Only There to Help

     In the article “New Schools in South Africa Serve the Underserved” written by Celia W. Dugger is about the education that’s being given to many African kids on the streets and in urban areas of Cape Town and all over South Africa. In these areas there is not much money to spend on kids educations, so they just don’t go. One of the best schooling systems in South Africa now is called Leap; they have classes that go from 8:15 am to 5:15 pm. In this school they are mainly focusing on Mathematics, Science, English and Life Orientation (L.O). In this Life Orientation class they talk about the personal problems that can derail their educations. For example one of the boys, Gcobani Mndini, a 17 year old now in the school system, was talking about how he has been in a gang since ninth grade. After years of denying that he was even in a gang, Gcobani said it was only in L.O. classes that he began facing the consequences of his choices, and realizing what he was doing.


     Hearing about this is really eye opening to me; kids my age are already getting killed in gang knife fights, just for the purpose of “fitting in.” Earlier on in the article, Gcobani said, “I joined the gang because I wanted to belong.” To me, that is one of the saddest things I’ve read. Nobody should have to risk their life to belong to the right group. What I find to be even worse, is this is happening all over the world, in every single city! People are destroying their lives, and their futures to belong to something. A question I just can’t wrap my mind around is, why would you trade your life to be a part of something for a short amount of time? There is so much potential in every single life! Why throw it away? To me that is just not right. Thankfully, at least in Gcobani’s case, something was there to help him. This new school is helping him and hundreds of other kids all over South Africa get through tough times. This is leading them on to a brighter future, with many more possibilities in the career field. This is also helping them get out of their predicaments.

     I think that school in general helps keep kids out of trouble, at least partially. School gives us less time to be irresponsible, especially if you’re playing sports. Busyness definitely gives us less time to make bad choices, because we’re constantly doing something. I think that the long school days that the kids in South Africa have at least minimizes the trouble they can get them selves into, along with all the other students around the world. Bad things like gangs are all over the world, but thankfully, just like the Leap program there are places around the world to try and correct everything that is happening. They are helping kids all over the world get the chance they deserve, and help them live out their full potential.