Mandela Day at Bachana Mokwena

Have been so busy for the past week it's been hard to find time to blog.  That and when I finally do have time, the internet is too slow to actually post any pics to the blog.  Figure after the last long blog sans pics, I'd have to write one that was at least a little bit more interesting for the general audience.

Thursday, July 18th was Mandela Day- his 95th birthday and a national holiday meant to inspire people to live in the way Mandela has and does.  The point is to spend 67 minutes doing acts of service to better the community (commemorating the 67 years of public service Mandela gave South Africa up to 2009 when the holiday was named).  We spent our morning at Bachana Mokwena, a primary school in the township of Ga-Rankuwa where our Professor was raised.  On the way we passed her former home and the business her parents' owned.

Arriving at the school for morning assembly meant an early wake up.  We had to be on the bus at 6:30am.  It was well worth it, though.  It being our first primary school visit, I was excited to see and play with the little ones- especially on such an important day.  I was also happy to be spending my 67 minutes with kids!

Sunrise on the way to the school

We arrived to lots of fanfare with the kids singing and dancing.  The kids were being led in song by Mr. Moya, a staff member at the school.  It was clear that they loved him!  The sang some songs to welcome us and even sang their national anthem- which includes lines from a number of languages, demonstrating the diversity of the country.  The principal, Harry, was up there dancing away too, pulling us each up one by one to dance before the crowd of students.  We even sang happy birthday to Mandela.  Afterwards, they called on us to sing our own national anthem.  I'll fib a bit and say we were spectacular- hahaha, but given the difficulty of singing that song (let alone with 20+ people), I think you get the idea.

Kids at the morning assembly.  Look at the excitement on their faces!  And the little ones running in the back to catch up.

Mr. Moya motivating the crowd.  His shirt says "Let's strive for unity, excellence, and sustainability in our schools."

We split up into different classrooms after, when I went with a woman named Rosalinda to her 3rd grade class.  She was very sweet and the kids were all excited to see me.  They began to practice some math, whereupon I realized pretty quickly that they didn't speak very much English.  Instead, they spoke mostly Setswana.  The kids were eager to complete the tasks set before them and impress their teacher.  They clapped for each other when they completed the task.  During their work time, the teacher called over one of the students to read a book to me in English.  She was so cute!  Afterwards, they all wanted to follow suit.  I had brought some "I love NY" pencils with me that morning, so I gave them out to those kids who came to read to me.  They were in 7th heaven, cherishing the small gifts.

3rd Grade Class

An avid reader, holding one of the pencils I brought

Following the class, we joined the rest of the group again to meet with the principal and a rep from the department of ed.  As it turns out, one of the students from the program 2 years ago organized a drive to get books that schools in NYC were not using sent to this school.  The books had a happy home in the school's new library, but there were a number donated that were only appropriate for secondary schools.  As such, the principal invited four local principals to come and pick them up.  The books were separated into different boxes for each school.  As a group, we got together and helped move all the books to the appropriate cars so they could be brought back to the school.  My arms hurt just thinking about it now!  We joked it was our 67 lbs.  

The principal, Harry, showing us the books that were donated

After we moved the books to the cars and trucks

Following that we were invited on a tour of the school.  While the school doesn't have a ton of resources at their disposal, they have an enthusiastic staff, a charismatic visionary of a leader, and they make the best with what they have.  They even have a garden where they grow food to prepare lunch for students who aren't able to provide their own.

All throughout our visit we noticed members of the community, hard at work doing their 67 minutes- sweeping, painting, cleaning, gardening etc.  It was really nice to see!

Volunteers completing their 67 minutes

School's garden- it was awesome!  This is fresh spinach.  We ate some of it later, have never tasted any so good! 

Volunteers painting tires for a festive playground area

We finished our visit with an awesome lunch provided by the school.  We ate around a communal table with the principals and the staff.  I sat across from a staff member who humbly recounted the story of his time in exile in Angola (as he had joined the MK- a group involved in the armed struggle against apartheid) and the struggles he faced fighting against the unjust system.  Never before have I sat and broken bread with such amazing figures.  He didn't view what he did as anything amazing, it was simply what needed to be done.  He now is father to two beautiful daughters- one of which attends the very same school.

Sadly, the day had come to an end and we headed back to our hotel in Hatfield.  

After grabbing a quick dinner, and sending lots of emails to set up research appointments for next week, I went out to grab a drink with some of the girls from the program.  

School is back in session for the university students, so needless to say, I felt wayyyy old- as the drinking age here is 18.  Sigh, after one drink I headed home for an early night.

Had to pack for the next day's trip to Jo-burg!