4 schools

It was prety much a full house for our first women's day function on Friday. 40 students came from Khayelitsha's Zola high school - which has experienced phenomenal increase in the number of learners writing (and passing) the matric examinations and increased the number of exemptions from two in 2002 to 16 in 2004. Not bad going for a school that doubled its numbers over two years.

Nerly 50 students also came in from Iqhayiya high, situated in a former primary school (and they're not complaining, at one point they were running on the platoon system afterhours in yet another primary school) in the delightful mix of low-income homes and shacks in section H in Khayelitsha.

Learners also came in from the Afrikaans-medium Scottsdene high school in Kraaifontein in the northern suburbs (which might explain why one explanation of MDR TB and XDR TB came in die taal!).

And students also came from the bilingual Elswood High in Epping Avenue in Elsies River, a suburb which was classified as 'coloureds-only' under the old apartheid nonsense. The grounds may be surrounded by many factories and block of flats, but the school itself is a bit of an oasis, with green trees and plants, as Elswood is the only school in the Elsies River community with an indigenous garden.

Nadia Isaacs at the PASCAP trust, www.pascap.org.za, which hosts the Big Sister events, also arranged for about 20 slightly younger students to attend. PASCAP stands for Partners with After School Care Projects, and they're also hosting a women's day/Cape Learning Festival event for 50 girls from Khayelitsha, Langa & Gugulethu on 11 August.



Thanks to Amandla Marine for putting up a table about jobs in their industry, as well.