Since my last blog post, myself as well as my co-educators (as Marita would say!) have started our internships. Therefore I figured I would tell all the followers back at home a bit about my internship. I'm at an organization called Operation HOPE which is actually based out of California. It started a few years after the Rodney King trials in 1992 where the police were found not guilty of severely beating Rodney King when he was pulled over for drunk driving. People were upset with the court system and the racism that was linked to the trials and riots began. These riots were by and large found in the black communities where people’s sense of dignity was being challenged by the law. A business man named John Hope Bryant realized that these riots weren’t simply the reaction to the non-guilty verdict of the policemen, but a reaction to the loss of self respect and self worth within the black community especially. He took big name bankers on a bus tour of the “black areas” in LA to show them that if these people could somehow own their house or car, or anything for that matter, it would help them to lead a more dignified life. He encouraged these bankers to invest in these communities to help the people regain their dignity. As a personal response to his newfound ideas, he started Operation HOPE.
The reason this organization spread to ZA is because at the time of the Rodney King case, many black and coloured South Africans felt that they were in a similar situation as well as the fact that it made global news. South Africa has a problem with saving money. Of all countries it has the largest disparity between rich and poor, and it is extremely evident even when just driving from one end of a street to another. You can be in Camps Bay where hollywood actors and actresses buy beach houses and drive about 15 minutes and be in vast townships with millions of people living in wood and tin shacks. A big reason for this disparity is that money management isn't a huge part of the curriculum as well as the fact that most kids come from extreme poverty and don't have a great role model to look up to.
What Operation HOPE does is they go into schools, primary, middle, and high schools and teach 6 different modules which come together as a crash course in financial literacy. The first module is on dignity because the biggest problem is that people believe that because they are born poor they must die poor too. Additionally race is a huge issue here still so black and coloured students don't think they can break the cycle they were born into. So, the first module, Dignity, is basically to instill hope in the fact that they don't need to be poor, and the only thing stopping them is themselves.
The next modules are the Basics of Banking - this explains to students where money comes from (Mint and Reserve Bank) and how banks work. Then Cheques and Savings - this explains what debit and credit cards are, the difference between the two, as well as how to write checks. Next comes The Power of Credit - explaining that loans and credit are necessary, but there is a difference between good and bad credit. Fifth is investments - this shows students a bit about the stock market to introduce them to it and give them options in investing.
The last module is entrepreneurship. This isn't a module in the US simply because the unemployment rate is only about 9% nationally. In South Africa it's about 40% and in certain areas it can be as high as 70%. This module teaches students that a viable option after they pass high school is being an entrepreneur to create their own job instead of relying on the nearly impossible job market.
My internship is unique from most here in the sense that myself and Katherine work with only one man, Stanley Henkeman. He is the extent of Operation HOPE in the western cape of ZA. We don't really work in an office since we mostly just go into the schools to teach, and there really isn't a set time schedule considering every day is different. We've only been working with him for about two weeks, but I can already tell how extremely intelligent he is. It's amazing the work he's put into Operation HOPE as well as all of the other things he's involved in. He's had a heart transplant and is going to Switzerland in a few months to compete in the Transplant Olympic Games as a sprinter. He's ridiculously kind and brings us to try different South African cuisines most days instead of us bringing our own lunch (a very special treat!). I’ve learned so much by just talking with him or picking up on things that we drive past. Just recently I taught my first classes and working with the students is amazing. It’s frustrating in the sense that there are almost 50 students to one classroom being taught in a language that isn’t there mother tongue. However, seeing that they are truly listening and taking in what you're saying gives me a sense of accomplishment different than ever before.
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