Empowering South African Youth Through Education

So much has been happening at The Umkhumbane Schools Project since our last report.  Our mathematics classes have continued to make progress.   The number of players in our interschool chess league has expanded, with several entering the EThekwini Youth Trials in July.  And we have had memorable visits from students and alumni of the African Leadership Academy and the School for International Training. 

But by far the most significant focus of our energy at the moment is on mentoring this year's group for participation in the Eskom Expo for Young Scientists and Engineers, South Africa's premier science competition for high-school students.  Innocent, Yola, Avumile (pictured above) and Asiphe (shown below) are four of the 18 young people working long days in preparation for this year's Expo, which is just three weeks away on August 19.  Before the arrival of The Umkhumbane Schools Project, no student from the Cato Manor schools had ever competed in the Eskom Expo.  Each year since 2013, however, a hard-working and inspiring group has entered the annual competition through our Expo mentoring program, to date winning a total of 14 medals and 13 invitations to advance to the Interntational Science Fair in Johannesburg.  As I write this report, the excitement is building with this year's Expo so close at hand.

Avumile (far right, above) a 10th-Grade student at Wiggins Secondary, has been concerned about fires that destroy shack-dwellings in his community.  His hypothesis is that the incidence of shack fires is related to the use of makeshift electricity connections, a common practice in informal settlements.  Avumile has been walking around the community in Cato Manor, collecting interview data from shack-dwellers and documenting both the prevalence of makeshift grid connections and recent incidents of fire. 

Yola, also a Grade 10 learner at Wiggins Secondary, is in the middle of the trio pictured above.  Yola was inspired by his experience in our Saturday maths classes to conduct an experiment on whether the use of calculators can inhibit the development of mathematics skills.  He has been going next door to Wiggins Primary School to do his experiment on two groups of Grade 7 learners, with one group using calculators and the other not.  

Innocent (on the left, above), an 8th-Grade student at Bonela Secondary School, is investigating whether the exterior paint colors chosen by people in his community can affect the inside temperature of their homes.  Innocent's research has included long days of walking door-to-door to interview people on their experience with using color to minimize heat in the hot Durban summers and to combat the chill which sets in during our winters.  Next, Innocent will be constructing and painting some models of dwellings and measuring the interior temperature of each.

Asiphe, a Grade 11 learner at Bonela, is interested in the cultural practices in her community that involve the use of snake bile.  She is pictured below with a local sangoma (practitioner of traditional medicine), from whom we purchased a vial of green mamba snake bile to be used in pH-testing for part of her investigation.  Through this testing and a series of in-depth interviews with sangomas and other community members, Asiphe is applying scientific research skills in order to better understand common local practices.

Being part of our Expo group is truly a life-changing experience for our learners.  This program gives them a chance to take an original idea and develop it into a research or design-and-build project, with close one-on-one mentoring by our staff and a dedicated team of volunteers.  Coming from schools where science rooms are without running water and have no materials or equipment, our Expo mentoring project ignites not only their intellectual curiosity but also their belief in themselves.  

Your GlobalGiving contributions make all of this possible.  On behalf of Yola, Innocent, Asiphe, Avumile, and all of this year's Expo scholars, our sincerest thanks.  

Stay tuned for an update after the Expo!