mrs. ferron-evans' s. african visit
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| mrs. ferron-evans' s. african visit |
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6,000 MILES TO GET TO LLANDUDNO! ....Mrs Ferron-Evans explains how her visit to Kwamfundo Secondary School in South Africa ended up with her travelling 6,000 miles and finding herself in Llandudno.... Following on from Mr Leather’s successful visit to South Africa in Spring 2004 and Mr Ngubelanga’s return trip to Ruabon in February this year, links between Ysgol Rhiwabon and Kwamfund Secondary School continue to grow. In June I was lucky enough to travel to Cape Town, for a fortnight, to work with staff and students in the school on a writing project based on poetry, letters and accounts of life in the black township Khayelitsha. |
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 Armed with 60 penfriend letters and numerous gifts and messages of goodwill from students and staff in Rhiwabon, I arrived in Cape Town, South Africa on June 6th on a bright, sunny winter’s day. Any tourist arriving in Cape Town cannot help but notice the ‘two faces’ of South Africa; on the one hand the stunning scenery, the city, the splendour and wealth; in contrast the sprawling shacks which tumble together along the motorway, close to the airport, which serve as ‘homes’ to over two million black people. Here many of them live in direst poverty, subject to issues which threaten daily survival – AIDs, crime, drugs, teenage pregnancy.This contrast cannot be ignored and the sprawling townships remain as a stark reminder of how the blacks were removed from their homes in Cape Town during the rule of Apartheid and forced to make their homes on the mudflats outside Khayelitsha. |
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However, despite these hardships, what was apparent in Kwamfundo School and in the township generally was a belief in education as a way to improve and in the spirit of UBUNTO. This word does not easily translate but it is the idea that the people in the township look after each other as brother and sister and this was evident wherever I travelled in Khayelitsha. There were signs of hope too in the newer homes built as part of the Government’s Re-development Programme. |
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 The school itself has 1600 students ranging from Grade 8 to Grade 12. Resources are sparse but the school does now have a good Science Lab, Home Economics Room and Computer Suite. Every morning the students gather for assembly led by the school choir and one of the highlights of the trip was listening to the students singing at the start of each day. Each student is expected to pay 200 rand a year for his or her education and for some students this has to be paid in instalments or not at all due to extreme poverty at home. Many students I spoke to had lost at least one member of their family to AIDs. Students spoke honestly about the hardships they face each day but they somehow managed to remain cheerful and optimistic. Their school uniform and smiling faces were a credit to them and the school.As well as working in Kwamfundo I managed to visit two local primary schools in the township and a richer school called Muizenburg High. I was taken into people’s homes in the township and was invited to a ‘worship tent’ at the weekend with a group of teachers. This was a chance to experience a culture different from our own. Away from work, I experienced the beauty of Cape Town, from Table Mountain to the smaller beaches along False Bay. I also visited Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was kept prisoner for most of the 27 years he was imprisoned. This was a sobering visit which reminds us of South Africa’s past and the dramatic changes which have taken place over the last decade. The whole trip was a once-in-a lifetime experience which I hope to share with staff and students in Rhiwabon, now I am back home again. During the next term we will be compiling the poetry and writing from students in Rhiwabon and Kwamfundo as a tribute to the students’ achievements and aspirations in both schools and we will continue to develop the links between Ysgol Rhiwabon & Kwamfundo High School. |
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