Week 13: Spring Break…or is it Fall break? Either way I have a few days off!

April 3- I flew into Cape Town, rented my car, and drove to Stellenbosch (wine country). My first night there I was still recovering from the University of Johannesbrug student excursion, the whirlwind trip to Drakensberg for Easter, and my last few months of working. After getting situated in my room, I decided to go for a walk around town. Stellenbosch is famous for wine and the university (a very good university by the way). I wandered around town, walked by the mall (of course there is a mall), made my way to a music store to get some South African music, and then had a glass of wine and some dinner at Brampton. The staff welcomed the lone American at the bar. I was on my postcard writing kick (that didn’t last long) so I had something to do while I enjoyed my tasting and some dinner.

The Bruschetta

April 4- This morning I did my best to catch up on some of my writing and organizing for the next week in Cape Town. I woke up at 6am and worked until noon when I headed off to Franschhoek, a famous wine and culinary town about 40 minutes from Stellenbosch. Now because I was alone my options for tasting wine were limited. I first headed into town and had lunch at a place called Café des Art. They had very good reviews online and I was hungry after thinking and typing all morning. I had a delicious plate of seared tuna and pasta with a glass of white. Next, I went to Dieu Donne winery and enjoyed a partial tasting (I had to drive). I had plans to meet up with two Couchsurfing.org (CS) people so I headed back to Stellenbosch. The local CS girl, Leonie, decided we should meet at Brampton, the one place in town I had already been. I agreed. Marcia (I met her via CS and a San Francisco friend, Lailani during my last trip to Cape Town) also agreed to drive out and meet up for dinner. That night we had an awesome time with the locals, Leonie, introduced me to a crew of her friends and we closed the wine bar down and headed to dinner (the wine bar closed at 7:30pm- to put it in perspective).

Asara Winery

April 5- The next morning I picked Jacinta up at airport. Jacinta and I met in 2009 at the Carnival Street Fair in the Mission district of San Francisco and have been friends ever since. She decided to fly out and join me for the Cape Town International Jazz Festival for her birthday. We left the airport and found a winery called Asara, to enjoy a quick tasting before heading to Stellenbosch so she could try the bruschetta that I had eaten the other night at Brampton (I posted the picture on FB and she wanted to have some too).

Of course she got a ticket!

Next, we checked into our hotel in CT, rested, and changed for the concert. The thing about Jacinta is she has a special power over people and can get things others can’t. Although she didn’t have a ticket, I figured one would somehow appear.  We walked down the line asking if anyone had an extra ticket, some guy said yes, then sold her a ticket for less than I paid for mine.

We watched Pu2ma, Zonke, Trenton and the Free Radicals, Buena Vista Social Club, and the Brand New Heavies. We visited 3 of the sections of the venue- Trenton and the Free Radicals played in an outdoor tent- they were a punk-jazz-reggae-revolutionist band. Pu2ma played on the outdoor stage in back. She has a powerful voice for African-influence jazz. Zonke, Buena Vista, and BNH all rocked the main stage- although I was pretty tired by the time the BNH came on, the festival was an unexpected treat with Jacinta there.

April 6- Camps Bay- The next morning I woke up pretty tired, but we were able to drive down to Camp’s Bay for lunch. With the sun shining on our Thai food, life was good.

Robben Island Church

April 7- Robben Island- When I came to Cape Town in February I wasn’t able to see many of the touristic sights because I was working so much, so this time I planned the trip around the universities “spring break” so I would be able to see some of the sights as well as working. Robben Island was first on my list.

Robben Island was a military fort, prison, and a hospital for those with leprosy, chronic illness, blindness, and mental illness. Interestingly, even the hospital patients were segregated by race and gender. The people with leprosy built a church and the village infrastructure on the island. People still live there today, although the school closed for low enrollment (I don’t think that is on my list of places to live). Fun facts: At least 1,400 patients died on the island. It is 6.9 kilometers from Cape Town. The Dutch started using the island in the mid-1600. There is a very strong stench of sea lions when you enter the harbor. Now, onto the tour:

The two most famous prisoners/leaders/lawyers were Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (ANC leader and first democratic president of South Africa) and Robert Sobukwe (Pan Africanist Congress leader). Prisoners were given numbers based on which prisoner they were that year and the year they arrived on the island. Mandela’s prison number was 46664 (he was prisoner #466 in 1964). These two (and other high profile “terrorists”) were often kept in isolation versus the “medium threat” prisoners, like rapists and murderers, who were kept in lower security areas.

There was a quarry on the island and the prisoners cut the rocks from the quarry for the buildings on the island and mainland. As portrayed in the Athol Fugard play, The Island, many of the prisoners were actually forced to dig holes and then fill up the hole all day in the sun/rain/cold as punishment. The tour guides explained many of the guards were around 16 years old and the prisoners were much older and more educated. He talked about the brainwashing of the “children” with power. It reminded me of the theory out of Stanford University called “power poisoning” (Sutton, 2010). This is where people who are given power take it to extremes. Another example in history where I have heard of this type of brainwashing was with the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia- most of the soldiers were young kids (age 12-24) and they came up with incredibly creative and horrific ways to torture “prisoners.”  Mandela was known for being respectful towards the guards, which made him respected as well. The prison portion of the tour is done by a past prisoner- he took us to the area he was kept, talked about the conditions, and showed up Mandela’s cell.

Mandela's cell is the 4th window from the left

After finishing the tour we went to for dinner and then home- I had a lot of work to catch up on after my spring/fall break. I spent the next day in front of the computer…so on Tuesday I decided to take a trip up to Table Mountain with Jacinta and our new best friend, Jessica (an English girl who had been volunteering in Kenya). We took the cable car to the top of Table Mountain and burrrrr, it was cold, so we headed into the café for some hot cocoa. After finishing our drinks, Jessica and I went outside to take some quick pictures, I guess Jacinta didn’t see us and went the opposite directions. About an hour later, she popped up and we headed to get some food and away from the bitter wind.

Me, Jacinta, and NBF Jessica

In case I need to know which direction California is...

The Cable Car...notice the clear skies

Table Mountain when we got to the top

and then a little later...

Marcia met us for dinner and drinks at a gastro-pub called Orphanage. We had cozy warm drinks and yummy food.

My last day in Cape Town didn’t work out the way I had hoped, but I was still able to get the materials to the university and schools in Khayelitsha. Because the books finally arrived from USA, I was able to share the textbooks and support materials I developed for the schools. The first book, Making Content Comprehensible for English Language Learners The SIOP Model (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2013) is a book on strategies for working with diverse learners. Although it was written for English Language Learners, my colleagues and I have been using the SIOP model strategies to address the needs of our students with mild/moderate disabilities for quite some time. The second book, Creating Writers (Spandel, 2013) describes helpful hints for enhancing the writing of students.

Brampton Family Friends (thanks Leonie!!)

After working that morning, I picked Jacinta up and took her to Franschhoek to try some wine. Next, we went to Brampton’s for Leonie’s birthday party. She has a wonderful set of friends, one is even an academic at the local university- so we were able to talk about issues in education. Cris, my Brazilian friend, flew in so we could begin our road trip to Durban the next day. I picked her up at the airport at 11pm and headed to crash at the hotel for one more night.

Week 12: UJ Excursion and Easter Weekend

 

March 25-27^th- Achterbergh Excursion- The first year students at the University of Johannesburg have the privilege of going on a 3 day excursion into the mountains for bonding, pedagogical information, and setting the tone for the next four years of their teaching courses. I was expecting camping…it was more of a resort with a swimming pool, hotel-style rooms for the staff, and dormitories for the students. The students were given different tasks to do on topics like social justice, HIV awareness, storytelling, and addressing issues that affect students’ lives in South Africa. The first assignment had the students create a protective contraption for an egg, then, they dropped the eggs and saw which eggs broke. The students seemed to enjoy the activity and working together to plan their protective barriers. One faculty member was frustrated by how the activity wasted eggs. He had lived in Ethiopia for a while and had seen the extreme poverty. As he mentioned, one egg could give protein to an entire family. He recommended/asked that next year they came up with a different activity that didn’t promote waste of precious commodities. He also mentioned to the students that when they plan activities there are always multiple issues and consequences they have to take seriously. I think by voicing his concerns he was also able to add a culturally responsive component to the excursion…one man’s broken egg is another man’s meal, especially in a country with such extreme financial circumstances of its people, this is an important message.

The next activity was led by the Dean of Education, she read a children’s story to the preservice teachers. She modeled good reading, questions, and responses. I appreciate the fact that she took the time for the first year students to meet her on a personal level and see that she is truly an educator (as well as an administrator). The students seemed to really get into their roles as second graders. The rest of the afternoon was spent in groups, the students each picked a topic affecting South Africa students (child-headed families, losing a loved one, HIV/AIDS in the family, illness, poverty, abuse, etc), then they wrote a play on how they would address these issues with their students. That night we watched an educational movie, The Ron Clark Story.

Day 2 of the excursion began with Lynn Joffe, the author of the Pitterpat the Crazy Caterpiller series, performing (reading, dancing, singing, etc) one of her stories. She is an eccentric author with a gift for creativity, imagination, and adventure! She had the students using homemade instruments and performing their skills.

Students "exchanging liquids"

 

The next activity was a bit more serious. The students were given two cups of clear liquids. They were asked to “exchange” fluids with as many people as they wanted in one cup and to keep the other cup clean (control cup). At the end of the activity the staff went around and added another liquid to each of their cups…the ones that turned pink were “HIV positive,” the ones that stay clear were “HIV negative.” There were only two students who were negative at the end of the fluid exchange (most cups being pink), however, as demonstrated by their “control” cup, most of the students started out negative. This led to a powerful discussion on safe sex, stigma of being HIV positive, support systems if you become infected, etc. It was evident that many of the students had misinformation and misconceptions about sex, AIDS, and even treatment. The faculty leaders ended with asking the students to get more information and directing them to appropriate resources.

After lunch I presented on “Supporting Diverse Learners: A Civil Rights and Social Justice Issue.” I put all 120 students into 10 groups and I started with a warm up:

·         Who was your favorite teacher? Why?

·         What does good teaching look like?

·         What does good learning look like?

Next, I reviewed South Africa’s constitution (yes, I have read the entire thing) and White Paper #6 (policy paper on inclusion/inclusive practices- how educators are expected to support diverse learners). Then I went to the “Diverse Learners Activities.” Each group had a platter with chopsticks, gummy bears, and a cup; photos of South African issues and news stories; and a story written in the cloze method (similar to mad libs- the basics of the story were there, but there were fill in the blanks and the students had to figure out what to put into the blanks). The groups had to work out the activities the best they could, then discuss with the group the reaction they had. As a group, we came together to hear what the groups found.

The gummy bear activity addressed physical issues- I have done this in California and most people are quite skilled at using chopsticks so I ask them to use their “un”dominant hand…but with this group many students had never tried and were unsure what to do with them. I related this to learning new physical skills such as writing with a pencil or even dealing with students who had physical impairments. We discussed frustration points. Next, the individuals who had received the photos gave input about what they saw and how it would affect their learners. One of the pictures were of the miners being hurt by the police, they reflected that if the police are supposed to protect you and they end up hurting you then you would never feel safe. This, I related to emotional and social barriers to learning. Finally, the last activity where they had to find the meaning of the story with missing words, yielded very few results…most students kept it blank because they didn’t know the answers. I spoke about auditory, visual, and language barriers keeping learners from understanding the story and being able to complete comprehension questions. I also noted that most of the words that were missing were nouns and verbs, that if you don’t have the vocabulary to understand your task, your self-esteem and understanding are decreased.
 

Then, we spoke quickly about why different learning needs occur and how we, as educators, can address those issues. I had the students write a pledge on how they will support diverse learners, fight for civil rights and social justice, become life long learners, and give back to their students, families, and community. I told them to start filling their bag of tricks…during the presentation I gave them things out of my bag of tricks. The gifts included: notebook to encourage writing and expression, art supplies to address expression is more than just paper and pencil, food (spices from Seattle) to bring a little of myself into the classroom and also bond as a community, playing cards to learn with games/social opportunities, and modeling behavior and expectations.

 The students’ next activity used guided meditation and imagery to mold a piece of clay (with lavender oil added) into a shape that represented their experience and what they wanted to be as teachers. There was meditative music playing while they created their symbol. Next came the drumming…I had to go rest for a while. That night the students performed their plays. They did an amazing job with creativity, teamwork, and bringing in a cultural song and dance. I was a little surprised by the enthusiastic and overwhelming displays of grief (most students going into convulsion on the floor in tears and screams to dramatize the loss of a loved one). One of the staff explained this was a common way to express grief here in many communities in South Africa- I am learning culturally responsive pedagogy as well.

 
In the evenings (after the room checks), the lecturers would get together to talk. During one conversation, I learned something new. In 1899-1902, the Anglo-Boer wars were going on throughout the country (Anglo being British and Boer being the Dutch and European settlers who had been farming in South Africa beginning in 1650s)- both sides were fighting for the colonial (and mining) rights of South Africa. The British were losing, so they decided to move beyond the battlefield and captured Boer women and children. They were brought to concentration camps where over 27,000 were killed. Of course, the English called them “refugee camps.” By 1900, there were over 100,000 people in the camps suffering from malnutrition, lack of hygiene, disease, and other tragic conditions. Hearing about these camps put some of the pillars of apartheid in perspective for me, the Afrikaans (Boers) had suffered during this time and had fought for survival- they became defenders of their people, culture, language, and pride.
 

Another session in their itinerary was a social justice table. Most students were given a passport and some money (some students were refugees). Then, those with money were given an opportunity to buy food. Unfortunately, some of the African passports did not have enough money to buy anything on the table, the Japanese and American passports were given $100. The students ended up forming alliances to get some of the goodies. A discussion about power, access, justice, and aid came out of this activity. The students finished the 3-day excursion with completing their Harlem Shake video.

March 29- After resting for the next two days, I left early in the morning with Cristines (my new Brazilian friend) to Drakensburg for Easter weekend. We drove about 5 hours to the hotel. We rested when we arrived, then, went out for dinner at a recommended restaurant. The next morning we went for a hike up Castle Mountain area. The hike was called World’s View. We made it up and down with only getting sprinkled on for a while on our way back. Just before the end of the hike, we took a dip in the river we walked near. It reminded me of a green Grand Canyon at the highest point of the hike.

March 31- On Easter Sunday we woke up early and drove to Sani Pass. We had scheduled a guided hike into Lesotho. Just as we were about to get in the vehicles we found out Brazilians need to have a visa to enter Lesotho so we couldn’t go. We went to breakfast and wine tasting instead. We also visited the Nelson Mandela Capture site and museum.  We made it back to the hotel in time to get massages and have dinner…the important thing about traveling is to be flexible when things like visas get in the way of your plans.

April 1- You can tell a lot about a person by how they travel. I knew Cris was a wonderful travel companion when we were driving to Castle Mountain and I said there was a water pump I wanted to take a picture of on the way back and she drove slowly till we found it again. On our drive back to Jo’burg on Sunday, she confirmed this quality. My parents are both from a small town in Wisconsin named Ladysmith. There is also a city called Ladysmith in South Africa. We decided to take a detour and check it out. Unfortunately, it was a public holiday so the museum was closed, but we were able to take pictures beside “the big gun” they had displayed in front. The area is littered with battlefields as well.