Our Final Adventure in South Africa!

On Saturday, we left the beautiful city of Port Elizabeth to head to Cape Town for our final weekend in South Africa. I would dearly miss the learners at Emafini Primary school as well as everyone we had met along the way. Saying goodbye to the wonderful staff at Algoa Bay, was tough. Priscilla, Billy Jean, Ana, and Nasi Pala had become family over the last few weeks. Their graciousness, hospitality and kind hearted spirit is something that I will never forget.

After saying goodbye, we piled into our cabs and headed off to the Port Elizabeth International Airport. When we got there, Mr. January was waiting for us. I thought this was an extremely kind gesture and I was happy to see him before we left. The flight to Cape Town was just a short trip, taking us only about 1 hour, from take off to landing. As we made our final descent into The Cape Town Airport, I was blown away by the enormity of Table Mountain, and the breathtaking view of the Indian Ocean below. I was very impressed with Cape Town and the heavy European influence of Dutch and British architecture.

On Sunday, we had an excursion to Robben Island, the famous maximum security prison where many black African's were sent during the Apartheid era. One of the most famous people incarcerated at Robben Island was Nelson Mandela, who spent over 27 years here. We toured the various cell blocks and even got an opportunity to see Nelson Mandela's jail cell. Our guide Joma, a former prisoner for 5 years, showed us the courtyard and garden where Mandela hid his manuscript for his famed book "A Long Walk to Freedom."

A view of Nelson Mandela's Cell.

After viewing Mandela's cell and the courtyard, we were taken to the rock quarry where prisoners spent 8-10 hours a day, laboriously chipping away at the limestone. Rather than let themselves be oppressed by the work, they viewed the rock quarry as a tool for self improvement. Prisoners held political debates, and had discussions while they were working. Robben Island was nicknamed "The University," because many of the prisoners went in uneducated and illiterate and left with college level degrees. One of these prisoners was Jacob Zuma, the current President of South Africa. By teaching one another, the prisoners helped to galvanize and strengthen their minds and spirits. This helped them to overcome the hardships they faced and shine light into an otherwise dark and gloomy existence. Our visit to Robben Island was a powerful experience, it enabled me to see the strength of the human spirit and is a testament to the omnipotence that education has.

A picture from the rock quarry. These stones stand as a memorial

for all those who were imprisoned at Robben Island.

On Sunday night, we had the wonderful opportunity of having dinner with the first Lady of South Africa,  Madame Bongi Ngema Zuma. We were invited to the State House, where she talked to us about her non-profit diabetes organization, The Bongi Ngema Zuma Foundation that raises awareness and offers tips for prevention against this deadly disease. At first we were all pretty nervous, and everyone was hesistant to speak up. However, during the delicious dinner, she actively engaged us in lively conversation and we realized how easy to talk to she was. She was very articulate and made us feel very comfortable and at home. During dinner we talked about her charity, education and her son.  I was thoroughly impressed with Madame Zuma's commitment to those afflicted with diabetes, and her passion towards helping fight this devastating disease. While talking about education, she made it clear that she had a strong affinity towards helping those less fortunate, and talked about how she was going to donate school supplies to a Township school from her home town over the holidays. Overall, the dinner was fabulous. I enjoyed talking with Madame Zuma and learning about her organization and views on education. She was a very charismatic and charming woman, whose compassion for her country and people was extremely evident.

Group foto at the State House.

On Monday, Chelsea and I took the Red Bus Tour around Cape Town. It started out at the waterfont and took us to many of the famous sites and attractions that the city had to offer. After about 30 minutes of touring the city, we decided to get off at the famous Table Mountain. Although it was cloudy, and we were warned not to hike to the top. We were determined to scale this epic size mountain. Walking up the mountain initially was pretty tiring, and the steep incline as well as elevation made it a taxing feat. However, after about 30 minutes of hiking, the path started to level off and the climb began to get easier. The views from the mountain were absolutely spectaculiar and breathtaking. The pristine blue waters of where the Atlantic Ocean met the Indian Ocean were stellar and the view of the city down below was awe inspiring. After about getting 2/3's of the way up, the cloud cover was so bad that we were forced to turn back. Unfortunately, we never made it all the way to the top, however, just to climb as far as we did was still a victory in my book.

A breathtaking view from Table Mountain.

The weekend truly flew by, as did the entirety of our time in South Africa. It seemed as if we had just got there and yet we were already leaving. On Tuesday, we flew back home to the States. I had very mixed emotions. All though we were all eager to go back to our friends and family, South Africa had become our home for the last few weeks. I was sad to leave this wonderful country and all of the amazing people that we had met along the way. South Africa will truly be missed!

Our Final Week at Emafini

Words cannot express the experiences that we have had over the last three weeks of teaching at the Emafini Primary School in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It has been a life changing experience to work with the children and staff of this school, and will be something that I remember for the rest of my life. It has changed both my views on education and life in general and has helped gain a deeper appreciation for the smaller things in life. The hospitality, friendship, and the eagerness of students to learn is something that I will never forget. This experience so far has left an indeliable mark on all of us, something that will be ingrained in cognition forever.

During this last week, we took on the arduous task of organizing the library of Emafini, which consisted of hundreds of books crammed into a crowded shipping container, that none of us even knew existed. I was shocked to find out that students had this resource right at their finger tips, yet none of the teachers ever really enabled students a chance to check out these books. Thus we decided to organize the books, and create a check out system so that students could check out books, and take advantage of this life changing resource. From Tuesday till Friday, our group worked tirelessly in the library trying to establish some rhymn and reason to the books that were completely disorganized. We organized books by genre, fiction or non-fiction, type of story, and grade level. To establish a resource where students could come to check out books and expand their minds. After laboriously working on the library for the entire week, we finally completed it. It offered us a great sigh of relief and satisfaction that it was finally complete, and would be something that would help our learner's grow intellectually.

A foto op with some of the learners, and their new stunna shades!

On Friday, we presented the library to Mr. January and the rest of the staff at Emafini, and they could not have been more appreciative or excited. It was clear, that Mr. January was truly taken back by this endeavor, and many of the other teachers expressed the same zeal and excitement for it. The students were also very enthusiastic about their new library. As a token of our appreciation for the teachers and students of Emafini, we also donated gift bags to the teachers containing various school supplies such as books, crayons, construction paper, etc. We also watched a wonderful movie presentation with pictures from our time at Emafini created by Mary and Chris. The video was beautifully done, and both students and teachers a like were taken back by this passionate, and moving video. 

The Finished Library!

Saying goodbye to the students was tougher than I thought. Working with these children on a regular basis for the last three weeks, getting to know them, and where they come from has helped forge a strong bond between my students and I. It was extremely hard for both of us to see one another part, however, it brings a smile to my face knowing that we had this amazing opportunity, and have helped these students learn. I know these students will continue to grow as learner’s and will go on to achieve great things.

After school, Mr. January had us over his wonderful home for a farewell Braii (South African cookout). The teachers of Emafini, prepared a traditional African meal. The food was exotic but delicious non the less. With such items as sour milk (literally exactly what it sounds like), African Salad, and Tripe (sheep intestines.) It was a very interesting and unique cuisine. Initially the thought of eating the entrails of another animal seemed a bit repulsive however, I’ve always been someone who’ll try something at least once. This case was no different, and despite the smell, it actually turned out to be pretty tasty, chewy but tasty non the less. It just goes to show you, you never know if your going to like something unless you try it.

Mr. January, our principal, and I.

Following dinner, we discussed some of the fond memories of teaching at Emafini and also talked about how much we appreciated one another. Mr. January, gave us a warm farewell speech, and we held hands to sing a traditional song in Xhosa, then we parted ways. Again, words fell short of describing this spectaculiar experience. I will dearly  miss the learner's and teachers from The Emafini Primary School, their compassion, love of life, and eagerness to help has been amazing.  This experience has changed my life forever, and it will always be something that I fondly remember.

An Action Packed Weekend

This weekend evoked a range of different emotions, from excitement and enthusiasm to going surfing and having field day, to sheer sadness of seeing many of our students leave. The weekend can be summarized by the following events...

Friday:

Pulling up to Emafini on Friday, there were maybe 75 students within the whole school. Instead of hearing the joyous commotion of students running to their classrooms, the hallways were relatively silent. When Maria and I got to our classroom, there were only around 10 students waiting for us outside. Despite the small turnout, we would not let this low attendance spoil our fun. As a group, we decided that we should have our very own "Emafini Field Day."

We split up our students by grade levels, and each teacher was assigned a different grade. Ashley and I were paired with the lovely 2nd graders, a few of whom were in my class. The students seemed extremely excited for this fun filled event. We started out by having the students split up into two  groups of 6 and held a relay race between them. At first, some of the students struggled with the concept that they must be tagged before they could run and many of the students simply started running off before they were tagged. However, once they began understanding the rules, the race became rather intense and you could see the competitive spirit of these students truly emerge. After several victories by "team 2," we decided to change up the teams and make it fair for the rest of the learners. We then had the learners sprint to one side of the field, then hop back to their partner who was waiting to be tagged. Most of the students got a big laugh out of this event and it was fabulous to see the ear to ear smiles that they expressed.

Throughout the rest of the afternoon, we played a variety of different games such as leap frog, follow the leader, duck duck goose, and others. All of the students seemed to really enjoy themselves and I think it was a very successful day all around. Unfortunately, afterwards I had to say "goodbye" to a few of my learners as they told me they would not be returning on Monday. This broke my heart, however, I am extremely grateful for the privelige and honor of working with these students. Knowing that they will go on to achieve great things in life, helped to make the closure a little easier.

After school, Neil picked us up and we drove to The Seaview Lion Park. When we got there we quickly found ourselves lost, driving up and down a dirt road in search of the Lion Exhibit. We soon heard a gawking noise coming from the left side of our vehicle and when we turned around we saw a huge peacock, standing on top of tractor. It was impossible not to laugh at this colorful bird, who gleamed at us from afar.

Once we finally got our bearings and escaped from the peacock, we were able to find our way up to the top of the hill where the Lion/Tiger's were. The view of the pristine blue, Indian Ocean below was breathtaking. After taking an abundance of fotos, we finally got into the game lodge and decided to sit down for lunch. Following lunch, we split up and some people went to play with the baby tigers, while others went straight for the Lions. Chris and I decided to play with two of the Lions that were six months old. All though relatively young, they still had an immense amount of power, and the strength of them was impressive. While petting them, I thought one of them was going to take a swipe at me with his long, sharp claws. Fortunately, he spared me and I was unscathed by the large feline.

While leaving the park, we saw several large male Lions, Zebra, and to top it all off several Giraffe. I finally felt like my wildlife experience in South Africa had been complete.

Saturday: On Saturday, Chris and I headed to the famed surf spot, Jeffrey's Bay. Around 12 P.M. Chris and I loaded up the rental car, which was a red Nissan Micra, and hit the road. Jeffrey's Bay is one of the most famous right break surf spots in the world and I was ecstatic to be going on such a trip. The drive from Port Elizabeth was gorgeous and we encountered a variety of different terrain. From lush, green forests, to farm land, to mountains covered by a thick layer of moisture left by clouds. During this drive I got a great sense and feel for the beauty that South Africa's geography has to offer. After about 45 minutes, we arrived in Jay Bay. Home to the Billabong Pro, one of the worlds largest, premier surf events. We then checked into our B & B, named African Perfection, which was beautiful. It had a spectaculiar view that overlooked "Supertubes," the main break at Jeffrey's Bay.

Anticipation consumed me and I eagerly raced across the street to rent a surfboard and wetsuit. After twisting and contorting my body, I finally got into the wet suit and sprinted down to the water. Paddling out was a bit sketchy and the sharp jagged rocks tore into my feet pretty badly. However, it was well worth the pain. This was a dream come true. Although now that I had a gaping cut on my foot, I couldn't help but think about the avaricious great white shark that might follow my blood trail and have me as an afternoon snack. I was fortunate enough not to have any encounters. The waves lined up perfectly, breaking on the metamorphic rocks below. These sloping, right handed waves seemed to peel for hours. Although, the waves were only in the 3-5 foot range, the amount of power behind them was intense. I continued surfing for about an an hour before I had to get out and return my board to the rental shop. That night we went to an amazing mexican restuarant cleverly called "The Mexican." The food was delicious.

Sunday:

Sunday morning, I woke up at around 4:45 to watch the sunrise. After waiting around for 30 minutes, it finally rose. The amber and crimson hues from the sun were spectaculiar as they spread their rays on the ocean below, and brought in a new day in South Africa. Following breakfast, I walked about a half mile down the beach and went for a surf. The waves were small, in the chest high range, but clean. Unfortunately, we had to check out by 11, so I could only surf for an hour. All in all, it was a great trip, and I was pumped to cross surfing Jay Bay off my bucket list.

Overall, I had a phenomenal weekend. From field day with the wonderful learners of Emafini, to surfing Jay Bay and going on a road trip with Chris, the weekend was both action packed and exciting. Although I am sad to see the weekend come to a close,  I am looking forward to getting back to my learners at Emafini on Monday, and enjoying our last few days together.

Thanksgiving in South Africa

There is so much in this world to be thankful for. I cannot express enough thanks for my friends, family and the amazing opportunity of working with the inspiring kids of Emafini Primary School. This morning was jam packed and it started at 8 a.m. when Neil picked us up and drove us to The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Missionville campus. We met with Vernon, a lecturer at the University and he gave us a tour of the campus and explained to us a brief history of the University.

Vernon then led us to a conference room for tea, where he told us about his role as the project manager for the DG Murray Trust. He explained that this trust helps with whole school development for schools in the Port Elizabeth area. It helps with school development in the following areas, Action research, which helps students cope with problems, Science, Math, Language Arts and Financial management. He showed us several of the manipulative's kits that they donate to schools, to help boost instruction. One of the kits was geared towards math, and it had several math manipulative's and activities to help students increase their abilities. Vernon also mentioned, that these kits are used to help members of the community, develop basic life skills, such as personal finance, literacy, problem solving etc. I think it is great that they are striving to help not only the students, but also the friends and family members of the students as well. 

Part of the program donates computers to many of the Primary Schools in the Port Elizabeth area. Emafini was a recipient of 20 of these computers, unfortunately they have yet to take advantage of this resource as they do not have the personnel to teach computer instruction. Also, the copper wiring that enables the computers to run has been stripped from the computer lab.  It is a shame that someone would try and deprive these students of the education that they deserve and inhibit them from using the computers. However, it shows you the destitution that many of these people are in.

 

After the tour of NMMU, we drove to The Ubomi Obutsha Centre, which is a community development project of the Combined Christian Ministries to the Poor. The Obutsha Centre, was established to take care of orphans and others in the community. It provides academic support, life skills training, and a soup kitchen. It is located about 10 minutes from the University. Upon arrival, we were greeted by Mark, who is the director of the centre and also brother in law of Vernon. As we walked in, a group of 15 adorable children were gathered around in a circle, waiting to be read to by a smiling women who gracefully greeted us. Mark then took us on a tour of the facility. He showed us the classroom, a computer lab, kitchen area, and then took us out back to show us the pride of the facility, the community garden.

The garden occupied a parcel of land right beside the main building. In the garden, they grew carrots, potato's and other vegetables. More than just a source of food, this garden epitomizes the spirit of the community. It started out as rocky, non-fertile soil but through hard work, determination and some elbow grease it is now a flourishing garden. Mark explained that for many in the community the garden offers a deep sense of pride. It enables them to show ownership and offers them gratification that they were able to create something positive.

Throughout the tour, it was clearly evident how much compassion and love Mark had for these kids. In an emotional, tearful speech he explained to us how much it meant to him to work with these children. He reflected on how rewarding it is to see the children create a better life for themselves. I was touched by this  profound organization and it has struck a deep chord with in me.  

After the emotional experience at The New Life Center, we travelled to The Gray Academy, an ex-Model C school, 10 minutes down the road. Although it was only minutes down the road, the contrast between the two locations was huge. We went from being surrounded by abject poverty to being in an affluent part of town in a matter of minutes. The X-Model C school was a big contrast from the Bantu educational institutions, like Emafini. The facilities were impressive, with smart boards in many of the classrooms, two computer labs, art classes, and special needs support. It was shocking to see this huge disparity, and it broke my heart to think that our students at Emafini were deprived of the same opportunities that the students at Gray received.

Following the trip to The Gray Academy, we went to the Kama Primary School, which reminded me a lot of Emafini. The school had just created a new playing field, which the faculty was very excited about. Vernon took us on a tour of the school and showed us the computer lab that he helped set up. It was a prideful moment, and you could tell how much it meant to Vernon to have inundated this school with technology. The faculty were all very nice, and the highlight of the visit came when several of the students sang us four different songs. One of the songs was about never giving up, which I loved. Their harmonies, and choreographed dance movements, were truly spectaculiar.



After Kama, we went back to the bed and breakfast and had a delicious Thanksgiving feast. Mr. January and Neil even joined us, making this occasion even more special. The food was prepared by Billy Jean's mother, and she did a terrific job with everything. Although I dearly missed my friends and family back home, I couldn't be more thankful  to spend my Thanksgiving here in South Africa with our spectaculiar group!

Dwindling Attendance...

Now that testing has ceased, there has been a significant drop off rate for student attendence. Of the 38 students that our class normally has, we have had about 14 show up over the last couple of days. I was expecting a decent drop in attendence, but nothing to this extent. It is sad to see that  many students have decided not to come to class but at the same time you almost can't blame them. Generally after exams, the teachers stop teaching completely. Many of the students come because they'd rather be at school than at home and others are forced to go by their parents. Maria and I have strived to make instruction as fun as possible for students, in hopes of retaining some of the learners that other wise would not show up. I hope the students continue to come to class on a regular basis, eager to learn and have fun.

"Problems Are Part of Life But I Will Fight Until I Win"

Imagine living in a cramped, 10 x 12 house, with no running water or electricity and having to share it with multiple people. For most of us, we could never fathom what this would be like, however, for many of our students this is a grim reality. On Friday, we had the opportunity to visit the local Townships where over 70% of our students call home. Although our school is technically in a middle class area, the majority of our students come from these outlying shanty towns. These makeshift houses are constructed using a variety of different resources, such as sheet metal, scraps of wood and other building materials.

None of these homes have running water, so the inhabitants are forced to gather this essential resource from a communal spicket. Electricity, is a rare commodity, but many have spliced wires from a local power source to their homes. This presents a major fire hazard, adding to the already dangerous living conditions. They also have no plumbing, so most bathrooms consist of a hole in the ground. The homes are extremely cramped inside. One home we went into housed over 7 people. We came to find out that 5 of these 7 people were children who were forced to live in these oppressive, heart wrenching living conditions and share a small twin size bed. As flies buzzed around the room, I was overwhelmed with an intense wave of sorrow, thinking about the children (our students) that must live in these conditions.

However, depite these meager living arrangements, I was greeted by many happy, smiling faces, who cordially invited us into their homes. There was an aura of positivity that emanated from the homeowners as they brought us in their homes. I recognized it immediatley as the same optimistic outlook that our students come to class with each day.
Although they have very little, they realize how precious life truly is and never take one moment of it for granted. They realize that life can be tough, but yet they persevere and remain positive. While walking through one of the homes, I saw a sign that truly exemplified this indominable will and ability to persevere over any situation. It read "Problems are a part of life, but I will fight until I win." I thought this was a great statement. This is the exact perseverant mentality that will enable our students to get the proper education that they need to advance themselves. This trip will forever change me as a person, I will strive to not take anything for granted, and will try to remain positive as always. It adds a great sense of satisfaction knowing that as an educator I can have a positive affect on students and help them achieve their goals.

Testing, Testing, One, Two, Three

This week, students at Emafini Primary School engaged in their end of the year testing. The testing structure or lack thereof was very different from what we are used to in The United States. The first major contrast between testing here and in the U.S. was that there was no real set time limit. Each day, we started at a different time as we had to wait for students who were late to trickle into the classroom. Many of the students are forced to walk to school and thus many of them come to class tardy. Once the students got into the classroom, they had a few minutes to acclimate themselves and get ready. As a class the students said a prayer lead by Mrs. Manzanse. Which I later found out was the "Our Father." The breakdown of the weeks exams was as follows:

On Monday, students sat down to take their Numeracy (Mathematics) exams. This consisted of 25 questions on the topics of two-digit addition, sequence of #'s as well as less than greater than. The students started the exam at around 8:15 and the majority finished by 9:30. After the exams, Maria and I were in charge of grading. Out of the 38 students in our class, the lowest test score was a 2/25 and the highest test score was a 25/25.

Students had a day off from testing on Tuesday. Testing resumed again on Wednesday with an exam on Reading Comprehension. Mrs. Manzanse proctored the exam and read students a passage about Nelson Mandela. Students (Learner's as they call them here) were then required to answer basic questions about this great political leader, in Xhosa. After grading the exams, the range was very similar to that of the Numeracy exams taken on Monday. The lowest score being a 3/25 and the highest being a 25/25. This broad range is most likely due to the heterogeneous composition of the classroom, and the fact that there are several special needs students within our class.

There is a contingent of students, with noticeable learning disabilities. Yet they still take the same exam as the rest of the class. There are no accommodations made to help these specialized learners. It was heartbreaking to see many of these students stare at their exams blankly, and struggle to finish problems that the majority of the class were breezing through. Unfortunately, in South Africa, it takes about 5 years for special needs students to be processed and placed at a special needs school. I found this apalling that these poor students have to struggle for so long before they can receive the help that they need.

On Thursday, students had their exams on writing. Again the test consisted of 25 questions. The first section required students to come up with English words, based on a list of letters. For most of the students, this was a seemingly easy task. However, a few of the learners were unable to come up with English words and had to resort to using Xhosa. After the word lists, students were asked to fill in the blanks to basic sentences in English. Most of the students were able to complete this part of the exam effectively, with few errors. The next section consisted of several sentences in English dealing with the different phrases that you say throughout the day, i.e.) In the morning we say "Good morning." Students were then required to fill in the blanks using a word bank provided below. The majority of students were able to answer these questions, but there were a few who confused some of the phrases.

The last section of the exam, consisted of 5 spelling words. Students had to spell the words, "fool, meet, soon, book, and seek." Most of the students were able to spell each word correctly. This section was probably the most unscathed by the wrath of the red pen. Overall, there was about an 80% passing rate for the writing exam.

In conclusion, some of the major testing differences between here and the U.S. are as follows:  Students here are free to take their time on the exams as there is no set ending time. In the U.S. we are a lot more punctual. Tests must begin at a certain time and end at a certain time. Our schools adhere to a strict schedule, whereas here they tend to go with the flow, with little punctuality. Also, after the tests are finished, the teacher immediately starts grading. During this time, students sit at their seats and if Maria and I were not there, would otherwise have no instruction. In the U.S., this would be viewed as a waste of instructional time, here it is viewed as common practice.

Most notably, there is little or no support given towards the students with special needs. They are forced to take the same exam, and there are no accommodations to help these students with their test. It is extremely sad to think that these students will simply get left behind due to their learning disabilities and the lack of support available to them. It is my hope that these students will receive the necessary help and resources that they need to succeed in the classroom, and reach their ultimate potential.