Day after day I listen to the news or read the papers and grind my teeth with something close to despair about the non-stop flow of negative events in our world, from the lugubrious churnings of various commissions of inquiry that I am beginning to wonder aren’t exercises in futility, to government enterprises from Eskom all the way to Durban’s bus service that are so heavily in debt they are unable to function.
And when Eskom does threaten to cut off Newcastle’s lights for a R400 million debt, the court says they can’t. Well I understand that cutting off power to a town that size would cause a great deal of anguish, but it would send a message of seismic proportions to the rest of the country that no pay, no cake!
I guess a lot of people feel exactly the same way, which has given birth to the #ImStaying movement that is gathering steam on social media, bearing testimony from mainly white people that they have no intention of leaving the country and that their future and that of their families is firmly here.
Scrolling through the many testimonies from these patriots is encouraging, even though the overall sentiment is one of defiance: “This is my country, I love it and I’m not packing for Perth!” What I’m not seeing is messages that people are taking positive action to make their society better.
For instance, we all know that the level of education being offered in most government schools is abysmal. Anyone who has conducted a job interview knows there are children leaving school (sometimes university!) who can barely read. South Africa has one of the lowest maths literacy rates in the world. So, what can be done about it?
It was a privilege, an eye-opener, to recently attend a function celebrating another successful year by the movement Partners for Possibility. What started as a dream by a woman who decided, defiantly, that South Africa was her home and tasked herself with making it a better place, now has an organisation that most definitely is making a difference.
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PfP links under-resourced rural schools with experienced business people, some active, some retired, to harness their experience and help both principals and schools reach a better space. In eight short years PfP has helped more than 1000 schools throughout the country, many of them here on the North Coast.
Our local PfP champion is Simbithi resident Terry Dearling, who has paired many a school and businessperson with successful outcomes. It is not a matter, says Terry, of the partner marching into a principal’s office and saying ‘Okay, I’m here to tell you how to run a school’. That is probably the surest path to failure. By and large principals, she says, are capable individuals but are overwhelmed by all the work expected from them in running a school, from administration to unblocking toilets. And, in most cases, having very little support from staff or parents who have their own problems.
PfP has worked out a carefully-structured programme for principal and the partner that should take up about two weeks over the year, including workshops and coaching sessions. That’s not a lot to set aside when you read the accolades of joy from principals who have embraced and benefitted from the PfP programme, about their deep gratitude for the help they have received and the difference it has made to their schools. They are not just given stuff for a year then abandoned – PfP aims to leave in a place a structure that will enable the school to succeed.
So, if you’re going to stay, make your stay worthwhile! Remember the moral of the starfish story – improving the lot of just one individual is a lot better than doing nothing.
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Don’t let your worries get the best of you; remember, Moses started out as a basket case.
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