Teachers Without Borders – South Africa 2004
Dr. Joan Rohrback – Science Dept. – Sacred Hearts School
Honolulu, Hawaii.

Life is full of surprises.  I thought I had my summer plans set when on June 1st, I was offered the opportunity to go to South Africa for five weeks with the organization Teachers Without Borders.  I was being recruited as a last minute replacement for another Hawaii teacher with a sudden family illness.  I had one day to decide and less than three weeks to prepare for the trip.  I said, “yes” and it was without a doubt one of the best decisions of my life.

  I became part of the TWB-SA 2004 team of six Hawaii math and science teachers under Project Director and Punahou teacher, Yunus Peer.  A native of South Africa, Mr. Peer began this project four years ago as homage to his late father who dedicated his life to improving education for the neglected black majority. South Africa is in the process of rebuilding after centuries of racial oppression.  Before 1994, black children were not legally allowed to study math and science.

The primary mission of Teachers Without Borders ­ South Africa is to conduct workshops for teachers of math and science in rural schools in hopes of improving teaching and learning skills.  Before our journey to the other side of the world, each of the traveling teachers studied the mandated South African math and science standards and familiarized themselves with the national standardized Matriculation Exam given to all students. Then a one-week program was prepared in each area (chemistry, physics, algebra, geometry, trigonometry and calculus) to share content, teaching methodologies and strategies for student motivation.  We also planned one-day workshops for students to assist in preparing for the Matriculation Exam. In all, five workshops were held in three different provinces of South Africa.

The work involved in preparing for this journey was challenging.  The chemistry curriculum was very different from high school requirements in the United States. When I arrived in South Africa, I discovered that the teachers were very interested in learning how to incorporate labs into the curriculum.  At present, NO lab activities are used in the rural schools. Many of these schools essentially have no equipment (sometimes no electricity or even running water) and no money.  The challenge then became to devise practical, inexpensive and equipment-free labs.  Right up my alley.  I shared with the teachers all the labs we do in our chemistry courses here at SHA and devised a few new activities specific to their curriculum. Of course, the teachers were also thrilled to make ice cream and GAK and to blow up film canister rockets.

During each work week, we spent seven to nine hours a day teaching and commuting to our various workshop locations.  Weekends were then spent sight seeing and traveling by car to our next destination.  We moved from the Johannesburg region to Port Shepstone and then Port St. Johns (both on the eastern coast).  The weather got progressively nicer as we neared the coast (remember, it is winter in South Africa during June and July).  Temperatures ranged from the high 30s to 50s at night with daytime highs in the 50s to low 70s. The team did a one day photo safari, visited the Apartheid and Hector Petersen museums and Nelson Mandela’s home.  We also did a great deal of hiking, some kayaking, and a few road trips through rural villages distributing pencils, paper and other school supplies to the children.  Near the end of the trip, we made a visit to a rural hospital predominantly servicing AIDS patients.

The entire experience was exciting, exhausting and humbling.  I was inspired by the dignity, integrity, graciousness and dedication of the teachers who attended our workshops.  These are professionals who face 40 to 70 or more students in EACH class they teach.  They often teach five to seven classes in several unrelated subjects.  They may or may not have textbooks, or even a chalkboard.  Few have access to computers or calculators.  But each is focused on being the best teacher they can be – their presence at this “optional” TWB-SA workshop, for which they had to commute long distances, during their vacation, attests to that dedication.  I would like to think that I have left them with something that will make their jobs a little easier.  I know that I have returned a better teacher for having spent time with them.

It is not an exaggeration to say that emotionally, spiritually and professionally this adventure was the most significant event of my life. I have been forever changed by my experiences in South Africa and I am grateful and extremely proud to have been a part of the TWB- 2004 team.  I felt so welcomed by the teachers and students attending our workshops and I found their enthusiasm for learning and positive spirit were truly infectious. At every workshop, the team was greeted and bid farewell with entire rooms standing and singing acapella in three-part harmony.  I will certainly never forget 800 rural school children singing and dancing to welcome us and then reciting the Lord’s Prayer in Zulu.  We all had tears in our eyes.

At the conclusion of the five weeks, the six Hawaii teachers from four different schools had trained 270 math and science educators and1100 students in three South African provinces. We logged nearly 4000 miles by car, 26,000 miles in the air and 48 hours of consecutive travel to return home.  What does this add up to?
  Countless priceless memories. 
  Would I do it again?
  In a heartbeat.