7/12/09 Tough questions

For the last four days we have been doing some “deep hanging out” with the LEAP student alumni (LEAPSA).  They planned a series of workshops for us to participate in and we planned a series of workshops for them to participate in.  I had the opportunity to learn about Xhosa culture, traditional South African dancing and gumboot dancing.  This was, of course, the day after the hike, so my legs were already killing me.  That was four days ago and my legs still hurt!  The dancing was awesome though.  Some of the fellows learned how to drum and we learned a short dance.  They put us on the spot and had us perform in front of the LEAP 3 Jo’burg students before they headed back on their 16-hour bus ride.

In the afternoon we learned something called gumboot dancing.  This is a type of dancing that came from the mineworkers during apartheid.  You have to wear bug rubber goulashes and stomp and slap your boots to make different beats.  It was difficult, but really fun.  The LEAPSAs were awesome teachers and now I have a few African dances under my belt…err, gumboots.

On Friday and Saturday the LEAPSAs attended our workshops.  Most of our workshops focused on study skills because now that the LEAPSAa are in college, many are having trouble studying and passing classes.  I love that LEAP continues to support these students.  I don’t know of any high schools in the US that help their graduates succeed in college.

I helped organize a workshop on American culture and values, which Jay, an ex Peace Corps Volunteer, and I presented on Saturday.  We started off the workshop by asking the simple question: “Based on what you have observed from TV and your interactions with Americans, what have you noticed about American values?” 

The LEAPSAs were very honest and brought up everything from the American Dream to drag queens.  They asked a lot of honest questions that we were able to address.  One of the things they brought up was the “fake American smile.”  They brought to our attention that it is viewed as totally bizarre that we walk by total strangers and smile at them.  They see this as totally fake and unnecessary.  They only smile at someone if they are hanging out and having a good time.  I am now working on this because I am a big fake smiler.

The toughest part of the workshop came when they asked about AIDS in America.  I told them that we do have people with HIV/AIDS in America but the highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection is found in the African American population in urban areas.  A few students got pretty upset and asked the question “is that really true, or does the media just portray the black population in a negative way?”  The LEAPSAs continued to tell us that this is a huge problem in South Africa. The media always discusses AIDS in black populations, but not white.  They also feel that all the statistics are skewed because they come from white statisticians.  I felt like I was in a tough position because I did not want to invalidate their feelings, but the fact remains that there is a 25% HIV/AIDS infection rate in the Langa township where they live.  This made me realize the importance of schools like LEAP. Because they have such a strong emphasis on math an science, hopefully more black doctors, statisticians and media professionals will start to emerge in South African society.  I think once this happens, more of the black population will have faith in the medical field.  Also, hopefully the media will begin to change to be more representative of the entire population’s views. All of this takes time though and there is a need for urgent change now.