managing about 271 scholarships, with only 40 in the Eastern Cape region and 231 in the Western Cape (Pretoria and Johannesburg).  It is a daunting task to keep the donor partners active and engaged.  Sibongile wants partners to commit to the long haul, as a scholarship needs to carry each student to their high school years.  Sibongile estimates it takes about $31,000 to educate a student through grade 12.  She also explained all the 'prep' work SSP does for any potential students.  They provide an academic camp that spans 16 Saturdays.

It was clear after only a few minutes with Sibongile that she is truly a woman on a mission and is working so hard to get these kids the support they need for their education.  SSP is trying to identify students through intervention programs and provide them with adult mentors/guides as they progress in their education.  Why does SSP do so much more than just write a check to these students and say "Good luck"?  As Sibongile put so well, "More and more, our students are coming from families who have sacrificed everything to have a better education for their kids.  They deserve to have a structure in place that helps them succeed."

From what I saw today, the girls at Kingsmead are proof that this model is working and that these students are succeeding.

Hard to forget the past...

Just another small snippet from this amazing trip.

After our visit to Soweto and Kliptown, we had dinner in Johannesburg, at an Indian restaurant called Bombay Blues.  We had been running our guide Musa ragged, so we invited him to join us for dinner.  He hesitated a bit, but then agreed.

We all sat down, but Musa seemed pretty nervous.  He was looking around and seemed generally uncomfortable.  I wound up sitting next to him and starting asking him the standard bunch of questions:  where did he live, how long did he live there, family facts, etc.

As I mentioned earlier, Musa was born and raised in Soweto.  His wife was also from Soweto and they still live very close to Soweto today.  Once I realized Musa, who was 36, lived his whole life in Soweto, I did some quick math.  Since Apartheid was dismantled about 1994, Musa was in the unique position of having lived exactly half his life under Apartheid and the other half after Apartheid was abolished.

I felt this was a great opportunity to get some deep eyewitness insights, so I said "Wow, you must have seen so many changes over the last 18 years."  To which Musa answered "Oh yes...." and, after a long pause, he said, "...under Apartheid, I couldn't be here in this restaurant with you."

One more on Soweto

I forgot to mention this, but I think it adds another dimension to what's going on in Soweto.

Our guide, Musa, was born and raised in Soweto.  As we were driving to Kliptown, we noticed there were some homes in Soweto that seemed more modern and/or in better shape than others.  The dwelling was constructed with better material and the area around the living space seemed  better maintained.  When I asked Musa about this, he explained that the government has been trying to 'upgrade' the state of Soweto, but very slowly.  In some areas, better homes have been built by the government in the hopes of getting people out of their self-constructed dwellings.

Musa pointed out that there is a LONG waiting list for these homes, as most people who live in Soweto stay in Soweto and do not move away.  He also said that some residents announce where they are in the waiting list by painting their waiting list numbers on the out-houses constructed on their property.

Sure enough, within a minute or two of this factoid, we came across two Soweto homes with the  numbers "201" and "202" displayed on their outside lavs:

(You might have to click on this to get a larger image)