Good Bye South Africa, Hello North Carolina

Fourteen very weary travelers returned to North Carolina Monday morning.  We were tired but very excited to back in Carolina.  It has been a wonderful experience, but of course, there is no place like home. 

 It is hard to put in to words how much I have learned and grown both personally and professionally since I left a month ago.  We talk about being a global school, community, state and country, but this opportunity has put things into perspective.  We are all people who want the best for our lives, families, and communities.   When we connect with others, we expand our learning of what it means to be part of the bigger picture. To me, it is a combination of things such as culture, history, politics, and environment (to name a few), that shape our lives, beliefs and make us who we are. In traveling to South Africa, I have created connections that in turn, have given me better appreciation of the world.  Before I went, I had my own preconceived beliefs and expectations of South Africa. What I found out is that my cultural norms are not necessary theirs.  I was constantly looking for similarities, but in order for me to learn and expand my knowledge, I needed to appreciate the differences instead!

Besides the personal changes, this trip has given me a deeper understanding of my role as an educator. I hope this difference in perspective will help me have a better understanding my students and their families. It has made me more open minded and able to appreciate the diversity in our world. I plan on modeling this to my students in order for them to learn that differences are to be appreciate and learned from, not judged and feared. 

Cape Town

Friday morning we arrived in Cape Town.  After spending the last 3 ½ weeks in Port Elizabeth, what a difference.  The city is bustling! There are a lot of buildings, cars and pedestrians.  Compared to PE, it is like being in New York City.  After settling in our guest house, we went to a lecture by Nigel Worden.  Worden is the Professor of History and head of the Historical Studies department at the University of Cape Town.  He was the author of the book we read previously, The Making of Modern South Africa.  His enthusiasm was infectious.  You could see by the way he talked his love for the history and heritage of Cape Town.  It was a great opportunity for us to hear from someone so knowledgeable about the past and present day city.  It made me excited for our time here and determined to make the most in getting to know the city.

Book Club

As part of our preparation for our South African travel, we were assigned several books to read.  They included Kaffir Boy by
Mark Mathabane, Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton and The Making of Modern South Africa by Nigel Worden.  Both the books and the following discussions were a great introduction to the culture and history of South Africa. In the novels, Kaffir Boy and Cry, the Beloved Country there were reoccurring themes of custom, family, conflict, inequality, and hope.  I felt, although these books were written in 1986 and 1948, they could still occur today.   The shacks that Mathabane writes about, still exist.   Trash continues to be a problem. The fight to rise from poverty and despair are seen every day.  Similarly, from Paton’s novel, young people still lose their way.  They try to get an education and then have to drop out.  They might finish their education, but not find work.

 The book, Making of the Modern South Africa, helps to tie these two books together.  It gives context by explaining the history from precolonial, colonial, postcolonial, pre-apartheid and post-apartheid time periods.  It explained what was going on both economically and politically. Ultimately, all three books deal with one group of people’s quest to maintain power by laws and social structure. And although, some things have changed, others remain the same.

Global Education

North Carolina believes in a global education in order to prepare students to be work and world ready. I believe they are leading the way with language immersion classes, teacher exchanges, and Confucius Chinese classrooms. They believe that a global education is imperative in the 21^st Century with the increasing international society and economy. 

I feel fortunate to be part of this type of school model by teaching at an International school.  We have teachers from many different countries. They bring a unique perspective not only their classrooms, but everyone around them.   The teachers try to incorporate a global component in their teaching.  We take part in workshops, committees, read and research in order to educate ourselves on bringing a global viewpoint to our classrooms.  

What I have learned, by taking part of this journey, is that it is not always enough to read about it.  By experiencing it, I feel better prepared to give my students firsthand knowledge, both the good and the bad, of what it is like in South Africa.  I can teach from my experiences, my pictures, videos, and artifacts instead of reciting someone else’s words.  Each of the other teachers with me here, bring a diverse viewpoint and will certainly bring a different perspective back. It has made us examine and reflect on our teaching. That is what truly makes this project an innovative and worthwhile endeavor.

Games Children Play

Of course, being a Physical Education teacher, I am always interested in what children are playing.  During their lunch/recess time, no matter which school we are visiting, I circulate the school yard watching.  In a previous blog, I noted that all over they play soccer.  From Emafini, Love Life Center to Grey and Northern Lights with an official ball or one made from trash.  Sometimes there are goals and at some just a couple of rocks.

 Another favorite game of the students is spinning tops.  Spinning tops have been around for a long time including in Colonial America.  There is a string around the top and when you throw the top down, you pull the string to make it turn.  I have also seen long jump roping.  At Grey and Kama schools, I was excited to see 4 square courts.  At Kamma, instead of a playground ball, they used a tennis ball.  Also, they used not only their hands to hit the ball, but theirs heads too!  While teaching some 7^th grade students Chinese Jump Rope at Emafini, they demonstrated a rope game for me.  They put a third student in the rope and did jumps through 3 sides of the rope. I got some of it on video, but I will be investigating this when I go back this week.  I would love to bring the new variation of jumping back to the United States. 

Another game I have seen at Emafini is net ball.  A fifth grade teachers and her students is going to demonstrate for me.  I know this is similar to basketball with one of the biggest differences is that you don’t dribble the ball.  I can’t wait to watch.

“Let Your Light Shine”

Today we had the privilege of visiting a school called Northern Lights.  This is a school for students with either mental or physical disabilities.  Their mission is posted on the wall and it is “to produce quality and equitable education service to all educable physically and specific learning disabled learners”.  The school serves learners grade R (kindergarten) thru high school.  The classrooms are bright and colorful.  They have a large field where students play tag and soccer during their recess.  As at all the schools we have visited, the people are gracious and the students are excited. According to the people we talked with although these particular students are being served, there are many more who are not. While there is a policy (The Disability Rights Treaty) in place, students are still being left behind or not able to attend a school.  There is a waiting list, lack of funding and inadequate training for teachers to help these students.  Northern Lights seems to be a model school with passionate teachers, but the students are still separated from their non disabled peers.  Some travel hours every day in order to attend instead of being able to go to the closest school.  Despite this, you can see on their faces, they love being in school and learning. In a second grade classroom, they sang their school song which was inspiring to all who listened – “I am a special child and I will let my light shine”.

Disparity in schools

The area where we stay is just off the beach.  I know a lot of people in Jacksonville have traveled to Myrtle Beach.  The Summerstand area is a lot like there.  There are many guest house and hotels.  We are able to walk to shops and restaurants.  There is a bowling alley and theater nearby.  The walk to the grocery store, the Pick and Pay is a little bit further, but it goes thru a beautiful neighborhood. The houses and gardens are very nice behind the iron gates and concrete walls.  There is a school directly across from us.  It too is walled off.  They have a large modern building, a playground, and multiple athletic fields.
In contrast, Emafini where we are working, is a township school. A township is a separate location where Black Africans, Colored, or Indians were moved to during apartheid area. They are on the outside of the cities. The houses are a mixture of shacks and government houses. The infrastructure is poor in the township. The school does not have many resources. There are holes in the floor and cracks in the windows.  Class sizes are large. Students who attend do not have to pay fees like at an independent or private schools.  They are all given a free lunch. They come from houses that do not all have electricity or toilet facilities.  Poverty plays a definite part in these learner’s lives. There is a definite disparity between these township schools and the schools that cater to the upper and middle class.  The administrators, teachers, parents and local community have all talked about the inequalities in education.  They are all stakeholders in this problem.  I have mentioned in a previous blog that the youth is the future of a nation.  I hope for the students in Emafini that this change in educational policy comes soon.