Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2007 7:59 AM
Subject: Emini enthle kukule (Its a beautiful day)
In Brief:
Life is good.
I took my first taxi ride into the township two weekends ago. I went to a Rock of Ages church deep in the township. The service was four hours, but flew by. Lots of singing, praying, and dancing.
Still ringing the church bells now with the group for an hour on Thursdays. I can ring a peal with 5 others on bells.
A guitar was donated to me for the year. I played for my Bible study last Tuesday. I couldn’t believe they didn’t know my favorite hymn, "Come Thou Fount."
I bought a bike. I am pretty sure it is legit (not stolen). I bought it at a used car/furniture store. I had a body guard escort me to the ATM while I took out the money for the purchase so I wouldn’t worry.
Last Sunday I was an assisting assistant coach for a soccer tournament in the township for kids under 13. The kids played hard, had fun, and won a couple games. I reffed a game, and assisted in chasing goats and donkeys off the field. All the kids were fed, catered out ot the back of a pickup with fruit juice and cold hot dogs with ketchup and butter. It was an incredible experience. I was supposed to meet up with folks at 8:00 a.m. Coaches didn’t arrive untill 9:15 to pick us up from the shelter. We were late, but didn’t miss anything. While I have pointed out the odd differences, I felt like I was back in my Red Barons Soccer jersey of my childhood. watching these kids purely enjoying the sport. Many kids were barefoot or in street shoes, but playing just as competitive, intensely as any other.
I’ve been getting into the rugby fever. The rugby world cup is in France and is all the rave here in SA. The springbucs (South Africa Team) are doing well. USA, while putting up a good effort, are getting smoke. I’ve made a couple French exchange student friends who I have dropped into a pub to watch the games with.
Next week is the school break so am amidst making plans for my time off. There is a good chance I’ll be heading to Jeffrey’s Bay, a surfing mecca, to give surfing a whirl for the first time in my life. I guess we’ll see how it turns out.
I’m in a good place with my job. I’m loving the kids, and for the most part they are liking the extra help and attention. I’m still riding the honeymoon phase which I am surprised to say is still going. (Honeymoon phase is when kids are responsive and don’t rebel).
I have not rescued any wild animals recently. I did go on a field trip to Port Elizabeth with students to see an oceanarium that is in dire need of a fix-up. The trained dolphins were deviant and the tanks could be cleaned, but hey, we had a great time.
I’ve met a couple folks from the seminary. Good guys and very welcoming.
I’ve found the climbing gym and try to get in when I get the opportunity.
I locked myself out of my house, and was able to snag my keys on the other side of the main door gate after a half hour by pulling a McGyver maneuver using a mop handle and long section of wire from the fence. I’m pretty proud of my craftsmanship.
I found a place for the next two months after the person I am house-sitting for returns. It will be in a flat next to a house of 5 women and an 11 year old boy. That's about all I know except one is an opera singer, another a professor at the college and the rest students or just recently graduated, I believe.
Below is an a summary of what my volunteer life is like. I’ve got a regular 8:00 to 5:00 work day.
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Unabridged version of my volunteer experiences:
I go by many names here in Grahamstown -- Matt or bhuti (bro) by friends, Mr. Matt by other teachers, man of God, mlungo (white guy), Brother Matt (by students at the monastery in the after school program), the quiet guy (because I spend so much time trying to understand what students are saying), motherf%$#@ (by upset street kids when I take their swithches that they hit each other with), and Peter Parker (spider man...your guess is as good as mine). Each name relates to the many roles I play here (except the Peter Parker and the motherf%$#@).
For the first month my mornings were spent just observing at a school for street kids and orphans and any students that other township schools would not take because of their behavior. I wanted to just observe because I had a whole year here, I didn’t speak the language, and I did not want to jump in with a bunch of preconceived notions and ideas of how to “save the children” and end up creating more chaos. In that month I learned a lot about the status of the education system in South Africa. My perception is undoubtedly skewed because these students are the most challenging of the most challenging. In sharing my reflections with other teachers around town, my observations carry over to other township schools as well.
I needed to determine what were cultural issues, environmental issues (factors that arise from their individual life situations) and what was just chaos that with an extra hand could create some stability. What I concluded, as usually occurs when dealing with people, is that it is complex. Poverty, lack of positive adult role models, limited financial support and teacher training from the district, limited resources.
We make it work. There isn’t any other option. Every day is an adventure -- a child overdoses on pills and leaves in an ambulance; we learn a 15-year-old grade-7 student is pregnant; a student arrives in tears because his mother is dying of AIDS; a student comes to school with a infected cut or head wound; 5 teachers are not at school due to a union meeting.
Amidst the craziness of everyday life at this school I found a niche, a way I can be a help. In my first month, I spent time in every classroom and found many students struggling to read. It is easy for students to slip through the system due to the fact that a lot of the work is either copied off the whiteboard or pasted into their workbooks on worksheets. Of all the things I packed for my trip the things I am so grateful to have brought is my library of books that I have already made a dent in on the many quiet evenings, and my teaching resources that I have found to work well in my last 3 years of teaching.
I get to do here in South Africa what bureacracy and paperwork did not allow me to do in the States. I get to work 1-on-1 with individuals who desperately need to build confidence in themselves and their abilities. I am able to do this by teaching early literacy skills to students with learning challenges. My first student is an innovative student who is 15 and in grade 5. I also work with a 16-year-old in grade 3, and a pregnant student in grade 7. All of these students love to be able to work, as a means for attention and growing in confidence of their abilities. The honeymoon period has not yet ended probably due to the fact that the demand for attention far exceeds the supply and resources these students have access to. And so have begun my morning adventures at the school for street kids and orphans.
After settling into life at the school for street kids, I took a visit to a school for students with disabilities. This is completely different school with totally different challenges. Here at this school there are better resources, and opportunities to work in small groups with students with similar challenges. I may be spread a little thin, but now I volunteer Monday and Tuesday mornings at Kuyasa, first helping a couple of fetal alcohol/autism spectrum-type students, then support math instruction in another classroom as well as helping high school students preparing for the transition into graduation and finding their own jobs.
My afternoons are my constant. Two days I take Xhosa classes before going to the monastary for the after-school program. I carpool with June and Tombakia into the beautiful countryside. When we step out of the car, we hear either the sound of birds or absolute peaceful silence. No cars, planes overhead, absolutely nothing.....untill the kiddos arrive.
While I work with mostly township kiddos in the mornings, the afternoons I work with rural kids. The brothers at the monastery had a passion to support the local children to receive an education. They have paid for a taxi to come pick up students near their homes and bus them into the township schools, then bus them back to the after-school program. It is in this after-school program that the students have really grown on me.
Teachers know that some years you have students and classes that you connect with and years when it is a challenge to connect with students. I have connected with the boys I work with. June and Tombakia the teachers of the program are so great to work with and I feel like we all support each other well. Tombakia works with the 6 students in grades 3 and under, and June runs the program for the older students. June and I have a system where she pulls students one-on-one to address specific needs with homework , literacy or whatever, while I keep students busy helping with homework and providing activities to address specific skills they need. Its like a perfect model for a resource room (special ed classroom).
Our time in the after-school program is by no means a cake walk. We, like most teachers it seems, always have something to share about students' “naughty” behaviors, but I can’t help but love each and every one of those kiddos who are trying so hard in their own ways to find stability, attention, and love.
My evenings and weekends are usually spent getting to know people in the community. BIble studies, cafes, soccer tournaments, a Bible trivia night here, a gospel concert another night. I went to an ordination one Sunday, bike ride to the monastery the other and a taxi into a township church (4 hours long) yet another Sunday. While I’m busy there is still lots of down time.
There are not often moments in life when you know you are in a good place at a good time; moments when you know that your past experiences have provided the right resources from which to draw. I feel that, here in Grahamstown. Maybe this is because there is so much demand and so little supply, that I feel my limited experience as a teacher means much more to the students here. I know so many incredible educators and go-getters that would be able to support these schools far beyond my own means, but I am here and willing, and up for the challenge. I can only continue to grow. Though I go by many names here, my hope is always that I would represent Christ, and his grace in each one of our lives.
Thanks for reading!
God Bless,
Matthew Kellen
