Day 8: Hope in Soweto
Day 8: Teboho Trust
The issue of poor education of the township children is a real problem that seems like is not formally getting addressed by the Department of Basic Education. So, it is left up to parents and local groups to provide extra tutoring and after school programming for the youth. This is where Teboho Trust comes in. After the buy-in of the participants the day earlier, we were ready to jump right into tutoring and participating in the Saturday support classes. When we arrived, we were greeted by a large group of students who were singing as they awaited for classes to begin.
The Group then split up and participated in different classrooms assisting educators, and teaching lessons we created. One of the lessons that I was involved with was the idea of "Intergenerational Voices". This idea was to have the "Grannies" and the learners collaborate in a project of their choosing around the topic of social justice. The way that we began the project was to have the students brian storm what social justice is and explore different avenues in which the students felt comfortable expressing themselves. We then had the students work on poetry specifically, "I Am" poems. We then split ourselves again and met with two representatives of the "Grannies" and spoke to them about their ideas on social justice and what they would like to get out of the project.
When classes was over and students were preparing for lunch, members of the SAI group were allowed to hang out with the students in a less formal setting and chat with the staff, Mr. Bright, and his assistant David. We then had to say our goodbyes, as we had to prepare for the next portion of our evening.
Phuti Mahanyele
We returned to our hotel in order to go to dinner at the residence of Rutgers alumnae Ms. Phuti Mahanyele. We were greeted by Ms. Mahanyele and her partner on their estate and were able to have a grand tour as her guests. We spent the evening talking about South African politics, education, our own personal goals and ideas over a wonderful dinner over looking the river. Ms. Mahanyele was very kind to tell us about her upbringing in Soweto and her fathers determination to send his daughter across seas (to Rutgers New Brunswick) to further her education and to make herself into a successful business woman. 
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