Two of the more serious challenges facing South Africa are: education and equality. As students we cannot change the minds of the whole nation but we believe that we can start a ripple effect towards change.
We decided to go about this by utilising the skills we gained from the Enke 2012 Leadership Seminar and have started a learners’ mentoring programme on Saturday mornings from 8 am to 12 pm at Kwantabeni Comprehensive High School. The core team comprises Zane Weir, Ricky Hughes and Gareth Kieck and we have been fortunate to find some willing volunteers from the school community who also believe that they can help in making a difference.
The focus is on the critical subjects of Maths and Science, as well as the communicative aspects of English with a particular emphasis on developing public speaking skills.
Our major aim was also to make this a sustainable on-going project for Kwantabeni by empowering and mentoring eight of their top Grade 11 academic students who in turn could pass on the skills and knowledge they are learn to other students in the school. We hope to create a ripple effect which will hopefully gather momentum in the years to come.
A welcome by-product of this process is the building of friendships with talented people from a less advantaged background. Our hope is that this will help bridge the divide between us and ignite a ‘wild fire’ where the youth work together irrespective of race or cultural differences. Together we believe that we can work toward solving the problem of education in South Africa.
These lessons are continuing until the end of the year, hopefully equipping the young students with what they need for their Matric year. But we are not stopping there. We will strive to ensure that this project becomes a permanent feature of our school’s commitment to the greater Durban community.
Back row: Richard Hill; Project leaders Gareth Kieck, Zane Weir & Ricky Hughes; Jesse Mills; Andre de l a Rey
Front row: Devan Baird Ethan Hitchcock Michael Field Bandele Mbele Aurey Livingstone (Absent: Nicholas Clarke)
