TakingITGlobal - Panorama - Children of Africa

Published on: Sep 2, 2003

Topic:

Type: Short Stories

https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=1833

Change is inevitable and a quest for mans life. It lingers in lips and has posed a challenge, for it is not spontaneous. It manifests with time and has no limit. I grew up never knowing what really counts in my future. Nevertheless I had a vague and optimistic hope of becoming someone with a difference not knowing one day I would make an impact on someone's destiny.

Amidst all hurdles and struggles in life, I would look at the sky and wish I would be a bird and wander round the world. I built paper planes and kites and fantasized about fairytales. The journeys to some countries in Southern and East Africa woke up a realistic and vibrant spirit in me. If you want to see change society, you have to be the change itself.

Images of children with flickering smiles through the villages, schools, orphanages showered with enthusiasm, vigor and excitement surround us. Those were the faces of African children welcoming the Cosmos Education team Big Brother World to others. The arrival to Capetown was an orientation for the new faces as we tried to accomplish the mission of inspiring, engaging and empowering the little joyous souls on the transformation science education could do on our continents soil.

Miraculously the team of young graduate students and professionals from Kenya, South America, Africa, Mexico, Zambia, and UK started their genesis into the Northern Provinces of South Africa. The Cape of Good Hope left a mark of thrill and excitement when the baboons jumped into the truck and took some tomatoes and scattered some biltong' dried meat in the front seats. The guys inside went wild and screamed.
The roads, clicking sounds, lone, dry stretching landscape reminded me that I was not in Kenya, but in a foreign land. I tried my best to learn the word Xhosa but to my surprise it had taken me longer me longer to learn than French and Spanish.

The look in the children’s’ eyes say a lot, to captivate and capture the little soul and understand what they want feel and how you can help counts a lot. The most challenging were the visits to the safety homes, it was moving when the small kids of 11 years-16 waited for their trial after committing petty crimes mostly because of peer pressure and drug influence. But all the same the magnificent 13 bonded with them. The vulnerability of the child is essential, all children look alike in their uniforms but with different backgrounds.

The revelation of entering and visiting schools in Soweto had cast all my doubts and fears of it being a dangerous and scary area. Visiting the schools kept me concentrated, and all the zones opened up my mind, just so I could enjoy the warmth of seeing all the kids listening so attentively.

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by neema mbeyu
Published on: Sep 2, 2003
Topic:
Type: Short Stories
https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=1833


Change is inevitable and a quest for mans life. It lingers in lips and has posed a challenge, for it is not spontaneous. It manifests with time and has no limit. I grew up never knowing what really counts in my future. Nevertheless I had a vague and optimistic hope of becoming someone with a difference not knowing one day I would make an impact on someone's destiny. Amidst all hurdles and struggles in life, I would look at the sky and wish I would be a bird and wander round the world. I built paper planes and kites and fantasized about fairytales. The journeys to some countries in Southern and East Africa woke up a realistic and vibrant spirit in me. If you want to see change society, you have to be the change itself. Images of children with flickering smiles through the villages, schools, orphanages showered with enthusiasm, vigor and excitement surround us. Those were the faces of African children welcoming the Cosmos Education team Big Brother World to others. The arrival to Capetown was an orientation for the new faces as we tried to accomplish the mission of inspiring, engaging and empowering the little joyous souls on the transformation science education could do on our continents soil. Miraculously the team of young graduate students and professionals from Kenya, South America, Africa, Mexico, Zambia, and UK started their genesis into the Northern Provinces of South Africa. The Cape of Good Hope left a mark of thrill and excitement when the baboons jumped into the truck and took some tomatoes and scattered some biltong' dried meat in the front seats. The guys inside went wild and screamed. The roads, clicking sounds, lone, dry stretching landscape reminded me that I was not in Kenya, but in a foreign land. I tried my best to learn the word Xhosa but to my surprise it had taken me longer me longer to learn than French and Spanish. The look in the children’s’ eyes say a lot, to captivate and capture the little soul and understand what they want feel and how you can help counts a lot. The most challenging were the visits to the safety homes, it was moving when the small kids of 11 years-16 waited for their trial after committing petty crimes mostly because of peer pressure and drug influence. But all the same the magnificent 13 bonded with them. The vulnerability of the child is essential, all children look alike in their uniforms but with different backgrounds. The revelation of entering and visiting schools in Soweto had cast all my doubts and fears of it being a dangerous and scary area. Visiting the schools kept me concentrated, and all the zones opened up my mind, just so I could enjoy the warmth of seeing all the kids listening so attentively. « return.