Today I attended the launch event of the EDCOSA (The Educational Coalition of South Africa). The Amy Biehl Foundation is a large stake holder in this new coalition and thus I was there to represent the Foundation and work our informational table. EDCOSA’s vision is to create “A South Africa—where all our people have access to education, empowerment and economy through sustainable, frugal and resource-based commitment to the ‘haves’ to poverty alleviation and social inclusivity.’ No small task right??
If you know anything about the educational situation in South Africa, you will know that there are large discrepancies between township schools and those in the suburbs. No school books, cracked windows to the outside, backs missing off of chairs, dirty floors, no paper, broken light bulbs, teachers not showing up for work, children unable to attend because they must tend to ‘their’ children, drugs, alcohol, gangsterism---these are all factors which prevent suitable education in such communities.
On a world scale, South African banks are rated 6th of 139, yet the educational system is rated 130/139 in the townships. Remember my post about the 1st world/3rd world dilemma? There you have it yet again. 10% of the community in Cape Town holds the majority of the wealth, while 90% of the people live in poverty-striken township communities like Khayelitsha. This coalition strives to lessen the gap between the rich and the poor and take advantage of the priveleges of the 1st world to instill proper educational values in the 3rd world. Needless to say, this event got me thinking about the value of education. A few quotes from keynote speakers are as follows….
“If we don’t invest our monies in schools and education, we will eventually spend it on the prisons and correctional facilities.”
“It doesn’t matter what is in the curriculum if our lives pose a contradiction to the values we teach and say—children learn values through how we behave, no what we say.”
In thinking about the importance of education and community development, I was brought back to an incident that happened just last week. My computer class was going to have our graduation ceremony, but we had to wait for the Xhosa instructor to come with our refreshments. Instead of playing a large group game, I decided to split the classroom up into smaller groups and give them topics to discuss. I was blown away at the topic of role models that I had with my grade 7 boys. Rap and hip hop artists are typical role models for these kids (this wasn’t the shocker), what made my heart break was how much they knew about their prison records, how they treated women, and how much of which drugs they had done. I then asked the kids about Chris Brown and his abuse with Rhiana and they all responded that she deserved it because she was cheating. I followed with questions about whether it was right or wrong to hit a woman and they all very eagerly agreed that if she was doing something wrong, then it was okay…..there I was---right in the middle of a community where physical abuse begins well before 15 and it is simply the norm.
Education then doesn’t just come out of schools and institutions, although it is necessary to have formal establishments. Education starts in the home, because it is a form of investment. Education is about investing in the lives of those around us, being intentional with relationships and real with the people we come in contact with. One of the speakers talked about the importance of mentorship and investing in others: There are over 8 million people classified as ‘priveleged’ in South Africa. What if each one of them took just one person that was less privileged than themselves a mentored them? It doesn’t have to cost you money, but it will cost you time and intellectual capacity. If you are a product of apartheid, you have benefitted by being trained to have such intellectual capacity—use it!
So then what?? How do we harness what we’ve been given—the privilege of a good education and use it to better those less fortunate than ourselves? It doesn’t have to be in a proper school setting either—education can happen anywhere. It would be a shame to harbor the good education that I’ve been given. I may not be trained to be a math or science teacher, but I’ve learned things in my life that can help others. Everyone does. Don’t think that you can’t make a difference—you can. Just think of all the people in your life that have made an impact that you never have told what they did for you. You are an example to educate those around you.
I’ll finish with a quote from a girl who grew up in Khayelitsha (Cape Town township) and now successfully runs 3 businesses,
“It doesn’t matter what poverty you grow up in, education can set you free. The children are watching, what will you do?
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