A "Family" View of the School Community

The more time we spend at A.V. Bukani, the more we become part of the fabric of the school and the community. Children call out to us across the school yard with phrases from the books we’ve read in their classrooms or songs we’ve sung with them.  Mothers welcome us as Nosango and Tando, names they gave us in 2009.  Teachers enjoy photos of Sara’s children, remembering that on her last visit here in 2010, she was pregnant with her older child Maxine. We wear the traditional dress that was given to us in 2008 on formal occasions like the farewell for Randi and Steve, and the teachers and families hug us and want to take pictures with us. We are part of them, and they are part of us.

But just as we see the wonderful aspects of life here, we also see the challenges more clearly because we are no longer treated as guests, but as family.  Life is hard here. We are reminded on a daily basis, on an hourly basis, just how easy life is for a white middle-class person in the U.S.  Our life here is certainly different than home, but still…

Muddy streets from overbearing, cold rain--

For us: We scrape mud off our shoes and put on dry ones.

For them: Children in shoes a size too small, with no socks, and threadbare clothes shiver or don’t come to school at all.

Municipal water that is unreliable--

For us: We drink from the bottled water we always carry.

For them: An hour, a day, a week with no clean water for all your needs.

Illness and death--

For us: We mourn the teacher friend that we lost.

For them: Weekends are filled with funerals for family, friends and colleagues of every age. This week, one teacher lost two young cousins from illness, another lost a sister-in-law from an accident slipping in the mud, and the mother of the president of the SGB (a parent board with governing rights in the school) died on Thursday. That’s just the ones we know about.

Eye glasses-

For us: A postponed eye exam because of our time here.

For them: A school of 1000 learners with only a handful wearing glasses. Others squint at the board or put their faces ½ inch from the page of the book. How much could they be learning if they could see the words?

While on our first trip to South Africa, on a 2006 tour with multi-cultural educators, we heard great optimism about the “new South Africa.” Today, there is tremendous frustration with the lack of services provided by the government. Fraud and embezzlement at every level are rampant, starting with the president Jacob Zuma, whom a watchdog group found used nearly $18,000,000 of taxpayers' money to turn his private home into a display of "opulence on a grand scale." He just took on his 5th wife, which appalls people of every culture we spoke with.

Yet Zuma is with the ANC – the African National Congress – the party of Nelson Mandela. And the majority feel they cannot leave that party or they will dishonor Mandela’s legacy.  But they don’t know how their children will feel when it is their turn to vote…

There is a consistent disappointment in the services provided through the Ministry of Basic Education. The Minister Angie Motshekga has admitted the problems herself, issuing an open letter apologizing to grade 12 pupils in 2012. She wrote: "I know 2012 has not been an easy year for you. I also understand that you may feel I ... have let you down. I apologise unreservedly for all you have been through as a pupil." Not much has changed. Just a few days ago, Motshekga stated at a public forum, “Things are quite bad, I’m sorry to say.”

American-born filmmaker Molly Blank, who now creates compelling documentaries about South African education wrote that Motshekga’s apology “devastated me, not because of what she said but because of the fact that the government's neglect of pupils compelled her to say it.”

But Molly went on to document high schools that work, despite the odds of incredible poverty and few resources https://vimeo.com/schoolsthatwork .  Her book and videos, ‘How to Fix South Africa’s Schools: Lessons from Schools that Work” (http://bookstorm.bookslive.co.za/blog/2014/04/04/molly-blank-and-jonathan-jansens-how-to-fix-south-africas-schools-launched-with-john-maytham/) sends an important message, particularly about the power of school leadership.  As in the United States, the power of a principal cannot be denied. And the “hidden curriculum” of the “emotions and attitude” of the teachers is as critical as the “formal curriculum,” a teacher at one highly successful school stated. Her project was commissioned by Jonathan Jansen, Vice Chancellor at the University of the Free State, an education champion in South Africa.

The educators and the families at Bukani teach us to take the long view. Not everything can be done now, but progress can be made bit by bit. We do see progress at A.V. Bukani.  We do see a strong leadership team of Prinicipal Zilindile Thambo and Deputy Principal Ace Lamani. We continue to have hope this school will build on successes, despite challenges and set-backs.  

We come to recognize that we, steeped in our privilege, don’t have the right to get frustrated when committed teachers come to school, despite illness and loss, to better the lives of their children; and students come to school through the mud and the rocks and who-knows-what, eager to learn.

Commitment

Larry has been working with several teachers that he had not worked with before.  Their commitment is impressive.  One teacher buried two young cousins within the past week, but still came to school, sat right next to Larry, took notes on the guided reading process as she watched, and then planned and did two introductory lessons herself. Another was sick all week but dragged herself to school each day to make sure she was in class when Larry was demonstrating.

Larry did professional development three days this past week. He presented information about beginning reading development and guided reading. After a full day of teaching under challenging conditions, the teachers came and listened intently and were engaged in the session. They asked some thought provoking questions, and only when their sole means of transportation was departing did some of them leave.

Lumka , a grade-four teacher Larry has worked with since our first visit, looked around the room of her peers and stated that they needed to continue meeting like this, discussing teaching practices, sharing their successes and challenges, and improving as professionals. No one disagreed.  Heads nodded in agreement.

After another session on Thursday that ended with no comments or questions after Larry’s presentation (maybe Larry wasn’t the only one who was tired), one of the grade R (kindergarten) teachers, Yolanda, came to talk to him. She wanted him to know that what he was sharing with them was “powerful," even for the foundation phase.

At our weekly debriefing with Paul from Calabash, the organization that organizes volunteers for Bukani and other township schools, the teachers Larry works with spoke of the progress, although slow, they see in the struggling learners Larry asked to work with. They see hope and so does Larry, both for their learners and for the teachers. It will take time, but here in South Africa, in the eastern Cape, in Nomatansanqa, at A. V. Bukani Primary School, they are taking the long view and so are we.

Parents Trek Through the Mud

Eileen’s parent programs continue to build, as parents trek through the rain and the mud to make sure they are part of these. The mothers and grandmothers share some drawings their children made with accompanying letters, words, or stories.

This coming week, the weather looks good on meeting days. The principal sent a note home to all the families about the meetings, highlighting that “parents are the child’s first teacher.” The orange picking season is slowing down a bit so more parents may be available.  Who knows who we will see this week…

Excitement at both ends of the scale

Randi’s work with writing at the upper grades showed there are some solid skills being developed in the language arts. This week we also saw evidence of other areas of knowledge.

Principal Thambo teaches Natural Sciences to the older learners and he came in beaming on Thursday. He gave the students the assignment of building an electric circuit, with the project due on Monday. One group completed the assignment two days early.

At the other end, there is much excitement surrounding new classrooms and play areas for Grade R next year. Three spacious double-classrooms are under construction with three additional covered play areas. They are already painted bright primary colors with built-in cubbies. The Grade R teachers at Bukani are loving and full of life. We can only imagine the learning that will blossom at what South African educators rightly call “the foundation phase.”

 

So how do we feel as we enter our fourth and final week here?  Life here is engaging, rewarding, hopeful, frustrating, fascinating, inspiring, devastating, enriching, joyful, depressing, emotional … and exhausting. On Friday we packed up for the weekend in the nearby city, thinking we are worn out and ready to leave next week. And on Friday, we sang with the learners and tearfully wondered how we could leave next week.

Eileen and Larry a/k/a
Nosango and Thando

Lessons We Learn

We come to South Africa not only in the hope of improving the lives of others, but to be changed ourselves. Our work through Calabash Tours and their international partner, People and Places: Responsible Tourism, is all about respecting the values and strengths of the communities that volunteers work with. With that overarching principle, we are taught lessons by the people we work with and those we meet every single day. 

Randi and Steve Adleberg, our friends and colleagues these two weeks, joined in the lessons. Here’s how Randi put it:

  “When we went to Port Elizabeth last weekend I wanted to stock up on TP, pencils, pens, crayons, poster paper, etc. Eileen pointed out, ‘So you buy toilet paper for the school; it will last a week. Then what?’ Our goal here is to make sustainable changes in education, not to provide consumables. The students and staff are used to working with the supplies they have. And the learning occurs--even without all the school supplies we, in The States, find so necessary. 

  “Do I wish the learners had supplies?  Do I wish I could xerox and distribute practice work instead of writing it on the board over and over again?  Of course I do. Would it speed things up? Undoubtedly. Does it make a difference in what they learn?  I don't think so. 

  “Here are all the things they DO have. Ace taught a lesson on electricity yesterday. He started with a web centered around the words, electrical power. He asked the students to list all the things they could think of that use electricity. ‘Fridge!’ ‘Stove!’ ‘Lights!’ ‘TV!’ ‘Cell phone!’ ‘Computer!’ they all shouted.  And the families do have most of these things (although few have computers, and cell phones still need ‘minutes’ to be purchased to make them work).

  "But more importantly, I think, they have free time!  They have two recesses at school, and time to run around, and play, and just be kids. Several of the kids are on sports teams: soccer and rugby mostly. I have at least one student who takes karate. (He has his yellow belt.)  And I have noticed older kids who run on the dry afternoons. But they do not seem crazed with extra-curricular activities. Everything is at a more comfortable pace. And people do not let lack of the best sports equipment stop them from being excellent athletes.  

  “I've learned many things from my two weeks at the A.V. Bukani School, not the least of which is that quality of life is not dependent upon how quickly we achieve our goals, or on how many material goods we possess, but on taking the time to savor what we do have.”

The lesson hit home on Thursday again, when the school community gave Randi and Steve one of their grand farewell parties. As the teachers were preparing for it, Randi said, "They don’t need to do this. We have such little time with them and there is so much pressure on them already." 

Eileen responded that this is indeed what they want and need to do. What we have learned is that this is an essential part of the school’s life – Celebrations and showing of appreciation are not to be ignored for “serious work.” They come first. And oh yes, as much as they mourned last week, they celebrated this week, showing appreciation for educators who come so far to share their skills and their hearts.

The teachers, and some of the students regaled us in song and dance, and prayer. "Thank you, God, for sending Steve and Randi to us. Thank you, God, for giving them the skills, so that they could teach them to us."  

Randi and Steve made a huge contribution in their time here. What draws us back here year after year is the belief that the strategies and knowledge (and caring) shared with the teachers make a profound difference in the school community. 

We see that reflected in the teachers and students this year. Seven years after our first visit, teachers at A.V. Bukani immediately trust people of another race and another country in mutual respect, are engaged in strategies shared in their classrooms, and request and attend after school professional development. And, we see it in the READING and now the WRITING (!!) of the older students.

The volunteers with Principal Thambo and Ace Lamani.
Eileen & Larry honor the community by wearing the traditional
dress made for them by the mothers in 2008.

Randi came with fresh eyes, with high expectations for the older students (higher than we admit we even had). They responded. She and her mentor/mentee Ace Lamani, the Deputy Principal and teacher, learned a great deal from each other.

Steve came with a willingness to share and to learn from his co-teacher, Ben Tenato, the upper grades math teacher and head of the math department in the school. "Thank you for the honor of being part of your school community," Steve said at their farewell.

Ben noted his deep appreciation for Steve’s openness and support: “He did not come to judge me. We taught together and we were like a team that had been together a long time,” Ben said. “Every time he demonstrated a lesson, it became clear to me what I was missing, what I needed to do to improve.”

Ben using techniques from Steve 

Steve in the classroom

Randi’s last lesson for her students was on letter writing. She wrote this letter on the board. 

The students in each class wrote letters back to be mailed to her. Some could not wait and handed her letters as she was leaving. They were all in tears (Randi, too). Here are snippets:

“Thank you, about everything you have done for me, teaching me that education is important.

“I don’t know how to thank you. But thank you, Randi. It was nice having you around. I wish that God could bless you.”

“Thank you, for [teaching] some things that we are going to never forget in our lives.”

“I have no words to say, but I want you to always remember that you will always be at our hearts. Thank you Randi. You were like a mother to us.”

 “I want you to know that you are one of the people I admire and inspire me to do well and be great at work.”

 

“You were a very supportive teacher. You taught me to not laugh at another person.”

“I’m going to miss your smile.”

Where else do you make a life-changing impact like that in two weeks?

Two More Weeks for the Kuglers

We have two more weeks to go and we appreciate the extra time we have this year, grateful we decided to stay a month instead of our typical three weeks.

Larry is in the midst of working with the teachers in Grades 2, 3 and 4 on Guided Reading. What Randi has seen and reported about the reading and writing skills and excitement in grades 6 and 7 has inspired Larry in his work.  

Since the last time we were here in 2012, when grade 4 was the highest grade, we can now see the possibilities and the fruition of the work that Larry, Sara, and Cecily began in 2008. Since these grade 6 and 7 learners have had three additional years of opportunities to talk, read, and write in English since our last visit, their potential has been unleashed and many of them converse easily and effectively in English.

It is important to note that English is not spoken anywhere in their community, other than by the teachers during English class. This is not an immersion into a language all around them. It is swimming upstream to learn an essential and required skill if they are to continue in higher education and in commerce in the broader South African society. It is the reason we all created a library of quality books in English for this township.

The lesson for Larry this year: While progress may be slow, progress is indeed taking place!

This progress has fueled Larry’s commitment to provide small-group guided reading to the teachers’ array of teaching techniques. The previously introduced techniques of think-pair-share, read aloud, and the use of big books have been integrated into the fiber of instruction, more effectively in some classes than in others, but noticeably in most classes that teach English. The goal is now to develop a small group approach that can be used to meet the more specific needs of individual learners. Larry will continue to model the approach and then transfer responsibility to the teachers with whom he works to help them develop this skill.

They can then share this approach with other teachers in the school.  Slowly but surely they have done this with the other techniques and we know they can do the same with guided reading. With two more weeks in the school during our current visit, we are encouraged by the progress Nombulelo (grade 2), and Melene and Coke (grade 3) have made and optimistic about the future

Things Do Work Out

Eileen continues her work to connect with the families in the township and in the broader community. Her big lesson (which she learns over and over again!): patience. Used to being able to see the big picture and strategize the little steps needed to get there, Eileen finds that sometimes the little steps don’t work here. Or sometimes you don’t know they are working. Or sometimes the big picture is really years, not days away. But in the end, things do start to work, at just the pace they were supposed to. Patience. Patience and faith.

Getting parents together is a challenge this time of year. The main employment in the township is in the orange groves, and this is the height of picking season. Parents are working long shifts throughout the day and evening, picking and packing the fruit. The frequent rain, unusual this time of year, has made it even more difficult because the fruit can’t be picked when it is wet. So when the weather is sunny, the shifts are long and may carry into the weekend.

Despite this challenge, Eileen held a successful parent meeting this week, with twelve mothers and grandmothers there helping plan four more meetings over the next two weeks. They were all women Eileen had worked with over the years and they were very eager to reconnect. She worked with them on helping create a love of books with their children, and they indeed enjoyed having books in their hands.

Eileen is going to share simple ways families can support their children’s learning at home. In addition, one of the leaders of the township is helping organize a knitting program as part of the meetings, to knit scarves and hats in the school colors for the students who don’t have them. Several of the women will cook dinners for all the participants, so even workers from the grove can get off the busses and come right to school.

Eileen also gets the fun opportunity to read and sing in English with the youngest learners. Boy, do they love "Brown Bear"!  They already know a few rhymes and songs in English as the school is working to introduce English as early as possible. 

One other lesson Eileen learned was from one of the teacher leaders at the school, a caring teacher committed to making the school a place where all children can get the education they need. When Eileen told her how much she respect the hard work Mrs. Sam puts in every day to make the place better, the teacher said, “If everything is perfect, you never learn. You must make progress every day.”

So perfection is not the goal… learning is. True words of wisdom.

Eileen and Larry

Far More Than the Sum of Its Parts

What’s bright with color, created with love, and filled with the hopes and dreams of an entire community? The A.V. Bukani school quilt!

Words cannot describe the significance that this quilt took on for the community. The Herald newspaper in Port Elizabeth (S.A.’s 5^th largest city, which is an hour away) wrote about the project, including photos and audio on their website. http://www.weekendpost.co.za/article.aspx?id=459792 Mothers and grandmothers poured their hearts onto their squares, appreciating the opportunity to send a message to the school and to their children about their hopes for the future. The quilt-making model developed by Teaching for Change in Washington was the perfect way to engage families and give them the tools to be supportive advocates for their chidren

Each family member described their special square at the final meeting. What might have appeared like simple shapes or cut-outs took on deep meaning as they explained their creations. There was the stately grandmother who said she no longer had children at the school, but her home is always filled with the children who live nearby, as she encourages and helps them. Her square included the cut out of a cow: “Just as a cow gives milk to nourish all, I ‘give milk’ to nourish all the children nearby,” she explained. There was the mother who wanted her daughter to be a social worker. Her square included the word, “Friendly,” surrounded by a hand “because she needs to help others,” and a heart, “because she must have a big heart.” This incredible mother, whose own education had been stopped and restarted multiple times because of the apartheid struggle and the lack of money for advanced courses, sewed a zig-zag path in small green beads leading up a mountain, “because the path to the mountain top is never straight and easy. She must work hard to stay on her path so she can reach her goal.” Then there was the young mother who had sewn a large sun at the center of her square, with the moon and the stars nearby. “My son is like the strong sun. He will always shine. Even when the stars and moon are out, my son will still be shining.”

An increasing number of teachers became involved with the quilt project. Listening to the parents and grandparents was truly enlightening on many levels. The principal came to speak to the last meeting. In a lively dialogue, he talked with the parents about how to continue the work started by this quilt, to partner to strengthen the education of all the children of the township. The parents agreed they would stay involved, working with the teachers, and keeping a watch over all children, not just their own. The principal promised to continue to involve families in their children’s education. Family story time at the school, in collaboration with the municipal library, is one project now in the planning stages. The quilt will hang in the entrance to the school as a reminder to all of the power of dreams.

Creating the quilt – we believe the first such school quilt in South Africa – was an extraordinary activity. There were many times during the three weeks when Eileen wasn’t sure how to get to the next step, because it had to be uniquely relevant to these families in this community, and then people and events just moved it forward. There were the three mothers who spent hours cooking full meals for 35 – 50 people at each meeting, serving and washing each dish afterwards. These meals became a highlight of the program. There was the teacher who mentioned she knew how to make a quilt like this and then spent a Saturday morning driving Eileen to the fabric store and picking up all the materials (She happened to be one of the few teachers with a car!). There was the teacher who suggested that Eileen tell the families about adult education classes nearby. Of course, Eileen quickly talked him into making a presentation to the families himself, and then the following session, his wife told the families about the library where she worked. There were the three faculty members who lived in the township and came to every meeting, from beginning to end, helping the parents, translating where necessary, supporting Eileen and just making sure that everything worked as it should. There was the day when Eileen worried she would never get all the squares sewed onto the backing, when several teachers who had never been involved in the process appeared in the staff room and began sewing with her. And then, the mothers who showed up to make sure the project was finished properly, quickly picking up needle and thread. The quilt became an intense source of pride to all the families and teachers and will soon be an inspiration to the children as they pass it each day.

And for Eileen, there was Larry – given the Xhosa name of “Tando” or “love” – by the parents and grandparents at the last meeting. At the end of the busy day of working with so many teachers, he would join Eileen at the family meetings, doing everything from helping the parents to serving the food, to sweeping the floor when it was all over.

Teachers Commit to Making Continued Progress

"We promise, we promise, to continue to work on what you have shown us and to use the materials you brought,” said Qamba, one of the teachers who Larry worked with, speaking for the whole group at our final meeting with the faculty and principal. Qamba said that her students had asked her if she would be reading them a story every day, and other teachers agreed that their students looked forward to this each day.

Everyone agreed that the use of the big books and the Making Meaning materials were highly useful and that the teachers had made great strides in using them effectively in the classrooms. The teachers all agreed that their students loved the big books and the stories in the Making Meaning kits. Although Larry worked directly only with teachers who teach English in grades 2, 3 and 4, nearly every teacher in the school (even those in grades K and 1) had either observed Larry do lessons in the classrooms or attended Larry's big book/shared reading training session after school.

All agreed on the following initiatives for the summer of 2010:

• that we would continue to provide instruction about how to use the big books to teach specific skills.



• that we would work to purchase more big books, including some in Xhosa for the grade K and 1 teachers. Before we left several orders were placed with publishers that supply South Africa. The teachers agreed to contact publishers within South Africa and Larry would continue the search in the United States.
  
  
• that we would try to find additional quality educational computer programs for the computer lab.

Next year we will be working on a dream that we have had for A.V. Bukani since we began this project – a library for the school. Principal Thambo spoke eloquently about this, noting this is essential if we are to build on the instruction and create a school of readers. There is a small space for a library now, but we always dream big. We hope to secure a shipping container (two containers would provide space for the students to sit and read!) or a mobile classroom to create the library these students need and deserve. We’ll be collecting books this year, and hope to solve our biggest issue – how to ship them. But as they say in the show “South Pacific,” If you don’t have a dream, how you gonna make a dream come true!

We’ve landed back in the U.S., a little jet-lagged and a lot inspired. For those who have contributed moral and financial support, we hope you can see the impact you have made on this school. We could not have imagined the progress that has been made since we first stopped there. More thoughts on this years trip later…

Eileen and Larry (a/k/a Nosango and Tando, and yes, that's really what they started calling us!)