Visit to Zenzellini School in Khayelitsha

Visit to Zenzellini School in Khayelitsha

 Rtn. and Past President Michael Pearson and his wife, Ruth, recently visited Khayelitsha in South Africa, one of the townships on the Cape Flats near Cape Town airport.  He has provided this update on one of the Club's International Group projects.

Although bit by bit the shacks are being replaced with brick cottages, Khayelitsha is still a vast, deprived area, where education is key to improving the opportunities for children.

At the suggestion of a frequent visitor to Northampton, Rtn. Ralph Rosemann from Cape Town, our club contributed last year to a "Book Buddies" programme that his club was promoting for the Zenzelini school through "Shine".  This charity sponsors the Waldorf Curriculum under the Steiner School system.  The school provides education up to the age of thirteen when the children go on to High School.  

Ruth and I were privileged to visit this school on 11th November with Ralph and fellow-Rotarian Rodney Cottrill (who has also visited our club), together with their wives, and Maurita Weissenberg from Shine.  Ruth Pearson's sister and her husband, from the R.C of Taunton Vale also came along.

It was good to see the books we had helped to supply, and to see the lovely, eager children using them in the reading session we attended.  The books have been carefully selected to be meaningful, and for their phased reading programme, the earlier years of which are in their native Khosa language, and the later years in English.  The school also holds a special session on Saturday mornings for parents to attend, and become involved themselves with the reading programme.

In the meantime, the slide show will give a flavour of the visit

We have received the following update from Rtn Ralph Roseman, who adds this to the story of Zenzellini's Library

I attach some additional photos of the handover of the library, Northampton and Roggebaai rotary clubs established for Zenzilini school.  We provided screeding of the floor, replacing the ceiling, carpeting the floor, pictures on the wall, a desk and chair for the librarian and most importantly the shelving.  We also provided a sliding door in the main assembly room. This can be seen open in the pictures above. It can be used to divide the room in two. The project was a great success.

If you would like to read a report by "Shine" on the school, explaining why the charity is so important, click here