This morning marks my third full day in Grahamstown, South Africa. While I’m still trying to mentally compress everything I’ve experienced, I definitely want to share a little bit of what I’ve done so far.
The program coordinators have partnered with the Community Engagement (CE) office at Rhodes University to help organize trips to volunteer/tour around the city of Grahamstown. Yesterday morning, I went to Luzuko Methodist Preschool outside of the township. On CE shuttle, I met a woman doing graduate studies at Rhodes and she was from Gwinnett County, Georgia – right outside of Atlanta, of all places. Speaking to her introduced the idea of going to graduate school overseas to me, but that is a topic for another day.
There was one staff member at the preschool named Pam. Although she said there were three full-time staff members, one woman was maternity leave and the other hadn’t reported to work in some time, so that left Pam to manage two classes by herself: one pre-K and one class of 2-3 year olds. The absence of the other staff members also meant Pam couldn’t perform her full job functions, which were supposed to include home visits with parents when appropriate situations arose.
I spent about two hours with the class of 2-3 year olds and it goes without saying that they were absolutely adorable. Earlier in the day, my peers and I had a first hour-long Xhosa lesson so we had very minimal verbal communication skills. Although the language barrier was frustrating at times, we eventually realized it wasn’t necessary to communicate via verbal language. Matt, the Deputy Director and Curriculum Advisor of Inkululeko was with us in the classroom and he started leading songs and activities with the children with ease (he’s lived in SA for about 7 years, but is originally from the US). Seeing the comfort Matt had with the children started to rub off on the rest of the group. Although I couldn’t understand the words to the songs, it was easy to follow and I eventually caught on: these are the days of the week, these are the months of the year, this one is head-shoulders-knees-and toes, etc. With leadership from Matt and one of our community liaisons who served as a translator, we taught them the Itsy Bitsy Spider and head-shoulders-knees-and toes in English.
Pam provided commentary throughout the period, noting many recent years of classes have had trouble remembering some days of the week. For example, they remember Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Saturday, but could not remember the others. She’s observed this trend for some time, but isn’t sure what the explanation behind it is. After reviewing the material, Pam said the children would dance to one song, have snack, use the toilets (there was no indoor plumbing in the main building,) and then have recess. When she put on the CD, Katy Perry’s “Roar” was the song that started playing, which we all enjoyed. Some of those little girls were really getting into dancing. I was so impressed.
At snack time, some of my peers were excited to see the children pull out healthy snacks from their backpacks: juice, apples, bananas and simple sandwiches. There weren’t any potato chips or fatty foods in sight. Michelle Obama would’ve been so happy. One of the little girls sat next to me and started chatting away. Without remembering any Xhosa besides molo for “hello,” I couldn’t do much but smile and nod. I noticed one of the girls sitting in a corner eating a boiled egg, but didn’t think twice about it. However, Pam said something to the young girl, and explained to us that she was from one of the more well-off families in the group. The school recently asked all of the parents to only pack fruits and simple foods in the lunches because the poorer children would not eat their own food if they saw students with better food than them; they were embarrassed. Receiving this information from Pam made me think of the most simple ways class is seen in society. I never would’ve thought an egg would draw attention as a sign of money, but these children noticed. Even at such a young age, they knew what was different and seemingly better. In what I interpreted as a similar attempt to ameliorate the display of class within the school, they also asked the parents to purchase uniforms for their learners. If they didn’t or couldn’t purchase the uniform, the parents were asked to take their children to another school. But all of the other preschools in the area implemented the same policy, so it was basically ineffective and the students went back to their original schools. The parents wouldn’t buy the uniforms regardless. I only observed a few learners wearing the black and purple uniform, but the girl with boiled eggs was one of them.
Today, I spent two hours at the Amasongo Career School, an alternative school for “street kids.” We received a tour of the school from the principal and met with the pottery teacher and one of his pupils. Many of my peers, including myself, purchased mugs, teapots, and other ceramic pieces. Half of the proceeds went to the Friends of the Amasongo School charity and the other half went to the student who made the piece. We all thought this was a great cause and the pottery was awesome. Although I have much more to say about my experience at Amasango, I will leave this link to further explain the school itself and perhaps elaborate more on the trip later.
Amasango Career School Seeks Adequate School Structures: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K8cj-fUaa8
Skillin' it 