Cape Town and LEAP 1 and 2

Saturday, July 24, 2010
Cape Town – Got up early this morning to fly into Cape Town – it was beautiful even on the approach – so green with the mountains and ocean. We were picked up by the LEAP van and taken to the Beulah Lodge where John Gilmore met us and took us to LEAP for a quick tour …two very sweet learners gave us a very thorough tour. It was wonderful and yet difficult at the same time because we were so hungry, but this gave me an insight into what it must be like for those students who come to school hungry and how difficult it must be to concentrate on anything other than the fact that they are hungry, because toward the end, that was all I could concentrate on. LEAP 1 and 2 is much bigger with more students than LEAP 3. The school is housed in a three story building, with LEAP 1 on the first two floors and LEAP 2 on the third floor. The TWAs here are on a bonding weekend, at the farm, as they call it, so unfortunately we won’t get to see much of them until Monday.
After the LEAP tour, John could see that we were struggling a bit and was nice enough to take us to lunch and then up to where the penguins were. It’s really beautiful country here.

We spent an hour or so looking at the penguins, watching them swim and some of their other interesting behaviors – we watched two males vie for the attention of a female by walking in circles around her and then facing off with each other. Another interesting observation -- they bray like donkeys (they were called jackass penguins for a while because of this).

After we left the penguins, we went for a nice walk along a footpath and then up to the road, and walked to the bus station so that we could eventually catch a train up to Cape Town. I think the town was called Scott’s Bay? We stopped during our walk to have a cup of coffee and a milk shake at a really nice little place on the ocean, and then caught a bus to Kalk bai and then had a nice train ride along the coast until we got to Cape Town. Once in Cape Town we walked to Long Street (with the assistance of a very sweet young woman on the way to meet her husband at his work), where we had dinner at the Long Street Café. We had a great seat right by the window, in nice over sized leather chairs, so that we were very content eating, drinking, and people-watching for a good part of the evening. A little later we walked to a few different music venues – one of which was a great little duo playing 80’s/90’s music, so we stayed there for at an hour (maybe two), and had a great time singing along.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
We got up around 8, had a wonderful breakfast that Monica, one of the TWA fellows, had made and then headed over to Table Mountain to take the cable car to the top. We really lucked out as it was a spectacular day. We walked all the way to the other side, really taking our time and looking at the plants, bugs, birds, views, rocks, etc.
After Table Mountain (which took 3-4 hours) we went back to Cape Town and had a Falafel (my first and I loved it!), browsed some of the markets, and then headed back so that we could recover a little before we headed out for dinner.
Monday, July 26, 2010 – Cape Town
We got up, walked over for coffee, ran into TWA fellow Heather at the coffee place, and then headed over to LEAP. I was able to sit in on a few classes and had a few interesting conversations around teacher voice, planning, and LO. It’s interesting in seeing another model, to see how many things I take for granted – things I assume every school must do because I think they make sense, but that just goes to show how many different paths there are and how much we can learn from each other– and if I can share some of the lessons I learned along the way, then great! I know I’ve certainly learned a lot since I’ve been here!
While we were at the school, we watched as one by one, the TWA fellows turned an interesting shade of grey/green and then walked out the door back to the Beulah Lodge. Turns out their time at the farm had made them all sick – the guess was that it was the water. By the time we’d gotten back to the Lodge, almost everyone was sick, sick, sick. What a bummer…that’s the worst!
That afternoon, we were given a tour of the nearby township Langa – which is the township that LEAP originally served, and still does (LEAP stands for Langa Educational Assistance Program). We stayed in the van for most of the tour, which was different than our walking tour of Alex.

I was so impressed with the positive impact LEAP has made on the town – we saw trailers set up for after-school tutoring and in the town, LEAP was a well-known and respected institution.


Toward the end of the tour we stopped at a roadside stand where cooked sheep’s heads (called “smiley”) were being sold. John and Marc decided that they just couldn’t live another day without some of that, so the van pulled over and they bought a sheep’s head to share.

This poor vegetarian was coerced by my two “roomies” into trying just a tiny bite (of the tongue) – I figured I was in South Africa and when would I ever have a chance again, so I did it. It actually tasted pretty good -- if I didn’t think about what I was eating or focus on the texture. But I can safely say I will never ever have “smiley” again.
After school, we went to dinner with Sarah Diefendorf – seriously one of the coolest people I’ve met. She works at Dominican University in San Francisco but travels all over the world helping in various ways with environmental projects and education. We went to this great loungey place that John had found and stayed there for a while ordering all kinds of interesting drinks -- and then we went a few doors down to a great hamburger place where I had (seriously) the best vegetarian burger of my life – as Marc says, I had a burg-asm. The burger was soy, but the rest was brie, carmelized onions, and some other stuff I can’t remember, but so, so good. Heaven! I so enjoyed our time with Sarah and am confident that our paths will cross again some day!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Today we had a tour scheduled of Robben Island. This was the one thing I wanted to do in Cape Town, but as luck would have it, the tour was canceled because it was too windy. We stayed for a little while at the museum at the ferry landing, and I learned about the soccer team that was formed at the prison – (I had no idea!) as well as some of the key people in Mandela’s life and work. I really wish we could have gone over to the island to get better sense of his struggles and his life.
So instead, we had breakfast and then caught a cab to Long street to quickly see if we could find the vendor who was selling horns from a few days previous and see if we could bargain our way into affordability. John and I were both successful in finding horns that we liked and were able to bargain the price down. This was the first time I had actually bargained and it was out of necessity more than anything else – I only had 200 rand. I don’t like bargaining – I’m not a very confrontational person and I figure I want to support someone trying to make a living, so just usually pay what they’re asking. But this time I only had 200 rand so the nice lady in the shop let me have a beautiful Oryx horn for that price. I was stoked! Now I just have to find a way to get it home! (It’s pretty long)
After that, we headed back to LEAP to say goodbye to John and thank him for his wonderful hospitality and then flew back to Joberg.

The work week w/ homestays

Day 22 -- Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Last night we met John Gilmore (Founder of LEAP) for dinner at the Thunder Gun restaurant right next to a place called the Pleasure Dome (I thought this sounded a bit like a bad Mel Gibson movie). The restaurant was pretty much a meat house – and once again Marc had the most interesting gastronomic experience, having order a rack of ribs. What the waiter came out with was a humongous platter of meat -- we were waiting for the rest of the cow to walk in. It looked more disgusting than it really was though, since it was ribs and there was a lot of bone and space underneath what looked like a solid slab of meat. After a nice dinner with John, we all went to our respective homestays. It was fairly late by the time we got to the apartment so I just went to bed.
In the morning Faith and I had a great conversation about her story and the current state of things in SA and Africa in general.

Faith and her cousin Xolile are both from Zimbabwe, having fled a country where the government has mishandled its resources and there is little food and few jobs. This is the same country where whites were forced to give up their farms and flee a few years back– but Faith says unfortunately the land was mishandled so that there is no longer a viable agricultural industry and people therefore go hungry. However, the government did do a good job of educating its people, so there is a large population of qualified workers in Zim but no jobs, so they are fleeing to find work. Faith has left behind her 6 year old son – only able to get back to see him every other month or so. I can’t imagine how difficult this must be. She must be an incredibly strong woman to be able to make such a sacrifice. She plans to bring him out to be with her in about a month, but is also worried about the xenophobia and the inadequate school system in SA.
The rest of the day was spent with various things: meetings, planning, teaching one class. I think I’ve narrowed the focus of the project -- education for girls, and how that can help to alleviate some of the issues that women and the larger communities are facing. So we will talk about the importance of education and then help students make the connection to why education for girls helps eliminate poverty, HIV, some violence, children’s health, etc.
Some observations: SA TV is really interesting because there are many soap operas on at night (called “soapies”) and characters on the shows (or at least one I saw) will use 4-5 languages interchangeably, often changing languages in the middle of the sentence and/or there will be English subtitles, even when the characters are speaking English.
Day 23 – Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Today I taught two of Orel’s classes, running a writing workshop for their poem, which went pretty well. It’s fun seeing the creative side of them come out – and they are so creative. At lunch, John (with a little help from Marc and me) ran the staff meeting and it went so well. The best staff meeting we’ve had. He started out with appreciations, which started out slow but then picked up until when John decided to move on, he was interrupted by Trevor who also wanted to offer an appreciation. This set such a positive tone for the meeting, and it continued that way as John had everyone reflect about a significant moment they had with a teacher, either positive or negative – which got everyone in the mindset of recognizing the impact that teachers have on their students, not just academically, but socially and emotionally as well – which was the perfect lead into a discussion about teaching practice, and how we can help each other to improve our practice through collegial coaching. John and I had worked together to make a collegial coaching document that he then passed out and went over. He did such a great job of setting the tone, starting the reflection , and then moving into collegial coaching.
After the meeting I had a really long and wonderful conversation with Lebogang (one of the students from my poetry workshop a few weeks back)– just about stuff in general, poetry in particular. I had watched the soapies Generations and Foreplay the previous night so we compared notes on that and then we talked about what a talented poet she is and how she should continue writing. She shared a few more poems with me, which were wonderful, and then she told me how her grandmother used to tell her stories – I would love to sit down with her with a video camera and capture some of those stories. As we were talking Nomkhitha showed up and joined in the conversation and after Lebo left, Nomkhitha and I continued talking. She also shared some poetry with me which I won’t soon forget. One poem in particular was called “I forgive you” and it was written to the father she has never known – it talked about the milestones he had missed and the abandonment she felt, but always ending with “but I forgive you.” I had to work hard not to cry. She shared some other ones with me as well – she was so sweet – she would tell me about a poem she had written and then ask, “Would you like to hear it?” Which of course I was eager to—and told her so, told her any time she wanted to share a poem with me I would love it. I also told her I would help her make a book of her poems – if she typed them up, I would submit them to blurb and help to make her a book. And I will.
The evening spent at Faith’s house this evening was so fun. Xolile had invited an old college friend, a IT guy and entrepreneur named Ace who was so funny and charming. We started talking about custard and how good it was (Xolile had made it for dessert) and then started talking about all kinds of desserts and that was it – we somehow were all laughing and joking, I don’t even remember about what, but everything was hilarious at this point and it all seemed to come back to Xolile, her love of fresh cream, how she put it on everything, even spinach.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
I taught Orel’s class again today but I don’t feel so good about how it went. I’m trying to figure out if I was unclear in my explanations or if they just weren’t paying attention. I think I will have them repeat the instructions before I let them loose next time just to make sure things are clear, though I’m realizing that they weren’t quite clear in my own mind, so I need to work on that as well, to take the time to walk through the lesson and anticipate confusion before I walk into class.
The night at Faith’s was very relaxing and girlie – we watched a movie called “Where the heart is” for “Chick-flick Thursdays” on one of the stations. Their new couch was delivered that evening, so we all flopped on the couch and ooohed and aawwed and clicked our tongues in sympathy or disgust as we watched the movie. I’m sad that this is my last night with these two wonderful women. I feel like I gained two new sisters. They were so funny because I asked at one point if I could get the butter out of the fridge and Xolile said, “Stop acting like you’re a guest – you’re part of the family” to which I replied, “Well then you need to let me help more” (I’ve been helping to dry the dishes but that’s all they let me do). I will miss Xolile’s cooking too– she and Faith truly spoiled me.

Weekend in Durban

Saturday/Sunday – July 17-18

We flew out early in the morning – a 7:00 flight – to get to Durban early so that we could enjoy as much of the town as we could. Durban was so beautiful – we were all so pleasantly surprised, as the impression we got from the internet had lowered our expectations.

Our hotel was right on the beach -- as we looked down from our room, we could see the many vendors selling their goods as well as a small amusement park just across the street. Beyond that was the beach, marked by piers and a constant parade of cargo ships – we counted 14 that we could see at one time out on the ocean. A long, wide boardwalk (though made of cement/ brick) lined the length of the beach, with palm trees all along the boardwalk.


We started by taking a long walk on the beach – which felt so good since we’ve been cooped up in the apartment, unable to really walk much on our own. We walked down to the pier at the end, near the water park and stumbled on another Moyo restaurant (same chain as the one we went to earlier). This one was amazing, right on the beach with a pier end bar. So we had brunch and then headed back, changed and flopped on the beach for a few hours.

I went swimming in the Indian Ocean and it was wonderful – I’m guessing that the water was around 67-68 – very refreshing. There was a lifeguard who was constantly blowing his whistle to keep people in the swimming area because the current pulled strongly so that there was a constant crossing over into the surfing area. And yes, he blew his whistle at me as well.

After swimming, napping, and soaking up the sun for a bit, we showered, changed and got ready for our big outing – a rugby match, which none of us knew much about, but we figured some of it as the game progressed. The rugby stadium was right next to the new soccer stadium that had just been used for the World Cup – the Durban soccer stadium was beautiful with its very distinctive arch.

All of the seats for the rugby match cost about 10 dollars – The home team is the sharks, in their black and white jerseys. Our seats were waaaay up at the top, the stairs were really steep, and the beer was cheap…seemed like a bad combination to me. Thankfully there was a bar to hold onto in front of each seat so it didn’t seem so precarious. There were a couple of funny memorable points during the game…1) John noticed that when a kick was being set up that a little remote controlled dump truck came out onto the field with the ball holder…not sure why this was hilarious, but it was. 2) before the game there was pregame “pageantry” --a flag team that couldn’t seem to find their rhythm, cheerleader type girls who walked around the field in trench-coats and “flashed” the crowd in their bathing suits and ended up in front of a line of little kids who we were sure would be traumatized. It was a very exciting game, especially after we started understanding the game a little bit more…For a while the crowd would cheer and we’d have no idea why, so we just joined in…but by using our amazing powers of observation and our reasoning and critical thinking skills we were able to draw some conclusions: when they’re all in a pile, there’s some handing off stuff that is protected as long as possession isn’t lost; there is a certain kind of kick that is pretty effective in moving the ball forward; rugby players aren’t as good looking as soccer players because they get thrashed at every game. Marc came back from the concession stand with a bratwurst thing and a pitcher of beer, so we were feeling pretty good by the time we left.

After the game we caught a taxi to Florida St…the supposed hot-spot to go after the game. However, the first place we went to was full of unattractive white people with bad haircuts, many of whom were dressed in strange garb (bright pink wigs/women’s clothes/etc) to celebrate their bachelor parties…so we left after having our dinner and walked down the street to another bar (where I tried my first hookah) and stayed there the rest of the night – though Marc and John ended up going to a reggae dance club later that night after I had been safely deposited back at the hotel. The next day was spent basically recovering from the previous day and night, so there isn’t much to talk about there – movie watching, souvenir shopping, food eating, nap taking, etc.

The Work Week

Day 16 – Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Today I was supposed to be observing most of the day, which I did: I observed Ingrid who is a very good, though very traditional teacher, and then Sarah, who of course had such a wonderful rapport with the students and great presence in the class. When I went in to observe Orel, however, he wasn’t there (I’m guessing he mixed up his days since yesterday was a staff day, plus their schedule is nuts) -- so I ended up running the class. At first I didn’t know what to do, because when I walked into the class and asked for Orel they didn’t know where he was so I asked Sarah and she suggested that I go over a writing rubric with them to define what made a great essay. I loved interacting with the kids, though I don’t know how effective the class was. I just told them I wanted to learn the differences in teaching writing between the US and SA and so we looked at the rubric and compared terms and tried to clarify some of the vaguer descriptions in the rubric. I enjoyed the observations as well, but not as much as the actual interaction with the kids. ...

After school I went to Alex again to help in the recruiting examination that they give. Tomorrow Sarah and I will do a rap about figurative language...we call ourselves Hyperbole MC

Day 17 – Wednesday, July 14
Today where I am questioning my purpose here a little bit. Marc and John have obvious roles…mine I think is still unfolding -- the English dept here is pretty solid…Orel, Sarah and Ingrid are all really competent, open teachers, so I’m having to just be a support and I’m not sure yet how to do that. I started developing the Women’s day project, which I love and that has given me a focus, but that’s easy…
Day 18 – Thursday, July 15
Today was better. Sarah and I did our figurative language rap, and made complete fools of ourselves, which is always fun! Marc and I had a really insightful talk with Trevor, the LO teacher about the race issue in the school, as far as white teachers having a very dominant voice (Marc actually tallied), and we offered any assistance he might need in trying to implement changes to the meetings. After our talk with Trevor, I had a great conversation with Orel, who I find to be an extremely wise, thoughtful person. I LOVE how he pushes anyone he’s talking to…for example, if I say I liked a certain element of a class, he asks why…he asks why about everything…it’s awesome…so I don’t just spout off as I sometimes tend to do and am forced to reflect on and question my opinions. I got to sit in on his grade 10 class as well, where he went over the short story that was assigned, taking the time to very thoroughly explore the story, the more subtle meanings, how it applies to their lives, etc. At this point I feel that I’m definitely learning more from him than he is from me. I showed him a little bit of the women’s day project to get his feedback and he is very open to it, which is great because I was a little worried that I would be stepping on his toes. He’s clearly a wonderful teacher so I don’t want to impose myself where it isn’t needed.

Day 19 – Friday, July 16
This morning I was able to sit in on the LO class and I was blown away. Tibia and Trevor do an amazing job of creating an atmosphere of trust and respect and really draw students out in the many challenges they are facing…obviously different and more intense in ways from our advisory classes in the US, but at the same time, those rebellious teenage elements were still there. What I loved seeing was how attentive the students were to each other as they discussed their struggles, and how willing they were to challenge each other if they felt that a student wasn’t seeing a situation clearly or from a different perspective. I plan to attend all of the LO meetings for this group – the 10.1 class (Sarah’s English class). After this I again had a great conversation with Orel and we went over the project outline so far, with him reading and offering feedback/suggestions that we can discuss later. This afternoon I led his class in a figurative language activity (the same on that Sarah did with her class), and then they had a few minutes to start work on their poem.
I had such a great time teaching Orel’s class. They were so responsive and engaged, and so much fun. And the class went by so fast! I hope that Orel will let me teach a few more times…maybe I can even take one of Sarah’s classes.

Staff day-- meeting the teachers

Day 15 – Monday, July 12, 2010
Today was a staff day, so we started the day in a circle in one of the classrooms where we got to really get a sense of the culture and got to meet all of the teachers. After introductions, there was a general reflection about the holiday programs and what we could learn from participation or observations in these programs. Every teacher that talked about Sarah’s program was complimentary and so impressed with the organization and the energy of the students. I don’t think I realize yet how unusual a program this was for the school. The teachers seemed surprised at the level of engagement and the positive energy that week – whereas for me, working at HTH, this is a normal, everyday thing.
One thing that struck me during the meeting was when one of the Life Orientation teachers (kinda the same idea as our advisory program at HTH) made a comment about how the black teachers needed to speak up more – that this was something that they had worked on last term but that he was noticing that the black teachers were still being silent. He attributed this to the sense that blacks felt inferior to whites, that even as he was sitting next to John he felt that in a sense he was riding “shotgun” – or was the sidekick. John’s reaction was unforgettable as I know that this is so far from how he feels about the situation, and is colorblind when it comes to race being something that divides us, but it was good I think to confront the issue, perhaps especially for the black teachers, to challenge them to speak up and assert themselves and perhaps for the white teachers to be a little more mindful of the amount of time they have the floor or perhaps trying to draw other, quieter teachers into the conversation.
After the big staff meeting, I met with Orel, Sarah, and Ingrid to try to figure out how I can fit in this next week. I’m still not clear on this and am trying to understand the demands and requirements of the matric exam that they all worry about so much. Hopefully tomorrow will make this clearer.

Weekend Adventures #3

Day 13 – Saturday, July 10, 2010
We slept in!! It was wonderful!! We got up this morning, made breakfast, and then went for our 6 lap run. Both Nyagana and Tubi have gigs tonight, so we spent some time in Melville again which was fun…we went to a restaurant/bar where Tubi was playing and had dinner and relaxed there for a while and then when it was time for the game we went to the Loft again and watched the game. Marc spied a vuvuzela above the bar and asked if he could use it during the game – which he did, and with pride. The bar ended up giving it to him – I think they were probably happy to have it out of their bar. The real adventure came after the game though because we got to drop Sarah off at home and then take the car home…so with John driving and Marc and me navigating, we made our way home using a Thomas Brothers map and a hand-written map that Sarah had drawn us…we mostly went off of Sarah’s map until we got lost – she had left off a little jog we needed to take and we ended up on a couple of different streets near Alex at midnight that we shouldn’t have been on – so between looking at the map, pulling over at a gas station and asking directions, and phone calls to Sarah, we made it home – a little frazzled but safe and sound nonetheless – John adapted to driving on the left side of the road really well so I never felt nervous about that. It was just the Alex/night/old car/low on gas combo that scared me a little.

Sunday, July 11, 2010
Today we drove the car to an outdoor mall nearby – Brightwater Commons so that John could do a little skateboarding. It was fun watching him and of course he made friends by the time he was done.


After that we headed to Joburg to watch the final match of the World Cup in Newtown at the fan park there. We first went to Ko’spotong (translation: the gathering place) again – the restaurant we had gone to earlier – and many of the musicians from the week before were there – Bless, who was there selling her jewelry, Tolo, GuGu and Nangana, as well as some of the other musicians we’ve met through Tubi.

We stayed there for a few hours and since it’s right next to the fan park, once it got close to starting time, we walked over to the fan park and watched the pre-game entertainment. The energy was so great, the vuvuzelas were so loud, flags were waving, and people were singing and dancing and cheering.

There were tents set up at the back of the park for vendors and food, and there was a giant red robot made out of Coke crates set up in the middle. Bob Marley was played pretty regularly as well as many South African musicians, whose names were given to me by a couple of the musicians but I don’t remember them now. One moment I’ll never forget was when Nelson Mandela coming into the stadium was shown on the big screen…the place erupted in cheers. The kids at school say he considered to be everybody’s grandfather. There is clearly great affection for him here – as there should be. He preached reconciliation and forgiveness – which I think answers a question we all had about why so many black South Africans were cheering for the Netherlands, given their history. Once the game started the temperature got progressively colder. We stayed at the fan park until the end of regulation time, but it was so cold at this point and we had been standing for so long, that we decided to head back to Ko’spotong to finish watching the game. And I think half the crowd had the same idea. It was packed – with everyone standing and looking toward one tv up on the wall. But as packed as it was, everyone was so friendly and happy.

The best part of course came at the end when Spain scored in the last 2 minutes and the place erupted in cheers. K naan feat (the FIFA song by Will.i.am) was played and sung by the crowd and Waka Waka (the Shakira song) was played and sung by the whole crowd. This was one of the most memorable nights of my life ! I will definitely never forget it!

Four strings and a nail.

Day 12 -- Friday, July 9
Today what struck me as rather interesting is that we were focusing on recycling and reuse, and yet there is so little waste here…I mean there is definitely a trash problem because of the ineptness of the government in providing trash bins and trash removal, but as far as being a wasteful, consumerist society, they’re anything but. Their lifestyle seems to necessitate the reuse of many things. It's still a good message for them to hear, especially the info they learned about the bad effects of burning plastics (which they often use to start fires in their township), and many of them were motivated to try to do something to improve the trash situation -- writing letters, having a festival to educate people in their town, etc.
What got me thinking about this was that today, when everyone was practicing/finishing what they would present, one of my students, Mongezi was sitting in a chair just outside of the barn with a couple of his friends trying to play a guitar…as I got closer, I could see that there were only 4 strings, strung through and knotted to keep them in place, and he was using a nail as a pick. They don’t throw things away just because they’re broken, and they use things even when they're beat up a little or they aren’t perfect, and they improvise a lot. Quite different from SoCal. They use a combination of black plastic chairs and old plastic/metal chairs that they carry from room to room or outside, if need be. They use old desktops and have one printer for the whole school. There are very few decorations throughout the school…as creative as these kids are, this is just such a plain space.
Today was Celebration Day! Below is the poem that my students read today all together (me included). Each student chose a verse to read and I thought it interesting how each verse really fit the student who read it.

Still I Rise By Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise. (Lebo read this one…she also was brave and persistent enough to read one of her own poems during the celebration…and she read it so passionately and emotionally. She’s a very strong and opinionated (in a good way) young woman).

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room. (Namkhitha read this one…this is the girl who didn’t really want to be there at first and was a little “sassy” with me at first, muttering things under her breath, challenging me…I adore her)

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise. (This was my verse…not sure how it reflects me…maybe just that I’m a dependable, hopeful person…)

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries. (This was read by Pleasure…he is a lovely, but struggling young man, trying to fit into and be accepted by his community. I adore him too…his poems were heartbreaking and lovely, reaching out, asking for acceptance and support…one of his poems was titled “Conviviality” – or living well together.)

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard. (This poem was read by quiet, and somewhat “haughty” little Lerato…she keeps her distance and keeps her emotions very controlled and it does come across a little haughty…but man oh man you should have seen how she read her poems…so loudly, courageously, powerfully)

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise. (This verse was read by Mongezi…the verbivore. ‘Nuf said)

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs? (This was read by Mapule…She’s an absolutely beautiful young woman, perhaps struggling with that aspect of herself…she was very adamant in wanting this verse…there must be a story there, but she too is very reserved.)

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. (This was read by Wisani (also goes by Manuel)…he’s a very confident, proud, kind, curious, intelligent, talented young man and a wonderful poet…it just seems to fit him so perfectly)

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise. (This verse we all read together)

I've only know these kids for 4 days, but I love them already and feel like I've known them forever.

After we read this together, the students read their 3 partner/group poems accompanied by the musicians. It was awesome. I will try to find a way to post some of the performance. It was also a really long day. The program went until a little after 4:00…there was acting, a comedian (really good too), a multimedia presentation about trash and recycling in Alex, and a presentation by John/Marc’s kids about the garden, etc. It really only last 2.5 hours but it just took a while to get going. Sarah did a really great job putting the whole week together, and the kids were really appreciative of all her efforts.
I would post pictures here, but I lent my camera to a student who was taking pictures for the school and in his attempt to be thoughtful, he took off all of his pictures fromt he day -- but also took off my pictures from the day. They're on a school computer and I'll get to them eventually, but for now I have no pictures!

Breaking through...a little?

Day 11 –Thursday, July 8, 2010
School today was so great. As I was walking through the campus this morning, I got a shy smile from a Nomkhitha, sitting on the steps writing a poem in her journal. She had written a poem the previous night and then another poem that morning and she shared both of them with me. They were devastating. I’m still devastated at the thought of this girl, this 16 year old girl and what she’s endured so far in her life, how incredibly strong she is, and how eloquently she can express her experiences. She said that she used to write poetry but that she hasn’t in a while…I tried to encourage her to keep writing, that she is so talented and has an important message…and she was very sweet and embarrassed at my compliments. And then of course there’s Wisani, an amazing young poet, so full of passion, such an amazing natural spoken word poet. And little, shy Lerato who just rocked it today when they were practicing their poems, speaking out so clearly and loudly. They are emailing their poem to me tomorrow, so I will try to share some of them, with their permission of course.

Here's a picture of them working together in our class -- which is an 8-car garage turned into a computer lab
Tomorrow is our celebration day, where each group will share what they’ve been working on for the week. Our group is pairing up with the music group, who are making instruments out of found materials – drum, shakers, even a guitar of sorts. The poets will read what they’ve written and the musicians will accompany them. It’s going to be amazing. The practice today was so so so cool.I can’t wait.

We’ve gotten to know this group of musicians pretty well – seriously the coolest group of people I think I’ve ever met.

This is GuGu...one of my new musician friends.
After school for the last 3 days we just sit out on the grass and talk about music (they’ve given me names of SA artists and even brought in mix cd’s of artists that they like), politics, media, culture, etc, etc…all stuff I love talking about. I’m going to be seriously bummed next week when they aren’t here, but I know that we’ll at least still hang out on weekends – I really hope anyway!


Here's a picture of John playing soccer with some of the kids here this morning. He was stoked because he scored his first goal (I'm thinking the kids felt sorry for him and gave it to him.)






Here's a picture of Marc's disgusting feet after a day working int he garden.

Today was another nice day. I think maybe, just maybe I was able to connect with one of the girls, Nomkhitha, who was obviously not thrilled to be here – always trying to get onto facebook during class, attitude, etc. She really is a good poet and has some wonderful ideas, so I tried to encourage her and shared a poem I’d written with her. I also spent a long time talking with Wisani and Mongezi – two verbivores – who asked me questions about all kinds of words and their correct use. Mongezi has a notebook where he writes down new words that he comes across and he then tries to use them in his everyday writing and speaking. Some of the other students get frustrated with him because he uses such big words in his poem (though correctly) and they can’t understand what he’s saying. Their poetry is beautiful.


Marc and John finished their project today and it looks great! I walked out to take pictures and could hear all the boys singing. It was awesome. They also sing on their way to the bus...I could listen to them sing all day.

Tonight we go to watch the Spain v Germany match at Stacey's house...this is a really nice girl we met when we were at The Loft about a week ago. We have a driver coming to get us!!

John was feeling a little neglected because I had posted more pictures of Marc than of him. So here's one of John. This is how he greets me every morning

Starting our projects

Day 9 – Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Today was great. I worked with a group of 8 kids on two separate projects in the writing group. For one of the projects, I am working with a local journalist to prepare them to interview members of their community about recycling and trash removal, to come up with effects and solutions in order to write a letter to their mayor – with the hope of course, that the local government will find creative ways to deal with the excess of trash that litters the streets of Alexandra and therefore improve their community.



(This is a picture of the classroom I'm working in this week. It's the computer room, which is convenient for them to type their writing.) The second project is a poetry project. I introduced them to one of my favorite poets/authors, Maya Angelou and we read her poem “And Still I Rise.” They loved it. We discussed it for a little while and then they went through an activity called a “found poem” where they underline words or phrases that they particularly liked and then create their own poems from it. (I also assigned each student a stanza to memorize, and then we will practice reading the poem together.) Because lunch was pushed back a little bit, we had time in class for them to begin writing their poems – but most of them ended up finishing their poems…we even had time for everyone to share what they’d written. I was so impressed with what they were able to produce in a half hour and how deep, emotional, honest, and powerful they were. And I love how encouraging they were to each other. I’m especially thinking of one incident where one of the girls, Nomkhitha, was very reluctant to share her poem but after everyone else had shared, she was finally encouraged enough by her classmates that she gave in and shared. Of course it was a beautiful poem, really honest and angry (which may explain her reluctance) but really well-received by everyone. After she had finished, Mapule turned to her very quietly and said, “Well…I don’t understand why you were so reluctant to read your poem. That was very good.” And you knew she meant every word. I really like Mapule. She’s a very serious and thoughtful girl, wise beyond her years, doesn’t smile often, but has a friendly, calm countenance. The other students in my class, besides Mapule and Nomkhitha, are Pleasure, Lebo, Wisani, Lerato, and Mongezi. One really wonderful thing about their names is that if they have an African name it always means something beautiful – sometimes the students will go by their African name and sometimes they will go by the English translation…so whenever I meet a student and they give me an African name, I try to ask what their name means (though I have to admit I forgot to do that today with my writing students)
The third really cool thing about the day came after school was done. Part of the program has local musicians coming in to share what they know about music and help the students create musical instruments from found materials. As the students were leaving we gravitated toward each other and started chatting: Ruby, Bless, Ngala and Tubi. I had such a great time chatting with them, discussing the social responsibility musicians have to their community, both locally and globally. We must have sounded like a bunch of old fuddy-duddies, lamenting popular music and it’s objectification of women, the destructive messages being sent, the selling out of popular artists (artists who create a formula that will get them rich instead of creating any real art), etc, etc. They’ve invited us all to come see them perform their next gig…and I can’t wait!


(Here's a picture of the garden area where John and Marc are working to build a garden for the school) Once again they both shined in their ability to connect and interact with students. Marc started the community meeting this morning by having the students reflect; John gave an overview of the week and the different groups and activities, and I got them started on creating their reflection journals created from recycled paper. At the end of the day, the buzz around the school was so positive – the kids had such a wonderful time today! Between the music, drama, gardening, jewelry-making, cooking, writing, and photography workshops, I think there was something for every interest. I’m looking forward to tomorrow!

Day 8 – Monday, July 5, 2010
The internet has been down for the last few days but today it is finally up and running! Yay!!!! It's amazing how much I depend on it...
The last few days have been pretty relaxing. July 3 was spend just sleeping, reading, eating, watching movies and July 4 was spent planning for today and then sleeping, reading, eating, and watching movies.


Here's a picture of the part of the school where our apartment is...we're on the top floor

Today was our first day with students. I envy the ease with which John and Marc jump right into whatever comes their way. I tend to stand back a little and assess before jumping in…so that’s what I did today. John joined Sarah in teaching about the science of plastics, and I just sat among the students, listening to their conversations, meeting and talking with a few of them.


This is the barn where the students have their community meetings.

Tomorrow I will have my own group to work with – although a local journalist is supposed to join us tomorrow and be part of my group, which would be pretty cool. It will be interesting to get his perspective. In another class, Marc worked with Paul in presenting a Powerpoint and then having a debate…I didn’t get to see it, but it sounds like it was great.


One of the best conversations I had was with a 10th grade girl (I think her name is Mapule) who I shared dish-washing duties with. She loves poetry and will be one of the students in my group tomorrow. She was teaching me about some of the holidays in SA – Children’s day and Freedom day, the history behind each and how they celebrate. I, in turn, shared with her about Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and their struggle for civil rights in the 1960’s (which I am finding strikingly similar to the Nelson Mandela’s struggle in the 1950’s here in SA).

Orel (the 12th grade English teacher) just left. He wanted to have a conversation with us about our experience in touring Alex. He’s a very thoughtful, perceptive person and was pushing us to think more deeply about our visit and our observations. I really love having conversations with him. I love the very gentle way he pushes us and educates us about the realities of South African life.

The stove in our apartment keeps blowing out the main fuse for the whole downstairs, so we have to cook only using the oven until it can be fixed. Right now I'm reheating leftovers and baked potatoes because we're almost out of food. The guys have been really helpful...I'm definitely not the only one doing the cooking...Marc has cooked breakfast/dinner several times and John cleans up. A washing machine had been installed for us, but it hadn't worked until today, so we were having to hand wash and then hang our clothes to dry. There's a little wall heater in my room that I drape clothes on to speed up the drying process...so far that’s working well.

Day 5 -- Friday, July 2
We headed out in the morning with two of LEAP’s math and science teachers– – the ever-smiling and be-speckled Nyalugway and the more serious Lizweet (both immigrants from Zimbabwa)to Pretoria’s zoo. Neither of them had ever been before, so they were having to stop the car pretty regularly, sometimes in the middle of the street, to ask for directions. We were all sitting in the backseat, slightly mortified as cars were honking at us to get moving. It was really funny to listen to them trying to figure it all out – I hope we didn’t seem rude, but we were pretty entertained by it all – or at least I was.


At the zoo, I got to see some animals that I hadn’t seen before, particularly in the reptile and aquarium section, like crocodiles, an electric eel, and more that I can’t remember the names of -- and of course having John there to provide some background information about the animals was wonderful.

This was a great time for John and Marc to get to know the teachers that they would be working with while we are here.
We had lunch and once again Marc jumped right in to trying African food. This time it was something called pup – which is kindof like really thick grits but looks like mashed potatoes– made of fine corn meal and boiled – and then covered in meat sauce and meat. The drive home was really fun too, just chatting with the guys – they both make me laugh so much. I am, once again, so thankful to have them with me.
That evening, Sarah came by and drove us to Melville, about 30 minutes from the school and near one of the major universities. We went to a local bar to watch the Ghana v Uruguay game…what an unforgettable experience. It would have been even more unforgettable if Ghana had won, but it was a great game nonetheless. After Ghana scored the first goal just at the end of the first half, the place erupted in cheers, chants of “Ghana! Ghana!” and the song “Allez, Allez” throughout the half time break The end of course was heartbreaking, with a missed penalty kick in the last seconds and then the tie-breaking penalty kicks where Uruguay ended up winning. I really came to appreciate soccer last night, in how it can unify and create great pride in a people. I sat next to a very nice girl from Belgium named Mary who was getting her Ph.d in Education, researching the racial issue/ diversity in education (or something like that – it was so loud that it became difficult to hear what she was saying). After the game, we headed next door to a bar called The Loft, where there was live music – basically an extended jam-fest where musicians ebbed and flowed throughout the evening. We went upstairs to the actual loft, where the musicians were playing and I felt super uncomfortable at first because I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be there, like I had just popped into someone’s living room (there were couches scattered around the edges of the loft, with the musicians playing in the middle and front), but eventually, as I got to talk to some of the people around me, I felt very comfortable. I met and chatted with a girl named Stacy, who is here for the World Cup, working with the companies who purchase the advertisements that surround the soccer fields. She’s from Los Gatos, CA – so funny to be in SA and run into a fellow Californian. After a while, as Marc and John turned on their charm and met more of the people up in the loft, I was pulled into conversations and was able to meet some other people as well – all very friendly and so appreciative of what we’re doing with LEAP. We finally made it back home at 3 AM.

It’s interesting to be on the other end of the minority/majority thing. We are definitely the minority, though quite honestly I am aware of it only occasionally. There have been several times where in looking around, John, Marc, Sarah, and I are the only white people around – but I don’t ever feel threatened or awkward. Everyone we've met so far has been so welcoming and kind. From what Sarah says, the whites are still generally very racist here, but the blacks don’t seem to harbor any noticeable grudges. Sarah says she has a really difficult time interacting with most of the whites here because of their overt racism – and that most of her friends here are black. I can see why.

Day 4 (July 1)
After a leisurely morning, Sarah came by and drove us to Joburg where we walked around looking at the vendors selling their goods – hats/gloves, African masks, giraffe and elephant carvings, drums, jewelry – the list goes on. But the interesting thing was how few people were there, how few people were buying anything. Sarah said that even at the height of World Cup games, when there were multiple games, that it wasn’t very crowded. But that many people had invested a lot of money and hope into the expected influx of tourists for these games, and with such an underwhelming turnout, there would be many hurting people afterward. It’s kinda sad to think of all the money that was put toward these multimillion dollar stadiums when there are so many people in such great need. I understand the idea of trying to stimulate the economy and create jobs, but the consensus from Sarah, Jeanette and Orel is that the jury is still out on whether this gamble will ultimately help SA. Orel pointed out that people are skeptical because after the World Cup, what will these stadiums be used for in the future since they are so close together?

We also walked through a section of Joburg that is reminiscent of Chicano Park in San Diego where graffiti artists have painted murals on the posts of a freeway overpass. After that we walked to a restaurant called Ko’spotong so that we could spend some time planning for the next week when the students will return for workshops. Right now they are on a 4 week break, but LEAP students are required to attend the workshops put on by the school during part of their break. Sarah is trying through these workshops to introduce and model project-based learning for both the teachers and the students, so it was really good to talk with her and share our experiences and offer suggestions to build on all her hard work.

It wasn’t all just shop talk though – we had a great time getting to know Sarah better – and watching Marc eat what was basically a French fry sandwich --called a “chip roll.” Later, we headed to another part of Joburg where the extremely wealthy live – quite a contrast to yesterday. Street after street of huge, mansion-like houses hidden behind huge walls. Here, we went to yet another mall where there was a restaurant called Moyo that Sarah said had some great art and some authentic African music and food. It truly was a remarkable place, with 4 or 5 levels, a wine cellar, outdoor seating right in front of a huge outdoor screen, authentically costumed performers. The food was fairly standard, though there were a few unusual items – John had Springbok – but no crocodile yet. Here we spent the rest of the evening, talking, eating, drinking, watching live music. A fun, but low-key day – which was good because we’re still getting over our jet-lag.

The school grounds and Alex: Woke up to the sound of birds chirping…always a good sign. The grounds at the school are very nice, with several fields, one used for soccer, one had been recently burned but had previous been the location of a garden, and another with a dilapidated barn and 4 beautiful horses who occasionally graze there. The barn is used for storage and is full of all kinds of materials that Sarah is hoping to use for the recycling project coming up next week – old tires, orange bean bag chairs, bricks, metal, etc. After our tour of the grounds, Sarah took us to the grocery store nearby called the Pick and Pay, located on the top floor of the local mall. The grocery store was pretty typical with a few noticeable differences – the biggest is getting used to pricing in the rand – the conversion rate is about 7.5 to 1 right now so it’s not unusual to find things priced in the 30-50 rand range or higher – for instance a big bundle of toilet paper cost 85.79(or about $10).

After lunch, we headed for Alexandra. The boys we had met yesterday, Partsen and Thandenani (his name means “love everyone”) accompanied us and acted as tour guides. The best word to describe Alex is hectic…from the get-go…just driving down the streets is an adventure. The streets are narrow and in need of repair with cars randomly parked at the edges of the street and people regularly walking down the middle. It is a very dense place, full of houses (though more like shacks most of them, constructed of a patchwork of wood, corrugated metal, tarps), cars of varying quality (a Mercedes or land rover parked next to an old chevy like sedan or little Volkswagen rabbit), beautiful, friendly colorfully dressed children in most yards/driveways/ sidewalks, beauty salons, people just hanging out talking, trash littering the streets or piled up outside of buildings. I never felt in danger, but I did feel like I was intruding to a degree, or maybe that was just my own self-consciousness -- not wanting to be voyeuristic, viewing other people’s difficulties and struggles.

We walked for a while up and down hilly, narrow streets past home after home, apartment after apartment and then stopped in at a care facility for ill or very elderly people. We walked into the building where 30-40 people sat around a huge table in preparation for their evening dinner, many in wheelchairs, one woman that we passed sitting on a chair apart from the table with a scarf covering her face as if she didn’t want to be seen, with a world cup game on the television up in the corner. We crammed into a small room around the corner where a wonderful woman named Priscilla, the administrator, worked. She may have been a smaller woman, but she was a giant in my eyes – she truly had a heart of gold, so welcoming and so kind and so funny – her smile lit up the room. Even as she told us of the struggles of the facility – with so many patients and not enough workers – she was able to smile and joke with us. She said something really important that will stick with me. She talked of how because some older people didn’t have family, the authorities would dump them off at their facility – and she said “People should NOT be dumped!” A pretty obvious statement for sure, but it was how she said it – so fiercely – that really stuck with me and made me think of other less physical instances of people being “dumped” – by their government, for one. Fortunately, this was one of the places where students from the LEAP school performed their “social responsibilities” – volunteering several times per week at local organizations that were trying to help or improve the Alex community.
After we left Priscilla, we walked to Tandanani’s home where his poor mother had been waiting since 2 (it was now 4:30). She had coffee and “scones” (actually muffins) waiting for us. Her name was Grace and she spoke very good English, acquired during her time as domestic help. The father sat, very regally, in the corner and said nothing, obviously knowing very little English and just letting his wife do the talking. Two things struck me about this visit. One came from a question that Marc had asked her after she had shared her frustration at not being able to work and how boring/tedious that was. He asked her, if she could do anything in the whole world for work, what would she do…and she couldn’t even imagine anything other than being domestic help – couldn’t even imagine something beyond being someone else’s hired servant. Orel said that the mindset of apartheid was still prevalent, and I think of this as an example of that. She’d been put in “her place” by years and year of oppression and she couldn’t imagine herself worthy of any other view. The other thing that struck me was hope she had for her son -- though obviously worried about how (monetarily)he could go to college even if he passed the exams.
It was dark by the time we headed back, winding through streets lit up with trash fires. I had thought that this visit to Alex would be emotionally draining, but it wasn't, due, I think to the hospitable, kind people we encountered...and because through schools like LEAP, there is hope.