Setsembiso Sebunye Current Programs
Elementary School
There are a total of approximately 450 students in grades one through seven. The primary school is in a period of expansion, as we increase to two sections per class. Total enrollment will grow to nearly 600 by the year 2006. The elementary school ranked third in the nation in 2005 on the Cambridge examination test, and is recognized as one of the best in the country. The elementary school gained a new principal in 2004, Dr. Charles Bullock, from the United States. The school also added a 35-computer lab in 2002 making it the first of its kind in the country.
topHigh School
Courses taught in high school include English, math, science, social studies, Siswati language, English, French, agriculture, commerce, French, computer science, human development and health, community service, and physical education. Afternoon/after school activities include choir, dance workshop, art, sports, and community service. These courses lead to the Cambridge Examinations.
Technology Lab
In 2005, the newest shipment of 100 computers arrived in June, adding an additonal computer lab to go along with the new library and new science laboratories. These technology labs are unique in the country and the first of its type in any high school in Swaziland. It has generated a great deal of enthusiasm in both the students, staff, and parents, and is of particular interest to the Ministry of Education as a learning experience.
Youth for Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Project
The driving force is that 35% of the one million people of Swaziland is suspected to be HIV/AIDS infected. The goal is to empower the students of Setsembiso Sebunye High School in Mbabane, Swaziland, to use media to substantially raise public awareness among youth in Swaziland regarding HIV/AIDS and about choices. The objectives are to teach skills and provide basic equipment to enable students to produce youth-oriented radio and television spots, short videos, posters, print advertisements, t-shirts, inter-active drama, and web pages which will provide correct facts about HIV/AIDS, engage the attention of youth to realize they have choices, empower youth to feel and know they can affect the course of the epidemic, create hope that alternatives exist, offer a vision of positive relationships which can be developed, raise awareness of the equality of women and men, increase knowledge of oppressive behaviors and alternatives, and to teach group facilitation skills to enable students to conduct discussions and workshops for other youth to gain awareness and to learn relevant life skills.
The methodologies include use of informed human resource persons, existing media, and persons infected with HIV and those who have AIDS, to provide students with facts on HIV/AIDS and choices. Students are encouraged to research HIV/AIDS for school assignments and given time and class credit to do so. Students are actively engaged in contacting radio and television stations, newspapers, schools, organizations, and youth groups, to utilize the materials produced, and to support skill and awareness-raising workshops by youth for youth. Students develop means to evaluate their own learning; the effectiveness of their materials and methods; and to obtain and publicize information about the course of the epidemic.
The outcomes of the project are to substantially increase factual knowledge about HIV/AIDS and related life skills and behavior options in the high school students of Setsembiso Sebunye High School and in the general public of Mbabane. The project also substantially increases the availability of relevant media resources targeted at youth in Swaziland, and fosters collaborative relationships wherever possible, to encourage continuing efforts by youth for youth.
The high school Youth for Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Prject has been very successful in its outreach to neighboring towns and schools. The students are bringing a message of truth and hope. The programs interest Swazi youth in taking responsibility for their own health and becoming more able to face the future with confidence and knowledge. Because the school is growing by about 130 students each year, the challenges include the need to keep renewing student awareness and identifying the resources necessary to keep moving forward.
The Role of Arts in HIV/AIDS Awareness
For video production, we have been very fortunate to have Mr. Derrick Dlamini, when available. He has worked well with students to help them explore their own interests and perspectives in connection with the HIV pandemic, and learn techniques of video production to explore youth perspectives. He has found a curriculum to match the abilities and interests of ninth-, tenth-, and eleventh-graders, and has developed methodologies to support students' own creativity and expression. As a result, some of their work is very original! There is great interest and scope to expand the video production effort, and a credit course is available through the Cambridge IGCSE curriculum used at the school. But we have not yet been able to secure the instructor commitment in order to expand this effort.
Students have worked with a number of organizations to update the factual awareness of youth. Local television and radio stations have featured performances of Setsembiso student musicians, performing songs about youth needs in Swaziland. Several t.v. “spots” are also ready, entirely produced by students, using novel and creative themes to get youth to pay attention to their health. The video production instructor, a young Swazi himself, also has produced an important documentary about abuse in Swaziland, using project equipment. It was shown at the U.N. in New York, and is now starting to be used by U.N. agencies and other NGO's throughout southern Africa. And one of our recent graduates was immediately hired as a reporter for the local television station, due to the confidence and experience he had gained through project work.
The Youth Dance Workshop performs at schools, conferences and public events, addressing HIV/AIDS, drugs, racism, gender equality, and poverty.
With a dynamic instructor who is a fine role model, Mr. Vusi Sibandze, the guitar group is doing extensive outreach work. They are invited to perform at inaugural functions, fund-raising and community events, where they are valued for their exuberance, original songs, and joyful faces. The local radio station has helped them record, and the local television station has done a programme about them. This group, in particular, has won acclaim for project efforts. The government is now considering encouraging other such activities at youth centres being constructed around the country.
The following additional activities are also being coordinated at school as an extension of project efforts, with modest funding contributions from the government, to help youth develop uplifting hobbies and interests: Martial Arts, Ballroom Dance, Badminton, Ping Pong, Chess & Board Games, Swazi Cultural Dance, Hiking and Scouts. These are all of interest to young people, and students report how meaningful such activities can be. Martial arts, especially, seem to be an excellent medium for developing self-awareness and self-discipline, and feeling a sense of purpose.
Training for Income Generation
This is now the area we wish to develop. Many families are facing great challenges, so it is particularly important to help youth gain skills to earn at a young age. Without skills, and with no ready opportunity for teenage employment, some young people turn to unwise means for earning. The school and project have explored options for teaching photography and auto mechanics to a few students, but have been hampered by logistical constraints. It may still become feasible. Students could be trained to photograph babies, weddings, and to do annual student pictures, as specialists are not readily available. There also may be an opportunity for a few students to learn to do web design. Teaching skills to earn will be an important new project phase, to help youth to safely come through their teenage years in the midst of the HIV pandemic, and we hope to find some means.
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