Education is Soul.

Greetings from Cape Town :)

I am sorry I haven't been able to update my blog as much as I wish. The days have been jam packed with seminars and events. This past week we have spent our days at the University of Cape Town, which stands between the mountains. A very old university, with vines covering the buildings, the campus is a beautiful place. On Monday, we gave our presentations to the Chancellor of Education regarding the current economic, social, and political issues currently hapepening in South Africa. My partner Jen and I were the first to present, so it was pretty intimidating. We focused our presentation on the current economic trends and how it is affecting the education system in the post-apartheid period. The presentation went better than I thought, although I was pretty nervous. After the presentations, the Chancellor, Dr. Crain Soudein, spoke to us about the current race relations in Cape Town. It was a very heated, uncomfortable discussion that resulted in me understanding the idea of not connecting specific races to specific cultures and the ways in which we can teach students to look past the stereotypes. Most importantly, as teachers, we must describe people on their individualiyu, not the color of their skin.

After the lecture, we had our first authentic South African meal that was served at Newfields Church, Corvell's church. His mother and sister prepared authentic dishes for us this past week and they have accomodated me being vegetarian. Some dishes that we have had this week consisted of breyani (rice, potatoes, lentil), variety of steamed vegetables, vegetarian stew with rice, squashes, salads, and I am running a blank. Overall, everything has been fresh, homemade, and delicious.

Tuesday was probably the most inspiring day of the trip. Dr. Jonathon Jansen came to speak with us. Before the trip we were to read the book, Knowledge in the Blood, which on a global scale, is being nominated for the number 1 education book. The seminar was extremely inspirational. I have never attended a lecture in which the speaker was full of energy. He is a true teacher. I felt very comfrotable and the environment was very supportive and welcoming. He was very interested in what we had to say and he made the book come alive and I felt that I truly understood the area of Pretoria, a white town in South Africa. He discussed how racism is still alive and present in Cape Town because the students are entering the real world and reality begins to sink in and no longer white Afrikaans have the power they once had. It was interesting because Jansen discussed how we should not blame these white children for their violence because they grew up in a sheltered world that told them that whites were a majority. Once they attend a university, reality sinks in and they feel as if they have been lied to all their lives.

Jansen also discussed the importance of viewing people as individuals and understand that many children are born into worlds that may shelter them or prevent them from interacting with different people. It is our job, as teachers, to open the eyes of these children and steer them away from stereotypes and encourage the students to think outside of the box. I felt very emotionally involved during Jansen's lecture. I found myself actively participating and answerting questions and expressing my point of view. I myself, found that I began to cope and understand the violent acts of current Afrikaans. They were sheltered their whole lives and I felt more empowered to help change their thoughts and assumptions about people of color.