education in small steps and full circles
A
Visit to Swaziland Rural / Village Preschools
May 22, 2007 to July 10, 2007
Preschool Children in Swaziland
On May 22, 2007, I left California to visit Swaziland for a
fact-finding mission for Micro Steps. The purpose was to identify
under-served rural preschools and to distribute educational school
supplies.
On June 4, 2007, I went to see the Ministry of Education regarding a
waiver for custom duty on books and supplies mailed from the United
States to rural preschools. I consulted with the Head of the Pre-School
Program, Gwen Simelane, who got very excited about what Micro Steps is
trying to do and promised to help us in providing a list of preschools
around the country for us to see and choose which ones we want to be
involved with. She was going to be in a conference the whole week and I
should contact her the following week, which I did. I am planning to be
in contact with her for some of the details we need to finalize as far
as village preschools are concerned.
Late that morning I talked to Crispin Pemberton-Piggott who owns New
Dawn Engineering, which specializes in appropriate technologies, to
consult with him about making and installing playground equipment for
the schools we will identify. Although they are busy and don’t
specialize in playground equipment, he promised that they would
consider our request if we don’t find a company/person who can supply
what we need. If we had them make some specific playground equipment
for us, it would last for many years because they manufacture high
quality products.
I then went to the Times of Swaziland newspaper and bought 80 kg
newsprint, which practically filled the backseat
because the trunk was full of my personal stuff (all my luggage)!
June 5, 2007: Making plans to start visiting schools, sorting and
making piles of supplies for each school. In each packet I put pencils,
pens, books, balloons, teddy bears/dolls, pictures, coloring sets,
clay, crayons, charts, scissors and newsprint. I visited a nearby
school, which I had discovered on my last trip. I found out that they
had closed down because of lack of funds for supplies and teacher’s
wages. This is very common in rural communities where preschools are
initiated by individuals whose aim is to help children who would
otherwise have no access to a pre-school.
On June 9, 2007 I visited Sebuhle Preschool at Nhlangano and delivered
supplies. There are 38 children and they have some old playground
equipment in need of repair. They also have the right size
benches/desks, dolls and stuffed animals. There is a teacher’s desk, a
toilet and town drinking water. This school is near a town and the
reason I paid a visit was the fact that we have had a long-term
relationship with it in the past and they always welcome some paper and
a few other supplies. My attempt to take pictures of the children and
their school failed as my camera’s batteries were low. From Sebuhle
preschool, I stopped at Gege Preschool and delivered a roll of
newsprint. The teacher and the pupils had already left for the day and
I talked to the Head Teacher of the Elementary School who didn’t know
how many kids they have in the preschool. She received the newsprint
for the preschool with gratitude. These two schools are in the
Shiselweni District.
June 12, 2007: I visited Mahlangatsha Lutheran Preschool, which has
been closed because the majority of the children are orphans, and the
church and the community decided to convert it to a feeding program. It
sounded like they would like to do both, but due to lack of resources,
they closed the preschool in favor of the feeding program.
At Sibovu Preschool, I delivered two rolls of newsprint, other school
supplies in the packet mentioned above and a CD player, which had been
donated. There are 58 children and I got to meet the Head Teacher of
the Elementary School who is very supportive of the preschool and was
grateful that Micro Steps is interested in rural community schools. It
was sad to watch 58 children sitting on a concrete floor on a cold
winter day, more than half of them were sick and also fighting for a
turn to play on one almost broken “swing.” For “tables” they use adult
benches to write on while they kneel on the concrete floor. As can be
seen on the pictures, the wooden posts of the “swing” were
also swinging. There is a great need for supplies, charts, educational
and other toys and a good swing set.
(Children having lunch and sitting on
cold concrete floor)
(Children waiting for their turn on the “swing” – one on right is
broken)
(Teacher and children on picture)
From here, I proceeded to Jozini Preschool with 12 pupils. They have
small plastic chairs and use adult
benches to write on. This preschool is in need of supplies, blackboard,
tables, charts, educational and other toys. I left supplies and
newsprint for which they were grateful. These schools are in the
Manzini District.
Jozini Preschool
(Charts on wall made by teacher)
(Chalkboard on wall)
(Entrance to the preschool building)
June 14, 2007: Went to the Times of Swaziland newspaper to buy more
newsprint and they were closed. At All Stationery, I bought more school
supplies and talked to the Managing Director, Mrs. Littler, to find out
if they could help with sending some supplies to the various schools if
we asked for their help to do so. She asked if we could identify a
local representative that she can contact if she needed to. I told her
that we would have to identify someone reliable and trustworthy to be
our liaison person to do what needs to be done on behalf of Micro
Steps.
June 15, 2007: Went to the Times of Swaziland newspaper again, to buy
paper. For some tax reasons the government had instructed them to stop
selling newsprint. I begged them to make an exception. They reluctantly
agreed to sell me 58 kg. This was not enough
because I was headed to schools in the eastern part of the country and
they would need paper, no matter what. I was grateful for even this
amount and I had to find another place where I could get paper in
future. I was lucky that one of our friends who runs a Montessori
school, introduced me to a place where I could get paper. Since this
was a new
relationship, it was difficult to convince them to give me the paper
and after a lot of negotiation and persuasion, they reluctantly agreed
to sell it to me.
I visited Magugu Preschool at Mzimpofu near Mafutseni. There are 38
pupils who have no chairs or desks and sit on a strip of carpet. The
school is clean. They were
grateful for the supplies of crayons, pencils, scissors, charts, clay,
books, balloons and the paper. They have a good-sized playground with
no playground equipment, except used tires and some wooden poles
presumably for future “swings.”
(Charts on the wall)
(Children posing for a picture)
Emafutseni Preschool has 28 pupils and most kids are completely
orphaned or vulnerable in other ways. Some have both parents but
unemployed. Most of the kids were dispersed because the Teacher had to
go some place. I delivered pencils,
books, balloons, pictures, clay, and paper. Looks like this school
needs a lot of basic supplies and other needs to brighten the kids’
life.
(Children and Teacher near my rented
car)
Ekuthokozeni Preschool has 17 pupils and the numbers fluctuates due to
family tragedies and poverty. They received a roll of newsprint,
pencils, pens, books, balloons, pictures, coloring sets, clay, charts
and scissors. This school is housed in a very small room of someone’s
home and it’s a great concern to the family and parents. They have a
much bigger and strong structure close-by, which is in need of doors
and windows, but because of poverty they are unable to have it
repaired. They have grass mats and some plastic chairs (see their
classroom, black/green-board, chairs, swings). Even though
their swing is made of wooden poles, it was well made, painted and
doesn’t look dangerous, at least for now.
Images of Ekuthokozeni Preschool
(This is not a skateboard, it’s a
chalkboard)
(Handwritten teaching charts pasted on the wall)
(Children playing on nicely painted wooden swings)
June 18, 2007: Had an appointment to meet with Customs Commissioner to
talk about how they can grant us a waiver of any normally applicable
customs duties for shipments of books and other supplies from the
United States through the postal service from Micro Steps to various
schools in Swaziland. One of our friends, Dr. Dlamini offered to
introduce me to Mr. Mlotshwa, a Customs official, who could possibly
grant us a waiver. Mr. Mlotshwa explained to us the complexity of
imported school supplies and books that there would be challenges with
the other five countries involved in the Customs Union. He encouraged
us to get our books and supplies from the region because they are not
taxed as heavily as imported books from overseas. He also explained to
us that the customs agents do charge for their services and they can
charge high amounts of money because they are not necessarily
regulated. At this point I thought that it was not worth paying the
money to customs agents when we could be helping the underserved
schools.
That same morning I went to consult with a lady who runs a Montessori
School to find out where she buys her supplies and other useful
information that we can use for our rural preschool program. The time
spent here was valuable because I got names and addresses of book and
other suppliers. She also shared information about where she gets
playground equipment and other school furniture that she uses for her
school. She gave me the name of the company where she gets paper for
her school, which proved to be very useful especially after my original
source was temporarily closed.
June 19, 2007: Bought more supplies to distribute to schools
June 20, 2007: I bought “off-cut” paper from a
printing company I was introduced to, by a friend mentioned before. I
then approached Mr. Ndaba, Managing Director of Siphimphilo Investment,
to talk about playground equipment and other services. He is willing to
help us with buying and installing it at a charge. The following are
current estimates for playground equipment and furniture he can
provide: A table that sits four – E425 ($96.00); chairs – E92.50
($21,00) each; See-Saw E3,175 $715.00); Two swings – E2,500 ($565.00);
Fiberglass slide and stand E4,150 ($935.00). These are based on the
current exchange rate. Mr. Ndaba is a former employee of Relief
Services that Steven founded.
Went to the Baha’i Preschool (Montessori) to see the teachers and talk
about what Micro Steps is trying to do with rural communities. They
were receptive and encouraging. The teachers here will be a good
support system because most of them have been doing this work for
almost twenty years, especially if we get involved in further training
of the rural pre-school teachers for new and advanced skills through
their program.
June 21, 2007: Siyendle Preschool on the premises of Siyendle
Elementary School operates in a storeroom of the elementary school.
There is very little room for the children and the teacher to do what
they need to do especially on rainy days. Their major form of
entertainment is rolling old tires, which they also store in the small
classroom. When the weather is clear they do everything outside. (See
their school, wooden poles for “swings” and outdoor toilets). Like most
schools in the villages, they lack a lot of basic
supplies and were grateful for paper, books, crayons, pencils, pens,
stuffed animals and charts.
Siyendle Preschool in front of their
storeroom/preschool class
(Teacher with her class)
(Wooden posts for “swings” – Elementary School in background)
July 3, 2007: I visited Mbuluzi Preschool on Balekane H/way which has
38 children enrolled. They have plastic chairs and adult benches to
write on. The need for supplies and equipment is great. I delivered
paper, crayons, books, charts, balloons, and pens.
(Children sitting on benches, charts on the wall)
(Teacher and students in class)
Malamlela Preschool at Malamlela Elementary School has 21 children
enrolled. This school has a male teacher who I interviewed to find out
what prompted him to work with small children because he is the only
male of all the teachers I have talked to. He said he has been teaching
preschool since 1997 and has tried to find work elsewhere, but the
community and the school has begged him to come back to teach the kids.
His mother is a professional teacher and he says he had always admired
how she handled the young children and believes she may have influenced
his path. I was fascinated with his story. (Click here to hear an
interview of this rare male preschool teacher > Part 1 Part 2) To hear
the children singing.
(Click here to hear Makhosazana
greeting the children and their response. Here is another MP3
file of the
children singing.) I must say this class had no
books, charts,
basic supplies or toys. They seem desperate and when I delivered the
paper, a few books, crayons, pens and balloons, the teacher was
ecstatic and carried them grinning as if he had been given a treasure.
Some of the children at Malamlela Preschool with
their Teacher:
July 4, 2007: As this was nearing the end of my trip, I decided to
delivery paper and whatever supplies I had left. I visited Siyabonga
Preschool on the Big Bend H/way, which has 11 children enrolled. The
teacher seemed well organized and does a lot of practical things with
the kids. Has organized learning areas. She was
grateful for the gift of paper, crayons, books, pens etc.
(Different Learning Centers made by Teacher and students)
(More Charts made by Teacher and students)
Ntabamhloshana English Medium Preschool is along Hhelehhele Big Bend
H/way. This school has 58 children enrolled and it is well equipped for
a rural community. They have good and well-constructed playground
equipment and the yard is fenced with a good secure gate. I delivered
paper, which they desperately needed and they
were grateful. When I was talking to the teacher I got the sense that
she was sad that most of her pupils were unable to pay the fees and
also have no food because they are orphans. She has made an arrangement
whereby she cooks one meal for those kids who don’t have a support
system. It was amazing to see such a well equipped school that had some
other challenges like she had and also in such need of paper for the
school.
Children at Ntabamhloshana Preschool:
Bethlehem Preschool has 20 children and has need for basic supplies.
The school was already closed for the day and the teacher had left
earlier, but I saw the school and left some paper. This school, like
most, looked real desperate for very basic supplies.
Gilgal Preschool at Gilgal Elementary school. The teacher and the kids
had left for the day and I peeped through broken windows and hardly saw
any supplies or charts anywhere on the walls. No furniture or supplies.
It looked quite desperate and in great need.
July 5, 2007: I visited the Hlatikulu Bahá’í preschool,
which we have had a long history supporting and working with. They have
29 children enrolled and two teachers and seem to be doing well. I did
not leave any supplies here.
In conclusion, I would like to mention that it was a great pleasure to
be involved in this exercise and I thank you all for your support and
encouragement. I was originally planning to contact more schools and
deliver more supplies but I met with unanticipated challenges, getting
sick, heavy rains, (village roads are not paved) and challenges with
getting paper when I needed it. Now I know at least two places I can
get paper without any problem. I believe that if we can work with the
schools that have been identified, we shall have made a big
contribution to the poor and underserved village preschools in
Swaziland.
I had also hoped that we would be able to send some supplies like
books, crayons and educational toys from here, but due to the
difficulty posed by the Customs Union regulations and high amounts
charged to the recipients for any items/goods shipped from outside the
region, I believe this idea should be abandoned for now. I made
contacts with local book suppliers, stationery shops and others from
whom we can buy books and other supplies. Also when a case worker(s)
make a trip there, they can take a few supplies as part of their
luggage if they wish to do so. This may not be the most efficient way
of doing business, but until we come up with a better way, we may have
to do this for a while at lease in the case of Swaziland and South
Africa as they are in the same Customs Union.
I was touched and humbled by the continued dedication of the teachers,
especially because they hardly have any supplies and resources to do
their work, and yet they are determined to serve the children to the
best of their ability. Most of these teachers are volunteers and do not
get any wages for teaching the children, and if they do get some wages
sometimes, some buy supplies for the kids. When further training is
offered to teach them new skills, most said they usually are unable to
attend because of lack of funds.
Another observation was that on a trip like this, it would really help
to have a base where we can store supplies so that when a day trip is
planned one just packs the car and go to the villages. Staying at
different places and living out of the car poses problems because one
can only take that much in a small car. I was doing this both to save
money and not to be a burden to my hosts. This was a learning
experience for me in many ways. Writing down the supplies delivered and
taking good pictures and audio for our records would be a good system
for the future. The digital voice recorder worked well, but sometimes
the camera didn’t work.
I may also point out that when I set out to identify village preschool,
I had no idea where they were located, except the ones I have worked
with before. This posed challenges because I went around asking people
or approach local schools to find out if there was a preschool in the
area. If I had a list of preschools, I would have conducted my
job more efficiently. I plan to communicate with Gwen Simelane, Head of
the Preschool Program in the Ministry of Education and get a list of
preschools in Swaziland. This should be a big help next time.
The work we did seems to have gone beyond delivering crayons and other
supplies. Teachers were touched deeply by a stranger coming by to
encourage them, appreciate what they were doing and that they were
working under difficult conditions without basic materials. Most of
all, they appreciated that people on the other side of the globe were
concerned about their problems and are willing to contribute in
educating the children of Swaziland. I was asked to convey their
heartfelt gratitude for all your generosity.
Several of these teachers opened their hearts and started talking about
their challenges and having someone listen to their day-to-day problems
seemed to be therapeutic. As mentioned earlier, one of the
well-equipped, English Medium Preschool appeared to have it all:
playground equipment, books, all the supplies. I thought and decided
they were self-sufficient and didn’t need anything, but I was wrong –
they badly needed paper, which I was happy to deliver! They also had a
number of children who, not only come to school to learn, but also to
get their only meal of the day because they are orphans and live with
relatives who are affected by a severe drought, unemployment and
poverty. These children don’t look forward to weekends and holidays
because there may be no meals for them. The rural preschools and
communities absorb these challenges and do the best they can, through
feeding schemes for these children during the week.
What do we do from here? We can start seriously thinking about how to
solicit more donations to buy supplies, install playground equipment,
furniture and whatever we prefer to do for these village preschools.
Since we don’t want to create a dependent relationship, it may help the
recipients and donors to make a good donation like playground equipment
and furniture because we won’t have to replace these for a while. We
can then move on to the next batch of schools to help as opposed to
having the same schools benefit. I believe it’s a great introduction to
deliver supplies when making an assessment of any school and then from
there, we decide what we really want to do for them that will be of
benefit for a few years to come.
I would recommend that during the next few months we raise funds for
two swings, and a slide for Sibovu Preschool mentioned above. These can
be delivered and installed at the current exchange rate for about
$1500, without us making a trip there. We would arrange to have
pictures taken when the equipment is installed.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who made
generous contributions towards providing and buying supplies delivered
at these preschools. It was a rewarding experience. Without your
contributions, some of the efforts made would not have been possible.
I look forward to answering and talking about any items and ideas that
may be confusing or need more clarification.
Thank you.
Makhosazana G. Fletcher, Micro Steps, Groveland, CA 95321
