It’s stressful being a teenager, going to school five days a week and studying hard to make it through the year. High schoolers really don’t need anything extra weighing them down and making it difficult to focus on learning.
How must it feel then, getting accepted into high school, somehow finding the money for basic school supplies and then, right before classes start realising you don’t have shoes, or the ones you have are falling apart?
Mashudu Singo from Kagiso Senior Secondary School coordinates the school-based learner support team. When the school year starts, she and some of the other teachers walk about the halls and classrooms, identifying children with a clear and present need. Thereafter those learners are asked to be interviewed to determine how they get to school, if they have anything to eat and what their home life is like. If the learners lack anything, such as transport fare or school lunches, the team intervenes.
Every year, however, they struggle to find a solution to their school shoes problem. At one point they asked Grade 12s to write their final paper in informal shoes (takkies and the like) and leave their school shoes for the following year’s learners. “It didn’t work, because we noticed most of the Grade 12s’ shoes were worn and tattered,” explained Mashudu.
Winnie Modisane, founder of the Big Sister’s Helping Hand organisation wanted to extend their current reach and heard about the need at the school. First she contacted Old Mutual bank, hoping to find help. Area Manager Ntombi Mtshali made quick work of gathering the right resources and on Thursday, 25 March the first batch of the donated shoes were handed over.
Since the school follows an alternating schedule, group A attended school on the day, and the organisation handed over 52 pairs of shoes with more on the way.
“You can see when school opens that there’s a problem,” said Winnie. “One kid was crying and did not want to go to school. It’s a big thing, because you walk on cold floors and you can get sick. They need these shoes to stay healthy and attend school.”
To assist Big Sister’s in any of their projects, feel free to contact Steven Modisane on 072 152 3251.
