Our driver, Gadija, arrives at 6:45 am each morning and we embark on the 50 minute trek out to school. As I am always the last one out the door we really leave closer to 7 am. At 7:45 we arrive at Sapphire Primary. Women from the neighborhood have set up booths outside the school. Cheetos, sweets and other unidentified brightly colored substances are the daily specials. At 50 cents a pop, (about 10 cents U.S. dollars) these treats are their first meal of the day for many children. It’s a sad cycle. The ladies can’t get a job, so they sell what they can; in this case it’s junk food.
My first morning at Sapphire, a boy in my class quietly said to me, “Toilet, Teacher.” I said, “OK, let me walk you out.” The minute he stepped through the doorway he blew blue chunks everywhere. What did this kid eat for breakfast? Mrs. Joseph, my teacher, suspects it was the “Blue Smurfs”, a sugary substitute for porridge that many of the kids in this neighborhood eat for breakfast. Another student was called upon to clean up the mess in the open-air hallway. I listened to the liquid drip down to the ground floor and wondered what it was I had gotten myself into.
Over the course of the past three weeks, I have seen snot, drool, scabies and sneezes; these kids have it all. But germs are just this invisible concept to kids whose families use their new bathrooms as storage areas and rely on dirty wash basins for showers. Hygiene has yet to become a priority in P.E. townships. Bathing is rinsing your arms and face in a basin; but they don’t know anything else, nor do their parents who either lived through the fall or the aftermath of Apartheid rule. Most of the kids in my class don’t even know what the Indian Ocean is; they live less than 10 miles from the coast.
I know it’s a bleak picture. Peering past the façade you are see a different world. Volunteers (emphasis on Volunteer) are registered with the school to perform tasks that could only be regarded in the U.S. as salary-worthy, TA’s in every room, young men cleaning up the grounds, Emmanuel House (HIV Haven), a clinic (the only one in any township school), gardeners and cooks. NO PAYCHECK. Only providing their services to better the community in which they live. These people are out of employment and using their free time to benefit their community. Now honestly, how often would this happen in the American Public School system?
My project with Sapphire Primary will revolve around the grounds surrounding the clinic. As of now, the cement-block clinic is enclosed by a dilapidated fence and no real border to call its own. Even though these children are generally unaware of the dangers of germs, I hope that my lesson and project will allow them, and myself, a new perspective on self-care. I hope to develop a lesson plan that will assist in the beautification of the area surrounding the clinic by use of indigenous healing plants and herbs. You have a cold? We have an herb for that. Allergies, sunburn or stomach ache? Everything you need is right in front of the clinic doors. With the help of the Clinic caretakers, Bradley, and the teachers, I hope that my plans will give the students the opportunity to take ownership of their environment and respect all that it has given them.
Granted, respect is not something that is achieved overnight. But I honestly need to believe that my time here will be spent creating something sustainable and good. Ole Miss will fund the herbal clinic project in hopes to expand it into a more wide-reaching concept that will allow the clinic to provide more services to students over the years. What I hope to do is give the students a sense of community as I felt in my grade schooling. These kids deserve so much, but they must appreciate what is placed before them so that the project can make a lasting impression.
Upcoming events include a Fun Day to Summerstrand (where I live) where the kids will be able to experience a part of their city they would otherwise not see. Two weeks ago the students were given a chart for the collection of 50 Rand (The equivalent of just over $7 U.S. dollars). Today my teacher told me that most of the children would not be able to collect the money and therefore would not be able to attend the field trip. This breaks my heart. As much as I want to give every child the money to attend this field trip, that is not why I am here. My purpose is to give these children a purpose in a world where “purpose” revolves around making enough money to get you through tomorrow. How can I create a system by which they feel the need to give themselves to their community?
Most don’t know their alphabet, how to read the words they copy from the board, or basic math skills; But one thing they do understand is love and emotion. These kids feel more than any students I have ever know in Mississippi. Many of these kids have been through more than I could ever imagine going through as an eight or nine year old child. Sapphire is embarking on their 25th Anniversary Campaign, one by which they hope to raise money for the school, teachers and volunteers so that it can continue its mission to becoming the benchmark for other township school systems.
Later this week I will be setting up a PayPal system through Sapphire Primary for anyone who reads this blog and wishes to donate to the betterment of this community. My ideas may be big but my expectations are reasonable; something along the lines of what has made me appreciate my own education. It can be as small as creating an art project that the students can take home, anything by which they can make pride. We want to work with the community and with the students to create an environment in which they can feel comfortable enough to make it their own. We hope to create opportunities for these children and in turn enhance their commitment to success.
In a little less than a month, this experience has altered my perspective on life and my purpose in it. Sure, I get frustrated and I feel as if I can’t handle what has been placed in front of me. But when I think about these kids and how much they have to learn, how much they have riding on their successes, all I want is to give my whole self to letting them believe they can succeed. These children don’t know life that exists outside their township, but I want them to believe that getting there is an attainable goal.
No comments:
Post a Comment