SHAWCO Day 1

An organization I joined at University of Cape Town is called SHAWCO. SHAWCO is an education program that goes to local township schools. Its vision is 'working together towards informed, healthy, and thriving communities', while its mission is to 'practice and promote responsible citizenship in the South African context through health, education and social entrepreneurship initiatives. We create a supportive space for experiential learning and teaching, addressing inequality through innovative and sustainable approaches to community engagement.' Each student that joins SHAWCO picks a location, program, and day of the week to volunteer.

I decided to pick a program in Nyanga, where I volunteered for Mandela Day (Nyanga is a township only a few minutes drive outside of Cape Town. See previous blog post for more details about Nyanga.) I picked Nyanga because I loved my experience, and because the specific SHAWCO program is geared for the youngest children at the foundation stage. Every Monday, I will be going to Nyanga from 2-5 to teach literacy and counting in English and Xhosa to the 'Little Moon' students.

Today, the bus left University of Cape Town at 2pm, with about 15 volunteers on the bus ready for our experience in Nyanga. While driving through Nyanga, I noticed the same heart-wrenching conditions of families living in shacks. I even noticed shops in shacks and trailers from backs of trucks. On one corner, there was a small blue shack with the words 'surgeon' painted on very messily. My heart dropped because I couldn't imagine what it was like in there. Just like many things I've realized are taken for granted, sanitary health care and surgery is something taken for granted in the world we live in in the United States.

Once we arrived at the school in Nyanga, a swarm of children were coming around the corner because school just left out and they were going home. Obviously, there were no big yellow school buses there to take the children home, and from what I could tell, children were left to walk home on their own. Nyanga has a reputation of high violence, so I could not imagine having my own child walk home through the township. However, it's their way of life, and they don't know anything different.


Children noticed the SHAWCO label on the side of the bus, and started waving and smiling. The bus pulled into the courtyard of the school, and children continued to run towards the bus smiling, yelling, and waving. Once we got off, we noticed students coming up to us, giggling, and walking away. Once everyone was off the bus, we gathered in a circle to sing an opening song. There were probably about twenty kids there, unlike the norm of having 80-100 children (the principal forgot to make an announcement).

School in Nyanga

After the song circle, we gathered into a classroom with a dirty concrete floor. The walls were decorated with hand-made educational posters, and desks and chairs were all around the room. Children sat down, and the volunteers were asked to sit down next to a child. I sat down at a table with several children, many of whom pointed and giggled at volunteers. I felt uncomfortable for a bit, but was reassured of my purpose for being there.

Soon, each volunteer was assigned a child. With the child, we were to have them do subtraction, counting to 100, reading/writing the alphabet, and more. My child's name was Mpho, a six year old in grade 1. Mpho began doing the subtraction problems without my help, as he covered his face to avoid making eye contact with me. Eventually, I started covering my face too (two can play this game!) and he looked at me and started laughing. From then on, he opened up to me, and we began doing subtraction problems together.
I was amazed at Mpho's ability to understand English, write the alphabet, and count to 100 (which seemed like he did in one breath!).

Mpho

At one point, Mpho got up to run outside in the courtyard, as other SHAWCO staff told him he needed to come back inside to finish his work. I went over to him, and told him to run as fast as he could until I counted to ten, then it would be time to go back inside. I wasn't sure if he spoke enough English to understand (he spoke Xhosa to his classmates), so by the time I got to 10, I was holding my breath to see what he would do. He smiled and ran over to me, grabbed my hand, and took me back inside.

From there, we were talking about our favorite colors, foods, and animals. I was wearing an elephant scarf and he kept telling me he hated elephants. He was pleased to hear that I was not going to wear it next week! We even made a secret handshake, which he always wanted to do!

We went outside to read a book, one in Xhosa which he read in a whisper, and one in English which I read to him. He was distracted when friends were around, but quickly got back on track. At one point, another after school group started to dance, and him and I watched them dance together. Mpho told me he loved to dance.
Once it was time to get juice and an apple for snack, it was about time to get back onto the bus. While getting back onto the bus, one child came up to a volunteer holding the apples, and held his hands out repeatedly saying, "please". I could not help but wonder when the next time he would eat would be.

Next to a braai in Nyanga

I am constantly amazed by the fine line between freedom and wealthiness of some, and the extreme poverty of others. Children are born into a wealthy world by luck, while others unfortunately are not. I wonder how many wealthy people in Cape Town make conscious efforts to help those in poverty, or if many just live in a little bubble, staying out of areas where the poor live.