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| From sanfan pics |
The first seeds of the Golden future project South Africa were planted three years ago at a Golden Key International Honour Society Conference in the USA, “through the vision of Gary Kalaci, a student of business and law at the University Of Windsor. Recognizing the enormous and prevalent needs of the people in Cape Town, Kalaci collaborated with both the University of Windsor students and students from the University of Cape Town to launch this groundbreaking initiative.” The project then progressed to the initial research phase which involved finding a suitable school that was not already showered with NGO’s or one that already had similar projects running. In the quest for one such school they stumbled across Usasazo Secondary School, situated in the heart of Khayalitsha with a population of approximately 1200 students.
By 2008, the first group of Canadian Volunteers came over for ten days to teach their health and life skills curriculum. Meanwhile Golden Future Project-South Africa was still desperately trying to get all the necessary paper-work, like writing up a constitution, sponsorship letters, creating bank accounts and applying for NGO and UCT-society status. Recruiting new volunteers proved difficult on a non-existent budget and very few platforms to advertise on.
Then by 2009 they'd begun writing a full computer curriculum, according to GFP-SA Chairperson, Jennifer Hsieh, " we started off doing computer literacy because we were told the students didn't have access to learn it unless they took CAT." and by the -second semester, GFP -SA successfully implemented their first module. The project was received warmly both by staff and students with the principal even requesting that GFP run the program for the teachers as well. This year because of multiple robberies at the school, the computer room was no longer open on Saturdays for them to use. They then switched to the career development module but after two sessions, some of the kids felt despondent, Hsieh said, “they were interested in what we had to say about available opportunities at universities, yes. However they were a lot more concerned about the fact that they weren't able to pass in order to get in."
Upon thorough evaluation of the project, this included speaking to the kids and a look at their matric 2009 statistics. It became clear, that “we can tell them: if they do well at school, that they can do whatever they want - but only IF they do well at school. What if they aren't doing well at school?
Marks are Not the begin all and end all of life, AT ALL. However it is a grounding. It is a show of one's ability to do what's required, whether or not they enjoy it.
It is an indication of whether one can grasp concepts taught to you. But they need help. They asked for this help…"
So they decided to transform their curriculum once more and as of 13th April Golden future is continuing the revised computer literacy module, this module is aimed at teaching basic computer skills but with a particular emphasis on career orientation, and tutoring math, science, biology, accounting, etc
As for the Canadian Chapter, 20 of the Canadian volunteers will arrive in South Africa on 26th April, and soon after begin their intensive week long education modules, that's core aim is inspiring young minds, and in the process equipping them with community involvement, career development, health and life skills.
by Robyn Fisher
