The young ones
The Saturday Club's youth project has been a new venture for the Black Sash; one which could prove a valuable step in building up better relationshisp between Black and White children.
Here Mary Raphaely and J u d y Cook discuss what has been done and talk of plans for the future.
'T'he J o h a n n e s b u r g y o u t h project first got off t h e g r o u n d as a result of our concern about t h e y o u t h preparedness p r o g r a m m e which was first introduced into Transvaal schools t h i s year, and m o r e particularly t h e moral preparedness aspect of t h e G o v e r n m e n t ' s scheme.
Up to now very little information h a s been available, b u t it appears t h a t the direction which y o u t h preparedness takes depends larg- ely on t h e teachers put in charge of t h e sub- ject by t h e schools.
We know that there is very little contact between the different race groups in t h i s coun- t r y . Very important too is t h e lack of com- munication between English a n d Afrikaans- speaking people. We want to try to bridge
these gaps a m o n g young people. O n t h e black front, there are several difficulties as access to t h e African townships is quite strictly con-
trolled. T h e r e is access to the Indian and Coloured townships a l t h o u g h distance pre- sents a p r o b l e m .
We decided to begin with t h e already ex- isting Saturday C l u b , a mixed discussion group w h i c h has been meeting for a n u m b e r of years on a m o n t h l y basis. W e asked our members to b r i n g their children under t h e age of 14 to a gathering in a private house.
We hoped t h a t pleasant surroundings and equal status contact would form t h e back- ground for t h e growth of a better inter-group understanding. W e h i r e d a bus to collect the black children a n d their mothers from town and when they arrived, served a simple l u n c h . F o r the first few meetings we planned our ac- tivities with t h e children carefully.
We divided t h e m into groups of roughly t h e under-fours, t h e five-to-nines a n d the older ones. We h a d a few members organising each g r o u p , a n d t h e m o t h e r s shared t h e respons-
ibility of supervising them. With t h e babies we found t h a t integration worked naturally, a n d t h a t it was impossible to do m o r e w i t h t h e m than produce toys a n d allow them to
get on with activities, like m a k i n g dolls out of waste products. W i t h t h e oldest group we had a p a i n t i n g project and played games calculated to mix them u p .
After t h e first few meetings we decided we needed a freer structure, in order to allow t h e children to relate m o r e naturally t o each other.
F r o m then o n , to a large extent we left t h e m alone, a n d w h e n we organised t h e m we used lots of music a n d singing games. Recently two of u s have attended a mixed creative drama course. A n idea we learnt here which we hope
to implement is to use music to trigger off a chain of m i m e , drama and p a i n t i n g , all de- signed to immerse t h e children to t h e point
where they lose awareness of their colour dif- ferences.
We do believe that t h e most likely situation to reduce inter-group tensions occurs where people have t o co-operate with each o t h e r in
order t o achieve a c o m m o n objective. And t h i s w e h o p e t o achieve t h r o u g h u s i n g t h e t r a i n i n g we have h a d in t h e drama course.
At t h e m o m e n t t h e J u n i o r Saturday Club consists very largely of African children with
a few Coloureds, some Whites a n d no Indians.
We have had a request to include children above t h e age of 14.
T h e r e a r e several b r e a k d o w n points in the scheme. T h e r e is a h i a t u s over t h e holidays and the children are not meeting at all except at our meetings w h i c h themselves m a y be too in- frequent for young people to maintain a p r o p e r contact. Nevertheless we feel t h a t in m a n y cases t h e Saturday C l u b h a s been the first p o i n t of contact a n d that it is m u c h easier to establish it w h e n t h e c h i l d r e n are small than to try to do this artificially later o n . Al-
ready by t h e age of five, there is a shyness in both Black a n d W h i t e .
Nevertheless, over t h e year we have in- vestigated various other activities. We found out about t h e Natal and Cape programmes and we contacted various people w o r k i n g with mix- The Black Sash, February, 1973
30
Die Swart Serp, Februarie, 1973ed groups in an effort to establish a valid cour- se of a c t i o n . W e found t h a t several schemes have failed largely because of a lack of White interest.
We feel that one of o u r p r i m e targets must be t o educate W h i t e children a n d t h i s year we h o p e to draw c h i l d r e n into studying some of t h e African languages using a cheap basic language laboratory t e c h n i q u e . W e would l i k e
to establish a group with high school chil- dren debating on relevant subjects outside o u r
political situation.
We have started with a small group a n d we will work towards expanding it. I t is o u r belief t h a t we must work at a level where contact across racial barriers is n o t artificial a n d t h a t gradually with growing knowledge of each other a greater respect will develop.
M R . D O R F M A N said that while in large crowds it m i g h t appear that African traffic
officers were dealing with W h i t e s , this was not so. T h e y were in fact dealing only with Africans.
,fcThey will never try to stop t h e Whites.
These are their i n s t r u c t i o n s . " T h e position was apparently different if a W h i t e spoke to an African inspector. T h e inspector could then reply to the W h i t e .
Rand Daily Mail. December 15,1972.
D E S C R I B I N G t h e problem of overcrowding in Soweto, M r . Moss said housing was needed for a n estimated 8 4 0 0 0 people, including 13 000 families a n d 19 000 " s i n g l e " men a n d w o m e n .
Rand Daily Mail. December 11,1972.
A N A F R I C A N family now needs at least R 8 5 , 1 5 a m o n t h to survive, according to J o -
h a n n e s b u r g C h a m b e r of Commerce figures released yesterday . . .
Updating its six-monthly figures for Soweto households, t h e c h a m b e r also finds that there has been a 16 p e r cent rise in t h e Poverty D a t u m Line, m a k i n g it necessary for a house- hold head to earn a m i n i m u m of R76,16 t o keep above that level, which includes purely hasic budget items . . .
Rand Dally Mail. January 10, 1973.
W H I L E mission hospitals in m a n y h o m e l a n d areas report t h e '*usual" high incidence of near starvation a m o n g children, two hospitals re- port that a staggering 75 to 80 p e r cent of the children they see are famished.
There h a s been a n acute food shortage a n d t h e situation facing families w i t h o u t i n c o m e is desperate.
Many children have starved to death.
Rand Daily Mall. December 15,1972.
^lliniM|llllllMllllltllllll||||l|||||l|||1||!||l|N|l!|UIU|UU^
I SASH — The Black Sash magazine
| Published quarterly: Annual Subscription R1.60 plus postage
| Individual copies 40 cents
| Please put my name on your mailing list:—
1 Name Address
s
!
i
I enclose:— R
Please bill me later:— • Post this coupon to:
| The Black Sash, 37, Harvard Buildings, Joubert St., Johannesburg.
iviiBiiiiiaHaiiaiiaHanBiiiHBHaHaninariiMBiiBtiBiiBiiBLiBiiBi^i.iiiiiiBMvriartaiiaLivNaMviiaiLi^iHgHiittuiiiB)!!!:!!!!!; i^in K i n : n n : i •jiiJiiiitiitfiaiiiiLatifiLtiiaiiiiiHtairuiHtiir«itiiiiiL'^
The Black Sash, February, 197S 31 Die Swart Serp, Februarie, 197S
