Last time I wrote, we were getting ready for our overnight trip to Friday Island in Langebaan. What a fun weekend it was! We were picked up on Saturday morning by Johnny, our chauffeur. Since they were an hour and a half late (that’s South Africa time for you!), we got to watch some rubgy on tv – Springboks v. New Zealand. We’re Springbok fans over here – Kristin even has a jacket! Our group is scheduled to go see the Western Province team play next week.
Langebaan is about two hours away from Cape Town, but I came prepared with my ipod and belted out some Sugarland with my girl, Karen. We made a halfway stop at !Khwa tuu, San Cultural & Educational Centre. The San people are the indigenous people of southern Africa and there are still about 6,700 San people living in South Africa. We had a short lecture on their culture and language, where we learned the five clicks of the San languages (the ! in front of !Khwa is one of those clicks). You should have seen us contorting our faces and trying to make those sounds with our tongues! Good thing I’m not San or I’d have a major speech impediment! We took a tour of the nature reserve and saw a replica of a San village. We saw some of the clothing they wore, how they made jewelry from broken ostrich eggs, and how they started fires with sticks! We learned how the hunter-gatherers used prints to track animals and how they made their arrows for hunting. We even got to see some Springboks, zebras, ostriches, and other animals from our tractor ride. We also saw a big turtle in the road and I got to hold it. I’m not a reptile person, but this turtle was really cute! Our San village tour was very interesting, but we were glad we had a beach house waiting instead of staying in the San huts for the night!
Friday Island is the name of the resort we stayed at on Saturday night – doesn’t that just sound like paradise? It was right on a beautiful stretch of beach along the Atlantic Ocean. We were put up in large two-person rooms and what a treat that was – no bunk beds for us this time! We made it just in time to dip our toes in the water (some crazies even went swimming!) and watch the sunset. We had dinner and drinks at the resort and then lay on the beach, watching shooting stars. It was a fun, carefree night with good friends.
On Sunday, we had a delicious breakfast, looking out onto the ocean. Then we were off to the West Coast Fossil Park where we learned about the animals that lived in the area 5 million years ago. We got to see the actual excavation site and the bones of extinct animals like the short-necked giraffe and the African bear. It was really interesting to hear about how different the land was in that time! We even got to search through the sifting screens for bones – I found a fossil of a little reptile (a frog, I think?). I missed my calling as an archaeologist! We also got a tour of their museum and saw a lot of different fossils of reptiles, seals, sharks, rhinos, even the rib of a whale! After our trip back in time, we headed to the West Coast Farmstall, where we saw some parrots and other birds. The parrot even talked – it said “Hello!”
Monday was back to school! The kids started making me an Afrikaans Alphabet book – each one is making a page for one letter or number. I’m going to laminate and bind it when I get back to the states and use it with my students. It’s going to be such a great keepsake!
On Tuesday, we took a break from Belvue and went to a different primary school in Durbanville. Kenridge is probably the largest elementary school I’ve ever seen... it was more like a small college campus. They accommodate 1,500 students in grades 1-7! The upper and lower grades are housed in separate buildings. It is a primarily white school, although there were a few coloured and black students in the class I observed. It reminded me very much of schools in Clarkston, Rochester, Haslett, etc. I spent most of the day in a grade 2 class, which was very fun, but also very different from what I’ve experienced at Belvue over the past few weeks. As a white school during apartheid, Kenridge was more privileged in terms of resources and academics and evidence of that remains today. School fees are a topic of interest here and seem to correlate closely with the resources and “quality” of education. Very unlike the U.S., parents must pay an annual fee for their children’s public education. Higher fees allow schools to purchase extra supplies, hire more qualified teachers, and provide other resources characteristic of privileged schools. As a measure of comparison, the annual fee is 10,980 rand ($1600) at Kenridge and 750 rand ($110) at Belvue. You can imagine the difference with that kind of revenue. The teachers’ lounge at Kenridge had self-serve coffee and tea, plenty of tables surrounded by couches, and even a grand piano! I accompanied the students to PE class which was in an enormous gymnasium, complete with mats, obstacle course equipment, a balance beam, ballet bars, and a stage. The classroom I was in was also beautifully supplied with a computer, projector, two large white boards, a printer, paper cutter, and individual student whiteboards. On each desk were several holders full of scissors, rulers, colored pencils, crayons, and highlighters in every color imaginable. A teacher’s dream classroom! The class sizes are also much smaller, with a maximum of 30 students in each class (the average at Belvue is about 35-40). The grade 2 students end at 1:00 (it’s still strange to me that the younger students get out early, which is typical here), so I was also able to observe a grade 3 class for a short time. Then we were given a tour of the school where we saw the library, art room, music rooms, computer lab, pool, rugby fields, netball courts, and special education classrooms. It is a beautiful school, but it was difficult to compare it to Belvue and other schools just a few miles down the road. It was also interesting to talk to the teachers and hear about their experiences and perspective of the school.
On Wednesday, we took another field trip to some nearby schools. We started the day at Eurecon Primary. On the way to the school, the principal drove us through Malawi Camp, which is a township we drive past on the way to Belvue. We saw up-close the shanty houses that the people have built for themselves (as we did on our township tour a couple of weeks ago) and the principal explained that most Cape Town residents haven’t even been IN the actual townships, although they see them every day. Some of the students at Eurecon live in Malawi Camp, although the majority live in the Cape Flats. When we arrived at the school, Corvell met us there with several boxes of supplies that we all brought from the U.S. Eurecon serves a very poor community and the donations were much appreciated. As a comparison, the annual fee at Eurecon is 200 rand ($30), but the principal struggles to get half that. We took a quick tour of the school and spoke with some of the students and classroom teachers. We saw the students getting their meal of soup and bread that morning – the principal told us that some children probably come to school just to get food. It is a great service that Eurecon is able to provide to their students, but it strangely reminded me of a soup kitchen, which was so unlike any school I’ve been to before. Despite the children’s home lives, Eurecon is a very hopeful school and provides a quality education with the resources they have. 90-95% of the classroom materials are paid for out of the teachers’ pockets. We visited the classroom of one superstar teacher, filled with a host of resources, posters, books, and educational materials. You would never have guessed she works at such an underprivileged school. We also stopped by Care Beares Educare, a small preschool with children ranging in age from 2-6. The kids were very sweet and we had a chance to see where education really starts.
In the afternoon, we headed off to The Settlers’ High School in Bellville. Wednesday was a truly contrasting day as Settlers is an incredibly nice facility, with fees at 12,000 rand ($1800) per year. It was a former Model C (white) school during apartheid, but what I found interesting is that its student population is primarily coloured now because all of the white families fled during integration. The school serves about 1200 students, grades 8-12. The average class size is 30. The premises were just gorgeous and I felt more like I was entering a hotel than a high school. The newer additions to the school were the most shocking, while the classrooms seemed quite typical, although fully resourced. We had a meeting with the principal when we arrived where he gave us the history of the school, serving us juice and muffins. We then toured the school grounds and spent the rest of the afternoon in classrooms. I was in a math classroom, first with grade 12 students and then with grade 9s. I was able to talk with the first group and they were very curious about American schools and my experiences. It was neat to answer questions other than “Do you know Miley Cyrus?” (like some of the little ones ask). And I got to see a student teacher do a lesson on the Pythagorean Theorem – I’m missing all that algebra and trig!
What is amazing to me is that all of these schools – Belvue, Kenridge, Eurecon, Settlers – are within 8 miles of each other. Of course, there are similar contrasts in the U.S. with very wealthy communities just outside of poor inner-cities, but the degree of inequality here is on another level. None of us were excited to leave Belvue for two whole days, but I’m really glad that we got to witness the contrasting environments in the area. It’s hard to even describe the drastic differences between the schools and communities we visited – what they might call “the legacy of apartheid.” We all talked about how even though schools like Kenridge and Settlers have everything a teacher could wish for, we would prefer to work at schools like Belvue. Most the kids at Kenridge and Settlers will turn out just fine regardless of whether you are there or not. As teachers, you have the potential to make more of a difference at schools like Belvue, even if it is a more challenging environment.
On Wednesday afternoon, we went back to Belvue after school to see the grade 7 girls compete in a game of netball at the neighboring high school. From what I understand, it seems comparable it basketball. They were playing a team from London, England, believe it or not! Our Belvue girls lost, but it was fun to support the students and learn about a new sport. Then, at night, Tyrone and Chamelle drove us to meet up with a few of our American friends at Grand West (the place to be for all things entertainment). It was open-mic jazz night and we heard some really talented contestants. We might have to go back next week!
On Thursday, we were so happy to be back teaching at Belvue! I was with my grade 3 students all day, who I am quickly growing to adore. It’s tearing me up to think I only have three school days left with them next week. I got so many hugs yesterday to make up for the two days I didn’t see them!
Last night, we went home with Michelle and Lauren because we carpooled to our group outing which was.... a game of cricket! We hung out at their house for a while, playing with their little “nephews” and watching Oprah. We enjoyed a delicious meal of chicken pie, veggies, and sweet potatoes and then we were off to the indoor cricket arena! When we arrived, Corvell literally threw us on the court (field?), gave two people a bat, and told the rest of us to play the field. We were so confused.... Should we catch the ball? What do we do with it? Can we tag them out? Where are they supposed to hit the ball? Wait, how did they get points? No instructions whatsoever. We slowly came to understand the game as Corvell and Dominic clarified certain rules throughout, but I’m sure the professionals on the other courts were annoyed by us. I started in the field (my terminology is so off, here), which I was horrible at... but I actually caught a ball in the air once and I think that was a good thing! I was able to pitch (I believe they say “bowl”) semi-successfully, too – the ball at least made it to the batter. It must have been all those years of T-ball and softball (the last time I played was probably 4th grade). Batting was not so successful. I think I have a lack of hand-eye coordination... and poor eyesight. But at least I never got hit with the ball! The guys (and our MSU softball superstar, Karen) wailed on the ball. A certain victim (Caitlin) left our match with a nice welt on her thigh – the size of a cricket ball (she’s ok, though).
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