Cape Town, March 12, 2006

The background:
SAEP (Southern Africa Education Project) is a non-profit organization and has played a crucial role in the development of the teaching and study of art at several schools in the under-priviledged townships like Philippi and Nyanga in the Cape Flats. Due to the schools' administration efforts and enthousiastic teachers, 5 of these schools are now involved in different art programmes, lecturing and workshops by members of SAEP team of volontary tutors.

Art and Culture being now part of the South African Education curriculum, SAEP is providing support and counselling for small groups, help to build capacity for teaching, and mobilize additional resources for schools in townships that have historically been under-resourced in areas like the arts.SAEP is taking young learners and teachers to attend classes of visual art, drawing and design, visiting galleries, museums and exhibitions.

As previously involved in Environmental awareness, SAEP is taking its share of issues which are the "domain" of scientists, providing support, equipment and tutoring in maths, physics, chemistry. However, knowing that arts and humanities have an essential role in awakening public interest and that art and environmental education are inter-linked, SAEP is extremely proud to have enlarged its wings over 2 new High Schools, providing support and career conselling, workshops and lectures in the domain of the arts, sciences and communication, with two particularely enthousiastic partners such as the Frank Joubert Art Center and the Shuttleworth Foundation.

Having joined SAEP in 2001 on a ''international volontary work'' programme, I have been so rewarded by what I saw, that I decided to return. This "training session" was my third participation in the townships with lectures on Arts and Cultures to several (and joyous) classes of grade 9 to 11 learners (age 14 to 18). It included an introduction to the Media School, (a training programme in journalism and photography provided by the University of Cape Town).

As a reward for the most dedicated learners at Sinethemba High School, we decided to organize the visit of the Swedish Ship "Gotheborg" that just arrived in Cape Town. SAEP arranged transport for a group of 20 and their teachers, the taxi driver and SAEP director, Norton Tenille with 5 gap year students.

The Townships:
Philippi and Nyanga, are two of the many townships in the Cape area, one of the too many black and coloured community,"informal settlements" better known as "squatter camps". They are actually under slight improvement, with housing and services. Running away from forced removals in the 70's and the 80's, the political fighting factions of the 90's, these settlements are suffering from over-crowding conditions, with extremely poor or non-existing sanitation, no water, no electricity. These homes or "shelters" are generally made out of cardboards, wood and corrugated iron planks walls. They were generally built upon rubble landfills, waste dumping grounds, a real health hazard through polluted water. From Crossroads to Kayelitsha, Langa, Nyanga, Guguletu and Philippi, thousands ans thousands of families still live in inhumane conditions. Frequent fires, dust and smoke from petrol lamps, lack of good drinking water and sewage system, outbreak of chronic deseases like Tuberculosis, Hepatitis and now Cholera, are the daily life of the children that come to learn in their schools!

Philippi, is still regarded as the worst of them all, even if things are slowly improving. Local and Provincial Administration are injecting funds to improve the situation and I have seen new schools, better homes, new shops and the learners have agreed that it was already better than in the past. However, thousands of people are still struggling to just survive, a large majority of this community is still coping with the worst living condition within the Western Cape.

The visit to the Gotheborg:
In 1745, the Swedish East Indiaman, Gotheborg I, sank, only nine hundred meters away from Goteborg harbour. Knowledge of her main proportions, the rig, the armaments and other details have been collected during extensive marine excavation undertaken between 1986 and 1993 at the wreck site. The sister ship Gotheborg III, after a trip to China and on her way back to Sweden, ran aground and sank in 1745, off Green Point, at the Cape of Good Hope.

This magnificent replica, moored in the Cape Town Waterfront harbour, is an exact copy of the 18th century original. She was put at sea and left the Swedish harbour of Goteborg on October 2nd for her long journey to China, sailing to Vigo in Portugal, Cadiz, Recife in Brazil, Cape Town in South Africa, Freemantle in Australia, Jakarta, Shanghai and Canton in China, Hong-Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Goteborg will return home via India and the Suez Canal. She is expected to arrive in Sweden during September 2007.

It was a chance not to be missed for our dedicated learners of Sinethemba High School! It was an opportunity to link Art History and History, Culture and Sciences, so we arranged a visit, thank's to the Gotheborg's crew and particularely to Emanuel Persson, their project coordinator, who warmly welcomed our request and allowed such a large group to climb on board on such a beautiful and sunny Friday, February 24th, 2006

Accompanied by an enthousiastic group of learners and their art and sciences teachers, Mrs Nambutelo Tole and Mr Sisye, SAEP's executive director Norton Tenille with some gap year students, I had the opportunity to listen to a superb presentation of the ship by one the South-African crew members, working the ropes and sails from Recife and not too happy to leave their place now.

I am convinced that this wonderful excursion will be remembered by the participants for a very long time and will cast a new light into the meaning of friendhip and togetherness, while bringing to all these young dedicated learners, a live-contact link with scientific and artistic education.