"There are people who need help and there are a lot of people who want to help. We're the link between the two."

This is how Norton Tennille and Jane Keen of Rosebank best describe the work they do that is impacting positively on the lives of the very young and not-so-young children of Cape Town's townships.

Tennille works at offering young matriculants the chance to improve their skills while helping others, and Keen assists township crèches in getting funding for themselves.

Tennille started the South African Education and Environment Project in 1994 when he moved to South Africa as a volunteer worker from Washington DC in the United States.

"I had been working with environmental law in the US and I had the opportunity of coming to South Africa just before the election in 1994, when things were starting to happen.

"We started out focusing primarily on the environment, doing environmental education in high school, but as the kids asked for more, we shifted to providing support in all aspects of their education," explained Tennille.

Now young people who are still seeking direction after matric come to the project's Rosebank offices every weekday morning, where they are tutored in a variety of subjects, including computer skills, English, maths, science and so on.

"Later they go out to the townships and tutor in the high schools. The first part of the day is academic, and the afternoon is community service," says Tennille.

"The kids come here to develop themselves and help others."

The project also has partnerships with University of Cape Town student organisations such as Inkanyezi ("firefly" in Xhosa), that help the teenagers with academic and career guidance.

"It's very important to get to the kids when they're in Grade 11 to help them set academic goals.

"Maybe the kids only know about a small number of careers from which to choose, and we help them with opening the doors to all the options out there," said Tennille.

Keen, who is also director of the education and environment project, is a social worker who for years has been helping township crèches get funding for themselves and overcome all the bureaucracy associated with this.

"There is actually funding for them, but they often lack experience in filling out complex application forms or don't know which departments to contact.

"Sometimes their written English is weak, and they don't have computers or training to use them," said Keen, who then steps in to assist and empower crèche staff with the necessary skills.

Occasionally, their two worlds do meet - when Tennille's students help out at Keen's crèches.

karenc@incape.co.za

Published on the web by Cape Argus on September 27, 2005.