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| Langa High School - a
cultural exchange with Cape Town's future |
The beautiful Waterfront complex where the Olvia
docked for its three-day sojourn in South Africa is a tribute to modern
convenience - English pubs with satellite television, internet cafes
with blazing connection speeds, burger joints with pre-fab body molded
plastic seating...
Participants in the cultural exchange between Peace Boat and Langa
High School discovered that an entirely different set of conditions
exist just a thirty-minute bus ride away. Located in Langa, one of
Cape Town's first black townships, the high school has a 65-year history
of making do with the bare essentials. Unadorned classrooms are filled
only with chalkboards and wooden desks, the fire alarm bells double
as a rudimentary P.A. system, and the library's shelves were completely
devoid of books. A staff of 49 supports a student body of over 1600
(not all staff teach, giving a student/teacher ratio of about 60/1),
many of whom come from troubled homes within the townships. Extracurricular
activities are non-existent, and many students miss each day as they
are unable to scrounge together bus fare (walking is not really an
option due to the dangerous neighborhood around the school).
As the fifty Peace Boat passengers that made the trip soon discovered,
schools such as Langa survive and even prosper based on the enthusiasm
of their pupils and instructors. Most of the staff are former students
at the school, individuals who forego higher salaries elsewhere to
teach alongside their former teachers. At a music festival held to
mark the visit, which took place in a small courtyard due to the lack
of a real auditorium - everyone brought their own chairs, or sat on
the ground or in trees - students from three local high schools danced,
sang, and drummed to the rousing cheers of their peers. |
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| Mombasa-Cape Town
/ Peace Boat's 36th Voyage |
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PEACE BOAT is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. |
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