School for the handicap

A couple of months back we did a service project in Alexandra. We joined up with the Alexandra branch young people and cleaned and painted the School for the handicapped in Alexandra.

After spending time with Lucy, a young woman, whose handicapped mother runs the school, we discovered just how desperate this little school is. They were were nearing the end of the school year and were out of funds; not that they have an abundance of funding in the first place.

The school receives no government funding and parents only pay R200 a month for any child admitted to the program. That is like $35 U.S.. For that the staff begins recieving children at 6:30 am when their mini bus drops them off. The bus is part of the school's service. The adult care givers do not interact much with the younger students. I say students lightly, as most of the younger children receive little or no stimulation. There are few if any toys and the ratio of children to teacher is like 20 to one. A normal class room might be able to function, however, this kind of situtation is more like a holding tank. Still it serves it's purpose as parents are able to go to work.

The staff, many of whom volunteer for a meal are not trained, but they are carring. There was not a major institutional or urine smell which is quite remarkable considering how many children are incapable of communicating their needs.

This is a picture of Lucy's daughter. She is a darling 10 month old who went to work with her mother the last day I was there.

Notice our matching necklaces?

They are made from seeds found in a certain area south of Johannesburg. They are light weight.

One of the activities the school uses to train the older handicapped students is stringing beads. The young lady in this picture is not mentally handicapped but she does have tremendous physical challenges. Because she is not handicapped mentally she can actually fill orders for beaded articles. Unfortunately she has received no schooling to help her progress socially and I think she could do much more in life. She is very pleasant and willing. In this picture she is working on Aids Awareness Pins. She is quick and dependable. Up to this point she is the only one bringing money into the school to replace supplies.

When I met Lucy, she showed me the work the students had been doing with beads. They had hundreds of necklaces which had been strung over the year. But, they have no way of marketings their product. There is no consistancy in their work. I thought if I could just take the necklaces somewhere and display them I migh locate a few would be buyers. So, I took a couple hundred of them. I asked Lucy's mom (her name is African and I didn't actually understood what she was saying) how much she wanted. She told me a price an off I went.

The next day I just took them to the Area Office where Elder Webb and I work and laid them out on a table in the room next to ours. I also made little signs with the prices on them.

We sold a quite a few. The following day I had time to put a few of these pictures together to make a flyer explaining the school it's purpose and it's plight. When all was said and done we returned to the school with nearly 2000 Rand which they will use to buy new beads for the students to string. We were also able to make suggestions on how to make their products more desireable. Like using a stretchy string on which to string the beads. That way they can be doubled and trippled for a new look.

Marcel, the owner of the hair salon most of the sister missionaries frequent, said she would be happy to put them in her shop making them available to her customers. Her customers are the ones who gave us the suggestions on how to make the necklaces more sellable.

We also asked for donations of toys for the school. We were able to take a number of new toys as well as an entire stamps collection( for making greeting cards )which the older students will be able to use.

The students were so happy to have us visit. We found them during a singing activity. Since they were out of funds and had no beads to string their days were pretty boring. Having said that they greeted us with smiles, sang a number of songs with the most cheerful smiles and clapped and cheered when I said we might be able to sell some of the necklaces for them.

I felt very grateful the other missionaries in the Area office were so generous in their support. They bought nearly half of the necklaces I brought with me, and have asked that I have the school make more of a certain kind.

We all wear more jewlery than we ever had before, simply because this is one way the people of poverty help themselves.

This is one of the younger students. I thought she was beautiful, though she did not respond to us except to seem pleased to have her picture taken.

This room was absolutely full of children and infants. There was little room for moving around even if the children wanted to.