First School Visit

Posted by admin on 01.03.2008 at 1:01 am

This is part of a series covering BWB founder Xavier’s recent trip to Africa.

*November 11, 2007.

For Xavier and me, starting off the day with a game of “dive for the Frisbee” in the Indian Ocean is just about perfect. The only thing wrong with this particular morning was that I forgot to take off my non-waterproof watch before jumping in the waves- d’oh!
Kites over beach on the Indian Ocean. Durban, South Africa.

Our first school visit was here in Durban, at Christianenburg Primary School, which has a library with about 10,000 donated books (from a container split by 25 area schools).  There are 1305 students aged 5-15, called ‘learners’ here in South Africa, and the student-teacher ratio is almost 50:1. There are 28 classrooms and 34 teachers here. The buildings and layout are representative of all schools here; long buildings painted the school colors with flowering bushes. The principal, Nomsa Shandu, deputy principal Bonga Mkize and librarian Thandi Putini were willing to accommodate our visit on a Sunday afternoon.


School staff Shandu, Putini and Mkeze.

The library is beautifully organized and has a sign that said, “My Golden Rules: Order at All Times is the Motto of This Room”.  The books are neatly placed and include two small shelves in Zulu language; the thousands of others are in English. The learners can’t check out the books but are given time to visit the library to read. Shandu, who has been here 20 years, spoke at length about the learners. She told us that the students have difficulties with the school fees, which are 150 Rand per year (under $25), but that coming to school is worth it for the free daily government-provided meal for each primary student.

We had a wonderful visit! The system works- the books are in the school, available each day for the kids.  Tomorrow is an even bigger day for us; we have five schools and classes will be in session. I’m not expecting it to be easy to meet all the kids, now knowing that many of them only eat once a day, that many will be AIDS orphans. It’s quite a different thing to know some stats about a place and to know personally the names and faces that are behind them, but I am happy thinking of the commited and caring teachers we met today.

Christianenburg Primary School.

Mural at Christianenburg Primary School, Durban, South Africa.

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