Northern Magnet

Tomorrow morning I head north. Sometimes I think that there is a northern magnet in me... something deep in my core drawing me in the up direction on the map.
This time around it's quite the ways up that I'm going. Me and the rest of the team of us girls are heading to Mishkeegogamang First Nation to run day camp for kids in the community for three weeks. At camp we run crafts, games, sports, music, baking, swimming and (my favourite!) story-telling.

The drive from the Toronto area to Mish according to google maps takes about 26 hours. Though we are not going to be doing it all in one go - it will take us a few days to get there. This is one of those trips where the joy is in the journey as well as the destination. We get to drive through a stunning landscape of unspoilt lakes, rocks and trees.
I consider being at camp all day a ginormous privilege. It is an amazing opportunity to just have fun with the kids, learn with them, learn from them, love them. Last year we planted seeds on the first day and watched them grow. It was at camp last year, that I first started thinking about the significance of planting seeds and of seedlings. It is exciting to imagine what will grow from the seeds that are planted in the times that we spend with the kids. It is also interesting for me to consider what has grown in my life over the last year. Have the seeds planted sprouted? Am I tending to the seedlings? 

How much have you grown since this time last year?

Choose Days

Today is Tuesday. Sometimes our past, our backgrounds, previous experience can determine our lived realities. Our yesterdays decide our todays. I spent my early years in South Africa, and most of the time I still sound like one. Well, we South Africans pronounce the word Tuesday, as choosday (not toosday!).

This is a day to choose. Choose life, choose hope, choose faith, choose love.  I say this is a day to choose to believe the best. Today is a day to choose to not sit back and do nothing.
Choice is powerful. It empowers. Choice is a pair of reigns that every person can choose to hold in their hands.
Sometimes choosing is about deciding how to respond to things that happened yesterday. In all of the yesterdays. Realizing that our yesterdays really don't have to decide our todays. Choosing to believe that tomorrow can, and will be different to today. But not without coming to a point of decision.
I am on the journey of learning to not default to thinking that things have to remain the way that they have always been. No! There is choice involved. And if no one else is going to decide, then I will. 
I am not okay with injustice in my backyard. I am not content to sit around while my neighbour has an uncertain tomorrow. 
In the weeks between South Africa and my adventure in the North, I am spending time with people I love in a few different places.
Being in such a variety of contexts has got me thinking: really, who isn't my neighbour?
Today is a chance to choose to not only live for your own - your own happiness, safety, comfort, fulfillment.
Let's choose.

My walk, my talk.

This evening I went for a walk with my dog, Toby, in the bit of forest near my parents house in Barrie. I got thinking about how much I enjoy breathing with the trees. I know the feeling of being in the forest, being near water... in clean air changes the way I see things.
Sometimes it is important to change the way I see things. Sometimes it is important to really see things. Once I have seen something, once something has come to my attention, I could never live like I dont know. What I'm referring to is not turning a blind eye or burying my head in the sand - to talk in the way that people like to talk.
Instead, letting the world that I experience, affect the way I live. My walk, my talk. 
Unstopping my ears to injustice. But more than that: unstopping my walk to injustice. How could I choose to live like I didnt know? I could. I know many do. Sometimes I did before.
But not today, and not tomorrow.
I spent this past weekend with friends, old and new. The kind of friends that help you realize that you don't need to hide. I realized that I don't need to find my voice. I just need to speak. So, I will speak. I will speak for justice. I will walk justice. I will speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. I will speak loudly, sometimes I might need to shout. I will roar.

Lessons in empathy

Last night I accompanied a friend to the adult literacy class he teaches. For last night's class there were four students present and the lesson involved reading a short passage in English. Although the students had varying levels of proficiency in English, overall they were still in the beginning stages of mastering the language. This resulted in a large portion of the class involving my friend explaining words and phrases from the passage to them in Zulu, as well as discussions amongst the class members in Zulu about what they were reading. This got me thinking about the power of language. But it also got me trying to think in Zulu, to follow what was going on in the lesson. I tried to gather all my focus and my very limited Zulu vocabulary, to figure out what was being said. By paying attention to facial expressions, gestures and context I was able to understand what was being said most of the time.
While reflecting after the class I realized that I was having my own lesson in Zulu literacy. But more importantly, in empathy. It's not all that often where I am in a situation where I am surrounded by people speaking a language that I do not understand, but for some people it is. It's not all that often that I have to use all my focus to figure out what people are saying, for some people it it.

"They look good, but they are hungry."

Those words were spoken by the principal of the school these students attend. I had the privilege of sitting and talking with Mr. Makuse on Saturday morning. Principals' offices always have such a regal air about them, I almost felt like I was sitting in the oval office!
Mr. Makuse set the scene in telling us that when he began his post as principal around this time last year, the pass rate was 18%. Yes, eighteen percent!
He went on to explain how, over the past year, through a number of interventions and with the help of supports like TEN, they managed to get the pass rate up to 59% by the end of last year.
I was in awe and encouraged to hear about this 41% improvement!
The principal explained that one of the biggest challenges is the severe hunger experienced by the learners. Most of the students' parents work on a nearby farm but it is not consistent work and they are not able to make ends meet. Mr. Makuse said that the hunger is so acute that they have students fainting and passing out during assemblies and class. He has managed to get sponsors for food for the students, but only for 3 days a week. Mr. Makuse says that on the other two days they still have students fainting and passing out.
These same students are the bright-eyed, ready to learn individuals shown in the above picture that I got to talk to and joke with on a sunny Saturday morning.

A proud rooster walking around the school gardens.

She wants us to put the desks in a circle! Eish!

Today was a vibrant day! From the early morning coffee stop with Mo and Ben, waiting for our coffee amidst the aroma of sizzling vetkoek and mielies cooking on open flame... to the impromptu grammar lessons I taught using references to both Kwaito artists and Drake to keep it upbeat.

I had the privilege of spending the morning with a group of Grade 12 students in Thubelihle in Mpumalanga province. I had to shake my head in amazement over these students' dedication - present and ready to learn on not only a public holiday but also the last day before they are back at school.
For the first few minutes I spent some time observing a tutoring session on math exam terminology. I was enthralled by the excellent rapour that the facilitator had with his students - he was an excellent teacher and the learners were very engaged with what they were being taught.

I also had the chance to teach the english portion of the program to a group of students. While I hadn't prepared to teach this morning - I was excited at the opportunity!
As I entered the room, the students were beginning to move the desks all piled at the back of the room, into rows. I quickly got everyone's attention and asked them to move the desks into a circle instead. I think the students were quite bewildered with me and my seemingly bizarre instructions!

Once we had managed to arrange the desks and find a seat for everyone around the circle, I introduced myself to the students - explaining who I am and what I am doing. I then explained that I would not be able to simply strut in and start teaching them without knowing who they are. So I asked them to please each say their name as well as their favourite food... this instruction was met once again with a certain degree of surprise. I was fascinated to learn that each student found in important to state both their first and last name. We also had frequent outburts of laughter over my attempts at pronouncing names and my being educated about certain foods that were new to me. We then all went on a journey together, discovering more about English exam terminology, grammar and essay outline creating. 

I learnt, I laughed, I loved. I felt completely unsure yet comfortable in the uncertainty.

It is never too late.

Having spent the past week rediscovering the city I grew up in, I revisited one of my previous homes. What immediately caught my eye was a lemon tree that we had planted a while before we moved to Canada. I smiled at the fact that I now look up to the tree instread of down to it. The lucious lemons hanging from the branches spoke to me of the legacy it is possible to leave. This to me, was a reminder of my commitment to live my life to plant trees under whose shade I never expect to sit.

On Tuesday, as part of my internship I travelled to one site of the programs that the organization I am working with - Tsebo Education Network (TEN) provides. I spent an afternoon becoming familiar with the challenges faced by learners who are preparing to re-write their Grade 12 exit exams. I was inspired by the perserverance of these women and men - some who haven't been in school for 30 years, yet are determined to get their high school diploma. Despite language, social, economic and familial obstacles they are persistent in their pursuit of an education. In this program, TEN provides teachers to tutor these learners in sessions to prepare for their exams.
I am going to be spending the next few weeks and days visiting more sites to gain a deeper understanding of the programs that TEN provides and how I can best add value. After that, I will be developing cross-curricular literacy material to be implemented as part of these programs. Increasing the literacy levels of the students is crucial to their success!