Children in South Africa Walk a Long Way to School

Fourteen-year-old Luyanda Hlali walks 10 kilometers to school. She lives in the little village of Stratford in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province.

14 岁的 Luyanda Hlali 步行 10 公里去学校。 她住在南非夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省的斯特拉特福小村庄。

There are no school buses. There is only the long road where robbers and bad men can harm her.

没有校车。 只有一条漫长的路，强盗和坏人才能伤害她。

Luyanda is one of tens of thousands of children in South Africa who live a long way from their public school. The communities they live in are mostly rural and poor.

卢扬达是南非数以万计的远离公立学校的儿童之一。 他们居住的社区大多是农村和贫困社区。

Observers say students having to travel long distances to public schools shows the country’s inequality when it comes to attending school. It has been nearly 30 years since the nation ended its apartheid system and the African National Congress party took power bringing democratic change.

观察人士表示，学生必须长途跋涉去公立学校，这表明该国在上学方面存在不平等。 自该国结束种族隔离制度、非洲人国民大会党掌权并带来民主变革以来，已经过去了近 30 年。

There is a lack of school transportation paid for by the government.

缺乏由政府支付的学校交通费用。

Girls face the threat of attack and robberies are common. Parents, local leaders, and activists say the situation increases existing inequalities. The World Bank says South Africa is the most unequal country in the world.

女孩面临袭击威胁，抢劫也很常见。 家长、当地领导人和活动人士表示，这种情况加剧了现有的不平等。 世界银行称南非是世界上最不平等的国家。

In KwaZulu-Natal, campaigners and activists are pressing government officials to provide transportation for over 200,000 schoolchildren. The children have to walk three kilometers or more to school.

在夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省，活动家和积极分子正在敦促政府官员为超过 20 万学童提供交通服务。 孩子们必须步行三公里或更远才能上学。

President Cyril Ramaphosa's government policy requires officials to provide transportation for the students who have to walk that distance. But school buses are not a concern in an area where unemployment is over 25 percent and people are poor.

总统西里尔·拉马福萨的政府政策要求官员为必须步行这段距离的学生提供交通。 但在失业率超过 25%、人民贫困的地区，校车并不是一个问题。

A 2020 Amnesty International report said a child’s experience in South Africa “still very much depends on where they are born, how wealthy they are, and the color of their skin.”

国际特赦组织 2020 年的一份报告称，南非儿童的经历“在很大程度上取决于他们的出生地点、富裕程度以及肤色。”

South Africa's education system, the report said, “has deep roots in the legacy of apartheid, but which are also not being effectively tackled" by the government.

报告称，南非的教育体系“深深植根于种族隔离的遗产，但政府也没有有效解决这一问题”。

In KwaZulu-Natal, more than 30 percent of the province's 12.4 million people are unemployed. Many say they have to choose between buying food or paying $19 a month for public transportation.

在夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省，该省 1240 万人中有 30% 以上失业。 许多人表示，他们必须在购买食物和每月支付 19 美元的公共交通费用之间做出选择。

"Sometimes these children go to school without eating breakfast,” said Bongiwe Nhlangothi, Luyanda's grandmother.

“有时这些孩子不吃早餐就去上学，”卢扬达的祖母邦吉韦·恩兰戈蒂 (Bongiwe Nhlangothi) 说。

She is the most scared when her grandchildren are traveling.

当她的孙子们出行时，她是最害怕的。

“There are drug addicts around here, when they come across the children in the early hours of the morning, they rob them of their phones, threaten them with knives and try to rape them," Nhlangothi said.

“这里有吸毒者，当他们在凌晨遇到这些孩子时，他们会抢走他们的手机，用刀威胁他们，并试图强奸他们，”恩兰戈蒂说。

A school principal in a village about 50 kilometers from the coalmining town of Dundee, told of his struggle to get more school buses approved. The principal said some of the school’s female students had been raped by local criminals.

距煤矿小镇邓迪约 50 公里的一个村庄的一位学校校长讲述了他为获得更多校车批准而付出的努力。 校长表示，学校的一些女学生遭到当地犯罪分子的强奸。

The school has two old buses, but they can only carry about 65 children. There are more than 400 students at the school. The principal said he fears one of the buses could permanently break down or crash.

学校有两辆旧校车，但只能运载大约65名孩子。 学校有学生400多人。 校长说，他担心其中一辆公共汽车可能会永久抛锚或坠毁。

In September 2022, reports said 18 students were killed in the province when their overcrowded minivan crashed on the way to school in the town of Pongola.

2022 年 9 月，有报道称，该省 18 名学生乘坐的过度拥挤的小型货车在蓬戈拉镇上学途中发生车祸，导致 18 名学生死亡。

Some parents have decided to pay to have their children to live closer to their schools. But boarding a student is costly and leaves parents without help at home.

一些家长决定花钱让孩子住在离学校更近的地方。 但寄宿学生的费用很高，而且家长在家里得不到帮助。

Activist Tebogo Tshesane works for the nonprofit organization Equal Education. He said the campaign for better school transportation across KwaZulu-Natal started back in 2014. It started after students wrote letters because they were walking for up to two hours to school.

活动家 Tebogo Tshesane 为非营利组织平等教育工作。 他说，夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省改善学校交通的运动早在 2014 年就开始了。这项活动是在学生们因为步行上学长达两个小时而写信之后开始的。

Government information says 1,148 schools in KwaZulu-Natal are on a waiting list for school transportation paid for by the government.

政府信息显示，夸祖鲁纳塔尔省有 1,148 所学校正在等待政府支付学校交通费用。

The provincial department of education did not wish to talk to The Associated Press for this story.

省教育厅不愿就此事接受美联社采访。

The answer from the education department is that there is no money, so the children keep walking.

教育部门的答复是没有钱，孩子们就继续走。