The Amy Biel foundation was started by Linda Biel and her husband after the apartheid related murder of their daughter. Amy’s parents strove to continue her work by empowering the youth living in the townships, creating stronger leaders, and increasing the income of those living in those desolate areas. For this service project, we received an opportunity to visit the home office of the foundation to hear about the mission, community development projects and goals for expansion in the future. After the briefing, our group travelled to a school that the foundation is supporting by building classrooms, talking to parents and training teachers. We returned to the school after lunch and in the last half hour we looked into the rooms with the afterschool programs the foundation established. All of the children were breathtakingly talented; I listen to the videos constantly because I am taken away and entranced by the power of their voices and the movements of their bodies to the beat of the drums.
The dances, songs, and music played were all traditional African style. It gave me a lot of hope that the African culture was still alive and well in South Africa. I hated Cape Town. I was really discouraged to see that the ethnocentric influence of the Europeans had completely taken over another culture. South Africa was not an intercultural mix of the Dutch, Malay and Africans but a culturally segregated country dominated by the whites that were privileged. Watching the young children dance and sing songs from their homeland was really a treat, because it gave me a glimpse into the African culture that I had hoped to experience. I hope that these programs are benefiting the children to become empowered to fight against the discrimination still present against them in South Africa.
The school was cement buildings with a courtyard through which the children entered the classrooms. In each room scratched up wooden desks lined the floors and kids’ schoolwork lined the walls. There was a sandy area behind the school buildings with a small, infertile garden alongside the area where the children washed the football uniforms. When we entered the kids greeted us with handshakes, however many did not speak a lot of English or were not confident enough to try much. The children are taught how to express themselves in English and the teachers were proud to tell the American students. This aspect of the curriculum heightened my awareness of the power struggles at stake in the surrounding areas of Cape Town. English is the language the children in the Townships need to learn because knowing our language and adopting that identity gives them power through better access to jobs and higher education. However, I believe they should be allowed to speak and learn in Xhosa, their native tongue, because that makes more sense, logically. It is their cultural language and should be recognized its linguistically unique richness.
The economic and social power of English is a quintessential example of privilege. Naturally those who born into white families have access to the more commonly used dominant languages and therefore have more access to travel and employment then other groups and they continue the cycle. The principal introduced the SAS group as the students from America to watch their performances and very proudly demonstrated through a tongue twister how well the seventh grade class articulated English words. I felt extremely uncomfortable to be put on top of a pedestal through that introduction. I am certain that these children because of the race relations in South Africa religiously associate a White person as a person that is inherently better because of the difference in status. It is clear little has change from the Apartheid and I had trouble enjoying the luxuries of this port because I cannot even imagine the blood and tears that were spread to make room for those houses, shops, and buildings.
Seeing such a striking difference in this country forces me to reflect on the disparities in the US that I know about but I ignore because that is the way it is and has always been. I am well aware of the numbers of Hispanics and blacks living off welfare and with little access to health care and education. I would be hypocritical to say that white South Africans should be doing more to help those who live such impoverished lives and then to go back home to my suburban house, ignoring the issues fifteen minutes away. Through our class discussions, I am becoming even more devoted to help fighting the global issues of racism and poverty by starting at home.
The purpose of this tour was to learn and experience the program and did not allow a lot of free time to interact with the kids. We watched dance instead of dancing with them as I would have hoped. Touring the facilities and watching the children perform did provide me with an opportunity to learn about the foundation and the issues that they are dealing with but through a project. I hope it was beneficial for the children to have an audience to perform for to boost esteem and confidence even though I am sure the foundation most likely brings plenty of groups through on the same tour.
Our tour guide brought us to the school garden that was in pathetic state. The dead plants were planted in heaps of sand. Five rotten tomatoes were the only fruit to be seen and weeds were everywhere. The Amy Biel foundation intends to remodel this garden in two months. They need money for the laborers, fertilizer, fence, seeds, mulch, etc, so that a garden can be grown to teach the children to garden and cook. I mentioned to our tour guide that I wish we knew about this need for labor and supplies because Semester at Sea students could have provided aid through labor. He responded that it is hard to judge whether groups are willing to do work or to just learn about the foundation so I made a suggestion on the evaluation to work with the foundation to setup a project.
This trip for me served as an opportunity to learn about non-profit organizations and their work in the community. I enjoy doing clerical work and fieldwork so I could we of use in the office or in the schools. I appreciate the mission statements of many non-profits, and I rather strive for social justice through one of these agencies than get stuck in a government social services job, not helping anyone. These trips are helping me see in perspective what the best way, as a social worker, to reach out and assist others.
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