I've been schooled

For those of you are basking in the northern hemisphere sun, this may come as a surprise, but Cape Town is in the middle of winter. And, while I have to admit the winter has not really felt that way this week--I walked along the promenade yesterday with fellow ambassdorial scholar Jon David, admiring the oceanscape, the sparkling sun on the waves, see-sawing at the seaside playground, and grabbing some popsicles from the ice cream cart--the weather has brought its good share of cold and rain as well.

In the earlier part of oncoming winter I went with Rosemary to Mvula School, located in the township Nyanga. Mvula is a school that is sponsored by my host Rotary club. The club has provided a great deal of funding to develop the school facilties, and Rosemary, a former physical education teacher, has been largely responsible for much of the administrative day-to-day operations of the school. Mvula is like the little engine that could. There is hustle and bustle and plenty of new things in the pipeline. There is a sewing group based at the school where women sew various goods and distribute what they produce, the kitchen, a library, and burgeoning arts and music programs, as well as an AIDS orphan center. This is phenomenal for a township school. While this would be considered modest in the States, it is quite well-resourced in this context.

The day that I came, I spent an hour with Rosemary at Makro--the South African version of Costco--buying various items for the school, and then I was given a grand tour, and I sat and chatted with the librarian. But the best part of my visit was a special treat the Rosemary had brought for the children.

Uniformly queued up and in suspense

A group of women from England had heard about the school, and learning that many of the children did not have a whole lot of apparel to keep them warm, the women decided to knit beanie and mittens pairs for each of the children. And they were beautiful little sets in bright fanciful colors. While the teachers passed them out, the kids posed in their new gear.

See what a little color can do?

I hope to come back to Mvula and get to know these kids better. They were so incredibly well behaved and curious. When I visited the preschool, each one of them came up to touch my hand, and I was reminded how awe-inspiring a simple gesture can be. And it was refreshing to be taller than some people because it's usually the opposite that is the case.

Unfortunately, the workers strike that has been going on for quite sometime now, meaning that the teachers are not teaching and school is out, which is a great educational loss for the children. But to ensure that educators who are overworked and underpaid get at least little more of their fair share I can see why the the strike is justifiable. Nonetheless, I have not been able to return to the school. Once they are back in session I hope to join the music teacher for their weekly music sessions bringing some more melodic energy with my flute. And I may also help out in the AIDS orphan center and the library.

And speaking of schools, I also got a chance to visit the German school in Cape Town. The school's interact club is sponsored by the Cape Town Rotary club, and Brigitte McKee is a teacher at the school who heads up the club. I came by their Interact Club, known as KIDS (Klub Interact Deutsche Schule--pardon my German) and spoke to them a bit about the ambassadorial scholarship. I previously met a few of the club members who had the shift before mine at the Cape Carnival calamari booth a few months back, so it was nice to see them again. Brigitte urged me to return and spend some more talking with these motivated youth who run an impressive interact club, as she told me they are perfect future ambassadorial scholars.

K.I.D.S., Brigitte McKee n' me