And with that, my time at Hlengisa was brought to a close.

                Today was my last day at Hlengisa School….  And those words are still hard to even just type, let alone say.  Because I have been caught up in my own finals and my students’ finals, I guess I have a bit of catching up to do here now.  Two weeks ago, I, unexpectedly, wasn’t able to go to service at all.  With UWC final exams and protests in Nyanga, Tuesday through Thursday were out of the question.  This would have been the week before my last week teaching so missing it wasn’t very easy—emotionally or work-wise.

                Last week, after my exams were completely over, I went straight back to work at Hlengisa!!  Tuesday was a normal day of teaching, besides the fact that I had to inform each class I would be leaving this week…  It wasn’t exactly an easy day to get through, but it was much easier than Thursday.  Thursday, I reviewed in the morning with my grade 8 and grade 9 classes for one last time.  11:30 hit and it was time for my English Final.  Gaji took the three grade 9 classrooms and I proctored the grade 8 exams.  After passing out 35 tests to each classroom, I played the waiting game.  Patiently pacing around one classroom, just hoping and praying that the students would be able to write down the answers they had told me earlier that morning.  One by one, the students finished their exams and handed them in.  After an hour and a half, all the students finally finished the 60 point exam.  This first English exam was based on summarization, comprehension and language.  The rest of the afternoon was filled with a presentation from a local pots and pans company (random) and grading just a few papers…. Then came time for my last day of reading club.  I brought lots of food for the kids and we all just talked and ate.  It was a great final session.  A few students still wanted to read, so they were able to look at books.   But some just came to hang out.  I handed out a picture of the reading club to each student which they absolutely cherished and adored.  They also had one more chance to play with my phone and camera which they love more and more every time they get to play with it.  They look loads and loads of pictures of themselves and of each other….which I will forever cherish and adore. When it came time to leave, there were lots of tears and hugs.  A group of students walked me out to Pearnel’s van and hugged me as I climbed in the front seat and watched me as I rode away.  Though I was coming back for an assembly the next week, that was it for reading club.  This day was the most difficult day I have had yet in South Africa. 

                This past weekend, I spent both Saturday and Sunday grading final exams.  I took all the grade 8 English exams to grade while Gaji took care of all the grade 9 exams.  I can tell you one thing for sure, I give much more credit to language teachers than I ever have before.  Reading page after page of written, broken English took much more time than expected.  In South Africa, the students need a 30% in order to pass their exams and classes….about half of the exams were passed.  About 6 of the exams had above a 50%.  I had to take breaks in grading solely so that I wouldn’t get entirely depressed by the lack of knowledge.  I have realized many of the students are able to speak some English because of what they have picked up on, but that does not necessarily mean they are able to read and write English.  Also, all of their subjects are tested in English, not in Xhosa.  Even though some are taught in Xhosa.  Therefore, even if they understand the material, sometimes they are not able to pass the exam because they aren’t able to understand the English.  Needless to say, it was a fairly sad weekend.  I found myself cheering aloud when a student would get the right answer to a question.  I got through grading and wrote their next Poetry Final for this week just in time for Monday morning to come.

                Today was the closure I desperately needed.  I went to Hlengisa at 10am for an assembly they put together for me.  All of my 300+ students attended.  They all crammed into one large classroom and had me sitting at a table in front of the room.  The assembly began with Gaji saying a few words and inviting a small choir of a few girls to the front of the classroom.  After they serenaded me with a beautiful song, one student from each of my grade 5 classes came to the front of the room to say a few words.  This was followed by another song, one student from each grade 8 class, a song, one student from each grade 9 class, a dance, and a student from the reading club.  As if I wasn’t crying enough already from the speeches, they had to add beautiful songs and dances in between!!  During the last song, a teacher came up and told me the translation was “we thank God for sending you to us.”  The entire song was about how grateful they were that I was sent to them.  It was interrupted by the singer crying too hard to finish.   After this beautiful ceremony, I stood at the front of the classrooms and gave as many hugs as I possibly could….students, staff, and students again.  The hundreds of cards that students made for me were collected, and it was just about time for them to start their next final exam. 

                With that, my time at Hlengisa was brought to a close.  I could not have asked for a better experience or semester.  The heart break is painful and transition will be difficult, but it’s very safe to say I have found my calling in life.  This may just have been the most difficult, yet inspiring assignment to start with.

The Homestretch             

              I’m not sure if Africa could possibly throw anymore emotions at me during my last month.  The past few weeks, I’ve had major ups and downs.  After hitting a low point at service two weeks ago, the one thing that got me through was prayer.  Last week, I had two papers of my own and about 200 to grade at school.  I have a new found respect for English and History teachers because of the massive amounts of reading involved in grading.

                Last Tuesday, I taught all my classes again after a week of strictly grading and a week of student teachers.  I gave my 8^th and 9^th graders part of their final “research” for the semester.  South Africa is implementing a ‘learn from your ancestors’ initiative in schools.  This process is being started with interview practice.  For 40 points of their final, my 8^th and 9^th grade will be conducting peer interviews. The 9^th graders are writing about mentors in their classrooms and the 8^th graders will be writing about whether students’ parents have rules for dating.  The ‘mentors’ in classrooms previously mentioned are learners who get especially good grades and are essentially openly adopted as teachers’ pets.  Some students think it is unfair and some think the class mentor helps keep the classroom under control (maybe due to the fact that classes don’t always have teachers in them). 

                My 5^th grade lesson in life skills last week was on bias, discrimination, and stereotyping.  They understand me so well that when I started trying to describe discrimination in regards to race, they thought I was talking about running… good ol’ English… FAIL.  The 5^th graders at least now have compassion for me and seem to somewhat care about the class though!

                The 6^th grade reading club was amazing as always. I was so excited because I was able to bring new pencils for all my kids and THE RUGS for the library FINALLY!!!! It came time for reading club and the grounds keeper who usually lets me in couldn’t find the key.  Though I’m still a bit worried about this misplacement, reading club had to meet.  Without books, I once again had to think on my feet.  I pulled 9 story dice out of my magical Mary Poppins bag and the kids went nuts.  For some reason, they love the dice.  For a half hour, we sat, rolling dice, and making up stories.  One child rolls the die, makes a sentence from the picture rolled, the next person rolls the next die and adds to the first sentence, etc.  The students loved the game.

                When I told them I might not be there Thursday, it was the first time I had seen disappointment in the faces of my 20 children.  They didn’t know at the time that the entire school was off on Thursday, but my favorite little Onwaba told me I can’t miss any days because I’m leaving soon enough already. 

                In the past couple weeks, my 6^th graders have shown me nothing but love.  They are absolutely amazing children who are now completely fluent English readers.  I have assessed each one and the most stumbles one child had during her assessment was 3 small errors.  She only needed to ask me 3 words and many didn’t need to ask me any!!!

                My hope is that I will be able to put the rugs down in the library tomorrow, Tuesday.  I only have about 4-6 days left with my kids so I’ve been trying to give each and every one as much attention as I can—they’re sure loving the camera!!  Tomorrow I will begin poetry with my 8^th and 9^th graders which I will be sure to write about.  I’m not quite sure if they’ve ever done poetry….we’ll see!!!

All Smiles Today!

As I sit in bed, I am listening to a harmonica being played on my front porch.  It’s been a good week;  KHouse is more than happy.

At the beginning of the week, Tuesday, service did not go all that well.  I basically sat in a room grading papers for about 5 hours.  I taught one class where the students were mad at me for not knowing every single person’s name.  Needless to say, I arrived home and was not in the best mood.  I decided going to bed would be the best option.

Wednesday morning, I had two classes at UWC and then a meeting with my Ethics teacher.  She wanted to meet with all the students in the class that got an A on the previous test because the class average was 18/40.  We discussed many differences between American education and African education.  It was interesting to hear how she thought the UWC students were just not trying, when we noticed that they probably were trying harder than we were.   Here, all schools are given funding on how many students they pass.   Because of this, many teachers and professors alike have lowered their standards.  If people are not motivated, they do not pass.  If teachers make the classes easier, they can pass more people.  Therefore, the school will receive more funding. With this corrupt system, it seems as if no one is very motivated so most teachers just lower their standards.  Being an education major, this was a frustrating conversation to have.  This is why so many of my students have been passed through each grade due to their age. 

My Ethics teacher, the one who I had this conversation with, is new to UWC.  She is a professor at University of Cape Town, which was established as a ‘white’ university and still remains very white and privileged today.  After a few years at UCT, she wanted more of a challenge.  She knew UWC would be a challenge, but didn’t know it would be as different as it is. She said she will not lower her standards, but she has to get some way to motivate the students.  She does need to actually pass some students.  I’m so glad there are people like her because I feel as though I should be taking on the task, I just am not quite that qualified yet….

Thursday service went extremely well.  There were 3 UWC education students at Hlengisa to do their hours of observation.  One of them was focusing on English so at first, he was observing me.  Oh how the tables have turned!!  These students really did want practice teaching, though, because their professor would be by later to observe them.  So, after one class, we decided he could just teach the English classes I had for the day.  This was a wonderful break because it gave me time to explore the school.  I’ve always been so busy; I really don’t know how anything else works besides my classes. 

I began walking around and the one teacher-friend I have made called me into her classroom.  She teaches 8^th grade math and science.  I was able to spend most of the rest of my day in 8^th grade math classes!!! Though this may sound horrific to some of you, this is like a dream come true after 3 months of English.  She was extremely frustrated with the students not understanding so finally she just said “Andrea, can you explain it?”  I couldn’t help but smile as I had three girls around me at the chalk board trying to understand how to use the variables in a word problem.  After awhile, the whole class began to understand why “Tuhli’s” age plus his brother’s age (which was half of Tuhli’s age) equaled 36.

At lunch, I sat with all the teachers outside and ate fish and chips.  Though I still can’t understand more than about 7 words spoken around me, it was great to be included with the teachers.  I’ve noticed that the key to having a good day is just not caring if you show up to all your classes or go late to any.  This sounds horrible and I have refused to accept it up until this point….but, if I am constantly on time and trying to make all of my classes, usually there are other teachers in those classes anyway.  No one really runs on any sort of strict schedule.  There really is no structure to education.  Realizing I am just a 20 year old in a township school has done me some good.  I cannot change everything and just have to try my best to change the little things I can.

Friday morning came and the whole group was off to the District 6 museum.  District 6 is a district within Cape Town that was living completely harmonious lives.  There were Catholics, Muslims, and Jews who all lived happily together.  The children all played with everyone and most people respected all holidays of each religion.  The government absolutely hated this.  “Separate but equal” was their motto.  When the apartheid laws began, this gave them a reason to end the harmony. 

Not only was this museum interesting in itself, but knowing our tour guide so well made the tour that much better.  Pearnel (our driver) lived in District 6 until he was forcibly removed at 7 years old.  He remembers everything about the experience and piling into a truck with as much as his family could fit to be moved out to the townships. The township he was placed in was completely barren.  There were no roads, no infrastructure, no schools, etc.  The only thing in the area were dormitory complexes where each family was placed in one room.  Imagine your whole family living in your college dorm!!!  I can’t..  We really can’t even imagine the things that some people call reality.  Pearnel walked through the museum, showing us pictures of the barber he used to go to, and pointing out his family name on the wall.  He reminisced and included us in his thoughts.  There were some points we were laughing and some where eyes began tearing up.  Really, knowing our ‘tour guide’ so well made all the difference.

Though this week has been very full, the next ones begin to get busier.  We now have research papers due just about every week, along with exams and projects coming up.  It’s like real school or something!!!  Finals here make up most of your entire semester grade…. Therefore, we will be in full-school mode pretty soon.

I also ordered two rugs for my library!!  They should be here in about 6-10 days.  The kids seemed excited and the teacher who has smaller kids in the library once a week seemed absolutely ecstatic.  THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to everyone who was able to send money.   I really do have the BEST support system and I can’t wait to get back to it!!!

Lots of love from South Africa!!

Visitors and Library News

I get so caught up in life, I don’t realize how long its been since I’ve last blogged.  My mom and aunt have come and gone.  I have been on a retreat in the Eastern Cape and back.  I’ve had tests and papers, and given tests…no papers!

The week mom and Aunt Nancy were here was like living in an African paradise.  I was so incredibly blessed to stay with them every night for the week.   We stayed a block away from my house in a bed and breakfast where we all got our own rooms.  We explored Cape Town and Obs, hiked Table Mountain, went on a brewery tour, to Kirstenbosch, Old Biscuit Mill (a market in town), Hout Bay, Aquila Safari, Cape of Good Hope, Cape Point, and my service site.  The weather was absolutely amazing the entire trip, minus the day we went on safari which was rainy and cold.  It must have been quite the scene to see us three, after being left behind, basically getting our own personal game drive, cuddled in blankets and ponchos…. We were lookin good!!  Nonetheless, we had an awesome time every day.  It was rare to come across a moment when we weren’t laughing.

When they left, I was so rudely interrupted by reality.  Surprise!!  Ethics test the next day!!  After spending the entire day at Hlengisa, where the students definitely missed the visitors and were not up for learning, I was on my way to UWC for a night exam. 

Friday morning, we were out of the house by 6am and on our way to St. George’s Cathedral where Archbishop Desmond Tutu said mass for us.  We were in attendance with only one more group of students and the Templeton crew.  He had won the Templeton prize of R15 million the day before.  After snapping a few pictures, and then attending our Marquette classes for the week, we were off to a retreat at Volmoed retreat center which was about 2 hours away in Eastern Cape.  There we had a lot of free time to explore the town, but also met with John deGruchy about his book “Reconciliation: Restoring Justice.”  We discussed Christianity and reconciliation in South Africa and in the USA related to the world.

The most interesting thing we discussed was being a “global citizen” instead of an “American citizen” or “South African citizen” or even “IL citizen.”  Many of the things John described made me think of what Judy Mayotte (the MU program founder) described to us.  John focused on “Christian humanism” which he described as being a Christian and seeing everyone as a human.  This means there is no race, no nationality, and ultimately no differences.  Though we all have very different life experiences, we are all ultimately just humans.  Judy told us a similar story.  When she snuck across the Berlin Wall during the war, one of the guards told her to come with him.  After a long discussion over a beer in a random back room, he finally said to her, “why are you not afraid of me?”  Her response was, “you are a human, just like me.”  This is an extremely refreshing way of looking at the world.  I truly believe this is at the center of what we are learning during our stay in South Africa.

When we arrived home Sunday, it was time for reality again.  School, teach, school, teach, school…

This week, I have felt more “a part” of the Hlengisa community than ever.  There have been observers from UWC and the Department of Education coming and going.  Each of these visitors has been introduced to me.  I am grading all my 8^th, 9^th, and 5^th graders’ work, teaching every lesson, beginning to catch on to what I am missing the days I am not at Hlengisa, and what they really need more help with.  Wednesday night, after my MU paper was finished, I had a bit of time to make some grammar worksheets for Thursday.  The difficult part of teaching here is the different levels within one classroom.  Through there is the same issue in many classrooms at home, the students here can range (and do range) from about 14-22 in one classroom.  So, even making a short story on a worksheet was hard because of the broad age difference.

My reading club is doing extremely well.  They are all reading fluently—with a stumble here or there.  Mom and Aunt Nancy brought hundreds of “Allie the Angel” books that Mrs. Calmeyn still had.  (THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!)  On Tuesday, I handed out the books at the end of reading club because the students couldn’t wait for Thursday to start them.  I made them promise to bring them back for the lesson Thursday.  We spent all of reading club reading those books and discussing rhyming words on Thursday.  Thanks to Mrs. Calmeyn and Mom and Aunt Nancy’s 24 hour plane ride, the reading club had a mini Christmas in April.  The rest of the books will be distributed to various schools.  One girl in my house has already been using them with her 6^th grade class at Mkhanyiseli. 

I have grown closer and closer to these students each day, especially 5^th and 6^th grade.  But, its still hard being in such a different environment for so long.  I truly am missing the American education system, as a student and teacher.

THANK YOU to everyone who was able to send some money.  I found two rugs—one of the world map and one alphabet rug.  I will be ordering them this week for the library.  The kids will LOVE being able to sit and read in a more comfortable environment than just the wooden chairs and “container” floor.

Time Flies When You’re Having Fun!! 

I apologize for not writing in such a long time!!  Fourteen students from Kimberley House, including myself, took what was supposed to be a ten day road trip across the country!

The first couple days were mostly driving with little sight-seeing.  We stopped in Knysna the first night and East London the second night just to sleep.  Though both places were beautiful, we continued on.  The third and fourth nights were spent in Coffee Bay. 

Coffee Bay is a rural area with one backpacker and two restaurants.  The first day we arrived, we toured the backpacker which had two bars, a few small rooms, and a huge deck where most people spent their time.  We then headed to the gorgeous beach which was about a 10 minute walk from the backpacker.  The second day, one other girl and I were up early to take surfing lessons before our all-day hike.  The surfing lessons were absolutely hysterical.  As most of you probably know, I’m not the most coordinated person on earth so I was pretty positive it would be an epic failure.  But, it was my friend’s birthday and apparently that meant we were surfing at 7am!!   After about an hour of instruction, we both were able to get up on our own and ride a wave completely into shore.  By the end, I was so astonished I could actually do it, I was getting too excited to actually balance anymore!  After surfing, the whole group went on a 6-mile hike through the rolling hills of the villages.  It was a guided hike, so we were able to meet some of the people, learn how to make bricks for the huts they lived in, and play soccer with some local school children.  Ultimately, we walked to “Hole In The Wall” which is a village named after a massive rock wall near the shore of the ocean with a hole in the center where the waves come crashing through.  We played in the waves for hours, until it was time to be driven back.  We all piled in the back of a pick-up truck and were driven back to the backpacker.  We were all absolutely exhausted after the hike and swimming that most of us fell asleep right after dinner.   The next morning, we were up at 6am again and out of Coffee Bay!

The next night we stayed in Durban, but didn’t have much time to explore the city.  The following two nights were spent in Johannesburg.  In Joburg, we spent the entire day touring townships and museums.  We spent the morning touring a township called ‘Soweto.’  This stands for South West Township of Joburg. (get it?! I thought that was pretty clever!)  This is where Desmond Tutu currently lives and Nelson Mandela lived with his previous wife Winnie.  We were able to go in Nelson Mandela’s old home because it has been turned into a museum.  During this whole day, we had tour guides who explained everything about each place we went.  Without them, the day could have been terribly boring.   We learned about Winnie during the time Nelson was in jail and were surprised to find out that Soweto actually supported Winnie more than Nelson.  During the time he was in jail, she was the community ‘mom.’  She was always willing to stand up for anyone and, being a tomboy in her youth, was also willing to fight the police off if needed.  The most interesting thing I noticed about this township was its size.  Soweto is so big that it has a distinct upper, middle, and lower class.  The upper class homes were big, beautiful, brick homes with larger, green yards.   Around these homes, there were absolutely no children playing outside because these families have the money to buy TVs and Playstation for their children.  The middle class homes were similar to those of Cape Town, like the one I am currently living in.  But, within the exact same township, the lower class homes were shacks made from any material that could be found.  I thought this was interesting because such huge houses with such privileged children lived so close to these run-down shacks with children who have nothing but each other. 

After touring Soweto, we headed to the Apartheid museum.  The apartheid museum was completely overwhelming and I cannot even begin to describe the amount of knowledge that was shoved into our brains.  I felt like my head wasn’t big enough to even absorb it all.  I could have spent 4 hours in that museum, but it was limited to about 1.  At the very beginning of the museum, they began by splitting us into “whites” and “colored.”   Though we ended up getting to the same museum, it put into perspective the fact that you couldn’t even walk with those of a different race during apartheid. 

Our next couple nights were spent at a game reserve just outside of Kruger National Park.  We went on a private game drive the first night and spent the entire next day in Kruger.  We saw elephants, lions, rhinos, giraffes, hippos, impalas, and many more animals.  The camp we stayed at was absolutely gorgeous and a wonderful change from the backpackers we had been in the previous 7 nights.  On Sunday, during our drive home, the truck unexpectedly broke down.  After sitting on the highway for about two hours, we missed two flights out of Joburg and were no longer able to get back that night.  We stayed at a gorgeous hotel in Joburg and were flown back to Cape Town finally at 3pm Monday afternoon.   I have never been so happy to get back to KHouse and see the rest of my housemates!  It was an absolutely amazing trip, but it was just about time to stop living out of a suitcase after 11 days!

I still can’t believe how many amazing people we met along the way who we will never see again!

After getting home, this week has been a blur.  On Tuesday, at service, I entered grades into the computer and put together students’ report cards.  Thursday began their midsemester break so I will not be needed at Hlengisa now until April 8 when they reopen.  So the vacation continues!!

Holy Thursday and Good Friday I spent with my RA, Kholeka.  Because no one else in my house was attending any services, I tagged along to her Xhosa, Methodist services.  Being the only white person in the entire church, I felt a little out of place at first.  By the end of the services though, I was dancing and singing in Xhosa with everyone else.  I couldn’t help but smile the entire time.  The church was on the University of Cape Town’s campus so it was full of students dancing and singing with loud drums and tambourines.  Today, she decided to come with me to St. George’s (Desmond Tutu’s Cathedral) for a Catholic mass.  I am so blessed to have her this Easter because she brought a sense of family to the last few days.

Thank you for the prayers and support.  Our travels went fairly smoothly and everyone was kept safe and well!! I hope everyone has a blessed Easter!!

Not much has changed in good ol’ Africa.  My students and I are both going through mid-semester exams so life has been pretty busy.  If you would have told me last year that while taking course exams in Africa I’d also be correcting South African English exams, I would have never believed you. 

All the students have been writing letters for their English exams.  During this time, I have pulled certain students who I have seen struggling in order to help them pass the exam.  I was working especially with three 9^th grade girls in the past week.  When I realized that their letters were just jumbled words, I knew they could not pass this exam any time in the near future.  First, I gave them three questions to answer that went along with the directions to the letter they were supposed to write.  They still could not even answer the questions.  So, I asked them to read the directions to me.  Although I thought this was a simple task and they would just not be able to understand it, I quickly learned these three girls could not read.  They cannot read Xhosa or English.  Suddenly, my job just got a lot harder.  I had to come up with something on the spot because I had another hour to spend with these girls before I went to teach my next class.  I finally just said, “alright, you’re going to teach me your language and I’m going to teach you mine.”  This has to be the only way for us to communicate.  They seemed happy to see me trying to learn.  It seemed as if as long as I was trying my hardest, they would also try their hardest.  The past couple days, though frustrating, have been back and forth…just trying to learn the sounds each letter makes in each language…. Who knew the alphabet could be so difficult.

Though these days have been a little discouraging, I have begun to pour my heart and soul into this school.  I may not have gotten through to them previously because they couldn’t understand me, but I am now finally getting to know individuals and learning names. 

This past Tuesday, I was supposed to be in my 5^th grade class for a half hour of review because they are writing their exams this week.  The teachers for their next two classes never showed up, so I ended up staying there for an hour and a half.  By the end, the kids knew the material on the test inside and out!!  All I could think was “FINALLY!” I had made progress with someone!!  Though doing so consisted of me jumping, running, and making an idiot out of myself, the students were all laughing, engaged, and learning.  Nothing is more rewarding than a class laughing AND learning. 

The sixth grade reading club has become my family at Hlengisa.  I am finally learning most of their names—clicks and all!  They even come to eat lunch with me instead of with their friends and hang out with me in their free periods.  I focus on one table each day and have each person at the table read to me.  I can already tell how much the students are improving.  They are all able to read almost every word in the library books.  The only hardships they have are with names of people and countries. 

UWC has also been going very well. We made it through our first papers and exams.  The entire house is beginning to get sick, though.  Certain people have been missing school and service on random days in order to make doctor appointments and catch up on rest.  We leave for a 10 day road trip tomorrow in a huge bus so just pray that the entire group doesn’t end up sick by the end of that!!

Some people at home have also been asking me if they can help me in any way.  Unfortunately, it costs a ridiculous amount of money to send things all the way here and it takes about 3-4 weeks to receive.  Also, most things are also cheaper here anyway.  I would love to get a rug and some pillows for the library so that students do not have to sit on wooden chairs every day while they read.  I would also love to get some more fiction books for the students because many of the books are about technology and computers that they don’t have access to anyway.  So, I have set up an account at Village Bank and I will use all the money solely for service purchases.  The children at Hlengisa and I would appreciate any donations possible.  Even $1 goes so much farther here than at home.  Checks can be made payable to me and be sent to:

Jeffrey Modena

Village Bank & Trust

311 S Arlington Heights Rd

Arlington Heights, 60005

I will never see the checks or who sent what, everything will be anonymous through Jeffrey.  Every penny of this money will go toward the children—for the most part, the library that I am still in the process of ‘opening.’

There are also a few girls in my house who are teaching at schools that do not even have paper or pens for the students.  Any left over money will go toward buying supplies for these schools.  I would love to get any donations by APRIL 30.  This should give me time to buy everything and bring it to the schools.  I will also be looking for local donations from the Cape Town library and local businesses. 

Thank you again for all your thoughts and support.  Anytime I’m feeling in over my head, I always have family and friends behind me.  It means more than you could possibly imagine!

Routine has hit

I am now unwinding from my last week… Thank God for country music helping the process!!

Last Monday (gosh, that was still February!!) I ventured to the city with a couple girls.  We walked around the city, looked at venders, wandered through the Company Gardens, and stopped in Desmond Tutu’s Cathedral to light a candle and say a prayer.  Downtown was a nice little venture after classes!

Tuesday and Thursday I was testing 200 students for English all day both days. I sat in the back of the classroom with a stack of rubrics and listened to presentations.  Tuesday they each brought in a newspaper article and read it aloud as I graded their reading abilities.  Thursday they each brought in another article and they could not look at it while they presented a summary.  Some students read and presented extremely well—gestures, loud voice, a poster as a teaching aid, etc.  Some students went to the front of the classroom and stood there until the teacher sitting next to me said “Okay, zero.” 

While going through my class list on Thursday, I learned that some of the 9^th grade students are older than me… (good thing I never told them my age).  I asked the teachers about this and they explained to me that students stay in 9^th grade until they pass.  Some of the students have been in 9^th grade for 5 years and still cannot speak English.  English is necessary to graduate from the school.  It killed me to watch a student go to the front of the room and stand there until they received a zero.  The teacher kept saying “I can give out zeros all day, they’re easy to write.”  It was interesting to hear this perspective whereas my teachers always told me that the 100% are the easiest to grade so strive to get 100%.  I could feel my usually smiling face drooping as the day went on.  After I realized how many students can’t even read English, I asked Gaji (the teacher with me these days) if I could take small groups and help them pass 9^th grade.  He looked at me and said “YES, PLEASE!” as if that’s what I should have been doing all along.  I took the weekend to think about how this would work because I have such full classrooms to teach all day.  I asked him today if I could do this in my one free period and lunch break.  After some discussion, he told me I could work with smaller groups of students during the English class and instead of teaching the 40 students each class period. I’m excited for this because this could be a much larger help to the school and community than babysitting a classroom when half of the students don’t understand a word coming out of my mouth. 

Today, the 8^th and 9^th graders all had the same assignment in preparation for their term exam next week.  The assignment was to write a letter to your sister who is at university and tell her what is going on at home since she left.  Usually, when assignments like this are given, I am instructed to walk around and simply correct spelling errors in red pen and move to the next student.  Today, after reading a few of the first 9^th grade classes letters, I decided to collect the rest.  I was engrossed in these letters during every break today, including lunch.  I didn’t pick my nose up out of this stack of letters that kept growing and growing with each passing period.  I now have about 100 papers left to grade, but I am learning more than ever about these students’ lives.  They wrote about things they have seen in the past couple weeks or months.  Some of the violence that was just casually written on a piece of loose leaf in front of me made my jaw drop.  Not only can I not imagine having seen one of the things some of these students have seen, but I can’t imagine coming to school the next day and being expected to just forget home and learn.  I am starting to understand why some people just don’t seem to care about school.  They will stand at the front of the room and receive a zero, but this could be because they saw their friend murdered the day before.  I am really, quite convinced I can never complain again in my life… ever.  

The 6^th grade reading club has been going wonderfully.  I am finally getting to know these students and they are enjoying being in the library every Tuesday and Thursday after school.  I finally was able to move some tables and things around in the library so I have enough seats and tables for my whole class.  I would love to get a rug for students to sit on in the container and possibly have them reading to smaller children one day.  Many of the books are also informational books about technology and such, which is good sometimes but they really enjoy fiction stories.  I am hoping to get some of these books either donated or cheap from somewhere around my neighborhood here.  The library is still a work in progress, but the students are absolutely LOVING it.  They were coming up to me during the day last Tuesday wondering if they could come to reading club right away.  Though it was only 1:00 and school didn’t end until 3, it was great to see their excitement for the club!

The reading club has also started teaching me Xhosa words.  I am learning about 5 per day for right now… we’ll see how that one goes!!  I never thought clicking would be so difficult!!  This gets them excited too, though.  They really like when I try to understand their language and connect with them in other ways.  Thank God that my day ends with “Ufunda Club” because they never fail to bring a smile to my face.  As I walk around and listen to individuals read English aloud, I can already tell they are getting better and better as time goes on.  Even within these past two weeks, they have not been asking as many pronunciation questions and been reading more fluently.  I can’t help but be overjoyed by this progress.  Their future truly depends on English so this is one of the most helpful things to them at this point in time.  In order to get out of the townships or advance in school, a person needs English.  The rest of the country is very English based outside of the townships. 

Friday we had our Marquette classes and I had a presentation on The South African KAIROS Document.  As many of you know, I lead Kairos at St. Viator so I was very interested in this document to begin with.  Although it was a pretty long document, I just wanted to share a few interesting points.  During apartheid, the Christian church (most of South Africa at the time) was not only separated by denomination but also by race.  For example, they had a black Anglican church and a white Anglican church.   Because of the violence, segregation, and oppression, the blacks came together and decided something had to happen.  They related this time to Israel.  Israel rose out of the enslaved people in Egypt.  They were ‘liberated by Yahweh’ and Israel was born.  South Africa, in the KAIROS Document, completely related themselves to this bible affiliation.  South Africa was oppressed and the whites enslaved the native South Africans when they came to colonize the country.  The South Africans saw this time as God’s time for liberation (KAIROS).  They believed and hoped that if they didn’t take advantage of this time of oppression, it would be lost time.  This is a time of true hope that God will come soon to liberate them and bring them out of their oppression.   Though the original KAIROS Document was written in 1985, there are still being responses written to the Document.  One priest, who is currently in a Church Leadership Group that is writing the second response to the KAIROS Document, came to discuss this Document with us after my presentation.  These people never cease to amaze me with the things they have been through.  I couldn’t imagine going to a church and being rejected, let alone if it were my own religion and I was rejected because of my race. 

Just another reminder of how blessed we really are!!  Everything is going very well and I never go more than a minute without smiling in this beautiful country.   Thank you for all the messages and mail from home, it brightens my day…or week for that matter!! I couldn’t be more blessed and thankful for each and every one of you.

Library....semi-open?

I’m sorry its been so long!! It’s been quite the busy week which meant not a whole lot of down time and hardly any sleep. 

I should have caught you up when I was on cloud nine on Tuesday afternoon!  At Hlengisa on Tuesday, I was finally able to get into the library during one of my breaks.  I talked to the teacher who was in there and she explained that the library was only used for her class.  She teaches 1^st and 2^nd grade “letters” and they didn’t have enough classroom space for her, which meant the library became her classroom two days a week.  The other days the library wasn’t used at all.  Even on these two days, though, the books were never used.  The library is what they call a “container” which is basically like portable classrooms in the states.  All the walls are full of bookshelves.  In the center, there are brand new wooden tables and chairs stacked up that have never been used.   I spent each of my breaks Tuesday looking through the books.  With each new book I picked up, I could hear the cover cracking like any new hardcover would.  My jaw just continued to drop further and further as I was in awe of these books. 

My English classes also all went very well this day (between my escapes to the library).  I started reading a short story with my 9^th graders that was actually provided by the school!!  Though most of them were able to read the words, we had to stop quite a bit so that I could define many of the words.  In my 8^th grade classes, I was told to go over periods, exclamation points, and question marks.  After about 6 examples, I realized the kids already knew all of the material….so I brought out my story dice!!  I found 9 dice in KHouse with pictures on each side.  I gave one die to each student, put them in groups of 6, and had each group write a story including every picture that was rolled.  Not only were they ecstatic to have a new activity that they’ve never seen, but they were so excited just for the dice.  Some of the students didn’t even know how to roll a die….there was spinning, rolling, throwing onto tables… anyway they could get a picture!!

After classes, I was able to bring my 6^th grade reading club into the library!!! I have never seen children so excited to go in a building.  I got to the container and it was swarming with students.  I walked up to open the door and as soon as I even got the door a crack open, the kids charged.  They ran and pushed to get inside as if there were just mounds and mounds of ice cream and candy on the other side.  They quickly took down chairs and sat in groups waiting for my direction.  I gave each group a book about a South African Historical Leader.  Each book was about a different person.  These books were easier to read because they had heard most of the words, and they were actually learning about major figures in their own history—black and white.  As I walked around, the children were silently listening to one another as they passed the books in circles, taking turns reading.  After about 20 minutes, hands shot up asking me if I could ask them questions about the books!! (BOY WAS I IN TROUBLE! I hadn’t read them all!!)  I quickly scanned each book and asked pretty specific questions—each of which they knew the answers!!  Needless to say, I was just about the happiest girl in South Africa. 

Pearnel, Laree, Rob, and Jamie then showed up after their service site to pick me up.  I thought Pearnel was going to cry because he was so happy these books were being used.  We stopped reading early so the children were able to meet us and ask questions.  Of course, in no time, Jamie then had them all singing Shosholoza with us.  It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had.  I have never felt so connected with these children or another culture before this point.  The video is posted on facebook if you’re interested in seeing the singing!!

On Thursday, the four girls in my house volunteering for Amy Biehl all went to “McDonald’s Golf Day” which is Amy Biehl Foundation’s biggest fundraiser.   About 150 men came to Rondebosch Golf Course and we were in charge of selling raffle tickets all day.  It was very interesting to see the fundraising part of an organization after being on the working end of it for the past couple weeks.  The work we do is very sugar coated for these huge companies and men.  Although none of the information was a lie, there was definitely a little coating to the real work done—especially when we were interviewed for TV. 

Funny thing about the fundraiser…all four of us showed up in sundresses, ready for the country club feel of the golf club.  When we got there, everyone else was in jeans and we were told to put our t-shirts on!!  So there we were..the only 4 Americans, in dresses, with t-shirts over our dresses.  Good look, huh?!  I definitely thought so!  Everyone was still very willing to give us money though, we collected more than I ever thought we could selling just raffle tickets!!

This weekend consisted of Robben Island and Kloofing.  Robben Island was amazing to see, but a very rushed tour.  We were able to see where the men slept and specifically Nelson Mandella’s cell.  It was interesting that there are actually people living on the island right now.  All the children who live there take a ferry to school each day and all the adults work on the island.  It is their job to keep up with all the maintenance and the one shop on the island.  It was an interesting tour—pictures with more information to come on facebook!

Kloofing was also a blast!!  Basically, we were picked up at 7am and brought to the middle of mountains after about an hour long drive.  We strapped on harnesses, hiked to the middle of nowhere, and roped up!   In no time, I was walking down the middle of a waterfall with nothing but a rope holding me above a huge pool of water.  We repelled down two waterfalls and at the end of the second one, we were allowed to cliff jump into the pool.  The water was freezing, but we had a gorgeous (and hot) day so it was more than refreshing! 

Once again, thank you for all the thoughts and prayers.  I cannot explain how much communication with home has helped me here.  I hope to get a new blog up on Tuesday with more about what I intend to do for Hlengisa School.  Please check back for that one because I may need just a little help from home! 

The First Tear Shed

Aside from the tearful goodbye at the airport, South Africa has been nothing but growing and laughing.  In the past couple days, KHouse has basically been on cloud nine with our emotions: Valentine’s Day, meeting Judy, hiking Table Mountain, Mzoli’s, our first family dinner, and KIM.  Though I already explained Valentine’s Day, I should probably fill you in on the rest.

Judith Mayotte is the founder of the Marquette South Africa Service Learning Program.  She just happened to be visiting Cape Town this semester so we were so incredibly blessed to meet this wonderful woman.  She is quite possibly the most amazing woman I will ever meet in my life (sorry mom, you’re a VERY close second.  I promise).  Though I cannot even begin to describe the things she has done, I can try to tell a little about what she told.  She is extremely humble, to the point where losing her leg in southern Sudan during the war was just a minor point in her stories.  Through attending a Catholic high school and ultimately converting to Catholicism, she became a nun.  After ten years of this life, she decided during Vatican II that it wouldn’t be right for her after the changes were implemented.  She left the convent, but not the faith.  She attended Marquette University for her PHD and found the love of her life.  They married and three years later he died from cancer.  It was then that she found her passion in helping refugees.  She traveled to every war zone during these years, lived with the refugees, and ultimately was forced to retire this lifestyle due to the loss of her leg in the Sudan war.  While trying to airlift food into these refugees, a 200-pound bag of grain dropping at about 120mph fell on her leg.  She came back to Seattle where she was teaching and asked to be on a board with Desmond Tutu.  In the midst of this, Marquette had also asked her to be “a chair of some sort within the University.”   (She can’t even remember the titles she held!!)  When Marquette asked her to make a service learning abroad program, she was sure to make it in Cape Town because this is the place she knew the most people who would help her.  She had such a deep love for South Africa because during the apartheid, instead of choosing war, this country chose reconciliation.  Judy could have been stuck in another war zone, but because of the choice for reconciliation she wasn’t.  She truly has a deep love for every South African because of it.  She has nothing but kind words to say about these amazing people.

Judy began the program with 3 days of classes at UWC and 2 days of service at various sites.  She and a few students exclusively from Marquette lived in the same house (KHouse) we live in now.  She chose UWC instead of UCT because of UWC’s involvement in the apartheid.  UWC was made during the apartheid era for blacks and colored students.  Though it has changed since the apartheid ended, it still is very much local black and colored South African college students—most of the international students attend the University of Cape Town.  We will also be able to meet Desmond Tutu as a house and talk with him due to all the work she has done with him.  Though he is on a ‘semester at sea’ boat right now, he will be coming back to Cape Town at the end of March so we will be meeting him soon enough!

Though I could ramble on about this woman for pages and pages, I won’t keep you much longer.  The above information is just some of the things she has done, excluding her polio, work for the Clinton administration, her book (Disposable People? The Plight of Refugees), being a University professor, and an Emmy-winning producer—the things she didn’t tell us.  We looked up more about her life and found that even her Wikipedia page barely does her justice. 

The two things I will always remember from Judy are:

“You can get through any ups and downs in life as long as you’re doing something you’re passionate about.”

“Human beings should never be afraid of human beings—no matter their race or age.  We are all human beings.”

I truly believe I met a future saint on Friday. 

Comparatively, hiking Table Mountain was nothing!  Saturday, we had planned a sunset hike up Table Mountain because we would then be able to take the cable cars down after sunset.  We got about half way up and found out the cable cars were no longer running.  At that point, I decided (being the wimp that I am..)  I had heard enough about the danger of hiking in the dark and wasn’t going to risk it.  A few of us hiked back down while it was still light and watched the sunset at the bottom—still pretty gorgeous, I must say.

After quite the full weekend, we just all wanted more adventure.  Mzoli’s it was!!  Mzoli’s is a huge meat shop in the township of Gugulethu.  Every Sunday they have a huge braai (BBQ) open to the public.  Thank God X-Man (the second Marquette driver who helps Pearnel) was willing to drive us and stay with us the entire time.  We walked in to what looked like a tiny butcher shop, smaller than Thuringer for those of you in Arlington.  X-Man ordered all the meat for us and we were brought into the back room.  After walking through a short, claustrophobic hallway, we were brought into another small room with huge, fired-up grills.  We handed the pan of meat to the men at the grills and were off to find a seat outside in a great, big tent—the party tent, if you will!!  It was really cool to be able to interact with people of South Africa and international students while still helping Gugulethu financially.

Tonight began our first ‘family dinner’ and ‘family meeting.’  Our delicious homemade lasagna, salad, and garlic bread was made by the wonderful Jamie and Jack.  The family meeting idea began in Lizzy’s family and Steph decided she wanted to implement it in our house.  We altered the Owen’s family itinerary a bit and fit it to the KHouse needs.  The meeting was completely optional because it was just something we wanted to try.  Everyone in the house ended up attending and squeezing in Rob and Andrew’s bedroom.  We opened with a prayer and focused the majority of our time on ‘pits and peaks’-highs and lows, if you will.  We also used a cross as a talking piece, so only the person with the cross in their hand was able to talk.  This made sure that everyone was heard and everyone got a chance to speak.  When living in a house with 22 people, I have observed that most of the things shared are happy ones.  We tend to always be laughing and sharing things about South Africa that we have experienced.   This is such an amazing quality, but there are times when tears are necessary and things need to be let out.  It wasn’t until this meeting that we were able to share our low points, even if they had to do with home.  When everyone had a chance to talk, we ended with another prayer.  This time was very much needed and will continue to be shared every Sunday night.

Thank you so much for all the thoughts and prayers from home.  This experience wouldn’t be the same without them.   I continually feel God’s presence in KHouse and in my own life.  

A red pen, some chalk, and A LIBRARY?!

I never really understood what the life of a teacher was like.  I’m only teaching two days a week and my mind revolves around these students.  I find myself making lesson plans in the shower, going through names in my head at night, and thinking about crafts I could make when I finish my peanut butter and have only the jar left.  But, today I didn’t even need those plans!  Valentine’s Day is so big in Africa that everything in the schools revolves around it.  I walked in, all the kids were dressed in red and white, and Mr. Gaji had a Valentine’s Day poem with questions for the 8^th and 9^th grade classes.  He also had cards for the 5^th graders to make their parents, so my job was very easy!!  The entire day consisted of writing definitions and directions on the board (chalk) and correcting about 200 worksheets (red pen).

This morning, before I was dropped off, Pearnel told me that a previous Marquette student had found a library at Hlengisa.  He told me to be very inquisitive today because something was going on there….so that’s exactly what I did!!  When I got there, I asked if they had a library.  When I learned it was true, the most information I could collect was that it was not organized and they had no one to manage it.  This library is a colorful building in the back left corner of the school grounds.  The doors are bright blue with murals of children and books painted all over the outside.  I texted Pearnel that I had found it and he replied “they don’t use it.  It’s so wrong, kick some butt!”  I can’t describe how upset I would be if I knew my child was attending a school with a great sized library that was locked and never used. 

When I asked if I could go in, they were a little confused but agreed to let me.  They searched for the key and finally came out with a huge ring and said “maybe it’s on here.”   As we walked up to the doors of this building, I had goose bumps all over my skin and butterflies in my stomach.  I don’t even really enjoy reading (thus the math major) but I can’t describe the excitement I had for this library.  It just doesn’t make sense to me that while most schools in this township are struggling to get books just in the classrooms, this building is full of books that the children can’t use.  We got to the doors and after trying many different keys, none of them worked.  I encouraged him to keep looking for the key while I began my 6^th grade reading club in a classroom. 

I brought 4 Harry Potter books to begin a reading club with 40 6^th graders today.  They told me some of them had seen the movie and were interested in reading the book. We got through about 3 pages after a half hour.  Although I’m sure the story is going over some of the students’ heads, some were really enjoying it and were able to summarize what was happening.  It went better than I had imagined!

In other news, K-House is celebrating Valentine’s Day all together here in South Africa!  We picked names out of a hat and that is our Valentine for the day.  When I woke up, I had a letter and puppy chow outside my door from the beautiful Lizzy Owens!  Everyone is in such a wonderful mood and we are all showering each other with love—so many smiles!

I’m still in awe of how well this house gets along.  We are all still so excited to hear about everyone’s days when we get home.  Little KHouse update:  Today Jamie and Rob got a tour of one of the townships they will be working in and were able to go inside some of the shacks (which I thought was awesome).  They are working at “Lotus” which is right in the townships and our entire house will be visiting this site together.  Others are slowly getting projects and being invited to meetings at their respective sites, so it’s all coming together!!!  We are still a bit thrown off by the wild cows, horses, dogs, goats, and sheep we see on the side of the road…but the mountains are becoming the norm.  I cannot believe how much we see on a daily basis—the beauty and the destruction within the same blink.  Shacks with the gorgeous mountains in the background…definitely something to get used to.

All in all, things are really coming together and I have so many ideas for my service site.  Although I cannot (or would never) demand things be done my way, I can’t wait to see what I can do for them with my ideas. 

Thank you all again for your thoughts and prayers.  The messages, snapchats, emails, and texts are getting me through!  You’re the best!  LOTS OF LOVE on Valentine’s Day from South Africa! Miss you all!!

ALL Thanks to You!!

Another few days have come and passed, yet I feel like I just wrote my last blog.  Time flies here… I guess that means I’m having fun!  On Friday, we were introduced to our Marquette Theology class.  Throughout the class, we have some of the most amazing experiences planned.  We will meet the two men who killed Amy Biehl and started the foundation I am working for in her honor.  We will also most likely be able to meet her mother who just so happens to be visiting during our time here.  This class will also bring about our trips to Robin Island, the apartheid museum, Constitutional Hill, and a Zulu village.

Living in a learning community is an entirely new experience for me.  Every day when people get home, we sit and talk about our days.  It’s like having 20 parents asking how your day was!! We also really do learn from each other.  I was talking to one of my housemates the other day and they brought up their service site.  They said the children had so much to ask about America and most of them thought it was all Hollywood.  They asked about celebrities we knew and have seen…. Just this simple conversation gave me a plan for my entire day at Hlengisa today. 

I began my day with two classes of 9^th graders—the students who gave me the hardest time on Thursday.  Needless to say, I was shaking in my boots when good ol’ Pearnel dropped me off.  He wished me luck and kept honking the horn randomly as I walked up to the door of the school.  I have to say, he definitely always makes me walk in with a smile on my face!

When I walked into the first classroom, I was given an entire packet of nouns, pronouns, verbs, and adjectives to teach the 9^th graders.  I put the packet on the desk and walked away from it for most of the class.  After having each student stand and tell me their name and something about themselves, I opened the class to questions about me and America.  Hands shot up, one after another.  Every class was interested in if I have a boyfriend…..and then why not, if I have children, and my home life.  When I told them I was involved in musicals and basketball during high school, they wouldn’t let me leave the classroom until I sang for them.  No matter how much I tried to push it off….so yes, me and one other student broke out in Beyonce’s Halo and received the loudest applause I’ve ever heard in a classroom.  After Pearnel dropping me off and this applause, I was pretty confident about the day ahead of me and it was only 8:30am!!

As the questions continued, every class, without fail, brought up Hollywood and celebrities.  They wanted to know if I see celebrities, which one is my favorite, etc…  After I explained that Hollywood is a 4 hour plane ride from my house, they seemed a bit confused.  They honestly all thought America is Hollywood.  When I explained that Los Angeles is about the size of Cape Town, they couldn’t believe it.  They also had no idea that we had crime in the states.  I was interrogated about the kind of crime we have and if there are people in the states that have abusive parents and relationships.  As much as I have been through culture shock, these children were in shock when they heard some of my answers. 

Most of the time, there were people talking and whispering during students’ questions and my answers.  It was only when the deeper questions came that the class was absolutely silent. I was asked if I trusted my friends at home.  When I answered yes, they asked, “some people say ‘love all, trust no one’ so how can you trust your friends?”  I was also asked if I have ever had to choose between my friends and my parents.  Though these questions were simple for me to answer, I was astounded by how quiet my answers made these students.  It was then that I realized that these are the things we have in common.  In America, we are so distant from one another so it may seem unusual to be asked these questions so early…or hugged by people you barely know.  Here, they will ask anything and hugs are a simple greeting.  They wanted to know things that are apparent in their own lives and how I would deal with them.   After all of this, I really felt like I had received their utmost respect. 

Fifth grade was a struggle because of the language barrier.  They all brought in homemade instruments for our music chapter today.  After I gave them notes in “personal and social wellbeing” (PSW), it was time for “creative arts!”  Every time I would try to explain rhythm, counts, pitch, etc.. they would just bang on their instruments exactly like I did.  I think they had a ball, but not so sure about the whole learning part… But hey!  It’s fifth grade and they had fun!  It’s only difficult because they don’t understand a word coming out of my mouth.  They answer “yes, teacher” to everything I say—even when I ask a question that the obvious answer is no.  As I kept thinking about it, it was like when I was in 8^th grade Spanish.  I was able to read and write anything you wanted me to, but if you spoke at me I would have no idea what you were saying.  Now imagine that…..and all your classes are in that language.  I can’t even imagine.

I think its safe to say I got through today very well due to all your thoughts and prayers.  When I walked in, I remembered just how many people I had rooting for me today.   So basically you just put smiles on about 200 South African children’s faces in one day.  They all thank you!!! And so do I!

P.S. One student couldn't grasp the idea that I wasn't doing anything for Valentine’s day… He came up to me and asked if he could be my valentine afterward.  SO precious!!  

Also... QUICK SHOUT OUT to all my previous teachers who have been helping me the past week.  You have all saved me, I can't thank you enough!

I think I can, I think I can....

Yesterday after a long morning at school, I was picked up and ready to go home.  Surprise!! We weren’t going home!  I was brought to the Amy Biehl foundation office and dropped off.  When I walked in the office, no one knew what we were there for… TIA I guess.  So after much confusion, we were on our way out to the townships to “pick” our schools that we were to start at today (Thursday).  When we were driving around the townships, it was as if we were in a parade.  All the children would run to the side of the van and smile and wave at us as if we were on display.  I felt like a princess waving out the window to all the smiling children.  When it came time to “pick” our schools, it consisted of pulling up to each one and frantically being shoved out of the van and brought in to meet our teacher.  After this stressful hour, I was placed at Hlengisa Junior Primary/Secondary School for no reason in particular. 

Today was my first day at Hlengisa with Mr. Gaji… well, I thought it was going to be with Mr. Gaji.  The extent of this Gaji man was him introducing me to each class and leaving.  My first class was 8^th grade English.  I was not quite prepared for the language barrier, though.  In the past two weeks, we haven’t had much difficulty with English because most of the older people know it.  When you get into a school, you realize that the children barely know it.  If they do, they are very hard to understand….so English was definitely a rough point today in addition to playing the whole teacher game.

I will be there Tuesdays and Thursdays and have classes all day of fifth grade, eighth grade, and ninth grade.  The fifth grade class is a “Life Skills” class.  I will be teaching the creative arts and personal and social wellbeing components of this class.  This should be no problem because the chapter I was introduced to sounds like its mainly musical.  Thank God for my house of 21 people because I’m hoping some empty bottles filled with sand and rice will make for some fun days with 10 year olds!

The eighth and ninth grade classes are both English courses.  I was completely thrown out of my element with those.  This was the biggest culture shock I’ve experienced since I’ve been here.  The 8^th grade class was reading a story called “Schoolboy found hanged by his school tie.”  This was a news story that a teacher had typed out and put basic questions with.  They had received the reading on January 29, already answered the questions, already corrected the questions, and were just sitting there with the same story.  Mr. Gaji instructed them to rewrite the questions and answers on a sheet of paper in groups.  As we all know, groups in 8^th grade turn into gossip sessions and today I was the gossip of the day.  Once again, I felt as though I was in a display case at the front of the classroom.  I was a foreign object that spoke a different language.   They didn’t really even seem to care that they blatantly stared at me instead of doing their work.  The only upside to this was that about ten twelve-year-olds told me they loved me… so if all else fails, I have twelve-year-old love goin for me!!

The ninth grade class was very similar.  The students took advantage of a student teacher as much as they possibly could and I had just about nothing to go with as far as a lesson plan, so any lessons I make will be an improvement already!  The ninth graders had to write 80 words about themselves.  I began grading them and came across some things I never imagined I would.  I read so many things about townships I never knew existed in real life.  Most of the children live near the school with either parents or aunts and uncles.  They all talked about their family, favorite subjects, and favorite sports.  These were the things I was expecting.  The openness to their personality and ups and downs of life hit me like a brick wall.  Good thing I’m not an easy crier… Though I did not receive one person’s respect today in this classroom, it will get better.   Many wrote about never having a birthday party, so I think that might be a safe place to begin.  (THANKS DIANNE!!!)

Thank you for all the prayers, everything is going well! Life is a bit overwhelming, but its exactly what I wanted!

Reality Check

These past few days have flown by.  Friday was the beginning of our Marquette courses.  Though the entire house arrived about 40 minutes late because the drivers were running on “African time,” we still were able to get a great introduction to our first course.  The course title is Leaders in Grassroots Organizations: Community Development and Social Analysis.  Friday was just focused on life in the townships and how these people actually survive. 

During the apartheid, there were many laws about where different races were able to live.  When those laws ended, there was no way of just picking up everyone from their living situations and moving them.  South Africa is still very much living the apartheid just without the laws.  One huge contribution to the poverty is that most of the employment opportunities are in the city of Cape Town. With most empty jobs in the Northwest corner of South Africa and most shacks and poor people located in the Southeast corner, there is not an easy way for these people to get jobs.  If some are able to get these low income jobs, the income is almost completely used on transportation to and from work.  This means these people cannot even afford bread for their families.  This domino effect is seen in every aspect of life.  When you cannot afford food, you certainly are not able to afford garbage bags.  The garbage then piles up in fields and next to the shacks which makes for horribly dirty and unsanitary living conditions.  This, in turn, provides many health issues for the people.  There is no refrigeration, no toilets or sanitary sewage outlets….most of our essential living needs are not even a thought in these townships.

The government has put in place a system where they try to replace some shacks with small houses.  In order to be chosen to move to these houses, you have to have your name put on a list and those who make less than 800 Rand (about $89) per month get first option.  This number may sound low, but most of these people have absolutely no income so there is still a huge waiting list.  Even when some people are able to move into the homes, they will stay in their shack, rent the home out, and make enough money to buy bread for the family. 

A 4-5 person home is 23 square meters of bare, cement walls with sandy floors.  Most of the ground here is very sandy so even when these homes are built, they are never on a very sturdy foundation.  This makes for cracks in the walls and ceiling in a short amount of time because parts of the house sink into the sand.  There is also mold everywhere in many of the homes.  Even if you are lucky enough to move into one of these government homes, it means you must leave your entire community and move to a new place where you most likely don’t know anyone.  The communities of shacks are extremely close knit people because their living arrangements are just so close they become family. 

This was the introduction to our Leadership course which will coincide with our service sites.  All of the children I will be teaching currently live in these townships.  In order to attend the Amy Biel after school programs, they must be a full time student at a school and they must agree to come to the program every school day.  If they are able to fulfill these requirements, they are never turned away at Amy Biel.  This is difficult for children sometimes though because they are needed to take care of younger siblings.  There are many circumstances in which if both parents have passed away, there might be a 10 year old taking care of a 6 year old. 

This is the reality in which these people are living...something I cannot fathom even in my worst nightmares.  The innocent faces of children as they run around at school are just happy to be “away from the shacks” (as I read on a poster a child made at Imbasa elementary school).  We are here to be leaders in these places and to begin community organizations for them.  Only about 6% of the people from the townships are involved in any type of community organization and about 89% think they have nothing to offer.  As we try to understand this foreign life, we are called to implement something they need.   We are called to communicate and understand what the needs of these townships are in order to help long term- hoping our projects will be carried on and fulfilled long after our time here in South Africa.

Our service sites begin this week.  I am excited to see what this semester has in store for me.  I have virtually nothing in common with these children except for true compassion and love.  I’m just hoping that will be enough to get me through some of the stories I will hear.

 

In other news, K-House had our first braii today!  A braii is a traditional African BBQ/party.  It was scheduled to begin at 3pm and at about 1:30 we were told we had to go grocery shopping and make all the food.  Everyone seems so casual about things like this whereas we were all frantically running around the store and trying to cook as fast as possible.  I never really felt the phrase "a watched pot NEVER boils" before today trying to make pasta salad with 15 mins left before people arrived. Still, none of the Africans seemed worried or rushed! (TIA!) We had about 60 people over and cooked more food than an army would be able to eat.  Our refrigerator is jam packed with leftovers.  It was very successful and we all met some great, new people.   Most of the guests were from UWC and were interested in an international program so were very willing to learn about America.  (MANY more cultural differences were discussed).  This was basically an all day event so now most of the house is exhausted. 

Much more to come in the days ahead!

Back to School

In America, we are taught to always walk on the right side of the hallway or street, always look left, right left before crossing the street, walk to the right side of the car to get in…. now, throw all that out the window when you’re 20 years old! Almost impossible…and that’s Andrea in Africa!  I swear I’m going to get run over by a person just from walking on the right side of the sidewalk!  I’ve also decided I can never jaywalk here again because I always look the wrong way before crossing.  I wish I could watch myself on video walking around UWC’s campus Monday.  It could’ve been a comedy.

The first day at UWC was overwhelming, tiring, and all around confusing.  Most people in my house weren’t registered for classes, couldn’t find classes to suit their requirements, and didn’t know how to register themselves.  After day 1, I think it was safe to say we all pretty much wanted to quit school.  That night we went to our first UWC rugby game, though.  That was a much needed, high energy, exciting atmosphere that brought smiles to everyone’s faces as we cheered on our new school’s team.  (and won!!!)

Tuesday, a group of 16 of us that didn’t have classes went to Camps Bay.  This was a beautiful beach with a view of the ocean, Table Mountain, and Lion’s Head.  Previously we had seen this beach from atop the mountains and it was awesome to be able to see the other side! (not to mention the relaxing on a beach part instead of hiking a mountain was pretty great…)

Today was another day at UWC.  This morning most of us were dreading it, but luckily many of us had the same Ethics course this morning.  We all really enjoyed that course so most of us came home in great moods!  I also had my African History course today.  When the professor arrived ten minutes late, I asked the girl next to me if this was a usual occurrence…after laughing for a minute, she replied “yes, we call it African time.”  I think I could get used to this relaxed way of living!  AND I even remembered to walk on the left side of the sidewalk sometimes!!

I found out my service site will be Amy Biel.  I am trying to wait patiently for more information about which school Amy Biel Foundation will pair me with, but I’m getting very anxious!  From what I understand, I will be at a school all day and then help facilitate an after school program for many of the students.  Hopefully this will give me a chance to connect with the children and hear more about the townships they live in. 

I hope everyone is doing well at home!  We just got internet in “Kimberly 2” which is the house I’m staying in so I will have more opportunity to communicate with the world.  Can’t wait to hear about the adventures back in the states!!

 

So Much to Tell!

Although I just recently posted, we’ve had quite the day. Last night the whole group went up on Signal Hill for the full moon.  I have to say, we didn’t spend much time looking at the moon.  The wind was blowing at about 50 mph (no joke) and we were just struggling to stand up.  I can’t even explain the amount of laughter that came out of that night.  It was an amazing view of all of Cape Town, but the wind was just unbearable.  We were all laughing because everything we have done here has been bucket list material and nothing could compare.  When we got to the top of the hill, we couldn’t even stand up.  The wind was not enjoyable, but the night was one of the most fun yet because of the company. 

This morning four of us woke up for mass.  We went to St. Michael and all his angels which is a beautiful, stone church.  It was an Anglican church so which is like the old, Catholic church. All the wording was old English, the altar was faced toward the back wall, and there were kneelers separating the congregation from the priests.  The consecration was said with the priest’s back to the congregation which I have heard about but never experienced.   We also had to kneel to receive communion.  The Hail Mary was also said several times throughout the mass which was a nice change.  They did not have the sign of peace, though.  At that time, the priests exchanged the “kiss of peace” and the service continued.  Needless to say, many things were different but it was one of the coolest experiences. 

No updates on classes, my phone, or service site.  Every time we ask something people just reply “TIA” which means “This is Africa”…aka just don’t worry about anything!! 

ALSO! Nothing is cold here.  If you ask for ice water, you get a glass of room temperature water… Even the smoothies aren’t that cold (not even sure how that one works..)  The tap water doesn’t get cold so we just drink it room temperature which is totally fine.  But, when we go to restaurants and ask for water they think we’re crazy.  They ask why we want water.   I’m starting to think cold water is not an actual thing here.  But hey! TIA, right?!