Student organisation Shawco returning to full strength ahead of 80th birthday celebrations

Student-led welfare organisation Shawco is preparing to mark 80 years next year, and plans to be back at 100% capacity after several difficult years.

A few years ago Shawco (Students Health and Welfare Organisation) went through a difficult patch, accumulating debt which was then paid off by the University of Cape Town. The organisation had to cut back on some of its work and then went through a restructuring process.

Shawco, established by student volunteers in 1943, provides free healthcare and education to underserved communities in Cape Town. During apartheid, the organisation became well known for providing medical services to protesters during conflicts with the police.

Shawco’s executive director Dr Jackie Stewart said the model was reciprocal, with UCT students providing services to people in the communities, and people in the communities providing students with experience and insight. Students are supervised by professionals.

“We have a dedicated team of community healthcare workers, doctors, physiotherapists, audiologists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, and social workers, that support and supervise students at the clinics and within the school system.”

There are permanent offices in Kensington and Khayelitsha, and two mobile clinics.

But with funding cuts and Covid, Stewart said, the organisation had been working at 50% capacity for the last two years. “At full capacity, Shawco health had over 1,000 medical and health rehab students registered, 200 clinics ran per year, seeing over 5,000 patients. Shawco education had 1,250 student volunteers and ran programmes with over 1,500 learners.