Preschools & MAD about Art

I didn’t really realise before how much of a difference there is between the different preschools in the township. I’ve been mostly working at Wonderland which has 32 kids in the older class and is fairly well equipped. Inside the kids have tables and chairs, several books, loads of posters on the walls, crayons and paper to draw on and a few puzzles to play with. Outside there is a small playground with swings  and an area for them to run around.

But some of the other volunteers went to Ikamva Lethu preschool today and they told us that they had no resources at all. No tables and chairs, all the kids just sat on the floor. No pens, crayons or paper to draw with. No pictures on the walls. The toilets are blocked and parts of the building are in need of repair. This particular school just doesn’t have any funding and is run by a couple of women who want to provide this service to their community because they see the need for it. Last year the school was about to be shut down for environmental health reasons before Edge of Africa stepped in. A school in Germany did some fundraising to help to pay for some of the refurbishment works and Edge of Africa volunteers helped to do the work. The volunteers are now working with the teachers at the school to fix the remaining structural problems and get their accreditation. It’s hard work teaching with absolutely no resources. The teacher spends most of the day just talking to the children, explaining things to them and getting them to repeat things she has said. They don’t even have a very big outdoor area so a simple game of catch is a problem because the 43 kids at this school couldn’t even stand in a big enough circle to throw the ball to each other.

Yesterday afternoon was spent at MAD about Art running an after school group for teenage girls. The purpose of the group is to allow the girls to talk about things that they are going through during those difficult teenage years, promote discussions and allow them to ask questions about anything in a non-judgemental environment. Most of the girls were between 12 and 14 but were asking questions about subjects that you wouldn’t expect them to have to deal with at their age. Big life questions about sex, relationships, contraception, drugs & alcohol abuse, domestic violence. Most of them say they have a boyfriend and the group leader thinks that most of them are already sexually active but from the sort of questions they were asking us, it seems as though most of them don’t really understand what they are doing or what is happening to their body. One girl asked about her periods – what they are, why she gets them – it must be a frightening thing to start bleeding one day and not be prepared for that or understand why. I don’t think these questions are encouraged at home and these sorts of subjects aren’t discussed openly so they have clearly been getting the wrong idea about stuff.

I think most of them found the session useful once they got over their initial embarrassment about asking questions and discussing things together. Myself and the other volunteers tried to give them the facts whilst making sure that they understood that they are in control of their own bodies and that they have a choice when it comes to what they do and don’t do with their boyfriends. It’s such a difficult conversation to have with any teenager but in a culture where men often treat women with disrespect and that is ‘normal’ for them, it’s even harder.