Dale College - Reimagining the Future

Over the last 12 months Linzi and I have been working with my old school in South Africa - Dale College. We were invited in by the school after a meaningful walk with Alan Thompson during his UK visit to drum-up support for the school.

Dale College is found in King Williams Town, Eastern Cape Province. The town owes its establishment to warfare with the Xhosa during the nineteenth century and the tenacity of a Scottish missionary, John Brownlee. He had established the Buffalo Mission Station on the fertile banks of the Buffalo River, in January 1826. Originally named after King William IV of England, the name changed from King William's Town to Qonce in February 2021.

This town has an especially long and colourful history, the only town to be burnt to the ground and reestablished twice in South Africa.

Dale College proudly takes its strategic position atop the town facing the Amatola hills. From this grand location, the school and surrounding homes were witness to the Bisho massacre which occurred on 7 September 1992, where twenty-eight African National Congress supporters and one soldier were shot dead by the Ciskei Defence Force during a protest march when they attempted to enter Bisho (now renamed to Bhisho) to demand the reincorporation of Ciskei into South Africa during the final years of apartheid.

I was born in King Williams Town but our childhood would not know the apartheid regime - I grew up in the Botswanan bush. We returned to King Williams Town in 1995 when I was 13, the early years in an integrational period where white colonial communities would open the doors to families and learners of colour into the public schools - Dale being the first!

Fast forward to today and the troubled and challenging pathway that South Africa has faced politically, economically and culturally is as diverse as its people. Leading the troubled charge is greed and the hunger for power, leaving towns like Qonce and public schools like Dale fighting for oxygen in a top down, instead of bottom up national model.

This has created major social-economic challenges and a generational void in cultural heritage due to a rapid decline in local economy and a sharp rise in crime and drug & alcohol abuse. The community faces a severe lack of good role models in the Xhosa homes and in the integral coming-of-age initiation ceremonies. Shifting the narrative into a toxic state of what makes a ‘real man’ instead of a ‘good man’.

Even with these challenges, we were greeted by the most incredibly well spoken, well mannered and good natured young humans we have had the pleasure of working with to date. It was our pleasure to do this work and help reimagine a future that the learners and the community could collectively embrace and be proud of.

Special shout out to Onika Skenjana

Impact report below 👇 🇿🇦✨

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