I was not hijacked in England!

Hey guys, sorry for the crazy e-mail. Someone hijacked my yahoo account and sent out that crazy e-mail. Even worse, they erased my address book so I cannot send out a blanket e-mail to inform everyone.

Miss you guys and I will write more soon!

Sara

Arts EVOLve Community Artist Workshop

Hi all!

As you all know, I have been working with community artists to develop an arts program at LEAP 3 that uses creative methods to help students apply science, maths and LO (life skills) curriculum to community outreach projects.

After the success of the holiday program, LEAP 3 staff, students and the artist were demanding more, so we decided to continue the project on a larger scale. The artists decided that they wanted to actually create their own non-profit organisation to eventually work with many schools in multiple communities.

At first we were a bit confused on how we begin such a feat, but then Sarah D. and Lauralee from Dominican University came to Jo'burg to help us out. Last week they conducted a 2-day workshop at LEAP for the artists (myself included). At the workshop we learned the basics of forming a non-profit organisation and just learned how to better organise for the long run.

We left the workshop with new focus and a clear vision for the future (not to mention a whole lot of tasks to take us there!). The workshop was also extremely motivating for the artists and they are excited beyond belief about the prospects for the future.

Thanks so much to Sarah and Lauralee for coming out and thanks to LEAP and TWA for their support as we progress on this project.

We will keep you posted as we progress! Oh, and we chose a perliminary name for our project...Arts EVOLve.

Sara

Interview with Mongezi Mtati

Hey everyone,

Here is a recent interview from the Tech4Africa conference. I talk about the role of technology in community education and how much I've been inspired by the students at LEAP and all of my friends/work partners in SA.

Enjoy!

Sara

Check us out in the NY Times!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/09/world/africa/09safrica.html?_r=2&src=me&ref=homepage

Creating an army of crafters!

So, I am slowly getting more comfortable teaching at LEAP. It was difficult at first because I walked into a culture of very traditional chalk to the board teaching and didn't understand where I fit in. After trying that type of teaching for awhile I gave up (with the students' approval) and started feeling more free to teach the way I like- through projects and creative approaches.

The arts project that I featured in the last update was a hit and we have been asked to continue what we started, so we have formed a strong team of professional artists to come to LEAP on a regular basis. Now we are working with the kids to create a project around the theme of conviviality (the celebration of healthy living). They are then going to take these projects into the community to celebrate healthy living in Alex through theatrical performances and more. All of the costumes and set will be created and designed by our students. So many people just look at Alex for it's faults- violence and xenophobia. I have actually experienced quite the opposite. Every time I have been in Alex I feel that sense of community and togetherness that most communities lack, especially the upper class, fenced-in communities in Jo'burg.

I have been working a lot with the beadwork and fashion design groups. The kids are so excited to have this type of creative outlet. We require our kids to be at school from 8-5 Mon-Fr and 8-12 on Sat. Our arts program is giving the students a chance to apply maths and science in a new way. Who knew that you need both maths and science to create a necklace out of recycled materials? Counting, measuring and learning about the toxicity of glues and adhesives has made maths and science come alive in real ways.

I also love seeing the kids perfect their crafting techniques. As the kids started pumping out projects the Grandma McEwen in me made them redo and perfect their techniques until their handmade projects looked as good as store bought.

Next month some sustainable business developers are working with us to help us design our project for the long-term. So many of the artists have gained new inspiration working with our kids, so they have decided to make this a long-term effort. So watch out...creative teaching is on the loose!

The LEAP Center for Creative Reuse

I am alive! And yes, I am the worst blogger in the world. Well, to be honest, I have been so busy doing that I have no time for blogging. As to be expected, LEAP has been keeping me unbelievably busy. I just finished my first term here and also just finished leading a week-long workshop focused on recycling and reuse.

One of the things that LEAP tries to do is provide students with extended opportunities over the holidays to participate in positive, fun activities. So over the World Cup holiday I worked with some of my colleagues, both from school and our organisation SOWHO, to conduct a workshop that encouraged students to look for creative solutions to deal with waste. We invited about 10 artists from different sectors to come and work with the students. We had musicians, actors, jewellery makers, journalists, poets, garden experts, party planners and photographers leading different workshops- all focused on using recycled materials. Everyone had a great time and now the school has recycling fever! Below is a video from the workshop.

At the beginning of the video you will see pictures from the different groups. In the middle of the video you will see pictures of Alexandra, the township where our students live. All of the pictures of Alex were captured by our photojournalism students. They visited a particularly environmentally challenged informal settlement in Alexandra where trash has become so overwhelming that it is just piling up (not all of Alex has that much trash on the streets). Since it is an informal settlement it means that people have built shacks in places where there is no running water, electricity or garbage pick-up. The photojournalists then visited a FIFA-sponsored world-cup festival in Alex where a formal recycling program was being practiced for the two weeks that the festival was happening. Unfortunately after the festival was over FIFA took all the shiny new recycle bins with them...can't they help a community out?! I guess it gives our students a goal to work for- getting recycle bins in Alex permanently. We all learned a lot this week about what needs to be done and walked away feeling inspired to start to make a change. Enjoy the video...

Exciting updates!

So, A few things have happened since I wrote (but forgot to post) the last blog:

I have since learned that I will be attending 4 World Cup matches with Dave and Wally when they come to visit in June/July!

I have found a new place to live! Starting March 1^st I will have my own “cottage” on a property that is closer to my school. The new place is a much more multicultural environment and seems to be just way more relaxed and chill in general…I’ll keep everyone posted on how that goes.

This week we are submitting a grant proposal for a pretty big project that will allow students and residents of the Soweto and Alexandra townships to learn about global warming and assess their vulnerabilities to climate change. I am working on this project with Teach with Africa, LEAP and a team of creative folks from Soweto. Cross your fingers for us!

The poet must die

I just had to check the date on my computer in disbelief that it has only been a month since arriving in Johannesburg. It is crazy to realize that your whole life has changed in a matter of weeks: different place, different atmosphere and a whole different set of thoughts goes through my mind on a daily basis.

Upon arriving in Johannesburg (actually on my first night), I made some new friends that suggested a place for me to live. Just wanting a space of my own, I acted quickly and moved into a house with three Afrikaner girls (Afrikaners are the white, Dutch decedents) .

Being that all of my students and friends are either Zulu or Sutu, I was looking forward to getting to know the Afrikaner culture that I had heard so much about. Yes, I had heard that there were racial clashes between the two cultures during the long years of Apartheid, but after living in the post-civil rights U.S.A., I assumed most of the tension had been buried in the past.

The first night in my new place was probably one of the most eye-opening nights of my life (not an exaggeration). I guess growing up in a multicultural society like California, where people are pretty accepting and open, for the most part, you take for granted that you could be sitting on a bus next to an Asian and Hispanic person and think nothing of it. As I shared dinner with my roommates on the first night, I started to gain an understanding of what it is like for a society to be healing from a long, extensive and complete racial separation.

As we talked over semi-decent pizza my heart was crushed as my new roommates expressed total fear and misunderstanding of the black population that I work so closely with everyday and even hang out with on my weekends. I fell in love with Johannesburg because of the lively spirit, generosity, and fierce intelligence that I felt from my students and friends, and after only a few slices I lost my appetite over the disbelief that my roommates see these same people as not only a total threat, but also a hindrance to their advancement as a country.

After that first night my emotions became a bit of a rollercoaster- total highs when I was with my friends and students, and the worst lows as I came home and face a sterile and fear-filled house.

A few weeks ago I had a major emotional breakthrough though. After taking a stroll through my neighborhood with some good friends, I started to notice that there are a lot of old colonial buildings nestled between the newly built and barbed-wire protected brick houses. So I opened up my “Jo’burg Book” and found out that I live in what used to be Sophiatown: Johannesburg’s black cultural and artistic epicenter in the early-mid 1900’s. Sophiatown is particularly interesting because it is one of the few neighborhoods in Johannesburg that allowed all races to live together for many of the years during Apartheid. Unfortunately, the neighborhood was eventually dismantled in the 1950’s and all people of color were forced to leave, many of which went to Soweto.

Trough further research I discovered that many of the most influential black artists and writers, who started the black consciousness movement in South Africa, could have possibly lived, sang, danced, wrote and conversed on the very soil my house lies on now. It sounds completely silly, and I don’t understand why, but this gave me the most comfort that I have felt since I have arrived. I guess it gave me hope.

So, through my research that night I uncovered the following poem from Don Mattera, a poet from Sophiatown:

The poet must die

For James Matthews and Gladys Thomas after their poems were executed

The poet must die


her murmuring threatens their survival 


her breath could start the revolution; 


she must be destroyed

Ban her


Send her to the Island 


Call the firing-squad


But remember to wipe her blood 


From the wall,


Then destroy the wall 


Crush the house 


Kill the neighbours

If their lies are to survive 


The poet must die

For those of you that know anything about South Africa’s past, I imagine you have chills. I know I did. I brought this to my class the next day with excitement and had one of the best teaching days of my career. The lesson started with students looking at the poem with confusion, and ended with lots of wild gesticulating and sloppy penmanship and I wrote down students’ interpretations and thoughts as they uncovered the author’s emotions and meaning.

For me, the poem represented not only the racial fear and separation of the past, but also the lingering legacy of apartheid that exists today (and that I feel everyday in my house). I was surprised though when I asked my students about it. Although they had varying opinions, many felt that the poem represented the feelings of a past generation but they feel more optimistic about the current day situation. Again this gave me a lot of hope.

The students were so excited about the poem and the history of Sophiatown that I was able to arrange for them to visit and tour the current museum that exists in the newly build neighborhood. For some students, it was their first time being out of their township. Here are some pics from the tour:

I'm here!

After an extremely stressful three months of dealing with visa paperwork and saying goodbye to my friends and family in California, I have arrived in Jo'burg to live, teach and celebrate all that is great in life.

I was a bit nervous coming here since this is my first time to just pack up my life and move across the world for an indefinite amount of time. Knowing that I was going at it alone and having to jump into a rental car, drive a stick shift on the left side of the road and all that was a bit intimidating.

What I realized the first night here is that I am in no way doing this alone. I met some great new girlfriends on my first night who not only offered their friendship but a place for me to possibly live.

Night two was New Year's Eve and words cannot explain what a great experience I had. I was able to reconnect with all of my friends from the summertime and make some new ones too. Our hosts, Pule and his parents, brought out the turntables and a big group of us danced, laughed and enjoyed some deep soulful house music until the wee hours of the morning.

I have since been sleeping off the jet lag and relaxing at a super cute and crafty hotel in the university district of Melville.

My good friend Thabang has been helping me navigate the crazy streets of Jo'burg as I re-familiarize myself with the intricate web of highways and streets that confuse the heck out of me. I cannot wait until the day where I feel like I know where I am going without having to get lost 8 times over on my way to anywhere. The whole city is under construction right now in preparation for the World Cup, which complicates things even more.

Next week will be pretty exciting for me because I'll have a chance to reconnect with my students, who do not know that I am back.

It is truly a dream come true for me to be back here, none of which could have happened without the overwhelming support I've received from my family, friends (especially Gene and Jorja who have hosted me for the last few months), Teach with Africa, my colleagues at Kennedy High and especially the LEAP school.

Below are some pictures from the last couple months in California as I prepared for my departure...I miss you all already and cannot wait for you all to visit!!