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!
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