"Don't be sad...just be thankful that we met" said by the wise-beyond-his-years Sydney
Some of the 10.2's and me
Tuesday
Taught the 10.2's again today – I realized on Friday that their exposure to essay writing is so limited – nonexistent really – and that I needed to back up and explain concepts more thoroughly and demonstrate what a body paragraph is. So I wrote a thesis statement on the board about how during my visit to SA I have met many kind, generous people and have had many interesting experiences, and then we brainstormed together to provide specific details. I also explained that this kind of essay was kinda like having a conversation or debate with someone about their topic. By the end of the class I felt pretty good about their level of understanding. I guess the difficulty comes in that they are so used to just writing stories – creative writing is how they are assessed in their tests which I think is not very helpful – it would seem that persuasive writing would develop the critical thinking skills that are so important to getting through life.
Tonight we changed our plans from having a barbeque with our musician friends (it’s really cold and windy so we thought it wouldn’t be much fun) to meeting them at Ko’spatong – but when we got there it was shut down (permanently?) so we went next door to Sophiatown. Tolo, Carla (Ruby), Tsepo, Gugu, Nagana, and Thubi, met us there, and we had such a wonderful time just hanging out with all of them. It was hard to say goodbye to them. They are such wonderful, creative, inspiring people – like I’ve never known before, and I’ll miss seeing them. Marc got all of their contact info though, so hopefully we can be facebook friends or email each other or something. I was able to talk for a while with Tsepo – who I had met briefly before but never had a chance to talk to, and he is such a sweetheart of a guy. Very thoughtful, articulate, kind, smart…and getting ready to raise some chickens on a farm he has about an hour outside of Joberg – so we talked about that for a little bit and promised to stay in contact. Hopefully we will see them all again someday, either here or over in the states…I just can’t accept that these people were brought into my life and then that’s it…
By the end of the evening, I was losing my voice – not sure why, but it was pretty much gone by the time we got home.
Wednesday
Did a very simple workshop with the kids on their essay. It’s taking quite a bit longer than I had anticipated because, as I've said, I’m having to explain everything about essay writing to them and I’m used to teaching students who have at least a basic understanding of an essay…it’s a good exercise for me! I was very happy with their work – they stayed focused and said at the end of class that it was helpful. My voice was completely shot at this point so I was having to get students to "translate" for me. I had thought I would see them later in the day so that we could continue our workshop, but the 10 and 11s went to various science field trips so I didn’t get to see them after all. This is a common occurrence and I would imagine a source of frustration for teachers here. It’s wonderful that there are so many opportunities for the students, but it’s often not communicated in a timely way – and as confusing as their schedule is anyway, this just adds to it. It’s difficult to plan and keep a project going when you never know when the students will be sent off somewhere else.
At lunch was our last staff meeting, where I worry that I may have inadvertently offended some of the staff– John and Marc shared their “what worked well, what didn’t” thoughts and I was last – I said something about how my experience was very different that John and Marc’s – that I had come into a very strong English Dept – which seems to be implying that the math science dept wasn’t strong – and that certainly wasn’t my intention. There are more new teachers in the math/science dept, and more teachers who haven’t been exposed to a more creative, project-based approach, as opposed to the more experienced, already creative English Dept, but they certainly aren't "weak" and care so deeply about their students. At the end of my sharing I complimented all the teachers for being so open to trying new things…so hopefully no one took my earlier comments in a negative way but I worry nonetheless. I hate when that happens -- and most often happens when I'm tired...
I’m so proud of Marc and John for the impact they’ve made on the kids and the school – I struggle with not being too hard on myself as I know my impact wasn’t nearly as much, though I learned a lot and enjoyed my time tremendously. Afterward, I had a nice conversation with Ingrid about possible projects we might do together, having students share stories, letters, etc. She said she would be my “person.” I love her!! After the meeting, I was free for the afternoon and was planning to nap and pack, but Ingrid came up back upstairs and invited me to go with her for ice cream for her daughter Kate's birthday. She also noticed that Sarah B wasn’t feeling so well, so she invited her over to her house to take a long bubble bath, which of course Sarah jumped at. So we picked up Kate, stopped by Ingrid’s house to pick up Emma and get Sarah situated, and then headed to a nearby tea house for coffee and cake instead, since it was still pretty cold and ice cream didn’t seem like a good idea for any of us. We had such a nice time chatting, sharing stories, and learning more about each others' lives. We got back to the apartment around 5 and then hung out there until it was time to go to Mapuleng’s house for dinner.
We arrived at around 7:30, had a wonderful time talking with 8 of us cozily sitting on her couch with a picture of Nelson Mandela smiling down on us. It made for a wonderful "family" photo later in the evening (Marc and I have been adopted as "cousins")which I will share as soon as I get a copy. Baki was sharing with us about his training at Old Mutual and how he has to cold-call people to try to sell insurance –sounds like it would be boring, but talking with Baki about anything at all is fun -- he has the most wonderful, contagious laugh!!! Kamo and Baki also shared some of SA history with us – I've learned a lot but realize that there is so much I don’t know! (For example, I had no idea that Liberia was basically started because freed American slaves were given land) A little later, we watched the Ghana/SA game (Bafana v Bagana they called it) where Bafana (surprisingly) won. We finally ate at around 9:30 – but it was definitely worth the wait!! John talked about what a wonderful cook Mapuleng was and he was so right! Pup, meat, veggies (lots of them), rolls, potato salad…it was a feast! We finally got home around 11:30. I’m exhausted. I’ve never had so little sleep for such a long time. I’ve been averaging 6 -6.5 hours a night for what seems like weeks. I’m hoping I sleep well on the plane.
Thursday
Woke up for the last time in this great little apartment. While I was getting ready, sweet little Kevin came in and delivered hand-written notes for all of us. Today is going to be ROUGH…I had to fight not to cry when I read that – I figure once I start I won’t be able to stop, so I’m trying to postpone it for as long as I can…
After lunch, we had a community meeting with the whole school, which was basically a farewell for us. Two students led the meeting, presenting us with cards, presents, songs. We were called up to the front and asked to share a few words. Marc went first and was so sweet and articulate about what this time has meant to us all. He got a little choked up at the end, which of course got everyone crying. John was next and was just as sweet and sincere in his comments -- and he also got choked up, and then it was my turn…I couldn’t even speak for a few minutes…I just had to stand there and compose myself. I was finally able to squeek out a few words about how full my heart was, how grateful we were for the love and kindness they had shown us, and how much we would miss them. After that, there was more singing; Pilate told me that the song was especially for us and that it was saying, “we’ve lost something, but we will search the whole world…” (or something like that).
Next sweet little Nomkhitha got up and read a poem. She started by saying that I had encouraged her to write again, that she had stopped writing and that now she was writing again and she’d written a poem for us. I honestly have no idea what the poem was about since I was a wreck at this point and trying so hard not to openly sob that I couldn’t focus on what she was saying.
I was able to compose myself after a little bit, but after the last song (the LEAP school song), Wisani sat down next to me and read me a poem that he had written for me. It started like this: “This American woman with an African soul…” Well, you can imagine what happened next…I put my face in my hands and DID openly sob. And then Nomkhitha came up and shared another poem she had written for me with the refrain “Every child is my child…” These were seriously the most beautiful poems I’ve ever heard in my life. I’ve never been so moved and I’ll never forget these special moments with these wonderful students. I cry again, even as I write this.
About an hour later, we were packed and ready to head to the train station, which would take us to the airport.
The school was let out ½ hour early, and we rode on the bus along with the entire school to the train station.
Once there, the students stood outside and sang to us for about ½ hour with such joy and gratitude – dancing as they sang– I tried so hard to memorize every face in that group – Orel in the very back dancing and singing, Sarah over to the side, Nomkhitha in the front looking at me so seriously, Wisani, Lebogang, Sophia, Neo, Revelation, Chantal, Bradley, Shane, Mapule, Pleasure, Tabiso, Lerato, Pilate, Samkelo, Rorisang, Ayanda, etc, etc…When they were done singing, I walked over to give Nomkhitha and Wisani one last hug, but even as I was walking over to them, the students were rushing toward all of us, giving us hugs and saying thank you and don’t forget us. As if we could ever forget them...
A few more pictures...
Orel
The amazing Sara K
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