Social Responsibility and Refilwe

Although Apartheid ended in South Africa 15 years ago, there is still much damage to be repaired. Systematic oppression and forced inequality between white and black people for almost a century created a plethora of social problems that they are now trying to rectify through development initiatives.

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange lists registered companies’ Social Responsibility Index as a means of determining which companies are contributing responsibly to community development within the area.This feature is designed to force companies to participate in eradicating the inequality and poverty that was created during Apartheid. Refilwe, being a community development project that focuses on the education and empowerment of black people, is very eligible to receive the benefits of this program.

One company that contributes towards Refilwe’s development efforts organized a soccer match on Friday afternoon, complete with icecream, tshirts, dump trucks and a professional photographer. The only thing that was strange about it was that they didn't send a soccer team. So all of Refilwe had the afternoon off, went out to our soccer field and watched two teams of the people we know play each other while the professional photographer took cute photos of the kids eating ice cream. The men all had a great time beating each other (though if anyone knew the final score I didn't hear about it!) and the women had a great time girl-gabbing on the side lines.

The Social Responsibility Index is a seemingly clever way for the government to not have to fund every little development initiative and in theory allows them to focus on bigger picture infrastructure instead of micromanaging development on the ground level. It certainly helps Refilwe that there are laws and policies in place that enable them access to funding. The down side to it is that there seems to be a bit of a ‘rich white giving to poor black’ mentality; while Refilwe gives and encourages many opportunities for the companies that donate their funds, there is still the sense that what is happening is not true, participatory development. It comes down to the age old question of whether giving time or giving money is better when trying to fix social problems. There is no easy answer to that, but in this context the separation that has existed in South Africa is not going to be healed just through money. The problems here have been caused, reinforced and entrenched because of the past actions of a powerful few. Healing needs to take place socially, not just in developing poor communities, but also in developing understanding, relationship and forgiveness between social groups.

The school holidays have just begun for us, so this week and next I hope to get involved a bit with the projects that Cliff and Amanda work with and see what they get up to during their days. I also just posted some pictures in a Facebook Album so feel free to check that out too!

Supporter Song

While the men played their soccer game, the women sat under the shade of a shade tent and sang songs and did dances, stopping frequently to yell encouragement to whoever had the ball. Amanda and I joined in the clapping and hummed a bit. Not quite so confident as to get up and dance like that... yet.

Eaton College Sings

A Prestigious Occasion...

Yesterday the Eaton College Choir came to visit Refilwe. Eaton College, as many of you are already well aware, is one of the most prestigious (make sure that ‘r’ was rolled) schools in England. Think Princes William and Harry. Somehow Refilwe made a connection with Eaton through their choir and invited them to visit for the morning. We had a bit of a sing-off between our school kids and theirs, you might say.

New Shoes and Hands of Hope

Last Friday we had a school excursion to the local mall. Myself, two other teachers and 17 students piled into a small bus to make the trip to a shoe store. The students were getting new shoes! Before I go further with that story, let me first tell you a little bit more about the school.

Hands of Hope School was started at Refilwe in 2008, in response to the lack of quality secondary education in the area. The leadership at Refilwe found that the children they sent to the local high schools were not receiving an education that was going to be of any use to them in the real world, so decided to take the standards into their own hands. 

There is great disparity here in terms of educational standards. An education act that was passed in the 1950s separated white and black education, with huge differences in the amounts of funding allotted. While the end of Apartheid 'stopped' this from occurring for the past 15 years, the after effects of it today means that there are some very rich, well funded schools with very high standards, as well as many underfunded schools in poor areas. The schools in our area may have up to 40 students in one classroom, with untrained teachers teaching them. The official language of education here is English, Year 12 students must take all of their exams in English to pass; yet many of the teachers' English is not sufficient enough to teach it to their students.

It was in that context that Refilwe began Hands of Hope. Currently there are 17 students that attend. Most of them are children from the God Parents' program and live here at Refilwe (which means lucky for them they can leave home at 7.59 and get to school with 30 seconds to spare!). A few others live in the settlements nearby and walk here. The students are aged between 13 and 17, however are organised into Years 7-9, based on their abilities. Many of the students do quite well, but many still struggle to understand complicated concepts explained to them in English.

Part of my role at the school is to work individually with several students who need extra support in terms of English comprehension. I am also teaching two subjects (Economic & Management Sciences and Life Orientation) and have begun doing some group work with a group of 6 students. 

Hands of Hope has virtually no funding at all, very little resources and only two full time teachers, who are certainly not here for the money! The school is currently quite reliant on donations- something they hope to rectify through some creative fundraising sometime in the near future. 

Last Friday, as I said, we had a school excursion to the local mall. Funds had very generously been provided for each student to receive a pair of black school shoes, as well as a new pair of 

runners. The kids had fun trying on shoes, and we had fun trying to control them all in one small store! We then had a photo shoot yesterday of all the kids in their new shoes. The photos will be sent as part of a Thankyou to those who donated the shoes. We had fun putting them in poses to show off their shoes. I picked a few of my favourites to share with you. I find some of their facial expressions hilarious!

Community Building...

Our first full week here at Refilwe has given us many opportunities to interact with the community here. The pictures to the left will give you a bit of an idea of the  view that we have from our front porch. The river divides Refilwe's property into two: in the top photo you can just see the green roof of the Community Hall on the other side of the river. On our 'side' of the river are the offices, the school and the residences. The 'other' side is 

where the community buildings are found.

The river is called Crocodile River, and we have been told

it has been aptly named. Apparently the 'big' crocodiles are further downstream, but there are still smaller varieties that are seen from time. No swimming for us!

Much of the week (especially for Cliff!) was centered around 

an Indigenous Plant nursery that is being constructed here on the property. The project is part of 'Refilwe Enterprises'; a group of projects specifically designed to be sustainably income generating for Refilwe. Once the Nursery is completed, the 'Enterprises' arm will also be complete; this means that over time Refilwe should have its own steady source of income, rather than having to be completely reliant on charitable donations and government grants. I'll write some more details about what it all entails at a later date.

While I got started at the Hands of Hope School, sitting in on some classes and starting to teach a couple, Cliff was given the 'special project' of working with the Site Team to get the nursery ready. The structure to the right was donated to Refilwe, along with one of those 'you can have it if you come and get it yourself' catches. Cliff and the men that form the maintenance crew here spent the week tearing the [very] large structure down from a nearby location and bringing the piles back to Refilwe.  It was a fairly hot and strenuous week for Cliff! 

Saturday saw a local church come and help to put the structure back up again. Cliff took a well deserved break and watched the cricket, while I helped with the painting of metal poles. Everything had to be sanded and repainted before being put back together. Although the group from the church was very large, most of the Refilwe community was out painting and building as well. It has quickly become clear to us that there is always 

something going on here, and that the community here is generally always involved in whatever it is. When I left our house on Saturday morning, I saw m

any of the Refilwe kids out with their paintbrushes, busy 'helping' and getting paint all over themselves. The boy to the left's name is Tabo. I spent most of the day with a paintbrush in hand, getting more and more paint on the rest of me. I am still picking silver streaks out of my hair!

This week is already well underway. Cliff has started his 'real' job working with the ACAT program, and I have started teaching and working one on one with some students that need extra attention with their English skills. We'll probably update again soon!