by Yunus Peer, Director, Teachers Without Borders – South Africa
July 17, 2003 10:05pm
The end of another emotion-filled day. Tomorrow is the last day of our TWB workshop in Port Shepstone (RSA) with 45 local math educators. I left the school this evening at 4:30 and Jim Metz and Hank LePage were still working with a teacher needing help with a content and teaching methodology problem in trigonometry. The morning started with a presentation by Otto Mohbasa, a board-examiner and grader of the matric exam in math. Everybody soaked up every word Otto was spectacular in his presentation. To make matters even better, the very areas in math that Otto discussed as problem areas were the same ones that Jim and Hank had been covering in class all week long. There’s no substitute for doing one’s homework and being prepared. It pays bigtime!
After lunch, Gerrit Osborne, Sunset Rotary (Hon), discussed the relevance of mathematics and physics in aviation and mathematical applications in the business world. Judging by the number of questions and positive murmurings among the teachers, the majority of them thoroughly enjoyed the break from the grind of analytical geometry and calculus. Thank God I don’t understand any of this math/science stuff If I did, I might get interested, and that would be dangerous, as a little knowledge always is. Watching the exchanges between the local teachers and the Hawaii teachers however, is a gift for which I shall be eternally grateful.
After an intense week at the Vaal Triangle Technikon in Gauteng (with 30 district teachers) , we drove some 1000 km south to Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape, an economically impoverished region but one that is vibrant in the eagerness of its young people to learn mathematics. Our TWB team joined the Matric Intervention Program for three days and worked with questions and issues on the matric exam with 750 students that figure is an underestimation since they met with 3 different sections and each was more than 250. Jim and Hank split up the sections and I estimated 150+ in each of the 2 classes I sat in on. The experience was exhilarating for our Hawaii teachers by far these were the largest classes they have ever taught especially with enthusiastic 18 yr. olds trying to understand an American accent, write and ask questions all at the same time. The rapt attention and respect with which Jim and Hank were greeted, was an inspiration for us spectators.
At the end of the 3 days, the students broke into spontaneous, thunderous applause for our Hawaii teachers and they stayed, talked and took pictures with us and the fancy Toyota Landcruiser that Vaal Toyota, SA, has sponsored for the duration of TWB-SA 2003.
Monday, July 14, we opened to 150 students in Port Shepstone, Kwa-Zulu. We began at 9am and at 330, there were still students milling around our twb team asking them to review math exam questions. Tuesday morning (15th) opening ceremonies for 45 district math teachers was an eye-opener for our Hawaii teachers. A local official discussed why every single one of the 45 teachers was black the evil of Apartheid had destined all blacks to servitude. Now the gates to freedom and democracy have been thrown open and millions of minds are soaking up knowledge and skills previously forbidden.
To have people from the opposite side of world extend a hand in that upliftment is yet another wonder to all 310 teachers and 1430 students who have come into contact with these ìHawaiianî math and science teachers in the past three years.
Tomorrow’s closing will be yet another tear-filled day as the teachers bid goodbye to each other – some joy about what we’ve done, some sadness that it’s over for now I still have to think about what I want to say in my speech at the Hibiscus Coast Municipality Civic reception that is planned for 2pm. About 150 in all townspeople will attend ; we sing, we pray, the local teachers talk, the Hawaii teachers talk, we express hopes, we express thanks, we cry, we hug and we hope we meet again. I’m reminded of the universal wisdom that says ì it is better to light a candle than to complain of the dark.ì These 45 teachers who have spent a week with us ARE the candles of light in their communities and my prayer is that we have helped them spread a little more light . In 2001 and 2002, the areas in which we have worked have shown dramatic improvements in their matric exam pass rates. I know we have played a small part in that success.
But, there is more than a lifetime’s worth of work to do and if teachers all the way from the islands of Hawaii can contribute to the African Renaissance in this global village of ours, then it gives me great hope for us all.
— Yunus