This last Thursday, my project supervisor asked me to sit in on the Peace Action meeting at the Albert Street Refugee School. Both the Albert School and the Peace Action group are branches of the Central Methodist Mission. The Albert School is located in downtown at the oldest church in Johannesburg. The school was shut down in 1957 during the Apartheid and reopened in 2008. They decided to reopen the school and make use of it because there were so many youth that needed a school to attend. It reopened with 70 students, grades 1-12, and 90 percent of them were unaccompanied minors. For more information on the school check out this website.
At the Peace Action meeting, I learned not only what this group does, but how Peace Action and my organization, Paballo ya Batho, can work together. Peace action is split up into groups to monitor the behavior and corruption in downtown Johannesburg. The groups follow how the police act with the homeless population and conduct business with local shop owners. They are watchdogs over how corrupt the police force could possibly be. Another group focuses on tenant’s rights and if there are landlords who are mistreating the people living in their buildings. All of this gets written up in a report and submitted to the human rights department and possibly the United Nations. It is incredible work that these young adults are doing. I am going out with the team that monitors the homeless on Monday and I am very much looking forward to it.
These pictures are some that I took at the Albert Street Refugee School while I was there.
Sounds amazing Gregg! I know you’re doing great work. Love the pictures too :). Besos!