Projects

Strengthening and expanding educational opportunities

Khulile School Construction Project

There are over 200 high school aged children in Khulile village who spent more than an hour a day walking to and from the nearest village with a secondary school because Khulile did not have adequate facilities. Not only was this a hardship for the children, but it put them at some risk since they had to cross a relatively large creek on their way to school.

Given the concerns of the villagers, Mr. Magwashu, the Headman of the village, took a courageous step by imposing a onetime fee on every household in the village to raise money to build their own secondary school. The one-time fee was approximately equal to the average annual income of a household in the village. The proceeds of this onetime charge were used to buy building materials for the school and the villagers volunteered their time to construct the school.

The school was about half constructed when the village was hit by a terrible storm – equivalent of a hurricane in the U.S. You may remember the devastation we saw on television in the spring of 2000 that resulted from terrible storms that swept through Mozambique. Those same storms swept through South Africa causing extensive damage, which was not fully reported in the U.S. press.

In Khulile, hurricane force winds literally blew away the half built school and the remaining materials. The village had no school and was unable to raise funds from internal sources needed to renew their efforts. Because of cuts at the central government level it would be years before Khulile would receive Provincial assistance constructing their secondary school.

The residents of Khulile took the initiative to make their lives, and the lives of their children, better under the new democratic environment in South Africa. Their dreams were blown away in a matter of minutes.

Being made aware of this situation, the Coalition held a fund raising dinner in January 2001 and raised $1,800 for the Khulile school construction project.

In February 2001 Mr. Mkwayi, a member of the Board of Directors of the Coalition, presented the first check from the Coalition to the village for their school building fund. A second check was presented in July 2001. Each time, Mr. Magwashu representing the village and Mr. Mkwayi representing the Coalition signed an agreement stipulating that the funds were a grant to the village, but the village must account for how those funds are spent.

Khulile School

This initiative has been extremely successful. First, by supporting the initiative already undertaken by the community, the Coalition helped re-energize the community after the devastation experienced by the storms of 2000. Second, it motivated the community to put more pressure on the Provincial government for support of their efforts. Third, the Coalition’s contribution was described in the local paper and that attention motivated the local government to volunteer support to help complete the school. As a result, the school has been completed and the community takes great pride in their accomplishment.

Through this successful collaboration, the community has gained experience and renewed confidence. For example, the community approached the Provincial government, which is responsible for schools, and demanded that the Province match the effort undertaken by the community on its own. They received a commitment from the Provincial government to construct four additional classrooms which were completed in January 2002. This resulted in a total of eight new classrooms for the village’s new secondary school.

The Coalition was a catalyst to re-energize the community and motivate local institutions to help out. The community took the initiative to make the lives of their children better. They did not wait for government to do something for them; they taxed themselves and took the initiative to build a school for their children.