What It Takes To Develop A Child - In Africa, In South Africa, In A Township In South Africa

One Of South Africa's Beautiful Children

Most educational systems all over the world have come to agree over the years, that to develop a child physically, emotionally, spiritually and intellectually, the child has to be stimulated, educated and guided constantly and patiently in all the four areas. The guidance has to start as early as possible and no means have to be spared. 

The first five years of a child are the years that leave the strongest impact on the child's development. That is the ideal. And this ideal supposes, that to do this the necessary means are available in each school, preschool and in each creche. Parents and teachers work together for this ideal (in the ideal case). Both parties have at least agreed on the way forward.

In Europe parents will tell you it costs approximately 180.000 Euro counted from the birth of a child until the day the young adult leaves university and is ready to enter the working world and to stand on his own two feet. Given the fact that everything goes well! Sometimes you have to support your kid a little longer.

Europe has its statistics and many people do nowadays base important life decisions on these statistics. Meaning, there is planning and budgeting involved at what point to have children and how many. Most parents want to give the best to their children right from the start. It is a fact that to raise the necessary money for education of your child can be a challenge.

This again accounts for the fact that many women become mothers for the first time after 30 years of age in Europe, at a point when money is available. And then there are mother and child care programs, children's grants etc, etc. So we know it takes a lot to develop a child into a responsible adult in Europe.  

What does it take to develop a child in Africa? In a Township or in a remote rural region? The same?

Job Description Of A Teacher In  Mdantsane: We must know that we are here to develop a child physically, emotionally, spiritually and intellectually!

Body, mind, spirit and soul make a human being. To help someone develop spiritually and emotionally is probably the most challenging part of the educational process because here values are formed.

We are sharing with you today a look inside a preschool in Mdantsane in NU 1. Like many educational institutions in South Africa this creche has to make do with very little educational material.

If there is less material available to work with the children, teachers have to be more inventive, more creative and they have to improvise a lot more. There are voices in South Africa saying that the South African government is failing the people by not providing the support to the communities in terms of educational material and teachers, that was promised.

School Children in Mdantsane

Is enough invested into the future of South Africa - the youth?

We are asking this question, because although denied by many politicians South Africa is experiencing what is called by the media an educational crisis. 

If school books have not been delivered six months after the school year started and the curriculum could not be followed due to this negligence can it then not be called a crisis? At what level responsibility has to be taken for failure to deliver.

The Music Area

Asking the question again: what is needed in South Africa to develop a child? Is not more effort needed and a more serious attitude from the stakeholders involved in the process?

The most important thing at this point in time is to develop, to invest the maximum into the youth to allow this country to become what it deserves to be. An aggravating factor that we are experiencing is the fact that many young people have lost interest in education and drop out of school.

Handmade drums, material used old tins covered with animal skins!

It is a good thing to recycle!

And still you find so many positive teachers who do an excellent job and come to work every day with passion thinking of ways to teach children if there are no books, no tables, no chairs and no pens.

Future leaders

Some interesting delicious food items!

The classroom

Bhele's Little Angels in Mdantsane

The Mdantsane Way Online Magazine can also be seen as a small scale development project with a very personal touch. One of our objectives is to introduce our readers to the life and environment of this large township, that is not covered by main stream media. 

Many of the people who contribute voluntarily to the magazine have been involved in some sort of humanitarian work before in their life. And some of us have come to the conclusion, that large development organization and bilateral collaborations between countries and continents are not the best instrument to drive development on the grass root level.

In Mdantsane live thousands and thousands of little angels. Children who will have it harder in life to advance, simply because of the fact that they have been born into living conditions much less favorable than those of other children in more a developed and affluent environment.

This fact makes parents even work harder to earn money to send their kids into a school or give them the necessary pre-school education. Most South Africans experience what we call the battle for education. In fact most Africans all over the continent experience this.

Bhele's Little Angels is a creche and kindergarten situated in an informal settlement of Mdantsane offering educare, and after-school care in a Christian environment. Pre-school education is so important because the child's mind is trained and formed at a very early age, preparing him for school and making it easier for the child to learn. The entire socialisation process of a child depends on what type information he or she had been exposed to in his first five years.

We are publishing detailed stories about projects and institutions on this site, not only to allow for a personal view on a reality, that is for many people strange and unknown, but also to introduce people to personal development opportunities as well. 

Our message is if you want to help, or let us rather say get involved, there will be a way. Everybody who wants to help can help. There are so many ways to get involved.

This is a message to our readers that if you see a project you want to get involved with, we can facilitate the contact, but we will not get involved as a development agent.  It is up to you to develop a personal realtionship with the organization or the person.

If you want to sponsor books, money, toys - you can. If you want to help develop the career of a future musician, artist or poet you can.  It does not matter if you are in the Philippines, in Russia or in Brazil.

If you do have an idea let us know!

The Look Of Doubt

A healthy dose of natural sceptism is always.good. I totally agree.

These two little " fellas", coming home from pre-school in N.U 6 were carrying a very heavy load with backpacks half their size dangling from their arms. And while the left one proofed to be a courageous young man and was standing his ground giving me the look of doubt - his colleague just dropped his backpack and fled into the bush.

WE LOVE EACH OTHER - SINOTHANDO EDUCARE CENTRE

The Sinothando Educare Centre in N.U.2 in Mdantsane  

simply stands for love and care.

" We Love Each Other " is the vision and mission

The director of Sinothando Mrs. Mandisa Bashman

" All Students Must Have Stationery, she says, It is Compulsory !

The cook

her culinary creations - Maccaroni Bolognese

and her working place

And the care-giver - for all the little things that can happen during a day !

GROWING UP

When you look at a child's face you see if it is happy and at peace. This little boy is. The serious expression on his face was triggered by our camera. 

And so was his.....

Both boys stay in a creche with other children and are well taken care off.

Talking about pretty girls found everywhere in Mdantsane I think it is obvious that this little girl has understood at an early age very well the possibility that she might become a future beauty queen. And she seizes the chance to demonstrate it to us.

A beauty queen not only in Mdantsane because posing comes as easy as eating her deliciously prepared bowl of butternut soup that she has left out of sight to show us her talent. Her soup gets eaten by another kid. But she  might be able to conquer the world later...

The smile is nearly perfect, there is no lack of confidence and the attitude is right.

But on the contrary her little male companion is not so sure if he should pursue a career as a model or rather stick to his chips. 

Being a child in Mdantsane means for most children being loved and cherished by their parents, families as well as the community. Even when families have little material wealth, initiatives are taken by the community to satisfy a child's need. Parents seek education and a better life for their children and they are willing to do the impossible to achieve this goal.

There are numerous creches that are run and managed by dedicated loving and caring women and girls.

Like the four ladies in the picture who manage a crash together which is located in a church. Children can stay there until 1 clock.

  

Games are played, food is prepared and a little obligatory nap is held to give the care-givers a well deserved break.

Improvised equipment and self made shelves and a wooden play stove makes the place even more colorful.

And in the end our little friend has decided to be in the picture.