Students open links with Cape Town schools

SCHOOLS catering for children from Southill yesterday opened up new links with young students attending schools in Cape Town, South Africa.

Minister of State for Overseas Development at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Peter Power, launched the Southill South Africa Schools Link in Limerick city.

It is a joint venture between Southill Local Education Committee, Amawele School Twinning Project and Niall Mellon Township Trust.

Amawlee which means “twins”, is a non-profit organisation which facilitates the linking of schools in Ireland and South Africa. Through the project, students and teachers will explore the culture and experience of life in their respective countries.

Mr Power said: “Each school contributes to the understanding and benefit of the other, generating two-way traffic in terms of cultural and educational twinning. Students and teachers, will introduce themselves (via Skype) with their twin school in the Wallacedene /Kraaifontein area outside Cape Town.”

Commenting on the initiative, Amawele chief executive Billy O’Keeffe said: “Schools in Ireland have a long tradition of engagement with schools from around the world which has enriched our understanding of the world we share. The Amawele project gives thousands of school children opportunities to connect with each other, to learn about their similarities and differences.”

Dominic Loughran, of the Niall Mellon trust, said 950 of its volunteers visited the twinned schools in the township of Wallacedene and witnessed first-hand the progress that Amawele has made in those schools.

He said: “We look forward to developing our partnership with Amawele which will form an important part of our development education programme for our volunteers.”

The six schools from the Southill area participating in the Amawele project include Gaelscoil Sheoirse Clancy, Our Lady of Lourdes NS, Our Lady Queen of Peace NS, Galvone NS, Southill Junior School and St Enda’s Community School.