For over a year now I’ve been involved with a program at Montana State University geared toward promoting science education to middle school kids. Early in 2009 a few of us in the program envisioned adapting this ‘inquiry based, hands-on learning’ approach into a model that could be shared with disadvantaged communities outside the Bozeman area. The end of the year is approaching and our vision is starting to come to fruition, both in the form of the recent educational outreach to the Crow reservation and, now, with our first outreach to schools in the Kayamandi township near Cape Town, South Africa. The following is a little insight into some of my initial thoughts and impressions of the area…more will follow in the next few days.
After the first few days my main impression about South Africa was that it really wasn’t very different from the Central Coast of California. In fact, except for the locals’ funny accents and penchant for driving on the wrong side of the road, as I was sipping espresso one day I could easily be convinced that I was at a sidewalk café in Santa Barbara or Carmel watching tourists looking at overpriced wine and art. There were plenty of students (young and white) and obviously well to do foreigners milling about and I was somewhat irritated that I had traveled 50 hours through 5 countries to get someplace that was just like the place where I had left.
So I should have mentioned that I’m in Stellenbosch, South Africa. It has been described to me as the ‘heartland’ of South Africa…not always with the best connotation. It’s a region famous for wine and tourism and this is something that is apparent walking down (almost) any street in town. So it is reasonable that my first impressions were as they were…because this place where I landed is basically the South African counterpart to the area in California where I left.
Everything changed this past Monday when I went to Kayamandi.
I was taken on an “exploratory” trip to a couple of the schools that we would be working with…then end result is that I felt completely overwhelmed by the situation here and the battle that is ahead of us. In retrospect, I think that over the past several decades I had developed an image of what “poor Africa” looked like. It looked like young children with distended bellies and big, pitiful eyes gazing deep into the camera as flies crawled over their faces. Sally Struthers was usually in there somewhere. The reality (at least HERE) is something that I wasn’t really ready for and I still can’t really figure out why.
First off – the kids didn’t look sad at all. No frowns or scowls, no pathos in their eyes. In fact, their gazes were more like smiling question marks…trying to figure out who I was, why I was there and what a connection might entail. They seemed pleased when I smiled and waved. I was too. They were all wearing uniforms…nothing on the outside suggested poverty or hardship.
But.
The schools themselves – I went to two and they were very different. One was an established school…full-on buildings, classrooms, play yard, etc. on a hill with a nice view of a valley and a pleasant breeze to keep everyone cool. But keep in mind it’s in the township…so there are cages covering the windows. Big cages which are completely ineffective in that the school is regularly burglarized. Computers, office equipment…even the doors off the buildings…everything gets stolen and, for them, they just say it’s part of life.
The other school was completely different, consisting of an assembly of portable buildings nestled right between open toilets and a foul river from which rats (and hungry snakes) come daily to raid the school’s food supplies (picture a squatter’s camp…that’s a school). It was too hot for the children to be in the classrooms so they were out on the dirt and cement porches playing a game with stones that somewhat resembled Jacks. No grass, no play yard…just white dirt and stone in the road between the rows of “classrooms”. This is a “temporary” school but that’s probably in name only. Land here is scarce and South Africa is hosting the World Cup next year; they’re building a soccer field nearby in lieu of permanent structures for the school. It’s incredibly difficult for the administrators to get resources (in fact…nobody GAVE them the buildings…they just took them over because another school was too crowded…and the buildings were empty. Apparently this is not uncommon). The headmaster told me that they had sent several requests to the government for supplies. They didn’t even receive a response until they sent a communication stating that, “the only language we know is to throw our waste bins into the street and light them on fire.”
The kids were about to be fed while I was there – I saw their meal - slice of bread and a cup of milk. I was told that for some of these kids it would be the only meal they eat all day.
I left the school really wondering what it is that we are going to be able to offer them. I’m in the process of figuring out what types of expectations we should have for this time. It started off as a means to improve “science education” but I think that it will really be much more…or much less, depending on how you look at it. More and more it’s becoming apparent that the critical goal should be establishing connection and relationships. Almost everyone I speak to says that, to really make a difference, we should be focusing on the teachers. I’ve had some great conversations with professors at the University here about this. We’ve talked about ways to mentor teachers and get them more involved. To empower them…to support them, etc.
This isn’t really going to be effective if we try to do it ourselves. I really think that “success” is only going to come with the long-term relationship…and it’s going to be possible only if local educators become the driving force. So – the questions become – How do we start something to do something that we really don’t know what it looks like or if it’s working so that we can help motivate and encourage people to do the same things (or better things) so that we can step aside and let them do it on their own?
For now – we show up. We try to learn and relate. And we figure out what the next step looks like.
I’ve been to slums and mansions before. From where I sit I can ride my bike five minutes north and someone might kill me for my cell phone. And that is not an exaggeration. Five minutes south and I’m riding past well-manicured lawns and houses nicer than any that I’ve seen in Bozeman or Big Sky.
I spent an afternoon this week visiting a winery with colleagues. It was incredible – great wine and a fantastic view of vineyards and mountains surrounding Cape Town. We could have been anywhere and, for a few hours, relaxed and sampled wine and coffee while idly talking about science, politics, etc. To get into this place we had to pass through a guarded checkpoint; the property is surrounded by electric fences and razor wire.
This is going to be interesting…
