poor training and xenophobia of the staff. She points out that however imperfect the
environment in the CMM, Paul Verryn took the children in when nobody else was
offering to do so.
Clearly the situation at the CMM has been close to chaotic at times – but equally clearly, this is
not the fault of the church, but is a result of the State’s failure to provide any other solution to
date. The fact remains that the CMM, with all its flaws, has been a place of comparative safety,
and has offered: meals to the most vulnerable; a free clinic on site, thanks to MSF, which treats
hundreds of CMM residents every day; legal support through NGOs that work closely with
CMM; various skills training options.
Photo 11: Albert Street Primary School, central Johannesburg, attended
mainly by migrant children: March 2010
G.
Albert Street School
The Albert Street Methodist building, a few blocks from the CMM, was used for schooling last
century, but was closed in 1954, because it was “... a black spot in a white area”, according to
the archived school records! With the mass displacement of migrants as a result of the
xenophobia in mid 2008, there was an influx of Zimbabwean families from Alexandria and
other high‐density areas affected, firstly into the tented camps, and then, when these were
forcibly closed, into the centre of the city. In the space of a few days, 30 children arrived at
CMM alone. At the same time, there was (yet another) influx of schoolteachers from
Zimbabwe, fleeing the violence of the 2008 presidential run off election. Albert Street School
was therefore reopened, as a CMM initiative, to accommodate migrant children and to give
employment to a few of the many thousands of Zimbabwean teachers currently in South
Africa.
Within a few months of opening in August 2008, Albert Street School grew from a handful of
students to over one hundred. By March 2010, there are 278 pupils attending the junior
school, and another 262 at the senior school. There are 18 teachers, 9 at each school, plus
two volunteer teachers at each school. All the teachers at the school are Zimbabwean
teachers, and the high school is currently teaching the Cambridge “O” Level and “A” Level
syllabuses. The primary school was teaching the Zimbabwean syllabus, but in 2010 it has
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