Speaker John Spittal: Adopt A Learner - Visit to South Africa
Tue, Nov 22nd 2016 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
John Spittal gave an illustrated talk to fellow Kilrymont St Andrews Rotarians on a recent visit to Zerilda Park primary school in a deprived area of Cape Town.
The club sponsors five children at the school.
John began his talk with a brief outline of South Africa's recent history from the birth of Apartheid in 1948, through to its dismantling in the 1990s and the election in 1994 of the first black president Nelson Mandela.
John, whose son is a paediatrician in a township, told how the Zerilda school was situated in the Lavender Hill area of the Cape Flats.
Lavender Hill came into being after coloured and black residents of Cape Town's District 6 were forcibly removed from their homes in the late 1960s and 1970s and the properties destroyed by the government which declared the area for whites only.
By 1982, more than 60,000 people had been relocated to the sandy, bleak Cape Flats township complex some 25 kilometres away.
The township has great problems with violence and drugs. With this deprivation, Zerilda school has many security issues. John had to be escorted to the school but, when there, was warmly welcomed. He took along a video camera to record speaking to the pupils the Kilrymont club is sponsoring.
The young pupils talked about their hopes for the future and thanked the club for its help.
The local Cape Town Rotary club are the main participants in the Adopt A Learner scheme at the school which has over 1000 pupils. Often each class will have 45 pupils with just one teacher.
The Rotary club are hoping to equip the school with a library and computers. It has already set up a dedicated meals area.
John ended his thought-provoking account of the difficulties of the township areas saying progress was being made in South Africa.
Bruce Clark proposed thanks.
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