Tuesday 6th March… People who bridge the gap…

Today we have visited so many marvellous people in the Delareyville area.  Here are some of the details...

The home based  care team at Kopela

We visited a home based care project in Kopela where ten volunteers; (six women and four men),  visit 359 orpahaned and vulnerable children (OVCs) in their community. (Many parents work in Gauteng and may only get home for the school holidays, though some do manage to get home once a month).The care workers come from a number of different local churches and receive no pay for their work. They may put themselves at risk because they protect the children from people who might try to exploit their vulnerability. The orphans are grieving for the loss of their parents from AIDS related illnesses but don’t feel they can speak about their pain. The grandparents they now live with are also grieving for the loss of their children. In this situation the role of the care worker might be to be a bridge to help the grandparents understand why their grieving grandchildren have become difficult to manage. The care workers also maintain a vegetable garden to supplement the children’s diet and to support the community. They now have a good source of water and have been able to fence off the garden but still need a hosepipe, a watering can and a wheel barrow.

We felt privileged to share in the hopes of this team. They really are doing a fantastic job in very difficult circumstances. We hope that they can continue to support the growing number of OVCs in their community.

Mrs Magauta Legodi at Lillian Lehetla Special School

Many of the schools in this area are ‘Full Service’ schools. These schools offer support to children with special needs. However when the needs cannot be met in the mainstream setting they can transfer to a special school. We visited a special school called Lillian Lehetla School. This is a popular school for children with special needs and so the Principal Mrs Magauta Legodi has to manage overcrowded classrooms. The school takes children from five years old to eighteen but as there is no nearby provision for adults with learning difficulties, she often keeps them until they are twenty-one. Some children travel 85km (50 miles) by bus to school each day. This means that they arrive very tired and may not get back home until after dark. An occupational therapist comes into school once a week but there is no Speech and Language Therapist, nurse or Physiotherapist. Mrs Legodi’s teaching staff include sewing, woodwork, metalwork and gardening in the curriculum but the teacher will only have one assistant in a classroom of more than 20 and so following individual educational plans is very difficult though the staff attend workshops to update their skills as often as they can. Mrs Legodi and her staff are doing a very difficult job. It is so good to see children with special needs in an educational setting. They seemed confident and happy as I was shown around the school. They have recently celebrated their 25^th anniversary at Lillian Lehetla school. I hope Mrs Legodi will be able to lead them from strength to strength for years to come.

Another school we visited was Manamolela Primary School in the village of Atamelang.  We were greeted by the Principal Mrs Sonja van Niellelle, a passionate and dedicated woman, whose love and commitment for her learners and staff oozed out of her at every turn of the conversation.  We met the reception class … 71 children in one classroom, with two teachers… all seemed calm and purposeful, despite the limited room to move.  Somehow some space was made and the reception children sang for us… with pride and confidence- with vigorous actions.  Here is  short video clip of the song. 

Grade 1 class at Manomolela with Teacher Tshalo Shuenyane

A proud and passionate Principal -
Mrs Sonja Niellelle with one of her pupils
Senosi Motlanke

We called in on the Grade 1 class, with around 32 children, who were keen to tell us (in English) about themselves.  One of the strategies which the Principal Mrs van Niellelle has put in place is to make English the language used for teaching (as opposed to the mother tongue language of Tswana).  This makes Grade 1 a difficult step (hence the smaller classes – others grades rise to 40s) but it means that the children are better placed to carry on learning and able to pass the grades and so progress through the rest of their schooling.  Mrs van Niellellee – shone with an energy and fervour which was such ad force for good.  She is being the bridge (along with her staff) to help her students to better opportunities… it was a joy to meet her.  Thank you Sonja!

Archdeacon Guma with Education Area
Manager Mr Silas Mbiphe

The education theme in our day had begun when we met Mr Silas Mbiphe who is the Area Manager for Education for Greater Delareyville.  (Archdeacon Guma is his deputy, overseeing the secondary section).  Silas is a quietly spoken man, who has a steely determination to make sure to that education for the children in the area is as good as it possibly can be.  And his resolve has produced results… the % of students passing their matriculation exams (like A levels) is excellent, rivalling many private funded school in the province… three schools produced 100% pass rate.   All this in an area where there are many rural schools, with children living on farms.  This makes getting to school hard when rural roads are wet.  Also the parents often do not have e good experience of education themselves and so may not be able to support their children with learning at home.  The energy and commitment of Silas and his colleagues like Dr Guma is impressive and makes the possibility of education being a bridge out of poverty for many children in this area.  It is a long slow job, and resources are scarce…. But the people we met have showed us what a difference individual commitment and determination to make a difference can make.

Principals United

Our final meeting of the day was with three Principals of local schools (three primary and one secondary) who are interested in forming partnerships with similar schools in the Lichfield Diocese.  It was humbling to hear them quietly own up to the real challenges which each of their schools face – as well as sharing the successes of recent times.  Common features were that each of the schools have many learners who are vulnerable children, with parents who have died or are working away in Johannesburg. This brings social problems for the children – an understatement if there ever was one! There are issues in the communities of teenage pregnancy and drug and alcohol abuse…   (sounds sadly familiar to UK ears too)…As rural schools all of them face difficulties for their students in gettging to school in wet weather, since roads my be impassable…in the face of all these issues it would be easy to be downcast, but the principals, Mr Dinoko Mphumela, Mr Mohau Marumoloa, Ms Sarah Mokakale and Ms Esther Mohulatsi – were all resolute about making the difference for the children in their care.  Our role now is to be a bridge for these schools and find willing schools in the Lichfield area who would like to partner with them.

We have been so privileged to meet many other people today and our apologies to them if we have not mentioned them or done them justice… but it has been wonderful to see so many people being “bridges” in the communities we have visited…. So many of them, talking about how they are able to do what they do because of God’s help.  Perhaps there is a message for us in the UK in this… that we should consciously seek God’s help in our endeavours, whatever field they may be in… and then we will find that God gives us “our daily bread” -  what we need for each day’s tasks. 

Lord then please give to us – and all we have met – our daily bread.

Richard & Rose