Zandlazethu
If you take a field trip to the far North-East corner of KwaZulu Natal, following one of those dirt roads along the mountains and crossing small streams, you will find small collection of huts here and there. This village is called Mbadleni. The people of this village speaks three different languages; IsiZulu, IsiSwati and some speaks IsiThonga. This is where you will find Zandlazethu, which came about as the learners had to join hands in building the classrooms from the primary school which was later transferred to be the High school.
This happened in 1996 and the headmaster, Mr Mngomezulu was the first to be appointed up until this day. It is located at Embadleni Reserve under Mathenjwa Tribal Authority at Ingwavuma. Like most rural schools, it has no library, no gym, no official sports field and the toilets are a distance from the school, basically a hole in the ground. There is no school bus in the area why learners have to walk long distances up to 6 km a day back and forth in rain or shine.
The community in the area is very poor. The nearest town where people can be able to buy household goods is 10 to 15 km away. There is only one bus that passes early in the morning and comes back late in the afternoon. With all those difficulties and hardship in the area learners do go to school to learn which give courage for the future generations. The sportsfield is in a very poor condition, for a day practice all students have to walk 5km to play football. For the past two years women soccer has taken a centre stage in the school more and more girls are playing football.
The school has been doing fairly well in the last class, considering lack of infrasctructure in the school. The school has electricity and periodically running water but no computers or laboratories to assist learners academically.
