Despite hunger and homelessness, Sandile dreams of school
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© UNICEF Swaziland 2007 ESkorochod |
Mvuma, August 2007 - Fourteen-year-old Sandile Dlamini sits on a mat outside the burned huts of his grandparent’s homestead. He is shy, but smiles often. He looks down at his bare feet before he answers the question about what he hopes for. He has much to choose from, as his family has suffered from Swaziland’s current drought, as well as from the recent forest fires in his community. With scorched walls and burned-out roofs and doors on their former houses, Sandile and his siblings sleep in a temporary tent shelter donated by Red Cross. The family is also food insecure. Due to the drought, which the Government declared a national disaster, the Dlaminis harvested little maize this year.
But Sandile doesn’t think of hunger or homelessness. Instead he says his hopes are for school. He says he dreams of going back one day.
“I went to school for one term,” he says. “But the money for school fees ran out, so I had to leave.”
While his parents were alive, there was no money for school fees, so he never attended. After his parents died (most likely from HIV/AIDS), his grandfather, Jerome Dlamini, took him to the primary school. Sandile, then 12 years old, was enrolled in Grade 1. But his grandparents could afford only one term. He left school and has never returned.
Sandile’s two half-sisters, 15 and 16 years old, are also out of school. All three children remain at home during the day, performing household chores like fetching water and collecting firewood.
The Swazi Government has not turned a blind eye to the problem of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) who are out of school because they cannot pay school fees. In 2004, the Government took a major step toward achieving universal primary education by establishing a bursary to cover school fees for the nation’s growing number of OVC. But despite the impressive efforts of Government, challenges remain. The process of disbursement of the OVC bursary is complicated. Delays in OVC payments to schools have been inevitable, placing the Ministry under increased pressure and forcing Head Teachers to provide for students without the additional funds from Government. However, many schools still turn OVC away. In addition, the increasing amount of the bursary has never been enough to cover school fees for all of Swaziland’s orphans who wish to attend school.
To assist the Ministry of Education, UNICEF supported Government to review the bursary processes, to identify challenges resulting in delays in grant disbursement, and to identify strategies to allocate sufficient funds to cover all OVC who wish to attend school. UNICEF also established a Commission of Inquiry on OVC funds to make recommendations in this regard.
Sandile smiles when asked whose image is stitched on his shirt, but then he shakes his head, indicating that he doesn’t know. The Mickey Mouse jersey he wears was donated by the Red Cross.
“We received help from Red Cross and UNICEF after the fires,” says Sandile. “The clothes and blankets were the best because it is still cold at night.”
UNICEF donated 150 survival kits to families impacted by the fires. Red Cross distributed these kits to the neediest families. The kits included items such as clothing and blankets, cooking utensils, pots and food.
While blankets and cooking utensils are small comfort, they will help sustain Sandile until his dreams of returning to school come true.
