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SAWIP believes that fostering a culture of service across all sectors of society is an essential and valuable part of developing not only strong individuals and productive members of society, but socially and ethically responsible leaders. Community service is expected both in South Africa and Washington, DC. Upon acceptance, fellows are required to commit to at least 30 hours of engagement within their communities in a service capacity. Whilst in Washington, DC, substantial time is dedicated to underserved communities in the capital. Upon returning to South Africa, the entire class develops and carries out a community service project in an effort to help other people see that they have a responsibility to support one another. Please see the list below for previous projects. SAWIP supports each fellow in their endeavors. | SAWIP '09 Community Service Involvement | | | Name | Organisation | | Samantha Ball | Big Brother/ Big Sister | | Nicholas Crosby | Funda Learning Initiative | | Fazlin Fransman | Two Oceans Youth Development | | Ayanda Gladile | Sandanezwe Pre School | | Emma Margetts | Imizamo Yethu Golden Future Project | | Sabelo Mcinziba | Youth Mentorship - Caledon Township | | Lebusa meso | Laureas Foundation | | Nadine Moodie | Community Policing Services - Stellenbosch | | Musawenkose Nxele | Arcadia Old Age Home | | Vivek Ramsaroop | Youth Debating League | | Ziyanda Stuurman | Watergarden - Stellenbosch | | Petrus van niekerk | REAR | | Thamsanqha Ledwaba | Elections 2009: Youth Education | | Jean Scrimgeour | Oxfam International Youth Partnerships Gender Workshop | | | | | Group Project | | Drakenstein Palliative Hospice: Youth Development Workshop
The team elected to develop a leadership curriculum for High school students from the Drakenstein District – more specifically the area surrounding Butterfly House, Fairly land, an informal settlement in Paarl. Butterfly House is a resource centre which caters for children and young adults both infected and affected by HIV/ Aids, drugs, abuse and gangsterism.
RATIONALE
The idea was to challenge the SAWIP class of 2009 to utilise the skills that they had gained over the intensive 6 months leadership curriculum that encompassed the SAWIP programme and develop a leadership curriculum that would transfer skills to young, at risk, adults. How they achieved this was up to them. The class of 2009 would also determine the curriculum content as well as the profile of the the students that they wanted to present to.
METHOD
The class of 2009 met over the weekend of 19/20 September to develop the curriculum.
They presented to: Elizabeth Scrimgeour, CEO of Drakenstein Hospice; John Scrimgeour, a trainer who had worked with the class before developing the initial leadership curriculum during the Selection and Orientation weekend; Wayne August, a mentor and young adult who works in the community; as well as a teacher who works at butterfly house and knows most of the young adults that the SAWIPers would be working with.
The SAWIP class presented a first draft in the afternoon and then continued to work through the night.
They developed the curriculum, worksheets and activities.18 Students met at 8am on Thursday the 24th of September. Initially the students were a little wary of the SAWIPers and therefore some trust needed to be created between the two groups but quickly they all seemed to get on really well. The SAWIPers acted as facilitators and not teachers, they engaged the students, told their own stories and became part of the team. The food was supplied by a local chef, all the participated with meals forming part of the team development process.
FOLLOW-UP
A week after the curriculum training the students got together with the teacher from Butterfly house to discuss the usefulness of the process that was undertaken with the SAWIPers. It was unanimous that all the students felt that they did gain something from the SAWIPers and they would appreciate it if the programme could be repeated. Since last September, there have been various cases of students that participated in the workshops that have increased their academic marks and some have even applied to universities and technicons. | | | | | 2008 Group Project: Mvula Community Garden | Rosalind Elphick, 2008 SAWIP fellow initiated the Mvula Garden Project. The garden is situated within a school in Nyanga, a township 15km outside of Cape Town. The children, who come from very disadvantaged backgrounds were often given their only meal of the day at school. The school was spending a significant amount of their monthly budget on purchasing fruits and vegetables, Rosalind
initiated an idea by which the school could be empowered to grow their own vegetables, to feed the children, selling the excess for extra schools funds.
The class of 2008, in conjunction with the Cape Town Rotary Club got together over a couple of weekends, turned the soil, put in compost, laid out an irrigation system and assisted with the planting of the seeds. In order for the project to remain sustainable, the caretaker at the school was sponsored to attend a gardening workshop at which he was taught to look after the plants and ensure the sustainability of the garden. |
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