The icy night air condenses with the breath of a group of sleeping young men. They twitch in their slumber and shudder as the cold cuts through the thin layers of their school uniforms.
The icy night air condenses with the breath of a group of sleeping young men. They twitch in their slumber and shudder as the cold cuts through the thin layers of their school uniforms.
This was the scene on Church Square last Saturday night as 10 St Andrew's College boys volunteered to sleep outside with nothing but boxes for bedding.
Arriving at the square in high spirits, the four Grade 11s and six Grade 10s jostle with each other, trying to deduce which boxes will offer the most protection.
Teachers Pete Andrew, Amy Taylor, Gunther Marx and Heidi Salzwedel oversee the unusual activity. Embracing the school's motto 'Nec Aspera Terrent', meaning difficulties do not dismay us, they hope that this exercise will give the boys an idea of what it is like to try to survive with nothing.
Salzwedel brought the concept to the school in 2011. “I first did this in Pretoria. It was such a gratifying experience that I offered to oversee its execution in Grahamstown,” she says. “Last year the boys found it hard but incredibly rewarding. I felt we had to do it again.”
The novelty of the experience excites the youngsters gathered in the square. They joke and make sign boards, proclaiming that it is survival of the fittest. Some set up for the night, others explore the surrounding streets but soon want to give in to the cold.
As midnight nears, Grahamstown is awash with street light and Grade 10 Zach Melvill reflects, “I didn’t expect it to be so quiet”. A group decision is made among the Grade 11s to move closer to the church for protection against the cold.
The occasional straggler wafts on drunken fumes across the square, and the boys shout out greetings. These visits don't last long and everyone soon lapses back into silence, some try to sleep, others huddle in corners and ration their single bottle of water for the night.
They find that the night is a harsh but wise mistress and each boy reflects on why they had chosen to be there. All agree that they wanted to spend a night on the street in order to experience and try to understand what it is like to be homeless.
Grade 11 Blaise Atoliyah says he wanted to do this to think about something other than his schoolwork. “Then I spoke to someone who had done it and he described his experience as bad,” he says. “I told myself that I will finish this challenge and through this experience be able to share with others how awful it really is.”
Kagiso Hendricks, a Grade 10, also wants to learn from the experience and says, “We should all appreciate what we have because we are really privileged”.
This is a shared sentiment among the group and Nani Matomane, also Grade 10, says, “I am very grateful for everything I have and I appreciate the sacrifices my parents made for me to come to such an amazing school like St Andrew's”.
The teachers say the night in Church Square is supposed to cultivate an understanding of the social divides within society and what it means to be a leader.
As the boys' bodies are huddled under boxes in twos and threes they are unidentifiable – they are undivided and share the same difficulties for a night. The partial parts of faces that are exposed are set and uncomfortable, twisted in defiance against the cutting air.
As the sun rises and splashes across the dishevelled boxes, the individuals inside them roll out groaning and unfolding stiff bodies. “It is so hard to just try and sleep when you’re cold and uncomfortable!” Melvill proclaims.
Matomane agrees: “I will never do that again! But it was a great experience and taught me so much; everyone should do it at least once.”
Marching back to school on Sunday morning the pupils are sombre compared to their arrival. They go to their school's chapel and Philani Ngoma, Michael Strever (both Grade 10), Bradley Hunter, Michael Bennet (Grade 11) and the others who endured the sleepover share their experiences with the
sea of faces. They are far removed from the dirty streets, but their peers listen intently
