In collaboration with IPAS and IPAS South Africa (http://www.ipas.org/en.aspx), and with support from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund and the Iqraa Trust Mpilonhle conducted training courses for Resource Educators and Peer Counselors who participate in the PALS programme.

The two-day Resource Educator (educators [teachers] who support peer counselors) training was conducted 4-5 February at the Mpilonhle training centre.  Eleven resource educators from five area high schools, along with five Mpilonhle counselors, participated.

PALS Educators engaged in discussion during the training

Ms Nthhangase, Resource Educator from Madwaleni HIgh School

Topics addressed included how to be an effective mentor for peer counselors, understanding the challenges adolescents face, issues of reproductive health and family planning, options in family planning and how youth should decide a choice if they are sexually active, HIV prevention, care for the pregnant adolescent in school, gender violence and abuse, the benefits of male circumcision, and rights under the law.  Special emphasis was given to the limits of the peer educator, and appropriate referral decisions and mechanisms.  The agenda for the workshop, and materials provided, can be seen here.Training Program Resource Educators February 2013

A two-day workshop was held 19-20 February for 40 peer-counselors from the same five high schools that resource educators had been trained at.  Material covered, in an age-appropriate manner, was similar to that provided to the resource educators.  This included discussions of values, stereotypes, and behaviour, the importance of effective communication, what constitutes a healthy relationship, managing stress, anger and conflict in adolescence, issues of self-esteem, and the role and limitations of a peer-counselor.  The  materials for this workshop can be found here.PALS Peer counselor training

Both workshops were led by Ms. Thapelo Ntombela, Mpilonhle Social Worker.

Ms Thapelo Ntombela, Mpilonhle Social Worker and PALS Coordinator who directed the workshop, and Mr Sabelo Khumalo, Mpilonhle Health Counselor, who assisted with the training.

The PALS Programme was established by Mpilonhle in 2010 to strengthens and expand Mpilonhle services through an in-school resource team of educators (teachers) and learners (students) who make the support services of Mpilonhle more readily available.   Educators and learners are trained to provide support to vulnerable adolescents – including those who are pregnant and victims of abuse. This in-school resource team can then contact Mpilonhle nurses and social workers, or Government staff and clinics, for further support by telephone or by visits to the schools when the mobile units are not there.

IPAS Coordinator Buyeli Buthelezi and Mpilonhle Director Michael Bennish during the meeting

The programme is especially important because government policy is now (admirably) to mainstream adolescents with a variety of health-needs, including pregnancy and HIV infection.  Educators, however, often feel poorly equipped to deal with these issues, and training of resource educators provides a knowledgeable person in the school to provide support to these adolescents.  The resource educator also provide support to the peer counselors, who serve as listening boards, and a source of information, for their fellow students who have health or social problems.

The pictures in this gallery show the field, the associated school vegetable garden, and the community laundry and toilet facilities.

From left are Ms Anastasia Ngidi, Mpilonhle Community Liaison Offiver, Ms Beni Williams, Special Projects Coordinator for Mpilonhle, Ms Dudu Maoela, Chair, Mpilonhle Board, Mr Lindelani Mthethwa, District Department of Education Specialist HIV and AIDS, Mr Enoch Buthelezi, Principal, Madwaleni High School, and Dr Michael Bennish, Director, Mpilonhle

There ceremony was highlighted by a match between the Mpilonhle soccer (football) team, and one comprised of teachers from Madwaleni. Mpilonhle came out on top by a score of 3-1.

Mpilonhle team (in green jerseys) playing the Madwaleni High School staff team in a friendly match

Mpilonhle has developed four high school sports fields that provide not only a locale for school sports activities, but also for community use.The fields are ingeniously designed so that there is separate access for the community without intruding on the school proper, and for students from the schools. There are environmentally sensitive toilets that can be accessed by the community for use during the matches. The fields also provide for water at the school through the drilling of a borehole (well). That water is then used for irrigating the sports ground, supplying a community laundry and community garden, and for water at the schools.

The field will be regularly used by both male and female teams from five adjoining schools that comprise a six team school league with Madwaleni. Fourteen community teams have also signed up to play on the field, and will pay 50 rand (about $6) per match to help provide funds to sustain the fields. The school will also use income from the community laundry and garden to help support maintenance of the field. Mpilonhle will continue to assist the school in ensuring that the programme is sustained over time.

As challenging as raising funds for construction and actual construction work is, the biggest challenge – and the most important endeavor – in rural communities in developing c

ountries is to assure the sustainability of the

Shikshela Induna Mr L Mkhwanazi speaking at the turnover of the field from Mpilonhle to Madwaleni High School

facility.

Along with the teams, there were enthusiastic supporters from both sides.

This was one of the four soccer pitches built by Mpilonhle that integrate supply of potable water, sports fields, environmentally-friendly ablutions (toilets) and vegetable gardens.

 The project began in early 2008 with the building of the field at Silethukukhanya High School, and was expanded to three more schools in early 2011.

Options at the time of construction included artificial turf, with a number of suppliers of artificial turf eager to enter the South African market in advance of the 2012 World Cup.  The decision was made that for these rural sites grass turf was most appropriate, especially as that would require providing water for irrigating the grass pitches.  Given that these schools did not previously have a regular supply of water, the water from the borehole that was developed for the football pitch would also be used for providing potable water for the school, water for a vegetable garden to be used by students and the community, and water for a community laundry.

Establishing grass fields at these sites was easier said than done, even with water available for irrigation.  All four schools were in traditional black areas that were intended, under the Apartheid regime, for the Bantustan of KwaZulu.  White farmers had settled on the best farm land, with the black population relegated to marginal land.  Thus the sites all had soil that was either very sandy (being close to the Indian Ocean) or heavy clay.  Thus improving the soils to sustain a grass turf has been a major challenge, one that has been largely successfully met with the help of a very skilled team, and with students bringing in bags of “kraal manure” at all four sites.

And, there is the odd goat or cow to deal with.

But in the end the goat was returned to its proper owner.

All four schools are in deep rural areas, with Malabela High School serving the poorest and most remote site.  The school community is desperately poor, with few employment opportunities, despite being close to private game lodges charging $500 a night or more per person.

But the pitch and associated facilities now serve as a point of pride for the community. 

The challenge, as with many capital infrastructure investments, is sustaining the facilities over time, especially as external donor funding is unlikely to be available for maintenance.  Mpilonhle has worked with the schools to help them develop a business plan – including selling the produce from the vegetable garden, renting out the facility to community football teams, and small charges for use of the community laundry.

Well, back to the match.  After 90 minutes the score between Malabela students and staff and Mpilonhle staff was tied at 2 apiece.

Given the late hour, and the high temperature during the match, the teams were exhausted.  A decision was made to go directly to a penalty shootout, which was won by Malabela – three goals to two.

The regular school schedule of matches – which includes six nearby high schools – is to begin in the coming week.