REPORT BY PORT SHEPSTONE ADMINISTRATOR, PAULINE DUNCAN

2003-07-18

‘It is not given to every generation that it should be present during, and participate in, the act of creation.’ President Thabo Mbeki: April 1997

These words highlight the privilege we have of being that generation, regardless of where in the world we live. But how wonderful that Yunus Peer and his team from Hawaii, a country 20 000km away from here, and a number of organisations and people from our community could come together to serve education, and through this intervention, our country.

And this for the third successive year for educators, and the second year for learners. In that time 157 educators and 610 learners from Port Shepstone District have attended the courses. When the benefit of this is cascaded to the respective schools, the number of people touched by the project is considerable.

The project epitomises the traditional African philosophy of ubuntu, which is one of sharing and hospitality, of honesty and humility, and embraces morality, humaneness, compassion, care, understanding and empathy. Mike Boon in his book, THE AFRICAN WAY, states that ubuntu does not exist unless there is interaction between people in a community, and it manifests through the actions of people, through the truly good things that people do unthinkingly for each other and for the community. And importantly, the group is as important as the individual, and the person’s most effective behaviour is in the group.

Thus, when one acknowledges all those who have made the Teachers Without Borders Maths Project: Port Shepstone 2003 so successful, the names of individuals may stand out but without all the other roleplayers, nothing could have been achieved.

An impressive number of organisations and individuals combined efforts. Port Shepstone High School and staff ensured that lectures were held in a comfortable, clean and safe environment, while teachers from afar were accommodated at St Martin de Porres. The local newspapers, South Coast Herald and South Coast Fever, covered the events, and Mr Johan Bester secured funding for use of PSHS from the Port Shepstone High School Trust.

Financial, administrative, catering, moral and every other kind of support was forthcoming from the Peer family, and we thank Mrs Amina Peer, Mr Gora Peer and his family, and the Kadodia family from Pietermaritzburg.

Gora Peer, Yunus’ brother, had an additional task this year, that of serving as a Port Shepstone administrator. And because of his competence, the entire week went very well indeed.

An enormous amount of photocopying needed to be done and Dick Basday of Capital Office Automation handled this task with his usual competence, as well as being present at the workshops where possible.

Education is not a local government affair but it has received considerable support since the transitional days from the local municipality. The Hibiscus Coast Municipality has shown its support for the project from the outset by hosting civic receptions and assisting wherever possible. Mayor Nolwazi Shusha has graced each civic reception with her presence while the Speaker, Clr Ravi Pillay has served as the director of programmes, and considerable assistance has been forthcoming from Ntuthu Mavundla and other members of staff.

Equal to our local government’s support of education initiatives has been the excellent spirit of co-operation from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education and Culture: Port Shepstone District. Theirs has been a difficult task since establishing offices here in April 1996. In fact the first regional ‘office’ was the principal’s office at Port Shepstone Junior Primary that I vacated for 9 months until their premises were ready!

The District Manager, Mrs GBF Mtombeni, and her staff assisted wherever possible. Mr SS Maphumulo, accompanied by Mr SO Ngesi, addressed the educators at the opening function while Mr Ommesh Maharaj represented the department at the civic reception. Maths Subject Adviser, Mr Otto Mabaso, was of invaluable help both prior to and during the week, and his lecture on past exam papers was one of the highlights of the course. Mrs Jane Cruickshank was not able to attend this year’s workshops but her assistance over the years was acknowledged.

It was heart warming to witness the determination of Grade 11 and 12 learners to succeed, and the commitment and dedication to their profession, schools and learners of the maths educators, all of whom were giving up their school holidays to attend.

Our local press, South Coast Herald and South Coast Fever also played an important role in generating interest in the project through their fine coverage.

The Rotary Club of Port Shepstone was not directly involved with this year’s project but have pledged their commitment to TWB 2004.

And then there were the Teachers without Borders themselves. Jim Metz: Assistant Professor of Mathematics at Kapi'olani Community College in Honolulu, Hank Lepage: Maths and Economics teacher at Maryknoll High School and Gerrit (Os) Osborne: retired Professional Electrical Engineer and pilot. Their kindness and outreach, their enthusiasm for maths and for teaching, and their refreshing attitude and excitement about our country and citizens impacted positively on everyone, both inside and outside the classrooms. They were a credit to their schools and organisations in Hawaii, to whom we express our gratitude for assistance.

And finally we acknowledge with deep gratitude the pioneer, the mover and shaker behind the project of 2001, 2002 and 2003, our erstwhile local citizen, Yunus Peer, who has worked tirelessly and has persisted despite the many, many obstacles that would have defeated a less determined man.

Since 2001, the project has not been confined to teaching maths at Vaal Technikon and Port Shepstone High School. Last year science teachers joined the project and this year, a third centre, Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape, was included. Last year Michael Vogel who used to teach maths at Punahou High School and who was on his second consecutive visit, arranged the donation of maths books from Prentice Hall, Chicago.

This year Jim Clarke and Mike Pavich, two teachers from Punahou High School, both of whom were here in 2001 as part of the project, sent an assortment of maths books to Port Shepstone for use in our schools.

Yunus has also secured donations of graphing calculators from Texas Instruments, science scales and laptop computers for schools and institutions of higher learning. Mdlangaswa HS received 4 laptop computers and a scale, while 20 graphing calculators were donated to Esayidi: FET College.

And not involving maths and science, but equally as significant has been the linking of members of the Zamokuhle Disabled Association with Lanakila Rehabilitation Centre in Honolulu. Members of both groups have written letters to each other and who knows where this ‘twinning’ will lead?

I can think of no more perfect way to thank Yunus and everyone involved with the project than by quoting one of, if not the greatest statesmen this world will ever know, past president Nelson Mandela.

The quote is from the final paragraph of his book, The Long Walk to Freedom:

The final day of the Port Shepstone project took place on his 85^th birthday. How better to honour Madiba than our pledge to him that we too will not linger as there are many more hills to climb? May Yunus find the strength, after he has taken a rest, to prepare to climb the many hills to come with this project and most especially for the year 2004. And may we all be there to support him in his efforts.

Hambani Kahle! Siyabonga nonke! Aloha!

Pauline Duncan

Administrator: Port Shepstone