Empowering South African Youth Through Education

There was a huge thunderstorm here in Durban the night before the regional competition for the Eskom Expo, the science fair that becomes such a central part of our work each year from late August to early October.  A small group of diehard volunteers was camped out with the learners in an upstairs room of the community library where The Umkhumbane Schools Project holds a lot of its activities.  It was long after hours  --  the doors officially close at 5:00 PM  --  but the security guard was helping us out...we had stayed behind in one of the upstairs rooms to finish typing Expo reports and posters in our last flurry of activity before the competition, which was scheduled to begin the following morning at 7:30 AM.  The sound of the rain on the metal roof overhead was deafening, like a drum roll to lead us up to the moment when the games would begin.

Seven determined young scientists got home late in the pouring rain that night, and appeared the next morning for the start of the 2017 Eskom Expo.  Pamela had been researching water conservation practices in the township community.  Nondumiso had spent weeks making microscope slides and analyzing the number of stomata in leaves on some trees in her schoolyard.  Sibusiso's project was on communal care for dogs in the township, and Luyanda had built a projector to use with smartphones. Thalente had discovered that biodegradable food packaging works just as well as petroleum-based plastics.  And in the Social and Psychological Sciences category, Nqobi had surveyed his schoolmates' experiences with sadness and depression, and Zinhle had looked closely at attitudes towards vitiligo among her peers. 

Fast forward five weeks to a morning in early October.  Our intrepid young researchers had garnered five medals and two Highly Commended certificates at the Regional Competition, and now five of them were getting ready to board the bus to Johannesburg for the Eskom International Science Fair.  In the pre-dawn hours of that October morning, we had fetched them from their homes, their suitcases in tow, as they set out on their journey northward.  Little did we know then that a bus breakdown would delay them for six hours...but they arrived safely and had, by all reports, the most amazing four days of learning, getting to know other students from far away places, and gaining immeasurably in their own self-confidence and sense of what is possible in their lives.  

"Expo is just the best thing!"  was how one learner summed it up.  And it wasn't just about the Bronze Medal and five Highly Commended certificates that the learners were awarded at the international level.  It was about a sense of belonging and an opportunity to work with dedicated volunteers who take the time to understand and champion their ideas.  It was about successfully standing up next to a poster and speaking with confidence...in English...to not just one, but up to seven, individual judges who came to inquire as to what your project was all about.

Thanks to you, our GlobalGiving donors, The Umkhumbane Schools Project was able to provide this life-changing experience to this year's wonderful group of young Expo Scientists and Engineers.  Before we arrived in Umkhumbane/Cato Manor in 2012, learners in our five schools had never heard of the Eskom Expo, much less had a chance to participate.  In 2017, our fifth year of taking learners to the competition, we can celebrate this:  61 learners and 38 medals at the Regional competition to date, and 24 learners...with 11 Medals...at the International Science Fair.  This would not be possible without your sustaining financial help.  

From all of us here at The Umkhumbane Schools Project...thank you for your generous support!