Inspiring Start in South African with Dedicated Schools

 "CAPE TOWN — Gcobani Mndini, a shy, lanky 17-year-old, said he was already a gangster by the time he started ninth grade. His small gang, which called itself the Tomatoes, was robbing people, fighting over girls and getting high on Jack Daniel’s and marijuana.

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Joao Silva for The New York Times

Gcobani Mndini, right, a former gang member, has become a talented science student at the Leap school in Cape Town.

“I joined the gang because I wanted to belong,” he said.
He has since found that he fits in the last place he might have expected — at a private high school that is reinventing education for teenagers from South Africa’s black townships.
Gcobani quit gang life and has emerged as a talented science student seeking admission to the country’s finest universities. A teacher recently looked in on a class of students studying late on a weeknight and asked, “Everything good?” Gcobani gave a thumbs up"

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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/09/world/africa/09safrica.html