Building Relationships with Communities
There is no way we can adequately compensate all the local organisations and people who contribute their time towards the study program. Our way of thanking them has been to invite local agencies to nominate two staff members each year to participate in the study program for thier own professional development. Past participants include Jeremiah Myeni and Nicholas Simelane from Mpumalanga Parks Board; Busi Khanyi, Lazarus Masuku, and Bethuel Nkosi from TRAC-MP; and Mike Mhlanga from the Dept. of Water Affairs and Forestry, Nelspruit.
Each year, the Monash students on the South Africa field study tour interact with a wide variety of community groups in the Mpumalanga lowveld region. The efforts of these groups have made a powerful impression upon the students. After returning to Melbourne, each year's group has worked together to raise funds to support some of these community groups. Fundraising strategies included movie nights (PDF 290 KB) , calendar sales, and even a 'trash & treasure' event. The community organisations include:
- The Muchuchi Primary School, located within one of the poorest communities in the Bushbuckridge area. It has over 600 students, most of whose parents were refugees to South Africa during the civil war in Mozambique. Donations from the alumni of 2002 and 2003 were used by the school to establish a vegetable garden, build a kitchen for preparing school lunches, install classroom lighting, and purchase uniforms, school books and soccer balls. The dynamic Principal Clifford Mdaka plans to use donations from the alumni of 2004 and 2005 as seed money for school expansion. Click here to view letter written by Principal Mdaka to GES. (PDF 1744 KB)
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| Scenes from the 2005 student group visit, including Principal Mdaka and volunteer parents in the new kitchen building built through student donations. Check out the "donor roll"! |
- The Masisukumeni Womens' Crisis Centre is an organisation in Tonga, an urban centre in the former Kangwane homeland, that helps women, children and men cope with the effects of sexual violence or abuse. It provides counselling and legal assistance. The 2003 alumni supported additional training for counsellors working in local communities. Rachel Nkosi and Tina Sideris, the Centre's founders, are using the donations from the 2004/2005 alumni to cover costs of psychological counselling training for the staff. Click here to view am letter fro Masisukumeni to GES (PDF 78 KB)
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| Masisukumeni founders, Rachel Nkosi and Tina Sideris, and counsellors interact with the 2005 student group |
- The Silwanendlala Ubuntu Farmers Association (SUFA), in Buffelspruit, southern Nkomazi, was formed by a group of subsistence farmers who were evicted from their land by the traditional authorities in favour of local cattle owners. Their struggle against this injustice drew the support of land rights organisation TRAC-MP, which campaigned on thier behalf to secure alternative land. They now farm a 27-hectare area on the outskirts of the settlement. The 2004/2005 alumni donated seeds, spades, rakes, and a wheelbarrow to the group. Click here for an article by Priya Rangan and Mary Gilmartin about their struggle.
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| SUFA members celebrate the gifts from the 2004 alumni |
- Thembalethu is an organisation in Schoemansdal, southern Nkomazi, whose core mission is to provide home-based care to AIDS patients. The 2003, 2004 and 2005 alumni donated first aid supplies and vitamins to the Thembalethu clinic, and school uniforms for HIV-AIDS orphans associated with their Youth Centre.
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| Scenes from Thembalethu's clinic and new child care facility |