Listen to thisIn the Isibindi Ezikoleni project, relational practice in school-based child and youth care work facilitates child and youth care workers intervening in the very difficult life situations of young people living in (often extreme) poverty. There are numerous important moments in the school day, but the day begins for CYCWs with “gate duty”. This involves child and care workers being at schools, bright and early in the mornings early to ‘hang out’ at the school gates and as children make their way into school. This transitional time from home and community to school can be fraught with painful experiences for young people. The shame that is ever-present in children growing up in poverty in unequal societies is itself an issue to manage. Neglect and abuse, substance abuse and bullying are real and threatening factors for children to navigate in communities and school settings. Teenage pregnancy and the burdens of young mothers attending schools are the typical issues CYCWs respond to daily. In the morning as children come into school their problems spill over into the school day.
At the gate, at the start of the school day, CYCWs express their kindness and warmth, their attentiveness and emotional presence as they appear, to the untrained eye, to do nothing much. But to those in the know, the characteristics of relational child and youth care practice are in play and open CYCWs into the worlds of challenges faced by the young people they meet. Noticing children and their behavior, engaging and connecting with them, being present and responsive in the moments, making the morning moments of arriving to school special and important is what happens in “gate duty”. Noticing and responding to bullying incidents, picking up signs of child abuse and following up, observing neglect in children, makes this time in the morning very busy and very significant in school-based child and youth care practice in South Africa. The snippets below are examples of relational CYCW in practice in South African schools just happening around “gate duty” …
A child came running towards a CYCW crying. The CYCW knelt down to hug the child and held her while the child shared that a man had been chasing her. She was terribly scared. The CYCW walked with the learner into their safe space. The learner was given a soft toy to help her to calm down, and the child told the CYCWs about all the unsafe spaces in the community that scare her and her friends. When she had recovered her composure the CYCW accompanied the child to her class and reported the matter to her parents and the school principal. The child’s parents are now accompanying her to school daily, and the child was referred for additional trauma counselling. The police now patrol the unsafe spaces that the child identified.
The CYCW observed a learner who was always quiet in the morning when he got out of the school taxi. He always looked sad, and the CYCW observed the learner and found him alone at break time, not eating his food provided by the school. When she approached him and tried to talk to him he did not respond. The next day she tried connecting with him again during break, and she saw that the boy was upset and crying. She was emotionally present with him in his distress and eventually he explained that there was an older boy who was bullying him and taking his food every day. The CYCW together with the school principal had a meeting with both learners and took a restorative approach to the matter. The older boy apologized and asked for forgiveness and promised to stop. The learner accepted this and now seems happy and plays with other learners during break time. The older boy also stopped the bullying on the school bus. The CYCW checks on the learner every day to see if he is fine and he is!
The CYCW met a teenage girl who was late for school and when asked why by the CYCW, she said that her daughter was sick. She explained when the CYCW expressed her support for her as a young mother that she had more challenges. This girl was living alone and had no contact with her own mother for 2 years. Her mother was living in another province. She had survived the 2 years solely on asking neighbors for food and through her daughter’s child support grant. The CYC listened to her, and the girl seemed relieved to be telling her story. After seeking her consent the CYCW shared this information with the school principal and immediately began to source tangible support in the form of food parcels and medical care for the baby. She later tracked down the girl’s mother, updated her on the situation with her daughter, supported her see her responsibility to assist her child and grandchild. Arrangements were made for the learner to go and live with her aunt who is now supporting both her and her child. The learner is coming to school early, with a clean school uniform and now able to concentrate at school. Her mother now calls her regularly to check up on her and they are re-building their relationship.
A CYCW noticed a young boy wearing white takkies and not the required black school shoes. When asked about what had happened to his school shoes, he said he didn’t have any. With support from the school the CYCW immediately found a spare pair of shoes that fitted him and he was so happy. He now fitted into school and was not marked as being so poor that he did not have the right shoes. A visit to his home was also undertaken to understand and support his mother understand her responsibility to her son.
A CYCW noticed an 8-year-old boy who was burnt very badly on the side of his face. She immediately talked to him to find out what had transpired. A boy shared that he has a 6 year old younger sister who is at the same school as him. His father yesterday evening was angry that he hadn’t cooked supper and burnt him with the hot iron. This was an emergency and the CYCW immediately drew in the support of the school principal, called in the local social worker and was right by his side during the ensuing discussions – where it emerged that his sister was also sexually abused by the father. The children were immediately moved to a safe place and the father was arrested.
The CYCW noticed 4 high school learners coming to school under the influence of drugs and being untidy and unwashed. The CYCW called them into a discussion and various reasons for taking drugs and not wanting to attend school emerged, linked to neglect at home. The CYCW was then able to do a home visit and draw in ongoing support to the families and the learners from other service providers to create a safety network around the learners.
The CYCW observed that 4 children from the same family often arrived at school with dirty uniforms and sometimes seemed hungry. She met with the family and found out that they were living with their mother who is unemployed and there was often no food at home – as they all live on only one child support grant ($30). The CYCW has engaged with the mother to assist her to access a regular food parcel, apply for child support grants for other children, draw up a budget, and assist with improved hygiene practices. She is also advocating at the Department of Housing for their own home.
On a happier note, gate duty also involves CYCWs being present and welcoming new first graders coming to school for the first time. They are at the gate, warmly greeting the little ones and encouraging the other children to be welcoming too. This is also a happy responsibility of CYCWs in high schools when the eighth graders arrive for the first time. This ritual where the CYCWs are very present and available to settle new children in sets a tone for the rest of the young people and mitigates against bullying as new children are welcomed into the school.
Gate duty, its often a time to celebrate the exciting days on the national calendar such as heritage day, where one dresses up in traditional clothes and welcomes children to school with traditional dance and song! This is a time when relational CYCW opens doors into children’s worlds.
