Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2007 2:49 AM
Subject: Ndicela uhambe ngoku, enkosi (“I am asking you to go now,
thank you.”)
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In Brief:
In Brief:
I can't complain. This is saying a lot for me.
When teaching in Alaska, I kept a tally of my good days and bad days of the week
at work and averaged 2 for 5 days. Maybe I am just able to roll with the punches
better, or even enjoy the difficult moments, but I swear I am averaging like a
4.5 of 5 good days to bad.
Went surfing in Jeffrey's Bay, a surfing mecca
to many, for 3 days. By the third day I could honestly say I was catching waves
and sitting on top of the world (Beach Boys song). The wave I surfed would be
considered the bunny slope if I were on a snowboard on Mt. Baker. I also drank a
lot of salt water and saw dolphins playing in the waves near the
shoreline.
Spent a couple days at Addo Elephant Park
observing antelope, zebras and elephants in about as natural an environment as
you can get nowadays. Also got to hold an Egyptian cobra and green boomslang
(very poisonous snakes) at a really sketchy reptile center just outside the
park. In the states you would have to sign a waiver. Here, eh, “you'll be fine.”
I had a great time with Jesse and some of the volunteers from Umtata. They
marveled at luxuries that I had taken for granted here in the relative safety of
Grahamstown. The dynamics are so fascinating with first world and third world
living within blocks of each other.
I am taking guitar lessons from the HA Man
(Andrew), one of the beggars on High Street. Every Wednesday on lunch break he
gives me a lesson. He has taught me to play “No Woman No Cry” by Bob Marley, and
we are working on my second song, another reggae gospel song.
I have met a really quality friend in Agnes, a
cute French exchange student. She got me into watching rugby. The rugby World
Cup is being played in France this year. France made it to the semi-finals. The
finals were on Saturday between South Africa and England. When South Africa won,
the streets were filled with drunken debauchery. While driving past the Rat and
Parrot (a local pub), people crowded around honking cars with flags and painted
faces. I admit I joined in the festivities, although not so drunk and
debaucherous. It was like a New Year's celebration, or 4th of July
party. Any reason for folks to get drunk and yell seemed to be reason enough to
celebrate. Although my interest in rugby is keen, this World Cup made the victory
that much more awesome being here in South Africa. Although I have aspirations
to play rugby, I am in no hurry to get knocked around like those guys do.
Enough of the fun stuff, I am also working. I am
helping with “Stone Dragon” an organization that works to get students excited
about learning in township schools with hands-on lessons and activities. Those
involved in the Grahamstown program are all college students with passions for
their field, but limited experiences in the classroom. I taught my first kind of
pilot lesson for the group at Amasango, and it went really well. Who would have
thought that I would be teaching teachers.
At the school for street kids, Amasango, I have
been increasingly taking on a special education teacher role, referring two kids
to get tested for an actual special ed school, teaching students to read one-on-one primarily, and creating new teaching games that other volunteers can use for
all the downtime in the classroom that usually occurs when kids finish early. I
also got on the ball and took a kiddo to the physical therapist to see what kind
of exercises I could work with him on. He has cerebral palsy, which means for
him that he has limited mobility in his legs. He is 16 and in grade two. We have
started doing exercises after lunch every day.
At Kuyasa, the school for special needs kids, I
work with young guys first thing in the morning with kids who only speak
Afrikaans. The only words I have tried to learn are “Vie hut,” very good. The
teacher is incredible and I am learning as much as I am helping, just sitting
with the wild child. I feel like I am back in Anchorage during this time because
the students are so young and wild, funny, and draining. I also teach a craft
every week to two classes. I've never really been a crafty person, but am
learning how important is is for these kids to think creatively and not worry
about being wrong, or making mistakes.
The place where I feel like the program is most
successful is in the after-school program. We work with 12 rural kids split into
two different classrooms (older and younger). I work with the older kids and
have set up a reward system that they respond well to. Three students have saved
up 100 points (for following directions, finishing work etc.) and bought some
white-out pens, which is the hot commodity. They can earn things like pens and
pencils, etc. as a way for me to focus students on the right behaviors as opposed
to just reprimanding poor behavior. Anyway, seeing these kids excited to learn
to brush their teeth, and read, and type on the computer and throw an American
football or Frisbee is amazing. Seeing them grow and learn despite all the
potential barriers is so encouraging. I argued with one student who is a big
complainer for a whole period half-seriously, and now we have the best
relationship -- able to joke and get work done simultaneously. There are times when
I am just observing student interaction that I think I am watching a first;hand
version of the French independent film “To Be and To Have.” Great movie about
teaching in a rural town in France.
I helped slaughter a goat according to Xhosa
tradition as a means to ask dead elders to provide guidance for women who have
come of age. Long entertaining story. I don't even know where to start but will
put it on my blog at some point. Eating goat intestines that still have crap in
them and being watched for a reaction can be a challenge.
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Unabridged Version (sermon):Ndicela uhambe ngoku, enkosi. This simple phrase “I am asking you to go now,
thank you.” is a common phrase I use on a daily basis usually when students are
upsetting others on the playground, but this phrase echoing the great commission
resounds with my growing understanding of evangelism and humility.
The more I am here, the more I realize that
anybody could do this. I am no saint, just willing to work with what I've got
every day. My living is not difficult here, I have a nice house with friends,
and endless opportunities to meet interesting people with different
circumstances. I have friends working in far worse conditions with far greater
responsibility. Nevertheless, here I am making the most of what God has
graciously offered me.
Anyone could be here doing this. The only
difference is the willingness to be in new environments being offered new
problems to solve. I am not the greatest teacher, or role model, but given the
circumstances I do the best I can, and the best I can means a lot to these kids,
and my new found friends. Looking for opportunities and taking advantage of my
experiences and skills is all that I have been able to offer, and is all anyone
really is asked to offer. God provides the opportunities, we just have to be
willing to go daily.
I think most people think when they read my
e-mails that I am working with kids that are always in tears, or are always
carrying a knife in their back pocket ready to stab someone in self-defense, or
always have their hand out asking for money. I am so blessed to say this is not
the truth. The more I get to know my students, the more human and genuine I
realize they are. They all make do. We all do, or we die. It all comes down to
being able to make do and love life in the synapse. The more I get to know my
students in the after-school program, the more we laugh, the more we share in
life and love amongst the hardship. Walking home from church with one of my
students, we shared about life. His perspective on life set me back just
realizing how much of a grasp this kid had on what life is. To paraphrase his
words, he said today he felt like himself, some days he wakes up and doesn't
feel like himself, but on this day he felt good. He prays to God every morning
hoping for a good day. By the tone of his voice I could tell he was desperately
holding on to hope and faith. Here in South Africa, there is a clear boundary
between the rich and the poor, haves and have nots.
These kids see what having money is about, and
when Brom said he wanted to be white when he grew up all was put into
perspective for me. Their idea of being American comes from reruns of soap
operas “The Bold and The Beautiful;” “Days of Our Lives;” Jackie Chan, Van Damme,
and Steven Seagal movies; “Walker, Texas Ranger” and “WWE Smack Down Wrestling.,”
This is their hope, their dream, the unattainable unreality that most have hoped
for at some point in our lives. I am not suggesting that everyone wants to be
Jackie Chan or Walker Texas Ranger when they grow up, rather reflecting on the unattainable
ideals that we are fed by the world.
We are who we are and that is all God asks us to
be. We are all dealt different cards in the game, and we make the most with what
we've got hoping for greater things; and looking for opportunities to love each
other and him. Some seek the wrong things but have the same desires or seek for
temporary patches to make life okay. My friend and guitar instructor the HA Man
(Andrew) lives his life as a beggar on High Street asking for money and
cigarettes and used clothing, and selling copies of his CD. He still wants the same
things -- respect, appreciation; basic needs. As his guitar student, I am able to
offer him dignity and respect by giving him the responsibility to teach me.
Just by being willing to learn from him, (and pay 20 rand a lesson, $3 US) I have
found someone of a very different background with very similar desires in life
(not the cigarettes and used clothing). When I was getting frustrated with “No
Woman No Cry,” a Bob Marley tune, Andrew stated that he wanted me to get it right
because he didn't want people to think he was crazy because I couldn't play it
right.
When invited to a traditional Xhosa ceremony
including the slaughtering of a goat, I was so embraced and welcomed and
honored, I was so overwhelmed with their gratitude for my willingness to just
be, to just understand, to know more. To them this meant there was hope for
their country that someone would not be afraid to be in their company and would want
to learn their culture. Ubuntu is the term used, vaguely meaning a united
people.
In conversation with non-Christians and
Christians alike over a glass of wine in the Karoo, walking through town, or
tossing a football, the most genuine conversations about God come out
spontaneously. In these conversations I feel closer to God than when I have an
agenda, and I feel others get a better sense of what it means to actually desire
to know God more. These conversations came about not by my attempt to convert this
person or earn the most "I love Jesus" points, but because I am who I am, and
am willing to be that to others (genuine about my thoughts, ideas, passions, fears,
joys etc.). God is big and knows the big picture, He will provide, if we would
only be open, seek the opportunities and go. We don't have all the answers, and
God never asked us to have them, but to trust that He does.
I am who I am with all the aloofness, funky
dancing, awkward silent moments and absent-mindedness that comes with the
package. I wouldn't have it any other way. I leave you with a quote from one of
the greatest emancipating proclaimers to live. “I am not bound to win, but I am
bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light
that I have.“ (Abraham Lincoln)
May the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy spirit be with us all.
Amen.
Much Love,
Much Love,
Matt Kellen
If you have differing opinions or would like clarifications on anything I have written please e-mail me. Thanks. Your feedback is an encouragement.
