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Mandela delighted with HIV/AIDS educational television
Caiphus Kgosana. 17 July 2003. The Star. Republished courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
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Television was never this good - at least as far as Nelson Mandela is concerned. Mindset Network, a new R225-million multimedia satellite television network, is to address educational and HIV and AIDS challenges, issues which are both very close to Mandela's heart.
Mindset Network will develop two free satellite channels that will offer support in addressing the country's education and health-care crises.
Activate, a dedicated educational channel accessible on DStv's channel 82, will focus on further education and training, targeting pupils from Grade 10 to Grade 12 in the areas of mathematics, English and science.
Activate has already been piloted in 300 schools across the country and will be rolled out to a thousand schools and 800 000 homes by the end of the year.
Schools need a television, satellite decoder and VCRs, while rural schools might also need a generator.
An HIV and AIDS channel is to be launched, targeting patients and health-care workers.
Speaking at the launch, Mandela told a story about the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS.
He said that one day he was in a province run by a "progressive premier" when he was shown a family of three young children whose parents had died of AIDS-related diseases, and were forced to fend for themselves.
The premier and officials invited him to accompany them to give the children food parcels. But when they got to the house, they called the children out and threw the parcels at them.
"I was disappointed and I went inside the house and spent half an hour with those children. When I came out, nobody wanted to come near me," he said.
Mandela said the crowd were singing songs about him outside when he came out of the house, but when he tried to approach them, they all kept their distance. I had to go back to my car."
Mandela said the network was doubly important because it would also reach out to rural schools. "It will make a difference to the lives of millions." |
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