Humans of Pienaar

“Becoming a Principal was a calling, fulfilling a mandate of changing humanity with the little skills that I had so that the community and the world would benefit. Initially I wanted to be a lawyer, but reflecting today, this was my calling. When I see the learners smile, I rest in peace when I sleep at night.”

“There are challenges. There are challenges. The system of education in South Africa has not transformed diplomatically, there are challenges in limited resources. There is a financial constraint and a high level of poverty in our communities. We have to have strategies to overcome these but the real challenge is having the courage to implement them, whatever challenges come across we can go through and defeat them. We’re trying our best. The children are our future and benefit from this.”

Amos Mabuza is the principal of Sindzawonye Primary School in Pineaar - one of the schools that hosts our formal placements. Amos has recently won the Excellence in Primary Leadership Award to recognise his creative and effective teaching in the province. Tenteleni have been working with the school for 12 years, and in the past four years Amos has pioneered our Volunteer Partnership Programme with ORT whereby national and Tenteleni volunteers work together. To find out more about our Volunteer Partnership Programme and read the story of Nonhlanhla, national volunteer at Sindzawonye 2014, who is now training to become a teacher, head to our blog: http://tenteleni.org/…/journey-of-a-south-african-volunteer/

“I was privileged to attend a camp where I met wonderful youth workers who helped me a lot. It helped me come to my conclusion that I wanted to become a youth worker. I decided to volunteer to help others because I realised that it just takes a willing heart to help people around you. I get inspired when I see change, even in one kid’s life. It feels good to know that you live not just for yourself but for others as well.”

"Tenteleni are always open to learn new things, they are friendly and they have excellent techniques to help the kids at the centre with Maths. They are able to work on a one-to-one basis with the young people providing support to the young people outside of school.”

Futhi is a key staff member at Litsemba Youth Centre in Pienaar. Litsemba provides a space for young people in Pienaar to attend after school and on weekends. The centre provides a mixture of life skills sessions and homework clubs, working alongside local NGO’s to provide support for key youth issues facing young people in Pienaar. Their Girls Club led by Futhi provides homework support and gender-focused life skills/empowerment sessions for girls in the Pienaar community.

“I like managing and administering youth and community projects. I like to assess the needs of young people, planning and delivering programmes related to areas where the youth needs help the most.”

"I certainly do enjoy working with Tenteleni, I'm a very social person. A big part of why I enjoy my job is because I work with people. I really enjoy interacting with Tenteleni because I learn a lot of interesting things from people's perspectives and experiences. And of course, the more different the people you work with, the more problems likely to arise, but that also allows for problem solving. Being a social person I think what I have deciphered until now is that with different people comes a different idea which gives you a chance to think in totally different way. With Tenteleni you have more ideas, experience and you build confidence.”

Nathi is a line manager at the Oneness Revivial Team (ORT) our Volunteer Partnership Programme partners in Pienaar. ORT aims to empower young people and local communities through providing them with skills and the knowledge needed for socio-economic advancement. Tenteleni first began working with ORT in 2009 and in 2011 piloted VPP in Pienaar, partnering Tenteleni volunteers with ORT volunteers in primary school placements where they work together to assist Educators in core subjects and extra-curricular activities one of Tenteleni’s non-formal placement organisations. He Nathi has played a key role in helping develop our partnership and leads our recruitment of national volunteers in Pienaar.

“As a principal I enjoy working with the children and teaching in the classroom. I enjoy mentoring the children and observing them develop through education. There are lots of challenges as a prinicipal in South Africa – financial constraints, absentee learners and lateness but these are challenges we work to overcome.”

“Working with Tenteleni is beneficial for the children. It improves the language of pupils and the volunteers assist them in Maths and Science. The children like to talk to the volunteers. It is important for the children’s communication and for our school to partner with other organisations.”

Mr Nkosi is the principal of Somcuba Primary School one of our formal placement primary schools on the Pienaar project. Mr Nkosi has been a strong supporter of our volunteer partnership programme facilitating Tenteleni volunteers both in and outside the classroom.
To find out more about Tenteleni’s formal placements in Pienaar follow this link; http://tenteleni.org/portfolio/pienaar/

“Hosting Tenteleni volunteers throughout the summer I like them to feel just like family. I tell them about our culture of sharing and I encourage them to speak SiSwati with the neighbours. -I have really enjoyed doing this with the girls. The girls from this summer helped me pick tomatoes from my vegetable patch and I brought them to meet the neighbours – they become part of the community .”

“I enjoy teaching children with special needs. Teaching was a calling for me. Ever since I was young I would role play as a teacher. All the children are unique and we can learn so much from them. ”

Homestays are a key highlight of our projects. Clara invites our volunteers into her home for the project cycle and treats them as one of her family. She teaches the volunteers the local language, cooking recipes and traditional dances – on a yearly basis our volunteers identify homestays as a highlight of their experience. Alongside this she works as a special needs educator at Kamagugu Primary School in Pienaar.
To find out more about our volunteers homestay experience read 2015 Pienaar volunteer Tabi’s experience living with Clara:
http://tenteleni.org/…/cooking-siswati-and-mountain-climbi…/