We send them to primary school when they are six but by then they have already passed the most developmentally important years of their lives. Perhaps they have been nurtured with loving and creative care through those important years, so that they will grow up to be secure, self-assured, successful students, good parents and stable members of society. Or perhaps they will not. For we are a damaged society — damaged by the trauma of generations of being denigrated by apartheid and damaged by the guilt of having inflicted that denigration on others.

Damaged by the slave mentality and the baas mentality; by the squalor of poverty and the injustice of gross inequality. Damaged, too, by the fact that too many of our children have been, and still are being, damaged by parents who were themselves unknowingly damaged by those factors.

Thrusting a child of six into “big school” with all those disadvantages is surely in itself also damaging. It is small wonder our failure rate is so devastating.

Studies by many specialists are showing with increasing certainty that those early years in a child’s life are the most crucial in shaping an individual’s personality. Miss them and any deficiency is likely to increase in later life. That is why children from abusive or dysfunctional homes are likely to grow up to be abusive and dysfunctional themselves.

“Early childhood is the most effective time to prevent inequalities before disparities widen,” writes Anthony Lake, executive director of the United Nations Children’s Fund. “By investing in children in early childhood, there are lifetime consequences not only for individuals but for the wellbeing of societies.”

Our government spends millions of rand on education. It has produced an education system that is one of the most expensive in the world, yielding one of the world’s worst results. There are many reasons for this but I believe one of the major reasons is the neglect of preschool education in a country that needs it desperately.

The government knows this. It has good early childhood education policies, but like so much else it is not implementing them. Trevor Manuel ’s National Planning Commission has recognised the value of early childhood education and recommended a two-year programme for every child, from age four; perhaps the Zuma administration will get around to doing something about that before Jesus Christ comes again.

Part of the problem is that this issue appears to fall between the government’s multiple stools. Children younger than five don’t fall under the Department of Basic Education but under the Department of Social Development. So those who don’t get a place in the relatively few (mostly model C) schools that have grade R, but only begin at age six, seven or later, end up in an administrative no-man’s land.

Thousands end up in unregistered creches or “baby farms”, where working mothers drop them for the day out of necessity. The staff there are unqualified, ranging from hopelessly inadequate to eager but untutored, in what is a specialised occupation requiring keen sensitivity and knowledgeable observation. There are hundreds of such unregistered schools around SA.

These are the future South Africans who should be getting specialised professional preschool attention. If they were, a whole range of dysfunctional social and educational problems would be eased, if not completely solved. A whole generation would be saved from the accumulated ravages of our history. But it is not happening.

So here’s a suggestion. In the Johannesburg suburb of Kew, bordering on teeming Alexandra township, is a remarkable institution founded 12 years ago by two practising psychologists, Tony and Hillary Hamburger, who wanted to apply their professional skills to help the many people, especially children, who had been traumatised by the violence of the antiapartheid struggle in Alexandra.

Converting vacant industrial premises that Tony Hamburger happened to own in Kew, the husband -and-wife team established a psychotherapy training organisation to help these casualties of Alexandra’s struggle, compounded after 1990 by the AIDS pandemic that ravaged families and left many children alone and in desperate circumstances.

They named it Ububele, an Nguni word meaning succouring or nurturing, and it soon became apparent to the founders that these emotionally traumatised children were the most in need of their services. The children in turn provided the psychologists with a direct connection to the community in Alexandra, where they could conduct research and gain a deeper understanding of the conditions afflicting the people there.

Over 12 years, Ububele has evolved into a unique institution, not only treating individual cases but developing programmes and training courses for dealing with the emotional development and psychological support of preschool children. Crisply put, it is a training organisation with a strong therapeutic culture.

A visit there is an uplifting experience. Classes of animated four-year-olds, under the guidance of skilled teachers, interact with great enthusiasm and self-confidence in group games, plays and other creative activities. Elsewhere in the building, psychologists, sometimes interns, engage with troubled children in cubicles that have one-way mirrors through which specialists can monitor a child’s reactions.

“Small children can’t articulate their problems,” Hillary Hamburger explains, “but they can play them.” So their problems can be diagnosed by analysing what they do while interacting with the therapist.”

The results are evident to any visitor. And they are having a ripple effect. “Ububele has made an important footprint in the mental health of Gauteng,” is the pithy observation of Jake Matlhong, its oldest staff member.

But there is a problem. What began as a gesture of compassion has swelled into a consuming obligation for the founders. The overwhelming need in the community they are serving is crushing them personally and financially. They have established a trust — The Ububele Educational and Psychotherapy Trust — but raising funds is time-consuming and difficult. Government support petered out without reason last year. They have had no response to their application to the Lotto in more than 10 months, despite that body’s extravagant donations elsewhere.

The closure of what should be a working model for similar institutions across the land is now threatening.

What the government should do is help fund the running of Ububele to enable it to conduct training courses, which it has already designed, for the thousands of unqualified teachers working in unregistered “baby farms” around the country. As it is, Ububele has managed to train 500 teachers and childcare workers in its 12 years; that should be boosted to 5000 by the end of this year.

The cost to the education budget would be infinitesimal; the returns immeasurable. It is hard to think of any small investment that could make such a big difference to SA’s long-term prospects.

Published in Business Day: 2012/02/01 07:23:07 AM

Sparks is a veteran journalist and political analyst

The competition to find for 2012 has just opened, and Google is looking for 10 pioneers, innovators, change-makers and leaders of tomorrow aged 18 – 24 from across Europe, Middle East and Africa to take their place alongside some of the world’s greatest innovators of today at Google’s Zeitgeist 2012.

In Google’s words: “We want to find young people who are leading the way in making a positive difference in the world  through science, the arts, entrepreneurialism or social activism. The lucky winners will get the prize of a lifetime, each winner will get to attend Google Zeitgeist, an exclusive three-day event, where over 400 of the most influential business leaders and key visionaries from around the world come together to share their perspectives on global issues. Speakers have included Professor Stephen Hawkings, Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt and CEO Larry Page. The winners will take part in a series of bespoke master classes with the aim of inspiring as well as giving them mentoring to help further their project and get their hands on the latest Google gadget. But what’s even more exciting is that a select few will also get the opportunity to take to the stage and have their voice heard. Here are the highlights from last year’s panel discussion with Martha Lane fox, Jon Snow and our Young Minds winners”:

To be in with a chance of winning a place at Zeitgeist 2012,  all entrants have to do is simply upload a video no longer than a minute telling us how they are making a difference to the world to www.ZeitgeistYoungMinds.com

We would greatly appreciate your feedback, please comment below.

We would greatly appreciate your feedback, please comment below.

We would greatly appreciate your feedback, please comment below.

We would greatly appreciate your feedback, please comment below.

We would greatly appreciate your feedback, please comment below.

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“I was relieving a teacher when I discovered children in Grade 9 and 10 who couldn’t read or write,” says Hendricks. “That made me want to become a teacher – not in a year or ten years time, but straight away because the need is ‘now’.”

Hendricks never set out to become a teacher. His first job was as a pest controller, ridding ships that docked late at night of rats, lice and roaches. “I then worked my way up in the clothing industry from driver to trims store supervisor – until I was retrenched in 2004.”

After two years of looking for a job, Hendricks decided to make his own. “I went to a local high school to ask if I could help out – and the principal said yes,” he explains. “So I helped out by answering phones, looking after classes when teachers weren’t there and was involved in setting up their computer lab.” Nine months later he found a contract job as a cleaner at a local primary school, which he followed up with a full-time job taking care of the grounds at a school in Ottery for the following two years.

“You get pushed around with some people looking down on you, but being a cleaner is honest work that puts food on the table,” shares the father of two, who credits his family for encouraging him when things got tough. In fact, he says one of his proudest moments was hearing his little girl shout ‘Go daddy’ when he went up to collect his degree at his graduation ceremony last year.

“I’ve realised there’s no easy road, no hand-outs in life,” says Hendricks, who struggled to find funding to pay for his studies as a mature student. “At the end, I had to work two jobs to finance my studies: I was a cleaner during the day, and did part-time classes at night – sometimes until 21h30 at night, when I would still have to come home and start research for my assignments. Over the weekends I would sell juices.”

And while he admits his family had to sacrifice a lot along the way, the bigger picture always kept them going. “We’re not out of the woods yet, but this journey has taught me to run for what you believe in – and to go for it no matter who or what is in your way. I’ve built up abilities in myself that I never knew existed.”

Still working as a caretaker until he can pay off his outstanding fees for the release of his Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE), Hendricks is looking forward to inspiring even more youngsters to find their own abilities – both inside and out of the classroom.

In a community notorious for gang violence and high unemployment, Hendricks says he is determined to teach youngsters to never despair. “Alcohol, drugs and gangsterism are taking over people’s lives in Hanover Park. We can’t put everything at government’s door – we as parents and teachers need to empower our young people because that’s how you change communities.”

So while he may have majored in Geography, Tourism, English and History as part of his BA in Social Sciences, it’s life lessons that Hendricks is most eager to impart. “I want to show my students you can use negatives to your advantage – just like me,” says the family man, who even managed to find the time to coach his school’s under-9 soccer team to an unbeaten run in 2011. “Our young people can make a success of their lives if we help them identify what they want to be and offer them sound advice and support to get there.”

But it’s not just talking with learners that has made Hendricks so popular among young people. “I think it’s because I also listen to youngsters and the concerns they raise,” he says. “You need to give them respect if you want them to respect you back!”

Having achieved his goal of becoming a teacher, Hendricks now hopes to keep on studying. “It’s about always pressing on,” he says, “and that’s what I want to inspire in the community that has already taught me so much.”

For now, he’s looking forward to working off his tuition fees so he can finally take up a full-time teaching post – and sharing with his students the journey he’s taken so far. Because, while it may have been said that ‘those who can’t do, teach’, Hendricks wants his community to know that it’s those who do, that can.

Amidst the bleak analyses, and against the backdrop of what happened at UJ this week, it has energised me to meet the Miyela team.  Miyela began as a space for young, engaged South Africans to have conversations about their vision of an equal, fair South Africa.  It grew into an NGO that, amongst many other things, delivers an intensive programme that provides academic support and mentorship to learners at Naledi High School.  Miyela is certainly not alone in the work they do.  We at DGMT have encountered many organisations providing similar support to in- and out-of-school youth.  The common thread running through their work is the desire to honour the legacy of the lives lost during the winter of 1976.  The work of Miyela, and the countless other youth-led organisations providing similar services against the backdrop of South Africa’s discursive and geographical sites of struggle, reminds us that these key spaces and moments changed us, they saw and shaped history and can become the focus of our recommitment to change the future.  By returning people’s attention to these spaces and moments we remind ourselves and the world about where we come from – and how powerful young people have been and can be changing our future while simultaneously reminding ourselves about how little has changed, really, and how much more needs to be done urgently.