‘€œPeople are very poor here. They are living hand to mouth,’€ sighs Reuben Rabothata, principal of Dindinnie Primary School, a farm school which serves Calais, a rural village where unemployment is staggering.

Dindinnie, named after the farm it was built on over 20 years ago, is a small school with 137 children, mostly orphans from the nearby Catholic centre, and four teachers including Rabothata, a tall man, who looks every part the school principal with a greying beard, crisp white shirt and yellow tie.

‘€œThe school lost a lot of children when the farms started closing down. People left to find other jobs, but many still send their children here because they cannot afford the school fees at the other school,’€ he explains.

‘€œVery, very poor kids are sent here,’€ he says, adding that most of the children do not have school uniforms. Those who do are from the nearby orphanage.

School toilets were built for the first time this year by Holy Family staff with funds from the Catholic Church.

‘€œThere is no roof and no plaster on the walls, but it’€™s a toilet,’€ smiles Rabothata.

He cites his biggest challenges as the lack of teachers and the ever present poverty.

‘€œMost parents are themselves illiterate so they are often unable to help the children with their school work and don’€™t mind if they decide not to come to school,’€ he says.

But the addition of the feeding scheme has seen a massive reduction in absenteeism.

Local women cook a daily meal of pap and cabbage and Rabothata adds that the children often participate enthusiastically in preparing the meal.

‘€œSome people will turn their noses up at this combination, but the children love it,’€ he adds.

Far away from any major towns, electricity only came last year to Calais, a dusty, sprawling village about two hours drive from Tzaneen.

Pit toilets, housed in upright tower-like brick buildings, have been erected in the backyards of the brick and mud houses along the dirt roads. Mango and papaya trees are the only splashes of colour in a landscape dominated by red soil and rock.

Cut off from most services, the closest clinic is about 27km away and the hospital 80km.

Deputy principal Matome Lebepe reveals that most of the children in Calais grow up in single-parent homes.

‘€œWhoa,’€ he exclaims when asked how AIDS has impacted on the school and community.

‘€œIn 2002 and 2003 it was chaos here,’€ says Lebepe.

‘€œWe lost many people then, but I think it’€™s better now because people are more aware and have seen so many people die. So they know this thing kills.’€

An antiretroviral treatment programme has also been introduced by the Catholic Church which has resulted in a decline in the death rate.

‘€œPeople don’€™t disclose easily. We have many child-headed households in this village and many requests from parents to assist with applying for grants,’€ says Lebepe, adding that most parents are unable to pay the annual R50 school fee.

Lebepe and Rabothata agree that the mass sale of farms to government as part of the land resettlement programme has led to huge unemployment. Calais is surrounded by massive mango farms that now mostly stand idle.

Business units who are in the process of buying the farms or leasing it from government mainly harvest the mangoes for atchar which means very little labour is needed. Previously the mangoes were harvested for the export fruit market.

Rabothata said the farmers also used to assist the school and often used to bring truckloads of fruit for the children.

‘€œPeople had little then, but at least it was something. Now there is nothing,’€ sighs Rabothata. ‘€“ Health-e News Service.