Teachers Without Borders, South Africa, June/July 2006
Barbara Mayer, science

The TWBSA tradition continued in 2006! Six of us teachers from Hawai’i had the opportunity of a lifetime to contribute in a small way to education in the Republic of South Africa, an inspiring 10-year-old-democracy. It was an honor to join Punahou School teachers, Heather Taylor (math) & George Scott (chaplain), Honolulu Community College teacher Jim Metz (math), retired Mid-Pacific Institute teacher Carl Wheeler (math), and my science “buddy,” teacher at Iolani School, Paul Heimerdinger. A big part of my experience with TWBSA was meeting, working, living & laughing with these teachers from across O’ahu.

TWBSA 2006—similarities to previous summers:

To begin with, this summer’s project continued work on the mission of TWBSA, which is to help improve math and science education through hands-on, collegial, teacher-to-teacher workshops. Before embarking on this summer’s project, I read the online teacher testimonials from previous summers. Their words were filled with emotion; I could hear those teachers telling me how much they were moved and changed by their TWBSA experience. I now know more fully what their words tried to convey. TWBSA gave me the opportunity to work with–

1. teachers, black men and women, young & veteran, who are fully committed to their profession, intelligent, hard-working, creative and positive, despite–
   • many not having had access to a complete education during their own youth
   • low salaries
   • over-crowded classrooms without enough chairs & desks and maybe without chalkboard, electricity & water
   • mostly non-existent basic science supplies
2. many administrators, supervisors, and business people who work tirelessly, long days to support their teachers in numerous schools in districts that extend many kilometers to the horizon, and to prepare for our TWBSA workshops

TWBSA 2006—differences from previous summers:

Yunus will know the complete picture, but definitely this was the first summer where–

1. the workshops were completely devoted to RSA’s Senior Phase (comparable to our middle school) math and science
2. no students, only teachers, attended the workshops

For me personally, a recently-retired middle school science teacher from Kamehameha, I will remember for the rest of my life:

• reading…and re-reading!…the RSA educational documents relating to the nation’s science curriculum goals, and then enjoying the challenge of selecting and adapting earth science activities I’ve used over the years to South Africa’s needs…and the southern hemisphere perspective
• awakening to the hadeda ibis elegantly crossing the early morning sky, with incongruous, less-than-elegant cries
• the honor of being nicknamed “SisB” for sister Barbara
• having cold feet in a June winter
• doing a hands-on activity about eclipses to help a young teacher understand that his father did, indeed, have a special experience as a child in the 1940s when “he saw the sun go out”
• almost rubbing shoulders with elephants at dusk
• meeting and working with Jane Cruikshank, Pauline Duncan, Nomonde “smonds” Dabula, Nomonde Gazi, Mr. Khan, Thokozani Mteshane…and others
• getting lost on the coastal walking trail “that you can’t miss” in Port St. Johns with Paul & George
• classroom discussions with my African colleagues after activities on controversial topics, like the spread of viruses (e.g. HIV-AIDS) and global human population growth
• seeing the Southern Cross and its Centauri pointer stars high in the night sky
• drinking hot rooibos tea after an exhilarating and exhausting workshop day
• TWBSA providing the opportunity for my additional month of volunteer work at South Africa’s West Coast National Park in Langebaan, Western Cape.
• shopping for paper cups, turmeric, wires, Drano, meter sticks, red cabbage, flour, glue, exacto knives, food coloring, rubber balls, light bulbs, string, magnets, nails, steel wool, etc., etc. in small & large unfamiliar stores
• making & wearing newspaper hats for our seasonal change activity!

My thanks to the Peer family — our visionary leaders and “social entrepreneurs,” Yunus and his brother Gora, who caringly shepherded us around their beautiful country, and their mother, Mrs. Ameena Peer, our gracious, generous, kind, and self-effacing benefactress.