Subject: “Ndiqibile yaye ndiza kuqala" (I am finished, and I will begin)
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It has been hard to find closure or to reflect on how this year has been forming. I look forward to the conversations I will have when I return home, but I don’t know what I will say or what differences people will see in me. I know the questions will come: “What have you learned? How has the Lord worked in your life? How has your time changed you?” I look forward to as much as anyone what my response will be. I don’t know what I will say. I don’t know how I will respond.
There are things I have taken great delight in seeing and being a part of here: Watching children grow, providing opportunities for kids to see their world and their potential differently. I have taken delight in seeing a community taking ownership of the issues, person by person.
There are things that I know I have not and cannot do for people. I cannot be a father to the 100 kids who desperately need one. I cannot just walk down the street screaming, ”Wake up, don’t you see what alcohol and drugs has done to your life?” Or “Get tested for HIV, you are killing the ones you care about the most, don’t you see it at the funerals you go to every Saturday?” Or “How can we stand for the corrupt and dysfunctional criminal justice of this nation?” There is so much more involved here. The issues go so much deeper. Poverty, culture conflicts, corruption, misinformation, poor education, all these things must be addressed.
I write all this to say it has been a wild ride. I don’t know how this year has formed me, but I do realize what a privilege it is to be so engaged in a community and its joys and struggles. I thank you for the support you have given me over this last year both financially and through your prayers. I pray that you will have the same opportunities to see how the daily grind of working to empower and support others is a pure joy. To be able to wrestle with issues and to start advocating for change in my new job is exciting.
The more I am able to talk about my new volunteer position here with Grahamstown Area District Relief Association (GADRA), the more excited I get. On paper, and from an optimist’s perspective, my job is so exciting. I have not begun my work, nor do I really know what I am getting into. GADRA is a local non-profit organization that has been dedicated to supporting the historically underprivileged youth (blacks and colored people) of Grahamstown. Started out of a seen need to feed the poor children in the area, GADRA formed a feeding scheme to provide meals for children in their local schools. They have since then provided financial bursaries and scholarships for youths who could not afford high school and university fees. They then began a matric school (senior level of high school) to support youths who had received a poor education, and did not do well on final exams. Students come to the matric school for specialized and focused skills to boost their final exam scores.
To celebrate their 50th year, GADRA was looking for further opportunities to impact the education of children in Grahamstown. This is where my job comes into the picture. Teachers from the matric school were appalled to see just how many students were walking into their classrooms unable to read. GADRA wanted to find a way to be engaged in the early intervention of teaching literacy skills at a young age. Statistics show that if students don’t have basic reading skills early on, their chances of being able to read are drastically reduced.
With the knowledge of the importance of early intervention for literacy, GADRA will be putting a research based curriculum into 6 classrooms to start with. It takes more support teachers in township schools than to just throw a curriculum at them, even if it is a gift. Too many times these teachers have been told to teach something, they have not been trained how to do it. There are simple things like setting up expectations and routines that are crucial to having a successful classroom. Teachers need to be familiar with the materials and have supplemental games and books to help foster students’ interest in reading. Teachers also need accountability, someone (me) making sure they are actually using the materials properly, and helping solve problems along the way. Being a foreigner, I do not come with the racial tension left over from the former apartheid government. I will be working alongside teachers to empower them to find a love for learning in themselves as well as their students.
As I return home I look forward to many things: sharing with you my gratitude for your support, processing my life here in Grahamstown and preparing for a new term in August.
With all sincerity in gratitude,
Matt Kellen
