Postcard from Swaziland

CEDPA’s Mary Ellen Duke, Senior Technical Advisor for Education and Youth, and Mpume Zama, Project Director in South Africa, visited schools in Swaziland where CEDPA’s Towards a Better Future pilot project is being implemented. Below Mary Ellen shares some experiences from her trip.

Greetings from Manzini, Swaziland!

June 1, 2008 – Mpume and I have spent the last two days visiting two of the schools where our Towards a Better Future pilot project is being implemented. One afternoon was spent at the Enjabulweni Bridging School run by our local partner, Manzini Youth Care, a project of the Salesians of Don Bosco. The school is basically three simple buildings with a total of six classrooms. Kids who have never been to school or dropped out of primary school attend classes here and are eventually mainstreamed into the local schools. Enjabulweni is probably the only school in the country that is free.

We observed three groups of girls who were actively participating in the session on gender-based violence while their younger siblings waited for them outside and played in the dirt. Many of these girls live in an informal squatter’s settlement and face the potential of gender-based violence every day. Sessions were taught in Seswati, but some of the girls responses were in English: “Run away!” and “Cry for help!” I tend to think that the facilitators are also facing gender-based violence in their lives as well.

Unfortunately, some girls have had to drop out because their parents need them to work after school as hawkers in the market. Others left because if they stayed after school for our program they’d miss their dinner at the local soup kitchen. Manzini Youth Care tries to offset their lack of food; after our sessions, the girls line up for sandwiches of jam on whole wheat bread and a cup of juice – a bucket of orange juice sits in the back of the classroom. Some of the girls turn around and give half of their food to their little brother or sister waiting outside. When I was here in June 2007 they told me that the price of corn meal had gone up 40% over the past year. I can only imagine where the price is at these days.

The second visit was to Elwandle Roman Catholic Primary School. The school is located on the outskirts of Manzini and about a mile from the main road. My driving skills on dirt roads are steadily improving! When it rains, getting to the school is not easy. Busisiwe Mamba is the principal and she attended our curriculum adaptation workshop last year. Earlier that day we spotted her on the streets of Manzini and the first thing that caught my eye was that she was wearing her “Every Future Bright” button that we gave her last year at the workshop.

Universal basic education does not exist in Swaziland and Elwandle is struggling. Parents must pay school fees running from 720 to 1085 Emalangeni per year ($100 to $155). These fees cover teacher salaries, security, supplies, water, etc. The government provides only 325 Emalengeni for each orphan in school and the Catholic diocese is out of cash. Manzini Youth Care is able to pay a portion of fees for some of the students. (They help with school fees at 47 primary schools in the country.) Mrs. Mamba is afraid that parents will run out of money and that many of her students may not complete the year. It’s hard to say how many will actually complete all seven grades.

The school has an income generation project to help offset expenses. They raise chicks and eventually sell them to the local community when they are fully grown. Unfortunately, it’s now winter and when the temperature drops, the chick mortality rate is high.

Many of the students also live in informal settlements. Mrs. Mamba would like to build a shelter for vulnerable girls. She currently has taken four girls into her home – three orphans and one daughter of a commercial sex worker. One of the girls is 12 years old – but she looks like she’s six years old, her growth having been stunted.

We observed three groups; again, the session was on gender-based violence. Some of the girls didn’t really participate actively – I had a feeling that some of them have already been victimized. All the girls, however, know that they can report abuse to the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) a local group that has received technical assistance from the Nisaa Institute for Women’s Development in South Africa, an nongovernmental organization run by one of our alumni, Dr. Zubeda Dangor.

These girls also ended their sessions with jam sandwiches and juice. They had to hurry home because now it gets dark by 5:30 pm and it’s a long walk home for some of them. The facilitators, who are teachers, are 110% dedicated to this project as well by extending their day to work with these girls. The project pays them a small stipend but they are not in it for the money.

Before I left, I gave Mrs. Mamba the cash I had in my wallet, about $40. It’s not much but at least it will help her feed those extra mouths at home. The world needs more people like Mrs. Mamba.

Learn more about CEDPA’s work in South Africa.

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