Monday morning, 6:40 a.m., we began our long walk to St. Mary’s Primary in the semi-dark. When we arrived, we were ushered into the small auditorium where we were treated to breakfast by the teachers, the wonderful secretary Astrid, and Ms. Ursula Vivier, the school principal and her Yorkshire terrier. We couldn’t have felt more welcome, calming my fears that the long distance plans would go awry.
After a tour of the school, we arrived back to walk down a long line of St. Mary’s children waving American flags and playing American patriotic music to start the assembly organized especially for our Education team and a visiting teacher from the U.K. Children sang to us, performed African dances, introduced the school in the eleven official languages of South Africa, and played African drums.
Today was the start of a wonderful partnership. In teams of two, we became part of the eight classrooms of St. Mary’s, sometimes just appreciating the warmth and vibrancy of the children, but also learning the culturally-unique techniques of the South African classroom. What we most noticed is that the act of teaching is clearly an art that crosses borders and cultures. These could be our own classrooms. These could be our own children.
Our afternoon ended with three beautiful and articulate seventh graders teaching us both Afrikaans and Xhosa. Although one wants to be a doctor, one a fashion designer and one a graphic designer, they clearly were born to teach. At the end of the session, they gave us a test which we all failed miserably, including Sister John Marie. The only phrase we remembered in Afrikaans was a phrase we heard as “buy-a-donkey” which roughly translates to “thank you very much.”
As has happened throughout our trip, our DeSales students were professional, warm, and invested in the children in front of them. One young boy in second grade wrote a love note to one which said, “I never had a teacher like you, Miss Ashley.” We second that statement!
If you are a parent reading this blog, I can’t convey how wonderful your daughters have been on this trip. They are working as a team, are optimistic, flexible, interested in everything around them, and just a plain delight to be with. I couldn’t have found a greater group to have gone on this journey with me.
Cheers. Dr. RR
Many congratulations to all! What a wonderful experience!
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