In the news...

I've been caught off guard a few times now by stories in the papers here about events in the US: the snowstorm on the East Coast, a plane crashing into a Texas tax office, etc. [Update on Thursday 25 February: the cover of today's paper was an aerial shot of the orca tanks at Sea World; it was a shock to read about that tragic event.]

In general, besides the occasional sensational snippet, North American happenings just don't make the news here unless they have some relevance to South Africa, or at least to the African continent. This means events that I normally would have followed closely at home, such as Obama's State of the Union address and the Winter Olympics, are barely in the media or on the public's radar here. Instead, I've been getting caught up in the coverage of South African President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation address, widely considered tepid and unremarkable, and the more closely followed announcement of the national budget a week later. The latter included some bold - and controversial - proposals: including the raising of so-called "sin" taxes on cigarettes and alcohol and getting a carbon tax in the works. The carbon tax is preferred here to the, less effective (in my opinion), carbon-credit trading scheme favored back in the US. Energy prices are also in the news, as Eskom (South Africa's public power supply company) has requested rate hikes of 35% for each of the next 3 years. The company argues that they need to increase capacity and, plans to do so have been delayed for the past ten years, but there has been much public opposition to this request. [Thursday update: with much public outcry, the National Energy Regulator announced yesterday that it has granted Eskom rate increases of 24.8%, 25.8%, and 25.9% over the next three years.]

Another issue fomenting debate here is an increasing demand for public officials to be subjected to "lifestyle audits." Accusations of corrupt profiteering and abuse of office, which are supported by conspicuous purchases of luxury items (fancy cars and homes, for example) that get publicized in the media, have been simmering for a few years now, and a number of prominent party officials and other public figures have been subjected to awkward grillings over their lavish lifestyles. The latest to be asked to explain the origin of his wealth is the already-controversial Julius Malema, the ANC Youth League president. The result has been an exchange of partisan and increasingly vitriolic accusations. The mudslinging is a bit entertaining, but at its core it's all more discouraging than anything else. It will be interesting to see if these "audits," whether they get formalized or not, start making any difference. ANC unity does seem at some risk, and their hold on power may be eroded as public opinion, at least in some quarters, sours on the ruling party.

More from Fezeka...

I've been spending at least one day a week, sometimes two, at Fezeka High School in the Gugulethu township. The campus houses about 1100 learners (students) in grades 10-12. The fluidity/uncertainty of the enrollment is indicative of the organizational challenges the school's leadership and staff face. It also took a few weeks for the daily timetable (schedule) to be sorted out, but they now have a set 7-day rotation for classes. For the first month of school, the various sections of each grade level mostly stayed in the same room while the teachers came to them. Now, the teachers are being assigned, as much as possible, to consistent rooms that the classes come to. This is a big improvement from the teachers' perspective, as they can now decorate their rooms with resources and better supervise their use (and misuse) during the course of the day.

Another part of the effort to achieve greater organization and productivity in the school is a new policy designed to reduce student (and teacher) late arrival. The staff is now meeting the learners at the school gate starting at 8 am, by which time everyone is supposed to have arrived and classes are supposed to have started. Even though this procedure delays the beginning of first period, there has been a marked decline in late arrivals in the first days of this new policy.

An exciting project to watch develop in the past few weeks has been the school's participation in a recycling contest sponsored by Coca Cola. Schools that collect at least 20,000 aluminum cans and plastic bottles get World Cup tickets and are eligible for other prizes. I haven't seen the contest in action anywhere else, but it's been great to watch the enthusiasm with which many Fezeka learners have participated. It's amazing how much litter they've picked up and removed from the waste stream! The big question is if and how they will be able to continue the program after the contest ends next week.

In the classroom, my time at Fezeka so far has involved working with the Social Studies HOD (Head of Department) to develop a group activity as an alternative way to teach a development project case study to her three 11th grade Geography classes. The activity built up from group presentations to group debates yesterday. The engagement and energy levels were great! Now, we'll see how they do on next week's individual assessment task. We'll also survey them to see what they thought of the approach as a learning exercise. I feel lucky to have found a teacher, department, and school so open to and eager for collaboration.

Lastly, a documentary film has been made profiling Fezeka's choir director and a trip the group took to the Salisbury International Arts Festival in England in 2008, apparently the first trip abroad for all 77 learners who went. The clips from the movie are inspiring to watch!

South African Idol, Black Flag, and macrocephalic aliens

After 8 hours of class on Saturday (which were actually made quite worthwhile by engaging content, terrifically committed classmates, and a brilliant professor), it was time for a little fun - in the form of an outdoor concert on Sunday at the beautiful Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. The leading act was Jamali (pictured), a 3-woman group who performed, along with some guests (one of whom apparently won the last round of South African Idol?), a song-list fitting for Valentine's Day (mostly covers). It was quite crowded, and I think I beat most people home by being on bicycle (and by living down the hill!).

Monday morning, it was back to class. It was my turn to bring food (so I rode up the hill to the upper campus with a pineapple, a cantaloupe, and some nectarines) and music that could be used in a lesson. For the latter, I chose "Free Nelson Mandela" by the Specials and Black Flag's "Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie." Any guesses on when and how I've used that one in teaching? The Monday morning class which I'm helping teach is the subject-area methods class for post-graduate students seeking certification in history. On Thursdays I also work with the geography group, and on Tuesdays we meet with both groups for lesson planning and micro-teaching (they teach ten-minute sessions that are then video-taped and critiqued). Having been through such a thing a few times makes me sympathetic to these students, all of whom, so far, have been quite well-prepared and effective.

I've been to two schools in the first two days of this week. Between classes on Monday (the one I'm taking meets Monday afternoons 4-7), I went to give a guest presentation on Marxism in a history class, and then, on Tuesday, a math teacher who spent last year in Oregon toured my colleague and me around an excellent all-girls school. The school, Rustenburg High School for Girls, is a fee-charging public school, and it had an exceptionally focused and functional atmosphere. They have an active environmental club, and I plan to go back to see it in action.

Last evening, I accompanied one of my landlords to a quite good outdoor production of "Anthony and Cleopatra." I don't particularly agree with this review of the production, but I chose to link to it because it includes the line "macrocephalic alien from Star Trek"! We were both struck by the intensity of the lead actress - and also by the live snakes handled by the Egyptian mystic.

Twenty years ago today...

On February 11, 1990, Nelson Mandela took his "short walk to freedom" through the gates of Victor Verster prison in Paarl. He would go on to play a leading role in the dismantling of apartheid, the liberating of the South African people, and the founding of a new, democratic nation, work for which he won a Nobel Peace Prize. Please consider taking a moment today to honor the man as well as the movement, accomplishments, and hope for humanity that he symbolizes.

Here's a link to the Nelson Mandela Foundation website.

Signs of hope and other good news

As I review the tone of my musings on South African society so far, it occurs to me that I ought to offer some of the signs of hope and sources of optimism that I have been encountering here.

One is certainly the quite vigorous and markedly free press ("the freest in Africa," one source claims, and #26 in the world rankings) upon which I am relying for much of my information and source material. There is, on many issues, a healthy and widely followed (and widely participated in) debate in the newspapers and on the radio and television. Such thorny and controversial topics as racism, education, and corruption, as well as the government's efforts to address these issues, all receive extensive news coverage and then are thoroughly analyzed and discussed by both expert commentators and engaged citizens. It helps that there are multiple daily (20, plus 13 weeklies; ibid) papers and that newspaper circulation is broad (14.5 million in 2006; ibid). I've particularly enjoyed the political cartoons in the papers. One example is the work of Jonathan Shapiro (aka Zapiro), who is well-known internationally for his insightful, uncompromising, and occasionally controversial sketches. The radio and tv system seems much like the British/BBC model. There are, for example, multiple radio stations operated by the state-owned broadcasting service SABC, and there are only four standard television stations (three of which are run by SABC), with many more available on cable.

This influential media is currently contributing to several initiatives designed to unify South Africans and to encourage civic behavior among them. One is the campaign to mount a successful World Cup. Under the slogan, "South Africa can do it. South Africa will do it," citizens are being encouraged to look for ways to contribute to the hosting preparations and also to support the build-up by wearing a national team jersey on "Football Fridays." Another initiative is a series of PSA's and other media programming that is part of an Africa-wide campaign to reduce HIV/AIDS infection rates through responsible sexual behavior. The initiative includes a "Imagine Afrika," a continent-wide reality television series, promoted with the tag line: “Imagine the Possibility of an HIV free Generation: It Begins with YOU!” Also underway is an admirable, SABC-led appeal for donations to the relief and rebuilding efforts in Haiti. The message, "Let South Africa be counted among caring nations," encourages a compassion and empathy that can only serve benefit those working to address South Africa's internal poverty. As Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale put it, "We are dealing every day with a man-made disaster... It is Haiti every day. The earth broke there. Here the earth is not broken, but consequences are the same. It is a disaster."[Full article]

Back to the uplifting theme of good news, another source of hope here is the prevailing spirit of ubuntu (described well on Wikipediea). Broadly ubuntu, as I understand it, is living with an openness and generosity toward others that is rooted in a recognition of our common humanity and interconnectedness. Certainly this attitude was reflected in the drive for forgiveness and healing represented by the Truth and Reconciliation Committee. In my time here, I feel that I have experienced ubuntu in the open, friendly manner in which most people have welcomed and interacted with me. I think it is also reflected in what the head of a school I visited this week described as a "rapprochement" between whites and blacks that has happened and continues here in the Western Cape province (perhaps more so than in some other parts of the country). I have also experienced a general mood of joyfulness and optimism in the classrooms and schools that I have visited.

One way that this joyfulness manifests itself is in song. To end the week, for example, the students at the Hector Peterson School (all ~1300 of them!) gather in their spacious common hall to sing; it's amazing to hear! There is a great documentary film about the role of music in the resistance to apartheid called Amandla (there is also a CD soundtrack available). Here's a link to the IMDb description of the film. In the paper here a few weeks ago, there was also an excellent review of the DVD of Paul Simon's Graceland Concert that provides an overview of and tribute to artists who suffered under and resisted apartheid. I would add also that many South Africans seem to manage not to take themselves too seriously and show an enviable capacity to laugh at their own foibles and prejudices.

Finally and importantly, always in the background is South Africa's inspired, inspiring, and inspirational (I think all apply) constitution. Here are links to its Preamble and to its "Bill of Rights" section. The document articulates high ideals and sets ambitious goals and standards, and, despite some considerable shortfalls (such a spotty record of scandals and corruption) and some unresolved challenges (crime reduction, delivery of basic services, growing income inequality, etc.), these ideals still seem to be steadily guiding the march toward the promise of a democratic rainbow nation.

Re-cap of the week

It’s been a good and busy week. A definite highlight was getting up before 6 on Monday morning to hike up to the top of Table Mountain for the first time in ten years. For those familiar with the mountain or just curious, my hiking partner (a groundwater professor from Miami University of Ohio) and I started at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and went up Skeleton Gorge to Maclear’s Beacon and back down Nursery Ravine. A good 4 hour circuit (see the 4th hike described at this link)!

During the rest of the week, I was able to visit four different schools. Two of the schools reminded me a lot of Northwest School and other familiar private schools. These were St. George's Grammar School, the "oldest private school in South Africa" (1848!), and the relatively new (1998) International School of Cape Town, which is housed in an old mansion. I also got to do some demonstration teaching at Fezeka (see January 25th post). I started a 3-day group exercise with 3 grade-11 Geography classes; I'll be back there for the other 2 days of the activity next week. The Social Studies Department Head is curious to share and compare techniques for group work, and I enjoyed the challenges of teaching unfamiliar students and of teaching the same lesson 3 times in a row (I think for the first time!?). Finally, yesterday, I escorted a small delegation to the Hector Peterson School, the site of the 2008 digital storytelling workshop. Our group included another Fulbright teacher, a representative from a foundation working to help fund post-secondary education for the school's graduates, and a student from Seattle University who is going to working with the school's Bridges to Understanding student group.

UCT classes start Monday, and I'll be both taking a class and helping teach one (details to come). That meant that this was a good week to get to some movies ("Up in the Air" and "An Education" - both pleasant surprises; comments anyone?) before the homework starts. I also found time for two pick-up soccer sessions (one indoor and one outdoor).

In closing, here's a passage from an email description I recently sent:

"Overall, while it's beautiful here, all the social problems and challenges are quite near the surface and rather raw. They're the same issues that the whole planet faces (alleviating poverty, providing quality universal education, battling crime and corruption), but the racist history here combines with the ongoing (and worsening) inequality in a disquieting way - like it could all just explode at any point. I feel relatively safe, especially here in the suburbs, but there's an edge to daily life here that we don't have at home."