My Project

This page gives a brief overview of my project that took place at the Esangweni Senior Secondary School in Khayelitsha. First of all, a few words about how and why I went to South Africa.

At the beginning of 2005 I was chosen for the ASA/GLEN project "Internet for Township Kids". This was actually the second year that the Esangweni School has hosted ASA/GLEN participants. In 2004, 2 other Europeans, Sigrid from Germany and Juro from Slovakia carried out their project there. Also, Augustas from Lithuania joined them later. So, the project this year was in many ways a continuation of the work done by the previous participants last year.

ASA is a development co-operation organisation sending volunteers to various development projects in Africa and Asia. GLEN is the Global Education Network of Young Europeans. In 2005, only 3 GLEN projects were available for Estonians. Two people are chosen for each GLEN project - since ASA is a German organisation, one participant always comes from Germany and the other from a central or eastern European country. All projects are voluntary, the participants do not get paid for their work. After reading the project description, I knew that this is exactly what I wanted to do, I felt that the project fit my profile. So, I applied. When I was told that I was accepted, I was incredibly happy and excited, and also a bit worried about whether I would make it! According to the rules of ASA/GLEN, the participants have to take part in 2 preparation seminars - one took place in Germany (April) and the other in the Czech Republic (June). And on July 7th I flew to Cape Town!! The project took place in the Esangweni Senior Secondary School in Khayelitsha, a township about 35 km from Cape Town. To get a better overview of the area, take a look at the map of the Cape Peninsula. Another cool place to look is Google Earth, which has satellite pictures of the Earth. The Esangweni School is located at 34° 03 S; 18° 41 E - see if you can find it! ;o)

My tandem partner Tobi is from Munich in Germany. I think the fact that we have somewhat different academic backgrounds (Tobi is studying computer science and I have studied English, multimedia and also computer science to some extent) contributed to the success of the project and made our overall contribution more diverse and productive. As for our personal communication, I have to say that this was a great success too - we got along very well, rarely had misunderstandings and had lots of fun together (I hope Tobi agrees!; o)). In case you want to ask him some questions about the project, I'm sure he wouldn't mind answering (if he has time - he's writing his thesis at the moment), contact him at tobi[dot]simon[at]web[dot]de.

Khayelitsha, one of the largest townships in South Africa, is located about 35 km South-East of Cape Town. It is inhabited by Xhosa speaking black Africans. It is home to between 1 to 3 million inhabitants and it is growing fast, since people come to town in search of work. The major problems in the township include housing (many people still live in shacks), crime, unemployment and HIV/AIDS.

The Esangweni School has around 1200 students, from grade 8 to grade 12. We were not teaching all of the students. Instead, we set up 4 multimedia groups from interested students - webpage, newsletter, photography and filming - and met with these groups each afternoon. In addition to that, we gave training to teachers, repaired the computers of the school and installed software in them and basically assisted the learners and teachers of the school in all computer related activities.

Originally the project duration was supposed to be 3 months, but because Tobi and I enjoyed our stay and our project so much and we also felt that there was a lot more to do in terms of the work at school, we extended our stay for one more month. I arrived back home on November 4th.

Overall I consider the project to be a success and I think Tobi and I achieved a lot. We received a very warm welcome from the school, especially from our project partner George and the teachers. What also made me very glad and ethusiastic was that the students were very interested in what we were teaching them and motivated and willing to learn (unlike many students in Europe!).

If you want to know more details about the project (including the more technical side of it), you are welcome to read the following documentation:

If you are interested to read about my daily impressions and observations from South Africa, you are welcome to read my blog (in English) which I wrote while there. The blog contains impressions from the project as well as personal experiences. The same blog is also available as a pdf.

The good news is that the GLEN project at Esangweni will continue in 2006. There will be one participant from Estonia again and another from Liechtenstein (they both will have a lot of explaining to do concerning the location of their countries ;o), although hopefully a bit less for the Estonian, as I already worked on that during my stay!). Anyway, I wish them good luck and a successful project!

Apart from the actual project work, an essential part of my stay was the cultural exchange and the personal experiences. It was not only us Europeans teaching the locals - we were also learning a lot from them, thus the exchange was mutual. Besides working with the students and teachers of the school, we spent time with them outside the school as well and thus experienced their culture and way of life. As a result, I learned a lot about the country and its diverse culture and made some very good friends in South Africa - I will never forget the great time we spent together. Those 4 months in South Africa were undoubtedly one of the best times in my life.

For some of my thoughts and reflections upon the things I experienced during my stay, see the Impressions page.