Lynn Imai – Mid Pacific Institute, Honolulu – Math Team

Sometimes you just luck into something. My trip to South Africa falls into that category. I was lucky enough to go with the best. There’s no better threesome to learn the ropes from than Jim Metz, Carl Wheeler, and Jennifer Hong. The words that I use over and over again to describe my experience are amazing and remarkable, but those words are totally inadequate.

Even months after I returned home, I find myself flashing back to moments there. I will always remember South Africa as a place of contradictions: pockets of heartbreakingly deplorable squalor intermingled with the most beautiful scenery, a newly developing country with so many kind, generous and fiercely patriotic people, and schools functioning under crowded and difficult conditions despite many dedicated and unselfish teachers.

South Africa is so beautiful. Driving through the countryside and staying along the way one cannot help but be enchanted with the rolling hills, the rivers and the dramatic land formations. But within the cities are townships with flimsy and inadequate shacks which are homes to the poor and the forgotten. People should not have to live in some of these places.

This is a newly emerging nation and the history of its current government has been short in comparison to other countries but along the way we met people whose fierce patriotism and determination to carve a place for their country in the 21st century rivals any other. These residents give of themselves, their time and their resources graciously without thought of return. Yunus Chamda, Razvi and Firdoz Ahmed, and Gora and Adam Peer are some who first come to mind. South Africa should be proud to have bred such citizens.

We visited a school that could have been in any town in the United States, but we also visited a school whose classes held more than 60 students, where we found a great need for more books and materials and where the computer desks were filled 4-5 students deep. And this was one of the lucky schools which benefited from the patronage of TWB and had computers. In spite of working under these conditions, our four day workshops were filled with teachers who gave up their holidays to hear what we had to offer and to share with us their experiences.

The rich and inspiring history of this country makes the current educational situation both understandable and intolerable. What was purchased with the lives and sacrifices of heroes should not be compromised by inadequate schools and antiquated facilities. TWB’s mission is a small but vital effort to address some of those needs. I was honored to be able to see and participate in it.

I have so many people to thank, the South African teachers who gave up their vacations to attend the workshop, the Hawaii team of Jim, Carl and Jen of course, the Canadian team of Noble, Lily and Elspeth, the kind and generous sponsors in South Africa including the families of Yunus Chamda, Gora and Adam Peer, Razvi and Firdoz Ahmed, the amazing Ameena Peer who inspires me greatly to be a better person, and of course Yunus Peer without whom none of this would be possible.