NMMU Missionvale Campus

NMMU Missionvale  Education building

 On Friday afternoon, we were invited by the Principal, Mr. McKay from Emafini, to attend a meet and greet dialogue at NMMU Missionvale Campus at the New Foundation Phase Building School for Initial Teacher Education that is housing the education majors. Currently the 3rd and 4th year students are here, however, next year it is planned to have all the education majors at this site.

        Introductions were hosted by Dr. Deidre Guduld BEd Foundation Phase Head of Programme,  A short welcome speech was presented by D. M. Moeng.  The comment that stood out to me was that this space is a space for community and not meant to be a white elephant.   Community seems to be a very important aspect of the people living in this area. In writing this, I must include that there were a number of area school leaders were present, parents of the community schools were invited and students from this campus were invited to share their thoughts.

     The topics that came up as a concern of teachers and the university learners included: student teachers need to get into the classrooms, not just the privileged schools, but the community schools as well. Workshops need to be offered to assist teachers in their fields.  Class size needs to be reduced.  Buildings are not for the number of students housed.  The gap needs to be bridged between teaching in their mother tongue and in English.  Another outstanding comment from a college student was that learning is a two way street.  There are mutual benefits when young student teachers work with experienced teachers.
When I look at this list, I can see some of the same concerns in NC where I teach.  We have a newer school, however, eleven mobile units were brought in to house everyone.  Although our class sizes are not as large as they are at Emafini, it still is difficult for one teacher to be responsible for the learning of so many children.  I applaud the people of this community  to be willing to identify some of the challenges they are faced with.  That is the first step.  I prefer to have an optimistic view point thinking that now that these situations are identified, lets work on them.  Are they going to be conquered this year or the next?  No, not at all.  In fact in may be 10 -20 years...but this is a start.

A Walk in the Forest

Michelle Cocks Author of Voices in the Forest.

In Africa, one of the repeated messages I've heard is to listen to your ancestors.  Go to the Forest and listen!  And that is what we did today.  Of course there were many things that led up to that point.  We started our day riding to Grahamstown and visiting the campus of Rhodes University.  We met Michelle Cocks and Mr. Mluleki Nkosi.  Michelle, the author of a beautiful book we've spent time studying before arriving in SA, gave a lecture on "Inkubeko nendalo" Bio-cultural Diversity in South Africa.  We learned many traditional cultural practices regularly use wild plants, making nature inseparable from cultural identity.  We went to Nombelelo Secondary School and listened to a lecture on South Africa's biomes. Afterwards, it was a walking lesson in the Medicinal Plant Garden at the secondary school.   We returned to the university and visited the botanical garden and had lunch.  We finished our day with a Walk in the Forest.  We took the time to just sit and listen.  It was an extremely windy day, so the sound of the wind actually made it sound as though a busy highway was close.  It was not.  Mr. Mlukeki Nkosi presented a lesson about the trees and the forest.  He spoke to the Level 10 learners  from Nombelelo Secondary School in Xhlosa language so I did not understand the lesson well. Overall, it was a wonderful lesson in African culture.

Learners from Nombelelo Secondary School

Emafini Primary School

Make A Friend

My experience at Emafini Primary School has been wonderful.    I have worked with two teachers.  Nontutuzelo is a grade 7 Creative Arts teacher.  Ntuthu's (shorten name) curriculum includes music, art, dance, and drama.  She says she likes music the best.  On  my first day, I did not observe, Ntuthu had me teach.  Talk about off the cuff!   Okay, so I started with introductions and asked them to sing a song.  They sang their National Anthem.  Well, I thought it was only right for me to share my National Anthem.  Then we did a rhythm activity reviewing quarter notes and rests, eighth notes, and sixteenth notes.  Following that short activity, I taught them an Orff song I use with my students, Make A Friend.  We worked on solfege and then input the words.  Afterwards, we went outside to a common area and played the game that goes along with song.

             My second teacher I started to work with is Ms. Lucy.  We connected because she says she loves music too.  Ms. Lucy teaches grade 1.  I just started working in her class today.  Now in grade 1, students are mainly taught in Xhosa language.  However, Ms. Lucy integrates English words into her teachings.  Today we shared a song.  The learners all sang a Xhosa song about looking for a dog with short ears and long tail.  Can you guess what it is?  Yes, it is “Where Oh Where Can my Little Dog Be?”  I sang it to them in English.  Then they tried learning it in English too.  They are so sweet.  Later in the classroom, I got to read them a story about a Princess and the Crane.   Of course I read in English, but Ms. Lucy translated it to Xhosa.  Afterwards, the students drew pictures about the story.

 

Mrs. Khosi

Next, I was invited to hear the choir sing.  The choir includes 5th, 6th, and 7th graders.  They sang a number of songs.  And even though it is July, my favorite is Joy to the World, in Xhosa language.  Wow! Three part harmony and all.  I am amazed because the choir director, Mrs. Khosi only has one little keyboard that you blow into to help teach the learners their parts.  But wait.  You must listen.  Here are two of my favorite songs they sang for us that afternoon.  It was a wonderful performance.

Community Efforts Making a Difference

 Today we were introduced to a community of out-reach programs.  We began at  KwaNobuhle LoveLife Y-Centre.   I will go in more description of this youth center after tomorrow, our last day.  We are fortunate to spend three days with this group of people.   Our next stop was visiting South African National Council for the Blind.    This program is located in the community complex where they frequently hold boxing matches.  However, in the back, there is one cold dark room where Thandile Gladile and her "driver"  do their work.    Thandile explained that most of the time they are not in this office but out in the community working with the site impaired. Since she is blind, she truly believes that a blind person is capable of doing everything but drive.  She shared with us how she instructs a blind person to vote because voting is personal and one could not just tell someone who they want to vote for for fear that the person may mark the candidate they like instead.  She is also responsible for teaching them to do daily life skills and to be successful with other skills like knitting, making jewelry and leather belts.  We were able to to purchase some of the beautiful jewelry from her.  I think the greatest impact for me was the fact that they have a hard time getting walking sticks for the blind.  I will make a difference when I return to the states by raising money to purchase  white walking sticks for this community program.

Voting ballot for the blind from 2014

Our group with Thandile Gladile and friend in front of  complex

 We walked to our next location: Phaphamani Rape and Crisis Center for Women.  This center provides counseling and assistance  for women and children when domestic violence or rape or any other problems arrive that are endangering the family.  They often will have community "soup kitchens" to help feed the people and they make many visits into the homes to provide the counseling and proper training for those in need.

 Next we walked to Amadoda Okkwenene, a center for men.  Their purpose and programming include: Fatherhood program, Community Education (Domestic Violence & Alcohol/Drug Abuse), Facilitate life Skilss, Promotion of family life, Khala Ndoda (support groups) Xenxele Mngani (mentorship program for youth).  Two things that really stood out while Mandie was talking to us was, one, men can cry.  They do feel pain and hurt and they too deserve to know their rights. And two, What is better, to close the tap or just wipe up the water?  It is not useful to wipe up the water if the tap is still running.   They don't want to just  make things look better, they want to help fix the problems.  Today was again another humbling day.  I admire these groups of people that volunteer their time to make a difference in their community.  Their efforts are not going unnoticed.   My prayer is that they continue to seek and find support to keep their community out-reach programs up and running and that the people will seek their help when it is needed.

Leaving class and going back to our rooms for the day.  

To finish off our day, we traveled back to NMMU for another one of our Xhosa language lessons.  We are preparing for our work in Emafini Primary School this Friday.

Celebrating Nelson Mandela International Day

Today we started our day with a meeting and tour at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. It also happened to be Nelson Mandela Day that was honoring the 67 years of service.  There are six different  campuses and we visited the South Campus which happens to be on a nature reserve. NMMU is the largest University in the Eastern and Southern Cape.  

 Above is a sculpture of Nelson Mandela's shirt.  The tiles on the shirt spell out the six values:  Respect for Diversity, Excellence, Ubuntu, Integrity, Respect for the natural environment, and Taking responsibility.  (Ubuntu would be similar to Compassion).  After our tour of the university, we were taken on a tour of Port Elizabeth.  The following pictures were part of the Donkin Reserve Pyramid and Lighthouse off Nelson Mandela Bay.  Below are the mosaics, each representing a different part of South Africa past and present life in the area.

 The following pictures are of a sculpture by Anthony Harris.  This commissioned work is titled, "Voting Line".  This steel art work was inspired by photographs of the long voting lines in the first, free democratic elections of 1994.  I thought the sun was in the best position when we were visiting the area.  The shadows of each person were cast upon the wall behind.

 You can see that this sculpture continues for 36.6 meters.  It wraps the base of the big flag.

This last picture is just a fluke....That is a truck with the SA flag on the back that just happened to be in the right spot as I took this picture!  Below is the picture of the Lighthouse, pyramid, mosaic emblems and the sculpture of Nelson Mandela at the end of the "Voting Line".  The Donkin  Reserve also has a wonderful "love story" for its being.  I would encourage you to check it out!

The largest flag waves in the center of this area.

And finally, another one of my favorite parts of the beautiful Donkin Reserve is this sculpture that represents all women.  It is designed to not have any specific features that would identify any specific nationality or race.  She stands in front of a chair to offer her service to others.

Safari in South Africa

On the second day of my South African adventure our group spent the day at Addo Elephant National Park and Kragga Kamma Game Park.  At both parks we had a guided tour on an open safari truck. The tours provided lots of information about the animals, their habitat and the lands that they lived on. These are some of the animals we were able to see.  The experience was unbelievable.  Can you identify all these animals?    

 So, how many were you able to identify?    I was extremely grateful for all the information the guides shared about the animals (and there were more that were sited).  I was amazed to learn that poachers are still trying to get on these national game parks to kill these animals.

"Show of Hands"

Day 1

Today's adventure took us to Htlemeza Primary School in Uitenhage.  I was in awe of what a community of people can do when you work together.  Our group was just a small part of a Volkswagen For Good "The Great Show of Hands" volunteer program today.

 This is a short video of  how the community was making this a great place to go to school.

While we were painting murals in the room that was to become the library, one of the teachers from that school was being interviewed.  What she said was something that made me think.  "The Titanic was built by professionals while the Ark was built by volunteers"

 I came away from today's experience humbled.  It is always exciting to prepare my classroom each year for students that will walk through our doors at Carolina Forest International Elementary in Jacksonville, NC...however, I believe the students and teachers that walk onto their campus for the first day of school next week at  Htlemeza Primary School will feel the love and excitement for their new school year.  I was very proud to hear that Volkswagen Company of Port Elizabeth puts back into their community.