A Small Breath of Africa: The Beginning

After an eventful week the "move" is starting to feel more real and I am enjoying settling into my new surroundings. Gerhard and family arrived back on Sunday after their weekend holiday. In the afternoon I went with Gerhard and Marlize to the Benoni Rotary Garden Show, an annual fundraiser for the local Rotary Club. Families opened their gardens throughout the city for the show, which I found fascinating. The vegetation in South Africa is beautiful and not just because when I left US/Rome it was winter. South Africans, for the most part, take pride in their gardens. I enjoyed seeing the different varieties of flowers, ferns, and trees. Sunday evening I made dinner for the family, Italian with South African ingredients: tuna pasta, broccoli, caprese. It was a small gesture to demonstrate my thanks to them; I don't know where I would be without their help and guidance!

Before leaving for orientation in Pretoria on Monday, Gerhard and I picked up my car. He had to go into work at the University of Johannesburg before we planned on meeting the seller, so I went with him. I appreciated seeing the university - the many similarities to American universities and the many differences. Also, we had to go to the bank to withdraw the cash (or "loot" as Gerhard called it). It was a powerful (and anxious) feeling taking the necessary money out, especially since R100 notes are typically the biggest you find and the "loot" looked more substantial than it really was (R100 ~ $12). After a smooth transaction with the seller (a paper company), I drove the car back to Gerhard's…it was a blast! The car is a fun drive and it was exciting checking out all of the "bells and whistles." After I took the car back, Gerhard took me to the airport, where I met most of the other scholars and the Embassy arranged transportation to our hotel in Pretoria. We had a group dinner at a nearby restaurant and it was nice to catch up with everyone. I met the other scholars in June, when we had a Fulbright orientation in D.C. There are nine other scholars, with two scholars in five cities (Pretoria, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Stellenbosch, and Port Elizabeth).

We started our "orientating" on Tuesday, where we met our contacts at the Embassy and they arranged school visits in one of the townships, Alteridgeville, around Pretoria. Although we all have different tasks in our respective cities, it was important for us to gain some insight into the South African school system. We first started a high school and monitored two eleventh grade classes. It was nice to interact with the students and ask them questions about their learning. Afterward, we traveled to a primary school in the same township. The principal gave us an overview of the school, her challenges, and the programs that they have in place. We broke off into groups and I observed a third grade class. They just started learning English two weeks prior and were learning about verbs. I've never seen such an extraordinary teacher; her ability to interact with all 45 students, make the lesson fun/interesting, use a variety of "checks for understanding," and communicate with them was astounding. A few observations:

Students in primary/secondary school are called "learners" with "students" reserved for university students
"Teachers" are held in higher regard (in my opinion), which I think contributes to the culture of respect
There are many languages spoken at the schools, with English being a second language (or third, or fourth). In the primary school we visited students were taught in either isiZulu or Sepedi (Northern Sotho) and started learning English in third grade.
Class sizes are huge. I had 34 students/class my first year of teaching that I thought was a lot. Most of the classrooms had over 40 students, with some classes with 80 students.

Wednesday was focused learning more about education in South Africa on the macro-level and getting situated with the Embassy. We met our contacts at the Embassy (again, just a reminder, I am not a US government official), received a press briefing and a security briefing. Afterward, a representative from the Department of Education came to talk to us about education in South Africa (broadly), which helped to provide a lot of necessary context to observations and prior knowledge. Overall, I felt that the orientation helped me better understand my Fulbright purpose and the educational/cultural atmosphere in South Africa. We had a group dinner in the evening at "Moyo" - an drum café and braai (grill) restaurant. The teachers, principals, university contacts, and Embassy contacts we worked with the previous two days (and subsequently, the rest of the year) joined us for a final dinner before we go to our respective locations. The restaurant was a lot of fun; we watched and participated in a drum performance, danced (or I attempted to), mingled, and had a wonderful spread of grilled food.

Orientation ended with a half-day on Thursday, after we would all depart for our respective cities/locations (University of Pretoria, University of Witswaterand, University of Free State, township high school in Stellenbosch and township high school in Port Elizabeth). We had a great session presented by Leketi Makalela, a prominent professor at University of Witswaterand (and my advisor) about state of education in South Africa. It is a thought-provoking topic and interesting to see the parallels between the US and South Africa. Along the same lines, the wife of Ambassador Gibbs came on his behalf and wanted to meet with us because of her background in education. Interestingly, she has known Wendy Kopp (founder of Teach for America) a number of years. She spoke about the initiatives of the US Mission in South Africa to aid with education development.

At the University of Witswaterand I will be working with another Fulbright ETA, Mariann - we both rode back to the university with Professor Makalela. I enjoyed learning more about his background, getting his perspectives, hearing about his research, and getting a "feel" for our position at the university. He gave us a tour of the campus, showed us our office (!) and introduced us to faculty that we would be working with. The campus is beautiful and I look forward to exploring it more. We met with the Dean of the School of Education and she is eager to get us involved in the university's many capacities, particularly teaching and research. After orientation Marlize picked me up and I went back to their house for the weekend. I still have some car-related errands to take care of, which will be easier in the suburb (especially since I have the guidance of Gerhard/Marlize). Again, they’ve been incredible to me and I cannot thank them enough. I really value their insight and I learn so much from their many perspectives and experiences. I'm due back at the university next week; it is orientation week for the students and we'll spend time getting acclimated and preparing for the following week.