A serious day at Bekiziswe

Day-3 

Today was all about meeting with the Beiziswe Junior Secondary school.  On our first trip, we were shocked at not only how poor the conditions of the school were but wondered for how long the school could continue running without help.   A year and a half later not much has changed.  Children learning outside sitting on the muddy field surrounding the 4 room school structure, no electricity or running water, no bathroom facilities, no textbooks, no this, no that, etc.  And unfortunately probably no change in sight.   It is hard to explain exactly how much a school like this needs when they barely have a school at all.   The community has come together recently to help build them a small new structure, but it will be no more than a small mud-hut that will allow only a few more students to sit inside in the dark, and only temporarily.  

We met with Mrs Mangisa who has taught children here outside for more than 20 years. She was happy to see us but as we spoke she was noticeably tired of the situation and more than a bit angry at being told time and again that the Board of Education is going to help without ever seeing results.  The day before, we were told at our meeting at the BOE in Umtatha that the Bekiziswe had been visited by the Portfolio Committee sent by the South African Parliament and that they were in line for new buildings.  Mrs. Mangisa told us with a very stern look that they had been hearing the same thing for the last 13 years.  It appears that what we have heard, what the school has been told and what is really happening are three different scenarios.  

We are certainly not here to get involved in the politics of the South African Education system, nor are we here to tell anyone what is right and wrong, but some things are very obvious when you see them.  The Bekiziswe school needs help, their children need help, and their teachers need help.  To put things in perspective let us compare the meetings we have had over the last few days.  One meeting took place with the BOE in a very nice office in a big building in Umtatha.  The second was with The principle of the Madakeni school in a broken down classroom with holes in the ceilings and floors, no electricity and desks on their last legs.  The third was today with Mrs. Mangisa which took place with us sitting outside where the children learn in the grass and mud. We talked as she ate her lunch (rice and cabbage) while a local starving dog sat next to her waiting to see if she would drop any of her food.  This is a very proud woman who has spent her life trying her best to educate the children in her community.  She runs a school of over 600 children and in order to do whatever she can to help her situation she is forced to take meetings sitting in a cow field literally fending off hungry animals.

We tell her that we are able to buy enough desks to fill the classrooms that she has as well as chalkboards and other small items, but obviously there is much more that is needed to be done.   We are not an advocacy organization but we will do what we can to ensure that the Board Of Education does what it has promised.  Unfortunately the meeting we had with them today was postponed.