Hermanus is one of the richest areas in South Africa, with the highest density of millionaires and numerous tourists who stay in luxurious hotels to do a bit of whale-watching. However, the gap between rich and poor is particularly wide in South Africa, and this is also evident here. In stark contrast to the situation in Hermanus is the neighbouring township of Zwelihle. This is where most of the nearly 300 school and kindergarten children of the Hermanus Waldorf School live, located right next to Zwelihle. The area is characterised by high unemployment, poverty, crime and homelessness; many residents are also affected by alcohol and drug problems.
The School Grounds
The Waldorf School itself is like a little oasis. As soon as I walked through the gates, I was surrounded by children playing and I could hear the sound of marimba rehearsals. The rhythmic sounds of this large, typically South African xylophone-like wooden instrument, as well as the drumming and the singing of the pupils regularly fill the entire schoolyard. But even without the musical impressions, the school is a beautiful, safe oasis for the children, with very dedicated and caring teachers and it has many special spaces. These include a beautiful library in one of the school's two oldest buildings, the two nursery buildings with lovingly colourful rooms and homemade toys, and the sheltered garden area where vegetables are grown for nutritious lunches. There is also a newly built sports field, a basketball court and football pitch that are often used, and even a boxing club where some of the country's professionals have trained.
The centre of the schoolyard is a beautiful garden comprised of fynbos, a type of indigenous bush unique to South Africa. It is home to tortoises, which come out every day at the same time, when all the children are in their classrooms, to eat grass in the schoolyard. The garden is also criss-crossed by shiny paths lined with abalone shells, whose pearly blue-green-violet shimmering surface reflects the sunlight.
The classrooms are arranged in a large oval around the fynbos garden. At one of the narrow ends of the oval are the school administration and management offices, as well as the staff rooms for teachers and caretakers. If we were able to see behind the plaster of the walls, we would see that two of the school buildings were not built with bricks and mortar, but with sandbags stacked on top of each other. This is a particularly inexpensive and sustainable construction method but also makes it difficult to drill holes in the walls and install shelves. The benefit is that it both insulates and cools the room in a very efficient and sustainable way during the summer.
TVET-College
At the opposite end are the new premises for the newly established TVET College, a form of vocational school. The project, funded by the Friends and the BMZ (Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development), has enabled the school to introduce two training courses: ‘Primary Health’ and ‘Electrical Infrastructure and Renewable Energies’. The aim of the project is to give young adults better opportunities of entering the labour market, to reduce the very high youth unemployment rate, and to counteract the high school dropout rate. The unemployment rate in South Africa is over 30 per cent, with young adults between the ages of 15 and 24 being even more severely affected and facing youth unemployment of over 56 per cent (average values from 2013 to 2025; source: https://tradingeconomics.com/south-africa/youth-unemployment-rate ). Around 52 per cent of pupils in South Africa drop out of school early and do not obtain a school leaving certificate. In addition to factors such as teenage pregnancy and a general disappointment with the education system, this is largely due to the lack of prospects for young adults – even for those who have completed their schooling.
The two dual educational training programmes are designed to counteract this. For three school years (grades ten to twelve), pupils can deepen their skills in one of the two streams. As Hermanus has long been a popular place for retired senior citizens, the numerous medical facilities, retirement homes and nursing homes offer long-term job prospects. Values such as sustainability and climate awareness are also important issues in the construction industry of this constantly evolving city, making renewable energies a highly sought-after professional field and opening up promising job prospects for young adults.
It was wonderful to see how excited the ninth graders were about the newly introduced TVET college and how diligently they participated in the preparatory courses on information technology and general computer skills, as well as introductory courses on the career prospects in both fields. Most of the young people have rarely had the opportunity to work with a laptop before embarking on the computer course. Consequently, they participated with great focus and concentration.
During my stay, deliveries of teaching and learning materials for the college began to arrive. The rooms filled up with solar panels, various circuitry and connection training equipment, numerous tools, cables and sockets, medical posters, blood pressure monitors, models of various organs and a skeleton waving out of the window. The higher the stacks of newly arrived textbooks grew, and the more equipment was brought in, the greater the anticipation for the new training opportunities became.
In addition to the children and young people's enthusiasm and zest for life, I was also impressed by the attitude and working methods of the teachers during my stay: they are deeply committed to the children, care for them lovingly and always have an open ear for the students' problems. You could sense that they put their heart and soul into their work – in class, during breaks, and in every conversation.
Johanna Ruber
When the young people move from school to college, they will need new school uniforms. So far, there is no funding available for this. You can support the Hermanus School, including the purchase of new school uniforms following the following link.