EDITORIAL FOCUSED ON FUTURE
their depth with the academic work. However, we understand that we are not just doing this for ourselves, but to offer our children a better quality education,” says Cynthia Peterson, headmistress of all the daycare centers and herself a recent Level 5 ECD-graduate.
The feedback from primary schools is inspiring. “The level of school readiness from learners that we deliver into the education system in terms of numeric and literacy skill has improved dramatically over the last five years. Do you have any idea just how proud that makes us? Not just as teachers, but as mothers, grandmothers, sisters and aunts,” says Cynthia.
Given the many social challenges in this rural community, teachers are trained by and continue to work closely with the clinical psychologist appointed to the project to identify children at risk and facilitate early intervention. Issues such as domestic violence, fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and abuse unfortunately do still feature. But having the kids in an environment where they are closely monitored by medical and teaching professionals, is slowly changing this scenario.
“In the first two years of this project we had the unfortunate incident of a baby dying due to neglect and malnutrition. That has not happened since. All parents are now obliged to attend workshops in nutrition and hygiene. And we are seeing fewer cases of FAS. We can make no empirical claims that it is due to the alcohol abuse rehabilitation program we have been running, but we’d like to think it’s a contributing factor. That is the difficulty of complex, interwoven issues such as education and poverty alleviation. You can keep children safe for a few hours, but for real, sustainable development, you have to address the environment which they go home to as well,” says Charlene Truter, PR Manager to Fairhills.
Part of doing this was launching one of the largest ABET programs in the Western Cape to extend education to
adults in the community. The program was presented by the Worcester Community Learning Center and the Overberg District Municipality.
To date 270 individuals have taken part in courses ranging form basic reading and writing skills to curricular subjects. In 2008/2009 the Grade 12 students achieved a pass rate of 75%, the highest in the Western Cape for a project of this nature. An impressive figure, but ‘reading’ the sense of self-worth on the face of someone for whom indiscriminately strung together alphabetic characters were transformed into meaningful words, tells a far more compelling story.
“The first time I could read my Bible and newspaper fluently brought a joy which, ironically, I cannot put into words, says Frans Willemse (47), a laborer on one of the Fairhills farms. Like so many others in his age group (40 to 60 years) Willemse was at a literacy level of between Grade 3 and 4. For the age groups 30 to 40 years literacy was at Grade 6 level and for those younger than 30 at Grade 10.
“We did what our parents and their parents did before them. We became farm laborers. Working with the soil, having a hand in shaping a beautiful thing like a vine, is wonderful. But, being a diesel mechanic could have been something too. I might still do it. I can read properly now, can’t I?” Willemse chuckles.
Giving people the power of choice is what was at the heart of Fontannaz’s decision to start this project. “There is nothing wrong with working on a farm. But true freedom lies in being able to choose the direction of your life. And we want people to be free,” he says. Also the reason why the project has invested in an extensive bursary program to deliver the first generation of youngsters from this community receiving a tertiary education in fields as diverse as engineering, sports management and teaching.
The forests, it seems, is rapidly thickening with tall trees. For more info on Fairtrade or Fairhills go to
www.fairhills.co.za or phone (021) 865 8100. ” 172 CHAPTER 9 | EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT AND ADULT BASIC EDUCATION AND TRAINING
www.ed.org.za
“Education is the movement from darkness to light” - Allan Bloom
To find out more about our education supplements, contact Bev Gaia (041) 504 7495,
gaiab@avusa.co.za
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