April Newsletter
If you don't know Graham & Nicola but are interested in the work they are doing in South Africa they would be very pleased to hear from you and let you know more - their email address is thewhites@granicsa.co.uk.
Graham & Nicola’s Newsletter - Apr 2007
Hello again. We do hope that you are well and we want to start by sending our appreciation for your love, prayers, emails and financial support. If you are receiving copies of the Oasis South Africa newsletter in between our personal ones these will give you more information on what the team is up to. The last Oasis newsletter included an article about my experiences teaching ICT to the pupils of Diepsloot Combined School so I won’t repeat it here.
The last two months have continued to be busy for us both, apart from a week in Mozambique visiting Rachel, Nicola’s sister, and her family in Maputo which was a wonderful break. We spent some time with them and also 3 nights at a resort called Bilene to the North of Maputo, where we spent lazy days reading and swimming on an idyllic sandy beach by a lagoon. There are some pictures on our website www.granicsa.co.uk. Although you have to be sensible with security procedures in Maputo, it felt much more relaxed than Johannesburg where we are constantly aware of crime. Thank you Rachel and Michael if you are reading this!
Nicola has been busy on the School Leavers Support Programme. On the whole, the students are doing well, finding that they have to work very hard while coping with various practical difficulties. We are still arranging the government loans which don’t cover as much as we had hoped so we could hit a financial crisis later in the year. Unlike the UK system, the students have to submit invoices for specific expenditure, like accommodation, but the university branch of the loan organisation doesn’t include our accommodation. So we are applying to the central office of the loan organisation to get our specific accommodation approved. We are also having to apply for food bursaries for the students and encouraging them to find part time work.
As well as helping teaching the pupils, Graham has started an Introduction to Computing course at Diepsloot Combined School. It is a project designed to explore the challenges that Oasis will need to address when teaching computing to both school leavers and older members of an informal settlement. We are grateful to the school for allowing us to use their facilities which are not generally open to the community and grateful to the IT teacher who has to stay at school after hours to accompany us.
The course is very basic, more of a taster, as we only have access to the computer lab for two hours a week. We aim to cover keyboard and mouse skills, familiarisation with Windows XP, and an introduction to MS Office. Hopefully, if the school can resolve their internet access problem then we will also teach the students to use the internet and email.
The students come from two sources, those on the School Leavers Support programme who did not get into university and members of Diepsloot Community Church. A prerequisite for the course was that all the students had completed Grade 12, the top year of school, but there is a marked difference between the recent school leavers and the older people. The school leavers, who to be fair are among the brightest kids in their year, are far more able. So there is a wide range of abilities; some students can see what is demonstrated and copy it, but others are unable to repeat the simplest of tasks and for some their level of understanding of English is a barrier.
The computers in the lab are also a challenge. Some of them are faulty and some students have lost their work, which is frustrating for them and Graham. Not having control of the computers is a limitation and not having access to the lab in advance of the lesson limits the preparation that can be done.
So Graham is learning from one week to the next, trying to avoid the faulty computers and adapting the teaching style.
The anecdote for the month is various perspectives from last week.
- On Good Friday we went to a performance of the Messiah at Mosaiek, an Afrikaans Church which is supporting Oasis. Our office is in space that Mosaiek have rented and it’s been great getting to know some of them. Their Church is something else. It’s not so much a Church, more a community centre, with offices, a clinic, an auditorium seating 3,000, a chapel, and other conference facilities. It’s all built around a central plaza with tables and chairs and a coffee shop. The Messiah was very good, with the Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra and a choir, the name of which I cannot remember! It was a multimedia presentation, with an artist in residence, and videos on big screens. The performance was interspersed with monologues and dramatic dance. Apart from Handel’s score, everything was in Afrikaans and all the people around us spoke in Afrikaans, so although we enjoyed ourselves we didn’t follow it all and felt like the odd ones out. Looking round the auditorium of about 2,000 people, I spotted 3 black people who must have felt more out of place than we did.
- Like all the people at the concert, we went home to our modern house which has all the comforts of a modern English lifestyle. We live in a predominantly white Afrikaans neighbourhood on a secured gated complex with a 24hr guard, electric fence and bars on the windows and doors.
- On Wednesday we travelled to Diepsloot to give the Introduction to Computing training course. We are always aware when we drive into the settlement of how we stand out, being the only white face around. We try and keep a low profile, by driving carefully and always giving way to taxis. Because we needed people with a good character reference for the course we took students from the Diepsloot Community Church, which is a partner of Mosaiek. Mosaiek are seeking to support the Church various ways, but the contrast between the two couldn’t be more marked. The Diesploot Community Church is a tent on a dusty patch of ground. As it is in an informal settlement the government will not allow permanent structures to be built. As I have said before, the members are from very poor backgrounds, living in one room shacks, and mostly unemployed.
- Today, Friday, Nicola is introducing a mentor to a student from Diepsloot at the Wimpy at Fourways Mall, a modern shopping complex in an affluent area. Yesterday there was a shoot-out at the mall, where 4 robbers armed with automatic weapons raided a jewellers shop. They opened the jewellery cabinets by shooting the glass. Two armed policeman were nearby and joined in the gunfight. One robber was injured but fortunately no-one else. The robbers had getaway cars waiting and were chased but were lost when they got to Diepsloot.
Life here is an interesting challenge of extremes, experiencing a range of different cultures on a daily basis and not feeling that you belong to any of them!
Well that’s all for now. Maybe we will see some of you in South Africa this year.
With lots of love
Graham and Nicola |
