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!!

7/30/09- Geology rocks!

I am a bit too tired to write a detailed entry (welcome back to the life of teaching), but I do want to share how the last few weeks of school have been.  We spent last week observing classes to see how things work at the school, and this week we have had the opportunity to actually teach. 

It has been a bit nerve wracking to enter into a new school with so many faces attached to long, confusing names that include a q…which represents a clicking noise (haven’t mastered that one yet!), but I am beginning to get my bearings.  I have been lucky enough to work with an English/geography teacher named Mr. Minyi, who is also an interim administrator.  On one of the first days he saw my hope in creating environmental lessons and handed over some geography textbooks.  I was excited to see that much of the geography curriculum focuses on the environment and ecosystems.  So, over the last week he has given me creative freedom to design cross-curricular lessons in both the 10^th and 11^th grade geography classes that focus on outdoor education. 

In the 10^th grade class we are creating a geological map of the campus.  We are going to study different rock types and students are going to investigate where the rocks possibly came from.  Since many of the rocks were mined, we are going to extend the lesson to incorporate a history lesson about mining conditions in South Africa.  We may also take the students on a field trip to visit the historical gold mines in Jo’burg.  I am super excited to see how this all turns out.

In the 11^th grade class, students are studying the different ecosystems on campus.  They are participating in nature observations and will then conduct research on specific species they find.  Once they present their research, they will create a gigantic food web linking many of the species on campus….we’ll see how this lesson goes.  These guys are not as excited as the grade 10 students…maybe I just have more of a knack with 10^th grade students though.

This week we also led our first teacher training on using reflection as a means to judge the effectiveness of your lessons.  It went pretty well.  We will hold teacher-training workshops on the next three Wednesdays.  Teachers from the township high schools will also attend.  We are headed to observe a township high school tomorrow.  I am really interested to see the difference.

A few days ago a few of our students gave us a tour of the township.  To be honest it made me kind of sad that I cannot be staying in the township.  Life there is much like it is in West Africa, very lively and communal.  I loved seeing all of the street vendors, creative fashion and hearing all of the music bumping on the street.  Mike was more than brave to drive Dolores…I probably would have hit someone.

7/26/09- Glorious Dolorious!

We are happy to report that we have added a new member to our family.  We rented a super old school VW Citi Polo for our stint here in Jo’burg.  Her name is Dolores.  As much as we love our two-bedroom place on LEAP campus, the campus is very remote.  We cannot even get to the grocery store, and Jo’burg is very much a car city, so we are extremely happy! I haven't taken any pics yet but found this great one online!

Oh, and since we are on the subject of animals, check out pics from our trip to the petting zoo.  Sorry our cubby friend is upside down...

And here are some pics of my roomies and one of me chillin' in the jacuzzi...

7/21/09- Sharp as an arrow

Ring, ring…ring?  Isn’t the bell supposed to ring?  Isn’t today the first day back at school after winter break?  Well, yes, but there are no bells ringing at this school.  So I arrived in Jo’burg a few days ago and have to say, I just didn’t understand how a school that looks like this really functions.  First of all, the school looks nothing like a school.  John Gilmour, the founder of LEAP, explained to us a few weeks ago that he thinks it is completely ridiculous that schools spend so much money building facilities when there are plenty of buildings that already exist.  This goes to explain why LEAP 1 and 2 are in office buildings and LEAP 3 is in a swinging 70’s ranch house. John G. believes in investing the school’s money in the things on the inside of the building…like teachers!  No class at LEAP is over 25 students.  The Life Orientation classes (life skills/group counseling) are taught by two teachers.  Some teachers have lighter teaching loads so they can split administrative duties.   Yes, the science class is taught in what used to be the bar, and the Life Orientation class is taught in the master bedroom (with jacuzzi!), but one of the staff members explained, “we love this place because we want the students to feel at home,” and that they do.  At breaks the kids fix themselves a PB&J in the kitchen, lounge in big beanbag chairs next to the pool, and kick soccer balls around in the spacious front yard.  Since most students have such cramped, often stressful lives in the townships, it really seems like this is their home away from home.  And the students seem to really appreciate it.  Not only do they split up cleaning duties to keep up the entire place, but I saw smiles all around and so much focus in the classrooms.

Another exciting feature on the property is the barn.  We actually started the day with a “community meeting” in the barn.  Everyone dragged a chair over from the main house, set them up, and to my surprise, two students stood up and led the meeting while the staff sat in back.  One boy, Tommy, started out by asking for a bit of reflection on the holiday events.  There had been a few activities organized for the students to participate in over the break and he wanted people to report back.  Students were pretty shy, but slowly stood up and gave some details.  After a few students stood up and said they went to the zoo and saw some pretty cool animals, the student facilitator interrupted and said, “Look, you are only stating the obvious.  You know you should be sharing what you learned, how you were challenged and how you faced those challenges.  You should also be using this time to thank those who helped provide this opportunity for you.”  Another student also stood up and said, “I also notice that people are laughing at those who are sharing.  It is tough to stand up and talk.  Some people may be sharing things that are meaningful, so we need to be respectful of that and not laugh.”  After that the sharing became much deeper.  Students who had the opportunity to take the five-day trip to Cape Town (with an 18 hour bus ride each way!) shared how it was a life changing experience for them.  Others shared the challenges of bonding with the students from LEAP 1&2.

After everyone finished sharing, Tommy shared his experience.  He attended a leadership conference that encouraged dialogue between white and black students from different schools across South Africa.  He split a dorm with a white student who opened up to him right away and even engaged him in a pillow fight on the first night.  For some reason, he explained, he just could not feel comfortable, “I realized that apartheid was over for him a long time ago, but I am still holding it in here,” he said with his hands on his heart.  He continued,  “but I learned that I have the power to make things change.”

Seeing Tommy take ownership of his feelings and realize that he is part of a powerful change was unbelievable to me.  Even though he is still the victim of a horrible, completely unequal society, he was not pointing fingers and putting blame on others for the injustices he sees around him.  He only looked forward to the hope that he sees in South Africa’s future. He was so full of hope that he continued speaking for 10 more minutes, non-stop.  Each point was as meaningful as the first.  Throughout his long speech, the kids started getting a little antsy, but not one single cell phone went off, not one laugh or rude comment either.

Tommy ended his reflection by saying, “At the conference I learned that a leader is like the tip of an arrow. In order for the arrow to pierce something and make an impact, it has to have the power and force of its people behind it.  One cannot work without the other.”  Again, I was so impressed.  Everyone clapped and finally an adult stood up to speak about some logistics regarding the day’s schedule…oh yeah!  That’s right…we were at school.  I had forgotten that again. 

7/16/09- Off to Jo’burg!

Tomorrow I will be headed to Johannesburg with two fellows- Karly and Mike.  Karly is a jr. high teacher from San Diego and Mike is a videogame designer from the Bay Area. They are both really nice and amazing cooks!  We will be living on the LEAP 3 campus…can’t wait to see our accommodations!

 

7/15/09 – A second chance

This afternoon we went back to REALISTIC to conduct more interviews.  Our main focus today was to interview the REALISTIC staff.  I knew that the staff had to be amazing, since they were taking so much time out of their lives to help these young men recovering from substance abuse, but the more we talked with them, the more I fell in love with this organization.

REALISTIC was started by a man named Solomon.  We were introduced to Solomon by John Gilmour, the founder of LEAP schools. We soon found out that Solomon is a very busy man.  Every time we went to the REALISTIC camp, Solomon would pick us up, usually a bit late because of meetings he was at, and then drop us off and continue with his busy life of meetings.  He was always so sad because running his organization takes so much time and all he wants to do is spend more time with the Realists. 

On the way up to the camp today I started to ask him about how he started REALISTIC.  Luckily Karen was able to pull out her camera and we were able to conduct an impromptu interview as we were driving.  He explained that he worked as a prison warden for 10 years.  After seeing so many young people from his community come into prison, over and over, he decided that something had to be done to help these at-risk youth.  So, he decided to quit his job (which his wife was thrilled about), and give it a go.  Because of his connections within the prison system, he was able to have social workers refer at-risk youth to his program.  That was about 5 years ago.  Now he has around 15 cycles (20 to 30 people in each cycle) of at-risk youth go through his program.  He has had amazing success and has seen many young men turn their lives around, get off of drugs and find jobs within the community.  He had also worked hand-in-hand with John Gilmour to help counsel some of the at-risk students from LEAP.

I soon noticed that he and John Gilmour were quite close.  Solomon is around the LEAP offices every day.  When I asked him how he met John, he just laughed and said, “It is a long story.”  So of course I probed him further until he told me some more details. When Solomon was a young teenager John Gilmour taught at a private white high school in Cape Town.  He used to drive a bus through the townships to pick up students for a drama project.  “I was always the first guy to gather people together [for John’s project], he explained” Young Solomon would also sit on the bus as John G. drove around.  Solomon approached John one day and said, “If they decide to integrate your high school, I’d like to go there.”  So, a few years later, after apartheid was over, they did decide to integrate the school, and Solomon was one of the first 10 black students to attend Pinelands High School.  “It was very hard for me to go there,” he explained, “I felt like I had to be the best at everything in order to prove myself.  I had to be the best in sports; I had to get good marks too… I would do homework every night, work on Saturdays and study all day on Sunday.”  When I asked if the students and the staff accepted him being there, he smiled again.  “Well, John was very supportive.  He would drive his big silver Mercedes over to pick [the black students] up every morning.  But, if other teachers passed us walking on the street, even in the rain, they would just drive past.  It was so hard.  Sometimes I think to myself, was that really, really me?”

Since then John Gilmour and Solomon have stayed close.  John has since moved on to open the LEAP schools and Solomon has founded REALISTIC.  Since the “offices” of REALISTIC are only an 8X3 room in the back of a larger room used for counseling the Realists, John allows Solomon to use LEAP offices for photocopying and making phone calls.  The more I talk with these guys, the more I understand the long chain of people working in South Africa to make a difference in other people’s lives.

When I was up at the camp today I started to chat with Wanda, a restorative justice counselor at the camp.  I asked him how he became involved with REALISTIC, and found out that he also had an interesting connection.  “I was serving as a prisoner on death row when I met Solomon…  He was a prison guard there and saw the work that I was doing.”   Naturally, being the first time I had ever spoken with someone who had been on death row, I needed to find out more.  “I was a political prisoner,” he explained. “But, once apartheid was over they reexamined many cases and my sentence was lessened to 22 years.”  He continued to tell me how hard it was for him to be locked up for 22 years.  While he was in prison his wife died and his children grew up.  He continued, “Building relationships with people after being in prison for so long is hard.  I am still working on that.”

Now that he has joined the REALISTIC community he has inspired so many other young men.  While he was in prison he acted as a father figure for many young men coming into the system.  He organized and coached soccer teams and created other opportunities for mentoring young men.  Solomon saw what a powerful leader he was while he was in prison and the minute he was set free, recruited him to work at REALISTIC.  Now Wanda is mentoring young men so they stay out of prison.