Green Shoots: There's beauty everywhere
This hasn't been an easy task, and even the gentlest of people I know have struggled to resist the urge to retaliate and avenge. Instead I have found refuge in letting my thoughts search for the beauty in our world, and I've been daydreaming about the beautiful things my life allows me to experience.
My grandson is beauty itself, proof that god has rewarded us for not killing our kids. In my garden there's a solitary clivia – the only one amidst the many - that blooms every year around this time. I am waiting for the five or six buds to explode into the most beautiful orange spectacle.
There's a cartoon I came across by an artist who signs off as Johnson. The woman gets out the shower and is changing, and the husband / partner wolf-whistles in appreciation at what he sees. She says 'yeh yeh you've seen me like this thousands of times'. His retort: 'I've seen the sunset thousands of times too'. I can relate.
There's beauty in music, in pictures, in conversations with young people who don't let the ugliness dull their creativity and passion. The resilience of the youth in my life who don't stop searching for jobs, who get up each time from the despair of rejection by a system that seems hellbent on destroying hope, is a beauty that is deep and strong. And every now and then they break through and get to go on adventures to other lands, or to enjoy the stability of income that allows them to start building assets and a life that isn't only about struggle and survival.
There's beauty in the resistance that people around us and across the seas are demonstrating. In New York, 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani took on the establishment and won the Democrat nomination with a message of care, hope, and inclusivity. He needs to win the mayoral race now in what will be a big, beautiful blow to the ugly orange stuff.
The young people in Nairobi refuse to be silenced, and are taking to the streets in sustained resistance to the ugliness of political oppression. I heard them say amidst the teargas, 'We are done shedding blood because of power'. My heart swelled at hearing that simple refusal. I find beauty in words, and have been enjoying a series of poetic posts that pop up on my social media. I couldn't find one about beauty, but surely there are few things more beautiful than happiness for those who live on our hearts: 'In English, we say: 'I hope you're happy.' But in poetry, we say: 'May the sun that warms your days be as kind to you as the first kiss of dew on the dawning light upon the leaves of the laurel that we once made love under.''
Where do you find the beauty that makes your heart sing amidst the cacophony of ugliness in the world? Look for it in the places you don't usually visit. Find it in the words of the one you are speaking with – friend or stranger. Listen closely to the words of the children in your life – they are beauty, and you will see it. And your heart will swell with hope. And hope is what we need to dispel the ugliness.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Maverick
6 days ago
- Daily Maverick
On top of the word — nonprofit boosts literacy rates at Joburg inner-city schools
In this last of a three-part series on South Africa's child literacy crisis, Anna Cox and Cecilia Russell visited The Link, a nonprofit organisation that has recorded almost 300,000 volunteer hours since its inception in 2010. By providing focused, individual attention, children's literacy rates have increased by more than 30%. A project that has shown credible results in Johannesburg inner-city schools is The Link, a nonprofit organisation operating in 18 centres and going since 2010. Since then, 8,156 children have passed through its doors, with Grade 3s from low-income schools given 300,000 hours of literacy and numeracy assistance. The programme has recorded 300,000 volunteer hours. Currently, about 450 volunteers teach the children, who attend classes twice a week for an hour. Year on year, from 2019 to 2023, the literacy results have been consistent, ranging from a 25% to a 31% increase. The children come from a variety of single-parent, grandparent and child-led homes, have multiple cultures and languages and are in schools that are typically overcrowded and underresourced. Most arrive at school not speaking or understanding English, says coordinator Maggie Fussell. Teachers identify the children who have reading and numeracy difficulties at the beginning of each year and send them to Link volunteers, who perform a further assessment. From there, a number of children are selected for the programme, depending on the number of volunteers and the space available. The children are assessed again at the end of the school year. Mamokete Mhlongo, department head of the foundation phase at Orange Grove Primary School, says the programme has helped many of the pupils. Most children come to the school from Alexandra, where there are a variety of languages spoken. About 40% of pupils who arrive at the school each year do not understand any English. 'Our teachers are battling with very big classes. The children love to go to The Link classes and always come back happy. We can see a difference in their confidence levels as well,' says Mhlongo. There are currently 18 Link centres operating at schools in and around Johannesburg, reaching 800 children every week and covering areas of Orange Grove, Soweto, Germiston, Fordsburg, Brixton, Riversands, Azaadville, Coronationville and Yeoville. All these centres are recognised and work with full permission of the Gauteng Education Department, which allows the extra teaching to be done during school hours as well as the use of school premises. The organisation was founded in 2010 by Margi Bashall, a schoolteacher at Salvazione Primary School in Brixton, who is passionate about education. Drawing on different sources of specialist primary school teaching expertise from around the country, Bashall designed positive, sustainable and measurable literacy and maths Grade 2 and 3 interventions. During the next four years, she, together with eager volunteers, expanded the number of schools. 'All our centres are managed and staffed by volunteers, mainly community members who are committed to making a difference in education and who enjoy working with the children. 'The volunteers do not need to have any teaching experience but they are required to be fluent in English. We provide basic training and all the resources that are required,' says Fussell. Each reading session lasts 45 minutes. The first 15 minutes are spent on paired reading. The middle 15 minutes is used to practise handwriting and play educational games to raise phonological awareness. 'Our programme provides a structured, safe environment for both the learners and the volunteers. We give the children one-on-one attention, which is impossible for teachers who have 40 to 50 learners in each class. With us, the children are given individual attention. We read, play educational games and end the sessions with 15 minutes of one-on-one reading a story. Many don't have books in their homes and many have never had a story read to them. It is often their favourite part of the lesson and it creates a love of books. 'Teachers at all our partner schools are supportive of our efforts and are consulted regularly,' she adds. The Link has a very low-cost operating model because it is a volunteer-based organisation, with the result that it only costs R1,000 to fund a child's literacy and numeracy support for one school year. While there is generally good cooperation with school governing bodies, teachers and principals, there are some problems: School governing board members who do not appreciate the value of the project; Lack of volunteers, especially in lower-income areas, and trying to find passionate and dedicated individuals to help with the programme's growth; Lack of space to teach in some schools; Lack of parental support; and Interruptions because of school activities. 'However, we get great cooperation in most schools. Most teachers appreciate the help we can give the learners who are battling with English, as they simply do not have time to assist the children. Some go as far as having workshops with parents and teachers, encouraging them to help their children to read and to help them support their children's literacy development. 'We also encourage parents to read with their children and we provide resources like free digital storybooks. We understand that this can be difficult, as a lot of parents work long hours.' The Link would like to expand the schools that it partners with, but this is always dependent on finding volunteers and funding, says Fussell. Where they cannot help, they distribute the Link in a Box, which consists of five sets of cards, readers, related games and storybooks, which costs R2,700, but which is provided to mainly rural schools for R500. DM This feature was produced with the support of the Henry Nxumalo Foundation. This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
IOL News
27-06-2025
- IOL News
Green Shoots: There's beauty everywhere
My thoughts this week have been blighted by the ugliness of imperialism, war mongering, genocide, and racism. This ugliness is etched indelibly in the souls and faces of those old men who have stoked the recent frenzy of bombs and machismo. These old men who lay claim to authority from their gods and who send bombs to fall on innocent people have made the world an uglier place, less secure, less caring, more desperate. I've been actively resisting the descent into hopelessness at the impunity with which they violate not just the law, but the very essence of human decency and coexistence. This hasn't been an easy task, and even the gentlest of people I know have struggled to resist the urge to retaliate and avenge. Instead I have found refuge in letting my thoughts search for the beauty in our world, and I've been daydreaming about the beautiful things my life allows me to experience. My grandson is beauty itself, proof that god has rewarded us for not killing our kids. In my garden there's a solitary clivia – the only one amidst the many - that blooms every year around this time. I am waiting for the five or six buds to explode into the most beautiful orange spectacle. There's a cartoon I came across by an artist who signs off as Johnson. The woman gets out the shower and is changing, and the husband / partner wolf-whistles in appreciation at what he sees. She says 'yeh yeh you've seen me like this thousands of times'. His retort: 'I've seen the sunset thousands of times too'. I can relate. There's beauty in music, in pictures, in conversations with young people who don't let the ugliness dull their creativity and passion. The resilience of the youth in my life who don't stop searching for jobs, who get up each time from the despair of rejection by a system that seems hellbent on destroying hope, is a beauty that is deep and strong. And every now and then they break through and get to go on adventures to other lands, or to enjoy the stability of income that allows them to start building assets and a life that isn't only about struggle and survival. There's beauty in the resistance that people around us and across the seas are demonstrating. In New York, 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani took on the establishment and won the Democrat nomination with a message of care, hope, and inclusivity. He needs to win the mayoral race now in what will be a big, beautiful blow to the ugly orange stuff. The young people in Nairobi refuse to be silenced, and are taking to the streets in sustained resistance to the ugliness of political oppression. I heard them say amidst the teargas, 'We are done shedding blood because of power'. My heart swelled at hearing that simple refusal. I find beauty in words, and have been enjoying a series of poetic posts that pop up on my social media. I couldn't find one about beauty, but surely there are few things more beautiful than happiness for those who live on our hearts: 'In English, we say: 'I hope you're happy.' But in poetry, we say: 'May the sun that warms your days be as kind to you as the first kiss of dew on the dawning light upon the leaves of the laurel that we once made love under.'' Where do you find the beauty that makes your heart sing amidst the cacophony of ugliness in the world? Look for it in the places you don't usually visit. Find it in the words of the one you are speaking with – friend or stranger. Listen closely to the words of the children in your life – they are beauty, and you will see it. And your heart will swell with hope. And hope is what we need to dispel the ugliness.
TimesLIVE
26-06-2025
- TimesLIVE
Pretoria PhD graduate creates Sepedi comms tool for disabled children
For many children with communication disabilities, expressing their thoughts, needs and feelings can feel impossible, especially when the tools available are not coded in their language. But one South African scholar made it her mission to change that. Dr Ngwanamaishe Rahab Mothapo, a University of Pretoria PhD graduate, has developed a communication system that allows Sepedi-speaking children with communication impairments to express themselves in their language and on their terms. The non-electronic, picture-based tool is specifically designed for preliterate children who speak Sepedi, a language spoken widely in Limpopo. Her work marks the first culturally rooted augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system of its kind in the country. 'It's really about giving these children a voice,' said Mothapo. 'Enabling them to take part in communication, which is a human right.' Her motivation was deeply personal. Growing up in Polokwane, Limpopo, she had a relative whose son lived with an intellectual disability and struggled to communicate. 'Because we knew our way around him, it was much easier for us to understand him,' she said. It was during this period that she became increasingly aware of a gap in the field. That experience stayed with her and later shaped her career as a speech-language pathologist and audiologist. When she entered the profession, she found that the resources available to support children with communication needs were not only limited, but also culturally foreign. 'Our profession is very Western-centric. The tools we use, the tests, the assessment frameworks are all based on English-speaking children in Western contexts,' she said. 'That is a problem when you are working in Limpopo with Sepedi-speaking children who can't relate to those tools at all.' Her research journey began by developing the 222 most commonly used Sepedi words, which she calls 'core vocabulary' words, which laid the foundation of her PhD. Her doctoral study aimed to create a usable system that children could hold in their hands, and use at home, at school or in clinics and 'feel seen' by using it. Her PhD research, conducted at the university's Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), used a design methodology that places users at the heart of the process. She engaged a range of stakeholders, including teachers, parents, linguists, speech therapists and even adults who had grown up using AAC devices. 'If we don't consider the people who will use the system, their culture, their language, daily lives, then we end up with tools that people abandon,' said Mothapo. 'That is something we see globally with assertive technology. It is not used because it does not resonate.' The picture-based board contains more than 600 items, grouped by how children use language socially and contextually. It includes: Greeting phrases and everyday expressions; A QWERTY keyboard with Sepedi-specific phonemes; Core vocabulary including nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives; Fringe vocabulary, tailored to specific settings such as playtime or weddings 'The system is intentionally flexible, allowing children, caregivers and teachers to adjust vocabulary according to the situation, whether a child is at school, in a park, or attending a ceremony,' she said. The board also contains emojis that reflect the reality of children who use it. Her findings highlighted the importance of dialectical variations. 'Polokwane Sepedi is not the same as Sekhukhune Sepedi,' said Mothapo, adding that teachers and therapists must consider these differences when using the system. The final product is now being used by some of the schools and families who took part in the research. Mothapo has also shared the tool with the Limpopo education department and hopes it will soon be rolled out more widely. 'This is not something I'm trying to sell. The aim is not to monetise it,' she said. 'Raising a child with a disability is already expensive. Communication should not be a luxury; it is a basic need.' Her vision reaches beyond Sepedi-speaking children. She hopes her work will serve as a blueprint for other South African languages, particularly those that have been historically marginalised in healthcare and education. 'If this device is going to act as my voice and I'm going to use it to interact with my community, then it must reflect who I am, my culture, my language,' she said. 'Otherwise, it only adds to the isolation.' To future researchers from marginalised backgrounds, Mothapo offers encouragement and a challenge. 'There is a phrase I believe in: 'Nothing about us without us.' We can't keep letting outsiders define our languages and our communities. Don't be afraid to explore new ground, even if there is not much research already done. Be fearless.'
