Tag Archive for: education

LONDON—When Adelaide Tsogo Masenya was six, she switched primary schools. Her local school, Dr Knak Primary School, in the poor Johannesburg township of Alexandra, only taught in her native language of Sepedi. Her new school, Marlboro Gardens Secondary School, had an English-only curriculum. Years later when she asked her mother, a cashier who only had a primary school education, why they had moved her, her mother replied, “You actually asked me to take you to an English school.” Even at such a young age, Masenya, who is now 30, had enough agency to understand the importance of education for her future. Read more

Diepsloot, South Africa: Sitting in the offices of Lawyers Against Abuse (LvA), Thelma Mwale, 23, said that before she joined the organization’s Sexual Violence Workshop last spring, she did not understand much about abuse. “Before I used to judge people, like if a woman was being beaten up I was like ‘maybe she did something wrong,’” she said from Diepsloot, an area north of Johannesburg, South Africa. “I have a friend who has been abused for almost three years now [so] that is why I was so interested and I want to get her out of that abusive relationship.” Read more

Teenagers of KOTH GAUN, Nepal

KOTH GAUN, Nepal — It is not the easiest of villages to find: Up a narrow dirt road full of hairpin turns, which turns into an even narrower walking path, there are severe drop-offs on one side, with sweeping views of the Katmandu Valley and hilly farmland on the other. Another steep rocky dirt path to the right of the water pump finally leads to this tiny hamlet of Koth Gaun.

Though there is electricity, the toilets are outside and the furniture in the homes consists of straw mats and bamboo stools; goats, chickens and a few cats share the living space. These are not auspicious living conditions for scholars, but this is the place Jeny Shrestha and Jayanta Tamang call home. Read more