Amasango
Rhodes University International Student Volunteer Programme
Amasango School for Street Children
Grahamstown is a small University town in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. With no industrial development, the sprawling black township has a 57% unemploment figure. Abject poverty and social disintegration which accompany such poverty have led to an acute streetchildren problem.
This is being exacerbated by the AIDS crisis in South Africa. Hundreds of children are outside the schooling system and live on the periphery of society, begging outside shopping centres and rummaging in dustbins for food. They are always hungry. These children are also victims of physical, sexual and emotional abuse.
Without specialised intervention, children growing up in extreme poverty have little hope of not being sucked into a vortex of crime and prostitution. South Africa is being targeted more and more as a child sex destination and desperate children often see no alternative to what we term "survival sex" with all its violence, loss of self esteem, and the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, especially AIDS.
The Principal, Jane Bradshaw (Mama Jane) has encountered pre-pubescent prostitutes controlled by teenage male pimps. Children who grow up emotionally stunted with no sense of self worth or any vision of hope for the future will almost invariably grow into angry, violent adults who will, at best, perpetuate the cycle and, at worst, become violent criminals.
Amasango School offers accelerated bridging education to street children. Children are assessed on arrival using a very basic tool which we have developed and which allows us to place a child in the correct class for his/her current academic level, irrespective of previous schooling. This is important, as many have forgotten a lot of what they have learnt. It is difficult for a 16 year old to admit he was only in grade 2.
Their initial curriculum is limited to English, Xhosa, maths, art, and educational games. i.e. basic literacy and numeracy, underpinned with pre-school activities to give the foundation these children have never had. Art is often the medium through which abused children are able to "tell" what has happened to them. It is also a non-threatening medium where every attempt is "right". Working with clay is a recognised form of therapy and Xhosa children seem to have a natural ability. Some wonderful work has been produced.
Educational games such as jigsaw puzzles and board games help lay the foundations for special development which is so essential in education. Snakes and ladders is a wonderful learning tool, counting, sequence, waiting for your turn, a setback doesn't mean automatic failure and it's OK for your friends to laugh at you - a very important life skill! When they have reached grade 6 level in their literacy and numeracy they "crash course" the children into a full school curriculum. This can be a very difficult time for the slower learners and they often revert to aggressive behaviour.
After grade 7 pupils progress into normal township high schools, facilitating re-integration into society. This works very well for many pupils but for those who are very old (e.g aged 20 on grade 8), or those who struggle academically, a more skills based curriculum which prepares them for the world of work is more appropriate.
There are happy, dedicated and caring staff who work under very difficult circumstances.
The recommended teacher pupil ratio in similar schools is 1:8, theirs is currently 1:25. Any voluntary teaching assistance and support is welcomed (and desperately needed) This inevitably leads to friction in the classroom and as violence is the only form of conflict-resolution these children have ever known, life at Amasango is not
