# data[].attributes.body
The SA Constitution states that: "Everyone has the right to a basic education, including adult basic education".

But what happens when there are no teachers in the classrooms? What happens when you WANT to learn, but you have no support? How can we possibly grow and develop without assistance?

"Teachers must come to class and teach EVERY DAY."

This is the first of the 10 demands that these 14 young learners are asking of the Department of Education. And this is why they are walking, from Port Elizabeth to Zwelitsha, to protest against the current state of education in their schools.

So simple right?

# data[].attributes.body
"When teachers are sick or unable to come to school,
someone must still teach us."

One would think that this is the norm?

These brave children need our support! You can get involved by donating money, sponsoring items for their walk, lending them a sleeping bag or simply sharing this info with your networks.

"Nobody made a greater mistake, than he who did nothing, because he could only do a little." Edmund Burke

# data[].attributes.body
"Treat people the way you want to be treated; speak to people the way you want to be spoken to. Respect is earned not given."

DEMAND #3

Teachers must respect learners.

Click "GOING / INTERESTED" on this event to follow along as these children take the long road to the Department of Education.

# data[].attributes.headline
STUDENTS ADVOCATE FOR BETTER LEARNING CONDITIONS 

# data[].attributes.subject
STUDENTS ADVOCATE FOR BETTER LEARNING CONDITIONS 

# data[].attributes.body
On the 27th November 2019, Zukiswa Ma Ikembe Alla, 14 students and John Lombardo will walk 256 kilometers to the Eastern Cape Department of Basic Education (ECDBE) to protest the ways in which our students are treated in their Nelson Mandela Bay Schools. We are figuring out our route along the N2 Freeway and plan on walking 50 Kilometers (31 miles) per day over five or six days, and presenting our concerns to a member of the ECDBE.)

This is an incredibly brave act of these students and we have, of course, received parental consent. Our students who are walking will, no doubt, face reprisal for taking part and for speaking against their schools.

In the next column you will find a list of student demands.

# data[].attributes.body
Teaching dance is one of the greatest gifts I can share, especially when it is with those that otherwise would not have the opportunity!

# data[].attributes.body
While ArtWorks for Youth’s mission has remained the same since being founded in 2000, AWFY has added some programming in order to further support the needs of their students.

In most schools in the United States and South Africa, art education is the first of any cuts made to the budget and curriculum. ArtWorks for Youth had programs in seven schools and community-based organizations in three boroughs of New York City. Courses in photography, silk-screening, collage, painting and drawing, and book-binding took place during after hours.

In 2002, a Middle School where

ArtWorks for Youth began traveling to South Africa three times annually for periods of two to six weeks at a time, teaching art instruction during and after school and working with teachers to expand their curriculum to include visual arts projects.

In 2009, ArtWorks for Youth started running year-round art classes at two primary schools in Port Elizabeth during school and after school hours.

# data[].attributes.body
When there are no American volunteers working with ArtWorks for Youth in South Africa, there are approximately 500 students involved in various programs during the week.

# data[].attributes.body
Located in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, which is South Africa’s poorest province, Port Elizabeth (PE) is the country’s fifth largest city. It has a population of 312,000 people, a great majority of which lives in poverty. While the unemployment rate in PE is 36.6%, that rate more than doubles in the city’s townships, which are home to an overwhelming majority of its black residents.

While the government has worked hard to fulfill a promise to build a home for all families in need, the delivery of services has been slow. Further, the government-provided homes are substandard and barely large enough for the families they house.

The Eastern Cape of South Africa has a high school graduation rate of 61%. While this rate is not considerably lower than the passing rate in New York City, it does not take into account the high level of drop out rates in grades ten and eleven. It also fails to factor in all students who leave school for a host of reasons (including lack of funds for uniforms, stationery, and school fees.) The Eastern Cape’s senior class of 2013 lost nearly half its class since the students were in second grade.

The Eastern Cape also has the highest rate of food-insecure families, with 36.2% of its residents battling hunger daily.

While ArtWorks for Youth believes that arts education can assist students with the stressors that come with poverty and poor education, they felt it necessary to expand our programming to offer support via tangible means, including feeding, minor medical assistance, advocacy at home and within their schools, academic support that includes instruction in reading and writing, math, literacy, and homework help.

ArtWorks for Youth is now able to offer some relief from the many issues being faced by its students.

# data[].attributes.body
This picture was taken just moments after an intense and emotional group session during which the girls shared very personal stories about their daily struggles. Dancing turned tears into smiles! One of the greatest days of my life!! #mygirls #hda2017

# data[].attributes.body
Art Instruction/Expression

Annual Procession

Performance Art and Playwriting

Sister’s Keeper & Boys Group

Young Reader’s Group

Academic Support

Library

Feeding Program

# data[].attributes.body
All students must have textbooks.

The reality of the situation in these schools is that the future leaders of South Africa are not being properly supported in gaining a decent education.

14 children will be walking 260 kms from Port Elizabeth to Zwelitsha to hand over their 10 demands to improve their schools and the quality of their education. They need our support - the need your support.

# data[].attributes.body
AWFY had a nine-year relationship with Joe Slovo Primary School and used classrooms there as our main site. In December, 2016, we were forced to vacate due to a protest we staged targeting the Eastern Cape Department of Education. Their students parents are increasingly upset about the state of education in PE. AWFY ran an abbreviated program for a month before pairing with another non-profit organization nearby Joe Slovo Primary School. AWFY has been meeting with architects to build their own site in Joe Slovo Township and have already acquired land from the Joe Slovo Communal Property Association, and have been granted a 99 year lease.

# data[].attributes.body
Learn More... Visit our FB Page!

# data[].attributes.body
In 2013, AWFY joined forces with Marissa Davis, a Master’s candidate at Harvard’s Kennedy Center who had been awarded grant money to work with a Girl’s Group. AWFY had a nascent Girls Group whose goals were in line with M’S work, and she worked with is for three months. The Girls Group was initially formed in order to support our most vulnerable students. The statistics involving the rape and abuse of girls and women in the Eastern Cape are staggering. AWFY has several students who have been abused, AND a few who are HIV+ as a result; they wanted to give these young women a forum to discuss these and the other issues they face as women in Port Elizabeth.

AWFY hired a local woman to work with the girls a few months prior to Marissa’s visit. While it is key to have someone from the girls’ community to work with the girls, the woman hired requested some professional development in order to improve and continue the Girls Group. Marissa gave a start and solid structure to the program, which now continues and runs three days a week for an hour and a half each session.

The Girls’ Group, named Sister’s Keeper, has, in just under a year, built the confidence of the twenty young women who are involved in the program. They are working harder in school, expressing more clearly their needs, desires, and circumstances, and they are supporting one another in ways they had not been in the past. They are a force!

# data[].attributes.body
(a work in progress)