TWB - SA 2007

Elspeth Anderson – Vancouver, Canada

Go to South Africa – go for a month – leave school 10 days early, with my students writing government exams!! It was literally one of those moments in life when Carpe Diem became a reality. It was meant to be, but it was very far from being my normal planned event.

In truth nothing can prepare you for the black teachers in South Africa. Nothing can prepare you for the cultural and political background that meets you face to face, especially with the care and attention Yunus Peer takes to immerse the North American teachers in the situation of the black teachers. At the Apartheid Museum it states that “Humanity was born in Africa”. All people, ultimately, are African and if this is true then it is even harder for us to look at ourselves and then, at our Africa colleagues and ask why are there such outrageous differences.

The Apartheid Museum design of earth elements and metal is uncompromising, hard, inflexible, bare and meagre and, while these adjectives reflect the life of the political past, they are still applicable to the life a rural black teacher in South Africa today in 2007 and, sadly, to their learners. Classes are large, 72 students in one Science 9 class, the walls are bare, the text books shared and there is a teacher shortage.When we arrived the teachers along with other government workers were on strike and had been without pay for two weeks. When the strike was settled the teachers were faced with Saturday school and the loss of holidays in order to make up lost school time. They did not seem daunted by this prospect. In fact the teachers are the most inspiring people to be around.

They showed up for workshops in very cold weather, it snowed in Vaal, and with participated in the workshops with good humour and enthusiasm. Their smiles, their singing and strong sense of community is inspiring and it saddened me to know that we could only do so much to help and, it saddened me to realise that in many ways they are happier and better at living than we are. Their need for chemistry knowledge and their willingness to experience everything that Lily Vu, my Canadian colleague, had for them was stunning. There is no comparison in anything else I have ever done that matches the unashamed need of these teachers and the lengths they go to on behalf of their students. Three sets of workshops in three different localities, Vaal, Port Shepstone and Mthatha increased the awareness of how anything we did was valued and valuable for them. Each time the intensity of the experience increased. I found it an emotional roller coaster.

My thanks go forever to Yunus Peer, his family and colleagues for their support and commitment, to Noble Kelly for his vision and time in working here in Canada. Most of all my school for supporting me as I have become globally aware in the last five years and allowing me the opportunity to take part in this work this summer. My advice to others is you simply have to go there, any small action is better than no action at all. It has changed my life and I am determined to be active in as many ways as is possible.