Writing Outputs

Out of nothing, we can get something

By Jenna Beyleveld

Being a teacher is not all about standing up in front of a class full of children, and Miss Zanky Mahlahla of Mary Waters High School is proof of that.
Miss Mahlahla, who teaches Maths, came from humble beginnings. “I am from a working class background, we lived in a rented house in a back garden,” she says. However, due to hard work and a love for the subject, she was the only Matric girl from her school to leave with Maths at that level. Upon going to L.L. Sebe Teacher Training College, she wished to continue with her passion, but was discouraged and instead focused on history and Xhosa. But the calling for Maths could not be ignored, and at her first teaching post, there was a position open in that department, and Miss Mahlahla stepped in to fill it. A Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education (Honours) degree later, and she’s teaching your children.
“Since 1982, I have taught Maths,” Miss Mahlahla says. “I think I am married to Maths!” she laughs. She also hopes to dispel taboos that the subject has acquired. “People are scared of it, they think that it is a masculine subject and too difficult,” she says.
As a Christian and a political figure within her community (Miss Mahlahla is an active member of the ANC), she believes that her roles come together in the form of sharing of information. “You must not be selfish with your information, you cannot be big headed alone!” she says, adding that “sharing is my policy.”
It is Miss Mahlahla’s hope that she will be seen as a role model within her community. Coming from the same background as most of her students, she hopes that they will see that they can accomplish anything if they put their minds to it. “Whatever hope they may have, I am a living example,” she says. “The first house that my family saw with many rooms was my own house,” she adds.
Her advice to parents? “Nobody must be shut off, we must share and advise each other. Even I take advice from my sixteen year old niece!”

Die saadjies van hoop

By Lynn Berggren

Sedert Agnita Jantjies by a jeug konferensie in die Nolthando saal was, het n klein idee in haar begin grond vat. Al wat sy nou nodig het is die onderstuening van die gemeenskap en die jeug. Agnita is n 21-jarige moeder van Hoogenoeg. Sy voel dat die kinders en veral die jeug in die area baie min geleenthede het vir vermaak. As gevolg van die raak die kinders verveeld en jag daan hulle kattekwaad aan. Maar ons kan hulle kwaalik neem nie.
“ As daar dalk n biblioteek in die gebied is sal die kinders nie dorp toe hoef te loop nie”. Sѐ Agnita. Sy beoog ook om n sportklub te stig sodat die jueg n bietjie besig kan wees in die middag as hulle uit die skool uitkom.
Die kinders en die jeug is baie na aan Agnita se hart. Dit kom van self-sprekend omdat sy n jeug was toe sy n ma geword het, en sy weet hoe dit is om jong te wees met n toekoms wat nie so blink lyk nie. Dit is hoekom Agnita nou die saadjie wat in haar geplant was daardie dag in Nolthando saal, wil water en kweek todat dit ‘n pragtige boom kan bekom.
“Ons jongmense moet staan vir die goed wat ons wil hѐ” is die woorde van Agnita maar sy voel dat daar nog baie gedoen moet word om hierdie projek ‘n sukses te maak. Alleen kan sy dit nie doen nie. Sy het al die ondersteuning wat sy kan kry nodig. Soos dit altyd gesѐ word, die eerste tree is altyd die moelikste, maar daarna raak die pad makliker om te loop. Enige iemand wat belangstel om vir Agnita te help kan in kontak kom met haar. Kom ons staan saam vir toekoms van onse kinders en julle kinders.

Crime doesn’t pay, it hurts

By Jenna Beyleveld

Being a parent to a child that does crime is not easy. It causes problems within the family, as well as in the larger community.
An example of this occurred in the Hoogenoeg area over a weekend that a wedding celebration happened. The happiness was marred by a twelve year old girl having sex with a seventeen year old boy, as according to the law, this is rape. Rape is a crime, no matter the circumstances, but the terrible thing is that it has created heartache within the two young people’s families, who know each other and are friendly.
Janet Jantjies from Hoogenoeg relayed this story with a baie seer hart. A parent to grown children, she has become a surrogate mother figure to the community around her, and believes that parents make the mistake of pushing their children away when they do something bad. “You must keep them close to you, not with money or food, but love,” she says. It must be about finding that which is good within the children and bringing that into the light “little by little, because they all have talents,” she adds.
Another mother from the Sun City area, Sheila Botha, is currently attempting to keep her son from falling into the crime trap. “I have rules in my house, take it or leave it,” she says. She affirms that she will not have such things under her roof, and makes it clear to all those around her. “If I see you smoking in front of my house or around children, I will tell the police,” she says. However, these strict rules are just to keep her sons from getting involved in crime. “That is my fear,” she says.


“Oka-pipe gangs”, is there a need for concern?

By Lynn Berggren

To many parents in the Hoogenoeg, Sun city and Mary waters area there is a looming predator that has come out to attack their children. It comes in the shape of a bottle filled with water, looking all pretty, with a pipe that is used for inhaling. This is known as the hubbly machine or more commonly, the oka-pipe.
It is this strange contraption that has begun to cause distress in the hearts of the parents. This became evident in the focus group meeting that was held on the 25th September 2009 with the parents from the respective areas. Although the use of the oka-pipe is legal to those under the age of 16, it has become more common for younger children to use it as well.
Hendrick Jantjies, a member and father of the Hoogenoeg community believes that this new development of the “Oka-pipe” gang is what is causing the children to act up and commit crimes. The question is then: how harmless is this contraption if it is causing concern to the parents? Medically speaking the oka-pipe has many side-effects, much the same as cigarettes. In the long run and after excessive use it can cause water on the lungs as well as lung cancer. The fact that the tobacco is flavoured does not make it any less harmful, according to a Professor Nakkash.
To make matters worse there is a concern that flavoured tobacco is not the only ingredient in these pipes. A learner from Mary waters High school has told us that some people put dagga in the pipe and mix it with the tobacco. Although there is no real evidence that all the users do this.
The children think that if it is legal it is ok to use. The only problem is, obedience to the parent comes first and if the parents do not agree with the use of the oka-pipe, the children should respect that. Alternatively, the parents should listen to what the children have to say about the device and gain more understanding of it. In that way they may realise that their children are not acting up because they are smoking this oka-pipe but because of deeper issues that are lying dormant. The “oka-pipe gangs” are not the problem; they are merely a symptom of the bigger problem.