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A plane lands at an airport in Cape Town, South Africa, and its passengers step into chaos.
This is what greeted biochemistry and molecular biology junior Alyssa Peterson when she arrived in South Africa in May 2008.
“It was right when the xenophobia attacks were going on,” Peterson said. “It was a feeling of confusion, not knowing what I was going to witness.
“I mean they were lighting people on fire live in the streets, mass murder, police everywhere trying to stop this. That’s not normal for straight out of the airport.”
From Cape Town, Peterson and two companions flew to Durban, located on the other side of the country.
“We got picked up in this tiny, tiny airport,” Peterson said. “Then we drove about two hours away from basically anything. It was definitely this weird like change of worlds within the whole country.”
Peterson spent the next 14 months working with friends to start the after-school program named Thanda in the community of Umtwalume, KwaZulu-Natal region.
The word “thanda” means “love” in Zulu, which is the regional language.
“Our basic goals are for the kids to grow up and leave the cycle of poverty, for their kids to not grow up in the poverty they did,” said Angela Larkan, Thanda founder and director.
Another goal of Thanda is to help the people help themselves.
“We’re there to give people a means to fix things for themselves, really empower the children there in that region to believe in themselves,” Peterson said.
Larkan said the inspiration for the Thanda project came from growing up in South Africa and not understanding why she got to have a house and others didn’t. When she came to the United States to attend college,
she began to research the issue.
“I realized how big the problem was, and there wasn’t any kind of model that could handle the numbers,” Larkan said.
The project is divided into two parts: youth (children from kindergarten to seventh grade) and high school.
“Basically we hired 23 local staff members between the ages of straight out of high school and 30,” Peterson said. “So they’re young, true motivators, true role models from the community these kids can look up to.”
Sarah Brenner, who worked as the youth program coordinator, said the kids in the youth program would arrive from school, be fed lunch and then be divided by grade level. Then they would be taught English and math.
For high school students, there are programs in subjects like computers, agriculture, basketball and soccer. There is also a program that helps students prepare for the matriculation exam, which is a test South African students in grade 12 take to help determine employment.
“It’s really, really similar to the SAT or ACT, but harder,” Peterson said. “It’s not even if you pass it that you’re guaranteed a job; it’s if you pass it with flying colors.”
Peterson said she was in charge of the computer program and trained the top student to take over when she returned to the states.
Funding for Thanda is provided through an income-generating project called Thanda Zulu, which sells beaded jewelry women in the South African community made.
Of the income generated from that project, 30 percent goes back to the beader, 62 percent goes to the after-school program and 8 percent is shipping, Peterson said.
“But that’s only bringing 30 percent of our income right now,” Peterson said. “The rest is really donations.”
Now that she’s back in the states, Peterson said her main role is helping to raise money to support the program. One such fundraiser is a benefit concert tonight on the Beta lawn. Peterson said the goal is $5,000.
“I’m very honored and inspired by the support at OSU,” Larkan said. “Everyone there has been really wonderful and there’s been a lot of action, not just a lot of talk.”
Peterson said she will return to South Africa this summer and plans to move there permanently after she graduates. She said working with Thanda has taught her many things.
“These kids, I can’t even really put myself in their shoes sometimes and every single one of them has a story that you just wouldn’t believe when you got to know them,” Peterson said. “You see how strong they are and they still fight every single day. I think Thanda has taught me more than I’ve taught Thanda.”
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