05 April 2011

matla career day









Our guys at Vulendlela's biggest concern- or at least one of them- are the kids in our local high school. Matla is a severely under resourced school with a big heart. Placed in one of the most beautiful campuses I've walked through (think: a rich old farm with small brick buildings scattered throughout being used as classrooms) hundreds of kids attend this combined primary/high school - many from our own church neighborhood. In fact, many of last years' Vulendlela guys graduated from Matla. These are also the same kids that came to the matric classes last year during the teachers strike. We heard from the principal that the school was awarded as having the highest improvement rate on the matric exams in the entire district last year - and, in part, he credits Vulendlela's involvment at their school, including those three weeks when we carried on with holding an impromtu school and prepping the 12th graders for the upcoming exams. That's pretty big stuff. Especially, when you remember that Vulendlela is made up of guys having just graduated from that, and similar, high schools in our area.


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Our church has dreamy dreams of opening a grade 12 school - specifically for these kids - after seeing the success of alternative teaching that we had last year with only three short weeks. Another thing we pray for a windfall of resources for.



Anyway, Vulendlela coordinated a "career day" for the kids at Matla. Student representatives from local universities & colleges came and talked to the grade 12s about their choices for next year - and to the grade 9s about their how their class path choices for grades 10-11-12 will effect their options for further study - and what they should be focusing on for different career paths. Great idea. It was so good to see representatives from our top universities and organizations out at Matla, encouraging these kids that they are smart enough and have access to resources to get them wherever they want to go. It's a message we all need from time to time.




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