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Karnagie
Sharp's diary
Day
7
Today
was the day we were all looking forward to… the day BBC Radio Berkshire
and six schools in the county join Nonhlevu Secondary in celebrating
ten years of Democracy…
Even though slightly apprehensive as to how the day was going to
turn out, I was really looking forward to seeing the children again
after their Easter break. I couldn’t help wondering how many of
them wouldn’t have had something to eat in the morning and how many
would be looking forward to today’s meal… the food was after all
only a one-day provision of food… what would happen to them after
today? I had to remind myself that these children were used to going
without regular meals and today was a celebration of their freedom
and in a way what the future might hold for them.
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| Children
returning from their easter vac. |
Driving
into Nonhlevu Secondary, I immediately sensed a feeling of excitement
and later asked children what they were most looking forward to…quite
a few of them said the meal, whilst others said they were looking
forward to seeing members of the South African group Ladysmith Black
Mombazo and meeting Ghandi’s grand daughter. I was looking forward
to many things… one was to tell these children that because of this
project, Kwa Zulu Natal’s flagship radio station, East Coast radio
will be presenting them with two computers to add to their IT room
and the other that, there was a possibility that some of these six
Berkshire schools would twin with their school... AND… what the
process of twinning would mean to both this school and the schools
in the UK.
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| The
Marquee and East Coast Radio's broadcasting van |
Even
though I’m aware that as journalists we need to remain objective
at all times and it’s essential to report about stories without
personal emotion… that is, in this particular situation, difficult
for me… here I am eight years later representing the country I now
live in… to return to the country of my birth, to tell them people
in developed countries care and more importantly, that children
in Berkshire are interested in learning about their way of life
and that this project may perhaps be a start to encouraging them
to continue working under extreme conditions because people have
taken an interest in them and that their lives ARE significant…
how could I not feel any emotion?
The
day went off superbly…judging from the way in which the children
were behaving, they seemed to be having a wonderful of a time…I
was pleased, this project was a huge success here but more importantly
these children were given an opportunity they never thought was
possible. Their gratitude was heartwrenching, my work here was done
for the time being… I remain hopeful that these children will not
be forgotten, that we need to find ways to try and help them believe
in themselves. I don’t think that that’s going to be difficult…
after all, how could we possibly ignore the plight of these hopeful
children?
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