Blog Entry

    contact us

    South Africa: A country in the process of transformation

    With South Africa so much in the news at the moment, our minds are naturally drawn to Roedean South Africa, our sister school in Johannesburg. I was therefore delighted to be asked to join thirty Old Girls from South Africa for lunch in London recently.

    As with many of such meetings, the appeal for the Old Girls was the chance to talk to old friends and meet others: I was able to catch up with my fellow Headmistress, Mary Williams. Mary and her team had shown me such kindness when I visited the school in January 2008, taking me to key parts of Johannesburg such as the Apartheid Museum, the the Fort and the Constitutional Court as well as guiding me around the beautiful school buildings in Houghton and introducing me to staff and pupils.

    The issues that face those growing up in today’s South Africa are huge: whilst its constitution is the most progressive in the world and its store of mineral wealth massive, 43% of its population live on less that $2 a day. It has unemployment running at 30% and yet suffers from crippling skills shortages. Whilst it was the first country to perform a heart transplant, its people’s health record is among the world’s worst. Whilst it spends a significant chunk on education, its national results are very low.

    The response at Roedean South Africa is to face these issues with their eyes wide open. The girls are drawn from the range of backgrounds within South Africa and they all are aiming for academic excellence. Yet they are brought face to face with the issues their people encounter through the school’s social outreach programme. Girls work on projects both in down town Johannesburg and also on a five day residential project in Limpopo, 5 hours from home.

    The intention of this programme is that the girls build up meaningful relationships with the people whom they are helping and able to reflect on the complexities that exist in a country in the process of transformation. In the words of their Head Girl for 2009, Keneilwe Ramaphosa, “We not only learn about giving back to the community, we learn compassion and a greater understanding of the world.”

     

    By Frances King, Headmistress at Wednesday, 16 June 2010

    COMMENTS

    Post a comment

    Name:

    Email:

    Comment: 
     
     
    All content © Roedean 2012 | Roedean Way, Brighton, BN2 5RQ | Registered Charity No. 307063