Press

22nd July 2009, 3-4pm Antony Gormley's One & Other Fourth Plinth

Lord Nelson and Martin Stockman help support Townshiphelp at Trafalgar Square in London

Martin Stockman from The VCC Cricket Club in London (www.thevcc.com) took part in the famous UK Sculptor Antony Gormley’s “One & Other” living monument on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square.

This space is normally reserved for statues of Kings and Generals, in an image of themselves. Whilst Martin recited a repertoire of his poetry written over many years he also highlighted the involvement of The VCC Cricket Club and the support it offers towards Townshiphelp (www.townshiphelp.com).

Dressed in striking VCC Blazer and perched some 60ft up on the plinth, friends and crowds assembled to listen for an hour of prose & poetry between 3pm to 4pm. A special poem was written titled “GU GU” by Tim Graham in connection specifically with one of the ongoing projects at Liwa Primary School in Gugulethu & Nyanga Township near Cape Town (www.liwaprimaryschool.com)

STOP PRESS SA NEWS - Liwa Primary School

One of the oldest schools in the Nyanga area, Liwa Primary serves a previously disadvantaged community with a very high rate of unemployment. Established in 1959, Liwa Primary started with the name Emthonjeni Primary. A staff of eight taught 50 learners each in the morning session and 50 learners each in the afternoon session.

Through collaboration with private donators Jonathan “Jonty” and Maria Savitt from London and the Khanya Project, the school was able to introduce technology to their learners. Their original 10 PC’s donated in 2004 gave Liwa Primary a taste of technology but they quickly realized that if the technology was to have a genuine impact on their learners and their community, they would have to establish a full laboratory for curriculum delivery.

Work on this laboratory is now well under way and the educators keenly anticipate the start of their training in both general computer literacy and in the appropriate educational software. Many of them have had little to no exposure to technology yet, but they believe that it will relieve some of their work load as they become skilled to use it for administrative duties. Most importantly, however, educators believe that it will have a huge impact in the classroom where their learners will develop skills that will empower them to compete with their peers from more advantaged schools on a level footing.

Learners at Liwa Primary have watched as neighbouring schools have developed similar facilities, little hoping that they too could have access to this kind of technology. With the infrastructure now complete the students (learners) are able reap the rewards of patience as they stand on the threshold of the world of information accessed through Information and Communications Technology.

School Details: (as at 2008-03-07)
Question	Answer
Area:	Cape Town
Language:	Xhosa
Project Stage:	Curriculum delivery
Number of PCs:	41
Educators:	15
Learners:	522
Learner/PC Ratio:	13:1
Facilitator:	EduNova/C Ahrends