Volunteer Perlman '05 aids school in South Africa

A spirit of volunteerism runs through Jacqui Perlman '05's roots. Her grandfather, the late Les Dishy, worked with Nelson Mandela and served as the mayor of Johannesburg. As a child, Perlman visited South Africa with her parents and saw firsthand her grandparents' efforts to help end apartheid and promote equality.

Inspired by her family's example of community service, Perlman said she wanted to dedicate herself to a worthy cause. She found one in the Joe Slovo Community School, a "shack school" located in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Prior to the construction of the Joe Slovo Community School, local students had to attend class at a school across a highway from their homes. They were injured, sometimes killed, in doing so. The Joe Slovo School, built on the opposite side of the highway, made it possible for students to reach school safely.

Yet many problems remained. The school, which housed 320 students, was a one-room tin shed with a dirt floor. Supplies were low or non-existent and the 15 volunteer teachers were unpaid.

Perlman wanted to help. She found a website for the school and e-mailed the administrators, telling them she hoped to use $500 she had earned in artwork and essay contests to start a fundraiser for the school in her hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida. She planned to mail supplies and money from the fundraiser to the school.

"This project that I am initiating here is something that I plan to dedicate my time toward," Perlman wrote, "and I feel strongly that it will be a success."

Perlman proved true to her word. Beginning in her junior year of high school, she organized numerous fundraisers for the Shack School Fund, the organization she initiated to support the school. She recruited sponsors ranging from local high schools to Major League baseball teams.

Beyond her work at the local level, Perlman brought awareness of the school to a national level when she linked her organization to the Boston-based South Africa Develop-ment Fund.

Perlman gained national exposure for the school and also made donations to the Shack School Fund tax-deductible.

Through SADF, Perlman was able to involve organizations such as the United Nations in her cause. Upon hearing about the school, the U.N. Women's Guild made a large donation and even sent a representative to the school.

Perlman's commitment to her work has produced valuable results. Students at Joe Slovo now attend class in a two-classroom brick school with windows, desks and chairs. Teachers receive salaries, allowing them to earn a living and providing potential teachers with an incentive to enter the profession.

In addition, the school finally has been officially recognized by the local authorities — an essential step for its continued success.

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For her dedication to improving the lives of the Joe Slovo students, Perlman was recently chosen as one of six winners of "Seventeen" magazine's annual National Volun-teerism Award. She discovered the contest through reading the magazine.

...."I found the award to be an extremely valuable resource," said Perlman. She said she was excited by the idea of national exposure for the Joe Slovo Community School and the possibility of additional funding for its continued improvement. The award includes a $5,000 donation to the winner's volunteer cause.

Perlman applied for the award the summer before she came to Princeton, and in January, after what she described as "an arduous process of follow-up essays and updates," she was chosen as a winner from among 30 semi-finalists.

"I was thrilled, primarily for the influence that this [award] will have on the lives of the children," Perlman said. "It's a step in the right direction."

Perlman said she hopes one day to visit the school and meet the students whose lives she has touched.

"Without her dedication and help, both financial and emotional support, we would not be where we are today . . . " school administrator Keisha Mayhew said in an e-mail.

Despite her success so far, Perlman said she still sees much work to be done for the students of Joe Slovo. She recently contacted the coordinators of the Princeton-in-Africa program and hopes to organize groups of Princeton students to serve as summer volunteer teachers at the school.

While Perlman's grandfather was her role model in beginning the project, her considerable efforts on behalf of Joe Slovo Community School have made her a role model in her own right.

"People like Miss Perlman give us hope, and we can only wish that the pupils of Joe Slovo Community School can learn from, and be inspired by, a truly remarkable young lady," Joe Slovo Com-munity School Headmaster Mabango said.

"Tradition is important to us," he added, "and we feel that Jacqui is doing the memory of her grandparents proud."