What I Learned in South Africa

(published in The Business of Teaching [South Africa] volume 1, number 4, Fourth Term 2011: 7)

In August, I visited South Africa as part of the Toyota International Teacher Program, a professional development opportunity for 24 U.S. educators to learn about environmental conservation and increase cultural awareness. We toured the country, visiting museums in Johannesburg, landfills in Durban, and game parks in Kruger. In Cape Town, we partnered with South African teachers, visiting their communities, schools and homes.

I applied to this program to increase my knowledge of environmental education. I hoped to develop new curriculum, and I wanted to see firsthand the steps South Africa is taking to use green energy, reduce her carbon footprint, and boost ecotourism. In addition, I was eager to gain a deeper understanding of the social justice issues that profoundly impact so many aspects of South African life. I couldn’t wait to go on a game drive, see a rugby match, and experience my first braai, and I spent the weeks before the trip reading Paton, Mandela, and all the travel books I could get my hands on.

But nothing I read could prepare me for what I saw in South Africa. I knew life in the townships would be hard. I knew what percent of the population live with HIV/AIDS, the average life expectancy, and how many languages are spoken throughout the country - but these are merely statistics. What I could not know or predict was the indomitable spirit of the people. I didn’t expect the extraordinary energy of the land, nor did I anticipate the forgiveness and the courage I witnessed throughout every community we visited.

One of the highlights of the trip was my visit to Macassar High, a township school in the Western Cape serving a majority colored population. With pride, Principal Yusuf Abrahams showed us his school – the weight room, the science and computer labs, and the lunch room. From the huge key ring his in hand, he knew precisely which key opened which security door, padlock, and gate.

After the tour, I stopped by the biology classroom of Alicia Keet, my ZA teaching partner in this shared program. The families of Alicia’s students struggle with poverty, drugs, and unemployment, but Macassar High is doing wonderful things for the students and the community. The Eco and Bio Clubs maintain an indiginous garden.  Student-painted murals adorn the concrete walls of the classrooms. The drama club rehearses an original play in the auditorium.

Alicia clearly loves her school. She and her husband, fellow science teacher Julian, run the Model United Nations program. They dedicate weekends and evenings to school projects, open their home to former students, and they even spent their latest wedding anniversary on a camping trip with Macassar students. I am inspired by teachers like Alicia who hope to transform disadvantaged communities and seek to empower those who struggle.

When I tell other teachers that my school is in a children’s hospital, invariably their eyes grow wide and I hear a collective sigh of sympathy. ‘It must be so difficult,’ they say. ‘I could never do what you do.’

And I used to think my job was hard. My school has unique challenges, since my students are patients at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. They may be facing life-threatening conditions such as cancer or organ transplants, and many suffer from social, emotional, or cognitive setbacks because of their illnesses or treatments.

Yet Alicia, Julian, and other ZA teachers face struggles that I could never imagine. My classroom has heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer. I have enough money to buy books. My students are well-fed and clean, and they sleep in a safe bed each night. My windows do not have iron bars and my stairwells do not need padlocked security gates.

The reality is this: all teachers face challenges on a daily basis, whether we’re in the US or in ZA. Do I wish I’d never lost a student to cancer? Yes. But that doesn’t mean I’d ever stop working in the hospital, because I love what I do. Do I wish Alicia had enough textbooks to give to every pupil? Or that her students never had to go to school hungry? Of course. But these problems exist, and I’m grateful that such passionate and talented people as Alicia have made the commitment to continue teaching despite the hurdles thrown their way.

South Africa taught me that with compassion and dedication, we all can overcome obstacles and make life better for ourselves and those around us. My visit was a profoundly moving experience, and I find myself reevaluating my perceptions of my own classroom, students, teaching, and outlook on life. I will never again take for granted what I have or where I teach.

I am honored to have met you, South Africa. Thank you for inspiring me.

Kruger

Aug 7 - Phalaborwa
GAME DRIVES! Can't believe it, but I actually went to Kruger National Park today!

Started the morning very early with a 5AM checkout from Mountain Manor. We all flew together to J'burg, then the group split up and I was lucky enough to be in the group that left right away to Phalaborwa.

It was a small prop plane - 30 passengers, so only 14 of us got to go first. I bought a beanie in the airport, which I'm so glad I got! We got in around 1PM and went first to lunch at Kaia Tawana (really good potato soup). Then we drove for about 40 minutes to the animal rehab center, CARE. On the way, we saw a single wild baboon on the side of the road, just staring at us. Scott and I were SO excited, until we got to CARE and saw that the place was absolutely crawling with wild baboons...

We also saw tons of impalas (which we also saw by the runway at the airport), kudu, and guinea fowl.

The CARE center is a rehab facility for orphaned baboons - they have several large cages, but it draws in wild baboons to eat and mate with the caged ones. They are so used to humans you can walk VERY close to them - some even have babies on their tummies or backs. We also saw warthogs and vervet monkeys.










Went to check in to the lodge - Sefapane - and very quickly got ready to go on our game drive. We sat in raised 4x4 jeeps - open air but they provide lap blankets. Kruger is only about 3 miles away, so we got about an hour in the park. Drove to a watering hole where we saw a small herd of impala (which really are everywhere) but no big game. The only ohter cool animal was a solitary hyena that crossed the road in front of us - slightly larger than a dog, and spotted with wild-looking hair. It got cold and dark soon after sunset, so didn't see any more animals. But tomorrow we go on a long, all-day drive, so no worries!!!

Met up with the other group at the lodge, then had a slightly abbreviated stargazing session It was cold and not many people were very into it, so we went quickly to dinner (another buffet - main curse beef stew - very good).

Came back early to shower and unpack, plus I want to go to bed early. The next two days we have 5AM wakeups so that we can get to the game drive as soon as the park opens at 6AM!

August 8 - Phalaborwa
Last final day in South Africa - so sad!, but it was a GREAT one! We had a full day game drive - left at 5:30 this morning to be at the gate right when it opened at 6AM. We went with Heinrich, who I think was the best of the game rangers. He was knowledgable about not only the big game, but the birds and flora as well.

It was VERY cold in the morning, but we were so excited it didn't matter. Started off the day seeing impala - the first herd of many, many impala. They have black markings on their rump and tail, which makes it look like the letter "M" so they are called the McDonalds of Kruger (fast food for lions - haha). Then the game started pouring in. Zebras, giraffe, duiker, kudu, steenbok, cape buffalo, hippos, elephants, a crocodile, green tree snake, hyena (crunching a bone!)















It was all totally amazing - especially the hyena eating something recently killed, and it snapped the bone very close to us; the giraffe standing in the middle of the road just looking at us, the elephant that threatened us since we were only 20-30 yards away, the hippos that came half out of the water, eliciting a collective gasp from the group; the green tree snake (a boomslang, according to Heinrich) that crossed the road then climbed the tree; and finally the ENORMOUS herd of cape buffalo all around us.

Yum.

Fast food of Kruger

Mr. Boomslang

Symbiosis at work - eating the parasites off a giraffe

 

Vervet Monkey

Whatchoo lookin' at, kid??

Kudu. What gored that female??

Dik dik

Burchell's Zebra

Hippo family... and their crocodile neighbor

 

Hitching a ride...

All totally amazing, we exited the park at 5:30 - had a brai at the lodge, and am going to bed early for another 5AM wakeup tomorrow. Hope to see some cats!

Aug 9 - Phalaborwa and the Cradle of Humankind
We saw a recent lion kill!!! Did you know lions go for the soft bits first?? That's the eyes, throat, and belly. ew.








Lionesses do all the hard work. But then they get to relax.




After leaving Kruger, we headed back to J'burg and stopped at the Cradle of Humankind - the museum where we learned about human history and where they found Australopithecus africanus fossils in their cave system. There is a Disney-eque ride through time there, and it was fun wandering through all the exhibits.

A lovely final meal in South Africa

Cape Town, part II

Aug 3 - Cape Town
Got to visit several outdoor sites and talk to people working on conservation education. Started the morning by picking up our ZA colleagues at Kirstenbosch. We drove from there down the eastern side of the cape to WESSA - the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa - for a talk on what they are doing in environmental ed in ZA. They are an NGO so it was interesting hearing a different perspective.

From there, drove down to False Bay and visited one of the shark spotters. They started 11 years ago as a system to help the surfers in False Bay - they are up on higher overlooks and search for the shadows of sharks (since the Great Whites are big enough you can actually see them). On busy days, there are a hundred surfers in the bay, and the sharks lurk just outside the outside break. They've spotted almost 900 sharks and there has been just one attack and no deaths since the program started.

False Bay is interesting because it is a big bay with cliffs on all sides. it's called False Bay because back during the days of the Dutch Trading Company in the 16th and 17th centuries, ships would go from India around the cape and up to Europe. If they weren't careful in bad weather (lots of fog so they couldn't see very far), they'd go up False Bay thinking they'd reach the point and turn up - and it was a big problem because to turn around they had to wait for the winds to change.

I talked to the shark spotter, who said they don't see that many now - they are all out at Seal Island (in the middle of False Bay) feeding on the baby seals. But on the really busy days in the summer, they spot maybe one each day.

Now was also Right Whale season, but she says oddly they haven't been spotting very many...


From there we drove down to Simon's Town, and visited the Save our Seas Shark Center in Kalk Bay. They are working to educate the public about sharks. From there we walked down to the tide pools where we got a mini-lesson on what we saw there.


Then we drove further south to The Boulders to see the colony of African Penguins. There is a boardwalk that allows us to walk down to the beach and go fairly close to the animals. It was really windy, but I guess that's good because penguins really stink!!

Some of the bird were still quite young, which means they don't go into the water and still have quite a bit of fluff on them. They are more grey and black, not yet the black and white of typical penguins.


Then we drove further down, not quite to Cape Point but cut across to the Western side of the cape. We stopped at a colored township called Ocean View (although there were no views of any ocean!) Its where the people were relocated away from the nicer coastal areas during apartheid. We learned about how poor management has devastated the marine resources - many of the fish species are threatened or already wiped out. There is a lot of poaching, but small scale and traditional fishermen can't follow their livelihoods.

We then went to the Two Ocean's Aquarium where we heard from the WWF's Sustainable Seafood Initiative. They gave us a lecture that they give schoolchildren, including hands-on work with sea urchins. Afterwards we went down to see their large kelp bed exhibit, which was really cool.

Walked from there down the waterfront to the Hildebrand Restaurant - a nice chicken marsala (too much fish for one day!) Overall, a nice day!

August 4 - Cape Town
A cold, rainy day!! Went to KNBG in the AM to meet with the South African teachers and learn about Environmental education in ZA. We also had a workshop with an Active Learning Framework - we all got an environmental issue and had to discuss how to tackle it in the classroom. After a nice lunch we were supposed to go on a service learning project but it started raining very hard. We got a talk on the Working for Water Program, but skipped out on the clearing invasive species project. Instead, we went down to the Kirstenbosch Gift Shop for an hour, then went back for a short game on sustainable fishing using jellybeans in a pond.

The group work finished early, and Candice and I got invited to sleep over at Alicia's so that she wouldn't have to come all the way downtown to pick us up the next day. We picked up some food at the market, stopping also for Candice and I to get some fresh bilton (smoked, cured meat, kind of like beef jerkey).

Alicia's house is nice - much like you'd find in the US, only nobody has heat. The houses are very cold - they keep their jackets on inside, so luckily they have a fireplace/woodstove where we sat. Alicia's brother-in-law Richard came by - an administrator at a private school, and his wife (Julian's sister) is a primary school teacher. So it was nice to hear several different perspectives and experiences.

The interesting story that Julien told us was how in '94, he and his friends (they are all colored) used to go out every Wednesday and find a white guy to beat up. That was their way of releasing the tensions and anger.  As Richard and Julien were telling their apartheid stories they were laughing - I asked why, and they said it was so awfully unbelievable that they just had to laugh. I guess that was truly one of those examples of "you have to laugh or else you'd cry."

After dinner we actually went to Alicia's mom's to sleep. She has a huge house in the township - has 2 extra bedrooms. So we slept there. Comfy, but freezing cold. I showered just to warm up but didn't wash my hair because I was afraid of the cold!


Visited Alicia and Julien's school the next day, then had a brai at their house before going back into Cape Town to join the group.


August 6 - Stellenbosch
A free day!! It was an absolutely beautiful day - sunny, with blue skies - so it was perfect for a drive into the countryside. I went with the boys - Jamison, John, Eric, Dave, and Scott - we hired Jerome and his cab for the entire day. We drove up to Stellenbosch to see some wineries - went to Tokara and Meerlust wineries. Then we went to a traditional store, Se Winkel, which looked like something you'd find in the old west or pioneer days. Watched rugby in a pub and found porcupine quills on a walk through the countryside. A great day!

Tokara Winery

Weaver bird nests

The hills above Tokara

In Oom Samie se Winkel

watching rugby with the locals

Cape Town

July 31 - Cape Town
Another full day, with an early wakeup and departure from Durban. Had a morning flight to CT - I sat across from JL, so I had a nice talk with him about his life, spirituality, Toyota, and the program. He seems like he's genuinely impressed with the program and likes supporting it, which is nice to know.

Arrived in Cape Town in time for a quick lunch at the V&A Waterfront - ate with Amy and Osha, takeout Thai food in a fast half hour, then a quick bus to the ferry. Went across to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held as a political prisoner for 18 of the 27 years he was incarcerated. The ride over was sunny but windy, cold, with a great view of Table Mountain and Cape Town. (Oh! On the way from the airport, saw some wild zebras on the slopes of Table Mountain!)

Robben Island is now a museum, kind of a sterile place, with guides who are former prisoners. We saw both the communal and solitary cell blocks - including Nelson Mandela's, and heard about the experience of our guard. Seems like they survived because there was great camaraderie - they really supported each other and became a family.

Nelson Mandela's prison room

Surprisingly, there is ow a small permanent settlement on Robben Island with both former prisoners AND former wardens living together!

Toured around the island on the bus - saw the leper graveyard, small town, and viewpoint to Cape Town. Also the quarry where prisoners worked. Lots of wild birds on the island, including penguins - we saw a bunch on the drive!

The guide is Xhosa, which is a click language, and I got a video of her explaining the Khoi Khoi origins of Table Mountain and the legends of two ancient rulers who drowned and are now ruling from the bottom of the sea. Hear some Xhosa:

Had a cold and windy ride back to Cape Town, then went to the hotel to check in on Pam - we're in a small room in the Manor House, but it's clean and comfortable.

Cool upcycled decor!

Had dinner at Africa  Cafe - a fun, touristy restaurant with cool recycled-bottle decoration. A very pan-African menu, but best of all was the singing/drumming by the servers after the meal. A very fun way to end the night.









August 1 - Cape Town
An amazing day visiting local families and seeing the struggles that communities are facing with poverty, domestic violence, and AIDS/TB.

Went this AM to Delft Township, to a community activist project called Afrika Tikkun. Their focus is on Youth Development, family support services, and health care for disadvantaged people. We visited their facilities, but the true interesting part of the day was the home visits to families receiving help from the organization. It was a difficult visit, but enlightening.

We first saw a shanty that was being built for a small family (a mom with 2 kids). It was built of corrugated metal with a cement floor - cold in winter and so hot in summer that they are known as "microwave shacks." It was tine - about 8 ft by 12 ft, with a small window and wood door.

Microwave Shack

Net we visited a grandma in a government subsidized home - cinderblock and more permanent, but still very rough. The mother was a drug addict who'd been raped twice and had no support until Afrika Tikkun came in - she was sent to rehab and the grandma was raising her two young kids. There was an air of despair exuding from the home, and both women we met begged for help (blankets for the kids).

The bedroom

The second home was a family with 11 children - we met 7 of them, around ages 9 to about 20, none of whom were in school. The family was absolutely beautiful - they were colored (not black), with gorgeous features and striking eyes. The mother started crying when she told her her story - a neighbor's car had gone missing and the keys were found in her house, so she had to move around a lot to avoid retribution.

The house was way too small for the large family - not enough beds, and the mom said she was grateful that none of her kids had committed suicide yet because of the awful life they had.


The family counselors we went with, Mickayla and Amanda, were lovely people with a lot of dedication. They were themselves from the Hague area of Delft; in their early 20s, and so friendly and caring.

Kids at Afrika Tikkun

After the home visits we debriefed at Afrika Tikkun, had lunch from their kitchens - the same thing they were serving - rice with a chicken/lentil stew. IIE gifted them with 500 spoons - something they really needed and appreciated. We're all hoping to buy shoes for the family counselors - something many of them don't have.




After lunch, we went to a different part of the Township - Mfuleni, to see young girl dancers in their after school program. They were amazing, and we learned a dance with them, which was a lot of fun.



We debriefed with Educo-Africa - Mark and Sphesh, at the Africa Democracy Institute. The room was so cool - there was a chandelier with a life-sized statue of a flying Bishop Desmond Tutu hanging from the ceiling. The debrief wasn't nearly as emotionally draining as the J'burg one - thank goodness - I think because the day's visits, even though it was difficult to see, was actually empowering because the people had hope and were trying to lift themselves out of the situation they were in.

Dinner was on our own, so we ate a 'pot luck' at the hotel in the apartments. Was really nice talking outside to everyone, and it wasn't too cold (hooray!) Luckily we have a free morning tomorrow, so many of us are planning to go to Table Mountain.

August 2 - Cape Town

What a gorgeous day today!! It was wonderfully warm and sunny, and we had a free morning (our first free time since we've arrived!) So a group of us decided to hike at Table Mountain, so we left around 8:45 and took a cab to the cable car. It is wonderfully built - there is a rotating platform in a circular funicular, so you really get to see all around as you go.up the mountain. The ride is quick, and there is just a funicular station, gift shop, and restaurant at the top. Other than that, it's just trails and an absolutely amazing view of Cape Town. From the top you can see both the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, and you can look down south to the ocean or North up into Africa. It is truly very flat up top (and not that wide - maybe 200-300 yards) - so it is easy to see why its called Table Mountain. I went around with Eric - walked around the main 'table', then decided to hoof it to Maclear's Beacon, about 30 minutes from the cable station. We were walking very fast, but got to take some time at the point and take several pictures. Its really windy but not cold up top, but I can see how it would be freezing if the fog rolled in.

Maclear's Beacon

Candice, Alicia, and me

Had a brisk walk back to the able car and shared a cab van (9 of us) back to the hotel. Ate a picnic-y lunch of leftovers at the boy's apt, then had to get to the bus by 1:30 to head to Kirstenbosch, where we met the ZA teachers. Candice and I are partnered with Alicia Keet, a science teacher in a high school about 30 minutes from here in a township. We'll get to see the school on Friday, and have dinner at her house.


Got to spend almost 2 hours walking around the gardens, which are really beautiful. There is a huge variety of plant species, many from the Fynbos region (where we're located). ZA has over 23,000+ species of vascular plants and is one of the only 6 Floral Kingdoms in the world. We learned a bit about the South African National Biodiversity Institute, which educates and maintains environmental stewardship in South Africa.

Dinner was at 6 Spin Street, and it was nice talking to several SA teachers. I sat with Sunett, who is actually not a teacher but works in community conservation. Dinner was delicious, especially the Mulva (pronounced mulfa) pudding dessert!