Community_Development

Mary is learner in my class who is and Aids orphan, she has lost both her parents as they have died with the HIV/Aids virus. Unfortunately for Mary she has to take on a lot of responsibility at her young age as she was left to raise her younger siblings. Mary tries her best to raise her brother and sister and run her home however it is too much of responsibility for a girl at this young age especially managing to cope with two kids, household chores and being a full time student/scholar. Mary has such a hectic routine that she sometimes does not even have time to complete her homework. Due to the high cost of living Mary and her siblings live from day to day and do not even have a good plate of food on a daily basis, they sometimes go to sleep on an empty tummy and these poor kids do not even have proper clothing. As an educator I would think African philosophy would be a good way that I could use to help Mary and her siblings to improve their lifestyle and assist them to improve their lives. African philosophy is a form of existentialism which is a complex response to the position of Africa in the world and Africa’s human history. African philosophy can actually build communities, encourage people to be more humble, make one understand themselves better, help us appreciate mystery and re-examine the need for tradition in human life. African philosophy consists of four methods of enquiry which are: moral, ethnic, political and wisdom philosophy, it focuses on the importance of the human community and the community’s place in the universe. This philosophy claims that happiness partially consists of living for others and supporting others as well as being anti-materialistic. I would use the method of ethnic philosophy to speak to Mary and get to know her better and speak to her about her situation to get a better understanding of her situation and try and understand how she feels as an individual. Ethnic philosophy normally contains people’s view on life. The next method of enquiry that I would have to use is wisdom philosophy and this focuses on individuals in society who are known to be wise and far sighted and who van think critically. I would probably use this method on myself to try and figure out how I as an adult can put myself in Mary’s shoes and try and use my intellect and wisdom to help her. The method of enquiry for Political philosophy is very important in this situation because I think that Mary should be getting support from the government because it is not fair that she who is a scholar has to take care of her siblings and take on so much responsibility when she herself is just a kid. I think that as an educator I will try approaching the child welfare and ask of them to assist Mary and atleast try and find a good home for her siblings and her or provide them with a governmental child support as this will atleast help the kids have food and clothing. This is where Ubuntuism will also come in, the word Ubuntu simply means a human being is a human being through other human beings. Ubuntu avoids materialism of our modern day and age but encourages simplicity, kindness, caring, sharing, forgiveness and reconciliation amongst individuals and their communities. With the use of Ubuntu comes community involvement because every human should look out for each other and try and help each other to live healthy happy lives. I think that in this day and age it is very important to have community involvement as this helps build a stronger, healthy and happier community. As a teacher I think it would be highly important to have community involvement so you can network and liase with people around you that may be resourceful to assist you in tough situations or vice versa. In this situation I will try and call up a meeting with the other educators and probably with people who are well to do and try and get sponsorships for food and clothing for Mary and her family. We could also look at holding raffles or cake sales in order to fundraise money on a monthly basis to maybe cover costs so we can look at sending Mary’s siblings to a school and aftercare so that Mary can have some extra time to concentrate on her school work because it is highly important that Mary concentrates on her education and does not give up because her education is important so it can lead her to a bright future, maybe the monies that are raised can even go towards sending Mary for extra tuition in subjects that she is having difficulty with. We can approach the child welfare and ask them for assistance as there are many NGO’s that are very involved in community involvement that may be willing to provide these kids with a good shelter, food and clothing and maybe even a forester family. It is highly important that Mary also has time for herself and social life and to be around people her age and not just be playing the part of an adult and losing out on her childhood so maybe I would try and find out her religious beliefs and get her to join a youth group of her culture and religious beliefs as it may also help her keep focused and not get side tracked with peer pressure and lose her motivation and self confidence. I would also try and look at Mary’s neighborhood and community to check if there are any people willing to help maybe with babysitting or donations of food and old clothing for these kids. As an educator from my side I will always make myself available to speak to Mary and be there for her whenever she needs to speak and I will try my best to make sure she has food for herself and her family and that Mary stays focused on her education. I will try my best to help Mary take control of her life and try and reduce her responsibility.