Showing posts with label Thandulwazi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thandulwazi. Show all posts
See how Thandulwazi changes lives in South Africa
Thank you for watching.
I am so proud of our involvement in Thandulwazi.
The St Stithians Foundation was set up to provide support for a Saturday school called Thandulwazi for pupils struggling to find a way complete their school education. It also supports teacher training. The Thandulwazi Trust is a Maths and Science Academy based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
You're Beautiful - South Africa
This is absolutely the last mention of our holiday in South Africa, I promise. I met some inspirational people, saw some stunning scenery, and ate mouthwatering food. And now it's time to move on to new adventures, so just one last look at some of the photos from beautiful South Africa.
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| Photo collage, South Africa, May 2012, Lesley Beeton |
You can see a full photo story board here, and read about two educational projects we support here.
Thank you, Cheetahs in my Shoes, for hosting You're Beautiful. Here's the link to this week's post.
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| You're Beautiful |
Educating Africa
I am joining Salt and Caramel's blog hop today. Lynn is in Kenya, exploring the issues of life, health and education in Africa. Please do read Lynn's blog to find out more.
I wrote the post below after my holiday in South Africa in May this year. I was struck by how far the country had come since we left seventeen years ago. Then, it would have been almost unheard of for a young Zulu woman to go to school, have a career and decide for herself when and with whom to start a family. Now, we were heartened by the efforts of the recently elected politicians, to educate young people about contraception, having healthy babies, and the prospect of an HIV-free generation. This is good news for South Africa.
Two more brief anecdotes from my life in Africa in the early 1990's. My husband was training to be a doctor, and had to do an obstetrics block in a rural hospital. He said it was gruesome, sometimes delivering three babies at a time. No pain relief, episiotomies performed by experienced but extremely busy midwives. During his training, he delivered one hundred babies naturally and performed thirty Caesarian births. Today, he is a Cardiologist.
I went to discuss contraception with my GP just before we got married. As Dr B was still in training, we didn't need the added pressure of a baby! Her comment still rings in my ears: do you know what they call people who use condoms? Parents! I have been using the contraceptive pill ever since, but I do wonder whether that was the most balanced advice she could have give me.
Please read on, a story about a small part of Educating Africa.
My story begins with Sthoko, a young South African woman who gave my feet a wonderful pedicure after walking in the Drakensberg mountains in South Africa last week. Sthoko is one of the new generation South Africans, proud of her heritage and looking forward to a happy and successful economic future. Sthoko is educated and has a good job in a resort spa. She hopes to find a good and decent man to marry and start a family. But for now, she lives in a remote region of South Africa where three provinces meet at the escarpment. Mobile phones are plentiful in South Africa, but outside of the metropolitan areas, coverage is sparse and internet access is patchy to say the least. Satellite TV provides most of the news, but it’s expensive. Sthoko is lucky – she can read so will be able to find out about current affairs for herself. She wonders, for example, why the Zimbabwean people are not rising up en masse against Robert Mugabe. But there are many others who are not so fortunate, who are unable to read or write.
I wrote the post below after my holiday in South Africa in May this year. I was struck by how far the country had come since we left seventeen years ago. Then, it would have been almost unheard of for a young Zulu woman to go to school, have a career and decide for herself when and with whom to start a family. Now, we were heartened by the efforts of the recently elected politicians, to educate young people about contraception, having healthy babies, and the prospect of an HIV-free generation. This is good news for South Africa.
Two more brief anecdotes from my life in Africa in the early 1990's. My husband was training to be a doctor, and had to do an obstetrics block in a rural hospital. He said it was gruesome, sometimes delivering three babies at a time. No pain relief, episiotomies performed by experienced but extremely busy midwives. During his training, he delivered one hundred babies naturally and performed thirty Caesarian births. Today, he is a Cardiologist.
I went to discuss contraception with my GP just before we got married. As Dr B was still in training, we didn't need the added pressure of a baby! Her comment still rings in my ears: do you know what they call people who use condoms? Parents! I have been using the contraceptive pill ever since, but I do wonder whether that was the most balanced advice she could have give me.
Please read on, a story about a small part of Educating Africa.
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| The Cavern escarpment |
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| Travel conditions in rural South Africa |
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| Royal Drakensberg Primary School |
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| A homemade school in South Africa |
The problem for the education of girls is even more desperate. In this area of South Africa, Zulu tribal traditions are very strong, which means that boys are born with more advantages than girls. Girls are still growing up and working in domestic service. Of course, this will always happen, but it is said that the education of children is only as good as that of their mother. So, unless we can educate the mothers of tomorrow, children in South Africa will never rise above the basic level. I believe very strongly that there needs to be more focus and commitment on educating girls, empowering them through education, to healthier, happier lives as confident women in South Africa’s future.
The newly appointed health minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has declared his aim of an HIV-free generation. The recent public awareness ads are hard hitting and make it clear that responsible sexual practice will be a major contributor to halting the spread of the infection. South Africa cannot afford the widespread use of anti-retroviral drugs forever.
While in South Africa, I listened to a debate on broad-based black economic empowerment, which the local people refer to as BBEE. Eighteen years after Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress came to power, this is still the main concern amongst young black South Africans. May is Africa month, a celebration of all things African. But everyone is wondering if this generation will enjoy true economic freedom and independence, that which previous generations have fought for.
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| African sunrise |
For a photo story board of our trip and experiences in South Africa, please pop over to Christmas Pie Crafts, where I am guest blogging today.
Photo credits
Water wonderful, life!
This post was first published in Jump! an online magazine for pre-teen girls.
Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink (with apologies to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)
Introduction
I am a scientist. I study what the DNA code tells us about human life and health. I have always loved science. Science doesn’t just happen in laboratories. It happens all around us. Science keeps aeroplanes flying, electricity flowing, and the internet speedy. I grew up in South Africa. Some of you may have traveled there for your holidays, to see the game reserves or Table Mountain. But even if you haven’t been there, we can all still learn something from the experiences of southern Africa.
What you may not have realised is that it is a region of the world plagued by drought. In 1983, the southern African continent suffered a devastating drought, and we faced severe water restrictions for about six months. These restrictions affected the entire country, approximately four times the size of England and Wales. Each household was restricted to just 400 litres of water a day. We had to stand in a bucket to shower. When the bucket was full, your shower was over. The bucket of shower water was used to flush the toilet. And that meant just four flushes a day in our house. How many times do you flush the toilet in one day?
Floods
Engineering a solution
Following the drought, an innovative pumping scheme was engineered to drive water over the escarpment and into the shallow Vaal Dam, the main reservoir water supply for Gauteng, a major metropolitan (shopping and business) area in South Africa. This meant that water resources could be better managed across the country, improving storage capacity and efficiency. Evaporation, though, continues to be a leading cause of water loss, and this is counter-acted by a program of cloud-seeding* to ensure moisture is returned to the ground. Desalination plants which make tap water from sea water are being used in coastal manufacturing processes, but in spite of South Africa having such a large coast line, this is still not a main stream water resource. And it will need to be, to cope with Africa's increasing water needs. It's complex, and a never-ending battle against nature, but so many people, animals and crops depend on a constant water supply, that it is a cost that South Africa will have to bear. Do you think that desalination would be a good source of drinking water in the UK?
2012
Fast forward to 2012 in the UK. Many of you will be living in drought-affected areas in the United Kingdom. That means a hosepipe ban. Perhaps you have heard your parents and teachers talking about having to water the garden with a watering can. Or not washing the car. We have put water butts in our garden to catch rain water. We changed our garden to be less 'thirsty'. We share a bath, only run the dishwasher and washing machine on a full load. We have a low flush loo. We pay for the water we use because we have a water meter. We respect this precious resource. My veggie patch is nearly ready for planting and I am really concerned that I will not be able to keep my veggies going if we have a hot spring and summer. The water butts will run out quickly, and my crops will fail. Have you planted any veggies? How will you water them if the hosepipe ban continues?
The future
And what about in the future? The UK needs a long-term water solution. We need to train scientists and engineers who have a vision for working in water resource. Our country needs to invest in geologists, engineers, and biologists to provide our future water needs. Do you have any water wonderful ideas?
Thandulwazi
Nelson Mandela said "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world". In Zulu ‘Thandulwazi’ means for the love of knowledge. Wouldn't it be great if all pupils could go to school with those words in their hearts? Feel the science love.
* Cloud-seedingis when scientists go up in a small plane to ‘shoot’ dust-like particles into clouds. These particles attract small water droplets, which form into rain clouds.
Monday mood board #6
Not everything is black or white. In life, most things are a shade of grey. That's not to say that there is no colour. It's just that when faced with a tough decision to be made, there is unlikely to be a totally correct or incorrect answer. Somewhere in the middle will be just fine. And that's where I am today. Somewhere in the middle, quite content.
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| Black and white, photo collage, April 2012, Lesley Beeton |
I was asked recently about the future for South Africa. I cannot claim to be able to comment on recent social history, having lived in leafy Surrey for a long time. I can say that women are the future in South Africa. Educate and empower women, and South Africa will have long term stability and prosperity. I am proud to support Thandulwazi.
For the love of knowledge
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| Photo credit : Yousuf Karsh http://www.karsh.org/ |
The St Stithian Foundation was set up to provide support for a Saturday school for pupils struggling to find a way complete their school education. It also supports teacher training. The Thandulwazi Trust is a Maths and Science Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa.
We are pleased to support this initiative, and yesterday we received a short film on DVD, following the success of three amazing people who attended Thandulwazi. It brought me to tears, just hearing their stories, and seeing how they want to use the education they have been given.
I am often asked why I left South Africa, and 16 years on, I honestly don't remember the exact reason. I know my husband and I were fortunate to receive an excellent education in South Africa and attended University there too. We wanted to be citizens of the world, use our education where it was needed. I'm pleased to say that for the most part, we have been successful in this. No matter what happens in life, nobody can take away your education.
Thandulwazi means for the love of knowledge. Wouldn't it be great if all pupils could go to school with those words in their hearts? Instead, I still see students in their final year of BSc working so hard to complete all the coursework, study for exams and write a dissertation, that they seem to have forgotten that they chose Science for the love of knowledge. They came to university full of excitement and promise and over the three years have been worn down to just wanting to get a 2:1. Some, of course, will always be enthusiastic and will want to know more than the syllabus dictates. They are challenging and fascinating people.
I had a brief exchange with a blogger from Nature News last week about the challenges facing UK universities in producing biomedical scientists who are equipped to face the changing environment of life science research. We have only just got them up to speed with basic molecular biology techniques and now the technology companies are telling us we need to train bioinformaticians. These are scientists who will spend their post doc jobs sitting at a computer, nowhere near a lab, analysing millions of digital data points. Where's the love in that?
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