Finding harmony in the townships

By Sue Hamer

I went to South Africa to work as a classroom assistant for Saga Volunteer Travel's school support programme. My placement was at the Isaac Booi Senior primary school in Zwide, a township on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth.

Zwide is an area of high unemployment, with a mixture of formal and informal settlement housing. The school has fees of 60 Rand per year which, at approximately £5, sounds a small amount to us, but is still beyond the reach of many of the parents. As a result, the school is unable to provide many of the basic requirements schools in the UK would take for granted.

There is a huge shortfall in the provision of books, and in the 'library', which is a bare room only recently given shelving courtesy of the Jewish women's association. The books have been donated by schools and libraries from around the world. Textbooks, including reading books, have to be shared between two or three pupils, which is not very satisfactory, especially as the class sizes average 50 children.

I spent my time chiefly doing arts and crafts, which was very welcome, especially as I had taken with me a stock of materials to which they would not normally have had access. Additionally, I spent time helping poor readers improve their reading skills in small groups. This was helpful to the staff as it is not something they usually have the time to do, given the large class sizes. I hope it was helpful to the pupils too, as slow learners can easily get left behind.

I was impressed by the dedication of the staff in their efforts to raise money for various improvements. While I was there, the school organised a banquet, which two other volunteers from different schools and I attended. It was interesting to see everyone outside the school environment all having a wonderful time, while being aware of the serious side of the occasion. We were made extremely welcome and met staff from other schools, parents and school governors. I think they were every bit as curious to meet us as we were to meet them.

Before I went to Port Elizabeth, the school had entered the National South African Schools Choral Eisteddfod, held in Johannesburg. The school does not have any musical instruments and yet the harmony they create is truly beautiful. Amazingly, they came first in the competition. It saddened me that the local press had not acknowledged such talent when they returned, so I came up with a plan to help them.

As part of the SVT project requires volunteers to make a project donation, I decided to use mine to pay for a professional recording of the choir to produce a CD, the idea being that the school could use their own talented voices to raise money for a piano. I thought this could be a sustainable way to help them help themselves. Hopefully, enough copies will be sold to enable them to buy other school equipment in the future. I want to maintain contact with this school, from where I have many happy memories, by sending donations from any talks I am able to do, plus money from the sale of my handmade greeting cards.

Saga also very kindly promoted the sale of the CDs in their Travellers' News magazine. This proved a great hit; in fact every single copy of this fine music from a small township in Africa was sold.