Mamelodi, South Africa

We are a key partner of the Mamelodi Trust - a registered UK charity set up by a former council employee to support education in the South African township of Mamelodi.

Mamelodi is situated on the north eastern outskirts of Pretoria, South Africa and is a former black township of around one million inhabitants, comparable in size to Soweto.

Most of the population live in small brick houses but informal settlements of corrugated iron shacks are growing at a rate which is proving impossible to keep up with, in terms of the demand for housing.

Zakhele School provides education for about 600 children.

Until the Mamelodi Trust got involved in 1997, the school had no source of income to fund education; no books, pictures or learning resources of any kind; the buildings were dilapidated and there was little hope or sense of self belief amongst the local population.

The school runs a feeding programme for the children, some of whose only source of food for the day is from the school.

You can find out more about Mamelodi by visiting the Mamelodi Trust website (opens in a new window).

African Artists to Derbyshire - Educational Twinning Project 2006

Between January and September 2006 we carried out a twinning project, funded by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, to bring two African artists to Derbyshire.

The African Artist to Derbyshire Project aimed to embed a global dimension into the school curriculum in Derbyshire, whilst giving two visitors from Mamelodi, the opportunity to visit Derbyshire and be involved in the arts communities to develop a diverse networking system

Paepae Kenny Mmekwa, a renowned performing artist, musician and director from Mamelodi work in Derbyshire schools with Tshegofatso Masoga, an 18-year-old female student. The programme began in January 2006 and finished in Septmber 2006.

Paepae and Tshegofatso were resident in three Derbyshire schools for six weeks at a time, where they worked alongside the teachers to develop lesson plans and structure performances for children aged 11-16 years. They also did day visits to 30 other schools around the county for children aged five-18 years.

Paepae and Tshegofatso delivered arts workshops in African literature, dance, music, poetry and drama. They also delivered short talks on South Africa detailing environmental, political, geographical and social issues. They also worked with teachers to raise awareness of the HIV/Aids situation both in South Africa and in Britain.

They also put together a touring piece with Derbyshire based arts group 'Babbling Vagabonds' (opens in a new window) and this was showcased at Bakewell Festival. The Babbling Vagabonds developeed their link with Paepae and Tshegofatso when they visited Mamelodi to perform the story in Africa.

It is anticipated that PapePae will return to Derbyshire with 11 of his dancers and musicians to perform throughout 2008.

You can hear the music of Papepae and Tshegofatso and the group of local musicians they linked up with on the Evocation Africa MySpace website (opens in a new window).