Roosendal High High School in Delft has built a partnership with Eine-Welt Landesnetzwerk Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which runs educational programmes in Germany and internationally.
In June, 10 learners visited Germany for the exchange programme for two weeks.
In the December holidays, they were part of a programme called: “I am taking a photograph”, where they learnt about the world of pictures and their family trees.
They were tasked to photograph profiles of people working in their communities, people on the streets and their families.
Principal Chrizelda Layman said it was time that the world and country saw another view of Delft, which has been negatively labelled due to gang violence and crime.
“We are doing this for the future of our children, to expose them to other countries and their cultures and lifestyles, which is priceless. Let us tell the good stories here in Delft, we want to invest in our children,” she said.
Sabina Vonkessel, who is from Germany and runs the programme, said the children were exposed to a whole new way of life and thinking.
“It is how they connect with people and it was about their personal development and orientation,” she said.
“We had four topics, which focused on ‘Street photography’, ‘My community’, ‘What does my community look like?’, ‘Who works in my community?’, ‘My family tree’ and ‘What is my family history?’.”
One of the students, Miekaal Anderson, 17, who is in Grade 12, said he was exposed to a new world during the exchange and photography programme.
“In the beginning, it was confusing but later I learnt about different cultures.”
Rayvon Plaatjies agrees: “It was amazing, I made new friends and I learnt how to use a camera.”
Layman added that the programme was possible due to the dedication of her staff.