The School

The Friends of Amasango is a UK charity that supports the work of the Amasango School in Grahamstown, South Africa. This special needs school enables street children to obtain a primary education and build self-esteem.

Friends’ grants mainly provide:

• two meals a day and food parcels at weekends, without such provision, children at the school would not eat
• school uniforms, shoes, coats and other clothing once a year, without these, the children could not attend school
• uniforms, schoolbooks and rent (if needed) for ex-pupils who go on to high school
• teaching equipment, tools and vocational equipment that are not provided by the education authority.

Founded by Jane Bradshaw in 1995. It is now part supported by the provincial government as a special needs school for children with 'extrinsic barriers to learning'.  Amasango recognises that children who experience an emotionally impaired childhood, with a low sense of self-worth or hope, will invariably reach young-adulthood angry, frustrated and often turn to violence and criminal behaviour.

Amsango is unique

Learners often approach Amasango from the streets, having had little or no formal education, and troubled by their early childhood experiences. Classes are organised according to their levels of education, not by their ages, which can be anything from seven to eighteen. Despite operating in highly inadequate premises, the school helps them to complete their primary education. Some continue and learn a skill they can then use to find work while others go onto mainstream high schools.