Born Free in South Africa: Spotlight from the NY Times

For the most part, we've used this blog to post our own experiences and insights into South African life, history, diversity, and culture. But, who says that you should only hear from us?

It only makes sense that we should include the perspectives of South African nationals in our efforts to share more of this great country with you.

Source: http://twentyjourney.com/wp-content/themes/twentyjourney/images/sipho.jpg

The New York Times recently ran an article titled, "Born Free in South Africa." The journalist interviewed Sipho Mpongo, a photographer and self-described “born free” South African, meaning that he was born close to or after 1994. The general marker of a born free is that the only South Africa they have ever known has been governed democratically and without apartheid-era policies. As a result, there is a fascinating variance in their perspective on the social/cultural dynamics of South Africa (racism, classism, gender equality), the role that history should play in the understanding of those dynamics, and the way forward. I say “varied” because it will range from, "Why are we dwelling in the past? That stuff ended before I was even born" to, "The same social issues are still happening in our lives. When are we going to put an end to all the underlying ideas that supported the apartheid polices?"

Sipho was born in a rural village in the Eastern Cape province, the same province in which Nelson Mandela was raised. To quote the article, "though he came of age in a nation claiming to be democratic, he knows better than anyone that moving past decades of state-sanctioned segregation takes time." He looked around his village and still saw racial segregation, an imbalance of wealth, and poverty.

“I never thought I was free growing up. I’m still struggling. My parents still struggle,” - Sipho Mpongo.

Sipho became fascinated with understanding the different perspectives of his fellow born frees, because he believes in the responsibility they will hold for shaping the future of South Africa. He started a journey to seek out and document their stories and experiences in the hopes that people—himself included—can witness and learn from the diversity within his own country. “It was a learning process for me, being in a new environment within your own country and feeling awkward,” he said. “I had to forget about me and my morals and just be with my subjects and understand what they were living.”

He calls his project “Twenty Journey” and has partnered with two other photojournalists to cross the country collecting stories and sharing them with the world.

“I’m only providing a small picture to show what things looks like. I hope people dig deeper, for themselves.” – Sipho Mpongo

I hope you do.
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DIG DEEPER:

• Read the full New York Times article here: http://nyti.ms/1fFfOoe
• Explore Sipho's photographs of born free South Africans: http://twentyjourney.com/archive/?filter_author=4
• Check out the work being created by his two co-collaborators: http://twentyjourney.com/

Heritage Day 2015

Michelle and I have been in South Africa long enough now that we’re able to have the chance to celebrate special occasions for a second time. One such special occasion is Heritage Day. (I wrote about Heritage Day last year; you can read more about it here.)

The Teachers Lookin' Fancy

Yesterday, teachers and learners donned their traditional garb. There were performances including: musical poetry by Grade R* learners, storytelling by a Grade 3 learner, teacher imitations by Grade 5 learners, songs by Grade 6 learners, and gumboot dancing by Grade 7 learners.

Grade 6 Learners Performing Songs

There was also a special dance performance by the teachers. All of the teachers got involved this year, including me. The learners and teachers thought I was a riot when it was my turn to dance.

Joe Shaking Things Up

Joe High-Steppin'

After school let out, the teachers stayed behind to share a traditional meal together. I tried tripe for the first time as part of a tribal dumpling soup. I was hesitant to try it because it’s unusual for my culture, but I was (greatly) pleasantly surprised to find that it was delicious. Last year, I brought chocolate chip cookies, so this year I wanted to bring something different. I’ve observed that meat pies are common throughout the country; however, fruit pies don’t seem to exist. I used that as inspiration to bake apple pie. The pie was a hit!

Mr. Thwala and Several Learners Performing a Shembe Dance

Get it Ms. Khumalo!

Heritage Day took on more meaning for me this year than it did last year. Having gotten to know and grow closer to my fellow teachers and the learners made the holiday more special. I tried describing the change in this way to the teachers, “In the time I have been here, you have welcomed me with open arms and warm hearts. We have built friendships. I have grown to feel like I have become part of your family.” There were moments during the celebration when I could feel tears welling up behind my eyes because of the joy and pride I feel for the people at my school. But there was another reason I felt emotional; these feelings were also tinged with sadness because it was possible that it will be my last Heritage Day in South Africa. (About a year from now, Michelle and I will be returning to the US.)

Teachers Singing and Dancing

What these feelings taught me were that I need to cherish moments like the ones I described above and to make the most of the time I have left. The next big event coming up is the Grade 7 Farewell (it’s the graduation for the learners as a send off to high school). I wasn’t able to attend the Farewell last year because of a training, but I’ll be able to go this year. I look forward to it!

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*Grade R = kindergarten

#TBT: Reading Competition – Term 1

 *TBT stands for “Throw Back Thursday.” It is a popular hashtag on social media sites and an excuse to post old photos and things that are “throw backs” to the past.

Many of you have asked to hear more about the literacy competitions that have been happening at my (Michelle’s) school this year. So, I wanted to take you back to the beginning and highlight each one.

How it All Started
As I have mentioned here, my School Library Committee (SLC) is so amazing. You have to understand that, in my experience, the vast majority of committees created at South African schools meet only a handful of times each year, if at all. It is fairly common for a committee (or administrator, or organization, or school) to say, “Yes, we will do this thing,” and you never hear about it again. So when my SLC said that they wanted to host quarterly, internal, school literacy competitions to recognize and encourage learners to read/write/etc, I thought it was a lovely idea, but was skeptical that it would take off. I am glad that they proved me wrong.

The moment of truth came in early March when I raised my hand in a meeting and said, “I want to ask whether we are going to host a competition in Term 1. We stated last school year that we would do this every term, but we only have a few weeks left and we have not started planning. Should we skip the competition for this term and start planning for next term?” My comment was met with a resounding: NO. We must push to plan a competition for this term because if we start to slip now, we will slip the next term and the next. We can make no excuses… (Did I mention how much I love them?)

Term 1 – Prepared Storytelling/Reading and Unprepared Reading
It was decided that we would start with a basic reading competition. Students would come to the front, read a story, and be assessed on fluency. Fluency, when reading aloud, refers to the learner’s tone and inflection (do they sound natural or robotic?), pacing, pausing (at commas, periods, etc.) and ability to read with emotion.

Prepared Reading

Each grade competed in a level-appropriate way:

• Grade R (Kindergarten): Storytelling by using pictures in a book
• Grade 1: Storytelling by using pictures in a book (though, it was changed to sight-word recognition by the teacher)
• Grades 2 & 3: Prepared reading (meaning, learners get to practice reading it before they present)
• Grades 4 & 5: Unprepared reading (though, it was changed to prepared reading by the teacher)
• Grades 6 & 7: Unprepared reading

Prepared Reading

There was a buzz of energy the entire day. This was so new, so exciting, so… different than what they had seen before. The educators were a bit hesitant at first because there were so many new things for them—a new style of rubric, unfamiliar schedule for the day, and new roles with new expectations. The committee leapt in charge of the day, though! They held judge’s meetings, purchased snacks and prizes, and even emceed, providing impromptu entertainment between participants. Despite a few hiccups (such as the slight changes in the activities for some grades), the day was a huge success!

Judges excited about a job well done!

This event was especially meaningful for me because before the event, as many PCVs will attest, I was struggling with my committee relying too much on me. They were always looking to me for the answer or waiting for me to take charge.

This competition changed something within the core of the SLC. They started to believe that they could do things on their own…and that was the greatest success of all!

Boxed Lunches and Racism

There is a grade 7 learner at my school, let’s call him “M.N.”, who always comes to the library to eat lunch with me and a group of his friends. I first mentioned him in this post from March 2015. He watches a lot of US movies, particularly racing movies, and is known among my friends for his insightful and often strange questions that he poses to me while we eat. Some of my favourites have included:

• How many times has someone tried to use reverse psychology on you? Does Joe use it?
• If someone tried to steal your ride, what would you do for revenge?
• What is one problem that you grew up with that you will die with?
• How many times have you been doing a front-flip or a back-flip or a side-flip and fallen on your face?

As you can see, the topics can vary greatly and almost anything is fair game. So, I wasn’t surprised when M.N. started our lunchtime conversation with, “I want to ask you a question, but I don’t think you will like it…”

Me: Well, ask me and we will see.

M.N.: Why is it that white people do not like black people so much?

Me: That sounds like a very important question. Why do you think that white people don’t like black people?

M.N.: Well, it’s just that they kept passing these laws that say that black people must live in one place and white people must live in another. It’s like they don’t want to live near us. So I can only think that they must hate us.

Me: You are right. They passed many laws that said that white people must do these things and black people must do something different, like having different rules, different schools, different jobs, even different drinking fountains. Many white people, especially in historical times, believed many things that were not true about black people.

M.N.: Like what?

Me: Well, for example, they believed the lie that black people are not able to manage jobs that are in businesses or offices. They said that they are only able to do work with their hands. So, they prevented black people from being able to work certain jobs or become the boss in a company.

M.N.: [disbelief] My father worked at the hospital for many years. He also worked in an office at the bank for a long time. He was responsible for budgets with millions of dollars. How can they believe these things?

Me: I am not sure, but I think part of the problem is that they don’t hear these stories like the one of your father. They only hear the things that are not true and they don’t have someone to tell them the truth. We must tell them these stories like your father’s to show them what is true.

M.N.: But, why should I be the one who has to tell the story when you are the one who knows them and can tell it to them.

Me: [thinking both, “I’m totally getting schooled by a 7^th grader” and “my kids are brilliant!”] You are right, M.N. I can do that.

… and so I kept my promise. 

Source: http://www.azquotes.com/picture-quotes/quote-there-s-so-much-more-to-tell-about-africa-than-the-usual-stories-about-war-famine-and-komla-dumor-67-26-66.jpg

The First Day of Summer

When I was a kid, I couldn’t wait for summer to roll around. Summer meant swimming, playing outside, ice cream cones at the ice cream stand… It was my favourite season.

The first day of summer occurred last week, and, with it, new traditions (for me). At my school, and many of the schools in my area, it’s a tradition for the teachers to dress up like the learners. Along with Mr. Thwala, I donned my school’s colours – grey and white – and borrowed a tie from one of my learners. The learners got a big kick out of our appearance.

Mr. Thwala and I dressed as learners.

The learners were allowed to dress casually, which meant that they dressed to impress. Mr. Thwala went so far as to allow the learners in his Grade 7 Maths class to teach the class. One brave learner volunteered. It was cute when her classmates greeted her like she was the real deal.

A Bunch of Learners Dressed to Impress

On this day a year ago, we were living in a different part of the province and they had different traditions regarding the start of summer. One involved water. Michelle and I had to dodge buckets of water while we walked home from Peace Corps training.

Thinking about next year, I told one of the male teachers at my school that we should dress up like female learners by wearing skirts. In a place with strict gender norms, it might take some convincing; but it’s worth a try.

What are your traditions for the first day of summer?

My Grade 5 English Class singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole at Assembly