Intervention and rehabilitation for Grahamstown street children through education.

Bulelani Mvengenya and Sisipho Ntsabo

Rhodes University

(June, 17 2016)

The evolution of Amasango Career School in Grahamstown is astonishing.  What began as a non-governmental organization operating from two shipping containers, is now a registered special needs school for street children.

The shipping containers that function as classes.

Amasango is situated in Victoria Road, Oatlands, on the periphery of the Grahamstown’s operating society. Driving in through a dusty, brown, untarred road filled with potholes and puddles, the dedicated motor vehicles of educators are parked outside. Located opposite a deserted railway station, the initial two faded blue shipping containers of Amasango symbolises their history.
Amasango Career School offers accelerated bridging education for street children and marginalized poor children by helping them to reach mainstream education. It offers Grade One to Seven education for learners ranging from ages six to nineteen.
Organisation History
The institution was founded in April 1996 by former principal, Jane Bradshaw. Bradshaw was approached by a priest from East London to start a school for street children as a means to combat the plaguing issue of child neglecting and street children in Grahamstown. The school started as a non-governmental organization and years later, the Department of Education was approached and the school was registered as a special needs school.
“The school is a special school for children with extrinsic barriers to learning or psycho social problems,” current principal Linda Ngamlana explains. Seated in her overcrowded, small office she continues, “They are coming from the poorest of the poor backgrounds,”
Amasango Career School has a rehabilitative function in Grahamstown. It offers to rehabilitate youth who have lost hope. Not only does the school equip this youth with skills and meals but it gives them a sense of belonging. The school plays a decisive role in society by sharing society’s values, shaping its views, regulating behaviour and bringing about change in the community. Since the school opened, there has been a gradual decrease in youth drug consumption which corresponds with a decrease in crime committed by the youth.

Students  range from ages six to nineteen.

Amasango Career School offers intervention for Grahamstown which is rampaged by poverty and unemployment. Grahamstown has an astonishing unemployment rate of 70% and one of the highest levels of poverty in South Africa.
Challenges that Amasango faces
On arrival, a vast majority of the students are drug dependent and victims of abuse. Due to lack of funding, the school does not have an established therapy or counselling centre nor psychologists. At the moment, the school utilizes district social worker who have the issue of long-awaited lists. “As educators it is difficult to counsel leaners because of the background,” Ngamlana states with concern.
Amasango Career School has been seeking adequate school infrastructure for years. Local Grahamstown resident and cab driver, Andre expresses his frustration on the lack of infrastructure, “The infrastructure does not allow the children to develop and it is not encouraging,”. Eight years after the initial application and appeals with the help of the Legal Resource Centre to the Department of Education, the school does not have permanent facilities. Gradual progress can be seen as there are no longer overcrowded classrooms, there is a library, a kitchen and an art class.

The art class where art work of the children are displayed.

The computer where there are only five functioning computers.

The kitchen that feeds students daily.

The school supplies the children with uniform, electricity money and food parcels. They receive parcels and donations from the Friends of Amasango charity fund in the United Kingdom. The Department of Education funds tuition, transportation and provides a nutrition programme.

“But that is not enough,” Ms Ngamlana says.
There is a dire need for intervention from the community of Grahamstown and Rhodes University. Students and local business are called to help Amasango. The school wishes to produce more successful students this year.

Xhosa text returns after 90 years | University of Cape Town News

Xhosa text returns after 90 years | University of Cape Town News

Monday Paper archives

Volume 22.02 24 February 2003

back to archived volume

Xhosa text returns after 90 years

Comeback book: UCT’s Prof Sizwe Satyo has orchestrated the re-release of Zemk’ Inkomo magwalandini, a collection of Xhosa poetry, clan praises, essays and proverbs first compiled by Dr W Benson Rubusana in 1906.

THE PUBLICATION of Zemk’ Inkomo magwalandini, a collection of Xhosa poetry, clan praises, essays and proverbs first compiled by Dr W Benson Rubusana in 1906, is an important milestone for UCT’s Professor Sizwe Satyo. Satyo not only orchestrated the re-release of the book, but is also convinced that the text still holds many lessons for South Africans. 

Rubusana, the first African member of the Cape Provincial Parliament as well as poet, newspaper columnist and church minister, put the book together – with contributions from African leaders, politicians, teachers, and others – in an attempt to debate the “conflict” between modernism and traditional African values. He published the book in 1906. 

The collection was last printed in 1911. 

According to Satyo, based in the Department of Southern African Languages, the original Zemk’ Inkomo magwalandini – its name means "There goes your heritage, you cowards" – signified the early start of an intellectual struggle against colonial authority. “After a few military defeats, Rubusana and other writers decided that the best thing would be to continue the fight through the pen rather than the spear,” he says. 

The volume’s “Great Discussions” on the contrasts between Christianity and traditional African beliefs, on African customs and on historical events, provide a wealth of material for lecturers and teachers of history, cultural studies and language, he adds. 

“It can even teach a couple of our members of parliament something about the art of debate.” 

Satyo’s fascination with the text stems back to his days as examiner with the Joint Matriculation Board, when he would often extract pieces from the book for comprehension passages. More recently, he began work on an English commentary of Zemk’ Inkomo magwalandini. 

Realising that it would be useful to actually have the book in print, he began organising its publication with New Africa Education Publishers. As editor, he also penned an introduction, in Xhosa, for the collection. 

In addition, Satyo is considering the daunting task of translating the voluminous work into English, possibly in several stages and volumes.

Jerusalem

Call it Jerusalem why

because it is a promised point that I will meet you again

because I just hope to visibly see and physically meet you

because there'll be no more fear of prosecution and intimidation

there will be peace of mind in our universe

because I will know why we separated, I will be able to look back to our history and smile

we will share inspiring story, the most stigmatised story that I liberate myself with

it is Jerusalem because it’s the point of reflection

my questions will get answers, when I see

I will understand what it means to be a social justice activist

because now I am crying, crying for I cannot see, I refuse to look or listen

I am bleeding but I don't want it dressed I want the light to get through the cracks in my heart

the heart that has been crashed into the salty soil of the desert

I will be able to face the world of trouble and be able to stand by those I love for common justice

I will at that point be able to forgive 

it is that point, that my life will resume

I will at that point ask you about life

life that we have been trying to live, the life of pain and sacrifices

I will read what I write

people sacrifice freedom to live others sacrifice identity for success

then what is life after all

life remains good, but tough

who then hates life, it is he who hates humanity

Jerusalem is what my eyes desire to see and what my soul wish to feel

Call it Jerusalem because I don't have space to stand here

this earth absorbs my energy air here dries out my tears

tears that mix with my blood

my blood

the blood that I use to write

I write what I feel, what I think and what I see

I write it with my blood

because I cannot say it with my mouth

I cannot take it away and I cannot change it

all I can do is to feel it and think about it

it would be better if cities were not built up enough

I would maybe see justice in the sky, even if it would hide by the stars

the stars that all compete for eradication of one's sight

stars that have finished the sight of many already

if maybe there would be no ship in the sea

I would be able to identify a wave of justice and live peacefully for a day

if still there is no love, no justice in this world

for there is still no hope for complete justice

let us make life more just and live not to satisfy our needs

but strive for social justice

then we shall encounter smile and joy the day we meet