By PEGGY GOETZ IRVINE WORLD NEWS
Someone should ask Irvine High principal Gail Richards the old back-to-school question: What did you do with your summer vacation?
Richards and her husband, Stan, went to South Africa. As part of the trip they visited Velangaye High School in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal. She had wanted to go since Velangaye principal Ngogi Mahaye came to Irvine High last December.
    For Richards the visit was an eye-opener, to say the least.
    She spoke with student leaders about their school, their student parliament, things they like about their school and their plans for the future.
    Like many high school students in Irvine, they glowed with pride in their achievements, the achievements of their school and the hope that the teachers and leaders have given them.
    Nombuso Shoszi, a 16-year old girl, said, “We don’t have much, but we find ways.”
    The school day goes from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. with extra study for 11th and 12th grade students from 7 to 10 p.m., she said. School is all about academics here. There are no sports teams, no art or music electives.
    Students clean the classrooms themselves. There is one water faucet on campus and there are separate outhouses for students and teachers.
    Shoszi is proud of the high quality of education at Velangaye High, compared to other schools in the area.
    Last year, 80 students passed the national matriculation exam that is required in South Africa to get a high school diploma. Scholarship money was found for five of them to go on to college - a record for Valengaye, according to Principal Ngogi Mahaye.
    As Richards and a group of visitors walked around the dusty, unlandscaped campus, they went to classrooms as well.
    “These kids are as joyous and enthusiastic as any kids anywhere, no matter how dire their situation looks to us,” Richards said recently, recalling her visit.
    Richards said she retuned with a new awareness of the great opportunities kids have in Irvine and wished that they all could have the optimism and enthusiasm she saw in the African students.
    “We should all be so grateful for our opportunities right here within our reach. Seeing that school makes my challenges here seem much more manageable,” she said.
    Every classroom at Velangaye High was crowded. Students were packed in, three to a desk built for two. There were 50-90 kids in a class.
    But the classrooms were mostly quiet and students attentive. Discipline is strict. Students wear neatly maintained, if threadbare, uniforms that looked a little incongruous in such a dilapidated environment.
    Meeting with Mahaye and teachers at the school, Richards listened to descriptions of teaching conditions and concerns.
    Teacher Felix Cobby said there is no library, and added that they feel fortunate to have one copy machine.
    Richards asked if teachers have access to the Internet to find teaching materials.
    Cobby replied that Internet access is limited. He is the only teacher on the staff with Internet access at home.
    “I know how hard it is to teach without materials. It’s hard, very hard to teach without materials,” Richards said.
    Hunger is another big problem for Mahaye and his students. He was looking forward to a food program the Nardini Sisters from the convent in Nkandla are trying to establish at the school.
    He estimated that 90 percent of his 500 students are hungry much of the time.
    “That (food) program is something that is going to make a difference, because of concentration not being good and they are thinking about what will they eat later,” he said.
    Richards and her husband and other summer visitors from Irvine, including Debbie Bianchi or the Africa Project, which is helping the school, talk about ways to help.
    Richards described a program where students competed to develop an idea for something to sell and then tried to market it. Someone suggested forming a kind of 4H Club to teach gardening and other practical skills.
    The visitors spoke with enthusiasm that probably reflected their coming from a place where so many things are possible, where students have a reasonable expectation that when they finish their educations they will be able to find a job, where few come to school hungry and where even students have cars.
    Students at high schools in Irvine worked last year to support projects at Velangaye High School. The money helped with many projects, including a shower for boarding students, electricity in the classrooms, and painting and renovation in the classrooms and the two rooms converted to sleeping quarters for students. Funds from Irvine also helped bring electricity to two of the blocks of classrooms. More information about the Africa Project is available online at www.theafricaproject.com.

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