/ 19 July 2013

School a beacon of hope

School A Beacon Of Hope

It remained under this name until 1999 when the school and the community decided to rename it in honour of the women who fought for the freedom of South Africa.

Lindela Memani, the school principal, says: “The initial shortlist had Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Adelaide Tambo and Dr Ellen Kuzwayo. The parents voted to have Adelaide Tambo, who was the treasurer of the ANC Women’s League.”

The school launched its new name in 2000 and it changed the course of the school’s history for the better. Within the walls there are children with all levels of ability and from various backgrounds.

Many are also disabled and need special care and attention. The school looks after these children from primary school until grade 12.

“Most of our learners have barriers to learning and some have physical and mental disabilities where they reach a saturation stage cognitively at grade 9 or grade 10,” says Memani.

“We have two streams at the school. One offers training in handiwork such as upholstery, cabinet making, shoe repairing and leather works. We also offer hair care, manicures and catering, and recently we introduced printing. The other stream is academic.”

Helping students find their path
The staff at the Adelaide Tambo School do everything they can to help their students find a path in life.

“We encourage them to open up their own businesses and follow up to see how they are doing,” says Memani.

“In the academic stream we have been able to send children to universities such as Wits and the University of Free State. Some go on bursaries, some are supported by their parents, but we try to get bursaries for them.”

The school has seen children move into studies such as mechanical engineering and law, giving hope where there was none before, and Adelaide Tambo’s name and legacy had a huge impact on how this has been achieved.

“We have changed so much. Before Mama Tambo came around the school was struggling with results and morale, we lacked confidence,” says Memani.

“When she came it boosted our confidence because she would visit the school from time to time, have discussions with the management, talk to the students and inspire them. She made the students want to succeed, they saw her as the epitome of a successful person and they wanted to follow in her footsteps.”

The patronage of Adelaide Tambo
The teachers and the children found the patronage of Adelaide Tambo to be an inspirational one. The teachers felt they had someone who understood their challenges and who cared enough to help them make a difference, and the children were given someone to look up to, someone with character and a rich history.

“She was always at the school supporting them and helping to raise funds,” says Memani.

“The school has boarding facilities as well and she helped buy orthopaedic beds for the entire hostel. She helped us to buy a bus to transport children who don’t stay at the school.”

“Some of the students stay at the school, some travel by bus. We have about five buses that pick up children around Soweto, but those who don’t live nearby stay in our hostel,” says Memani.

This is the only facility in Soweto, and only one of two in Johannesburg, that offers the conventional curriculum to disabled children and goes up to grade 12.

Adelaide Tambo kept the school in her heart throughout her life and Memani remembers her with absolute respect and admiration.

A very good and generous person
“She was a very good person, very generous. She would invite me to her house, sometimes she would invite members of the staff and she would prepare food for us. It was a humbling experience,” he remembers.

“She made us feel like kings and queens when we visited her home and she would talk to me about funding and to discuss her plans for the school.”

Before she died, Adelaide Tambo had a vision for the school — she wanted to rebuild the hostel to give the children a better place to stay.

“She had plans, she believed in us,” concludes Memani. “Her passing came too soon, but what she did for our school and the hope she gave to us all lives on forever.”

“Our wish list has big things and small, but one of our goals is to build or revamp the residence and add recreational facilities for the learners.

This is key for us as the beds and rooms are not ideal,” says Memani. “We also want to build a library and a laboratory, and to one day have a staff room. At the moment we are using a mobile home as our staff quarters and it’s very small.”

Relying on donors
The school is running out of buildings and its transport facilities are old. It also relies on funding from donors as it only charges parents a nominal fee for the boarding and care and teaching. And the school has struggled since Mama Tambo’s death.

“People think you are sponsored when they hear the name, but this is not the case,” says Memani.

“We are sorely in need of financial aid to refurbish and grow the school. We would love to update our computer lab and get in new equipment. We have also just introduced the new printing skill and we need more facilities there so it runs more efficiently and gives the children more scope for learning.”

“School materials, books, paper, linen, these are just some of the smaller things we would appreciate,” says Memani. “We also don’t have a dedicated physical therapist for the children and that would make such a difference too.”