Last Day in Cape Town

Hello All!

This is Manny a senior BME volunteering at Ellerton Primary with earlier blogger Drew Johnson. Today was our last day in Cape Town, and we all had to say goodbye to our learners and fellow teachers. It was an extremely emotional day for us all.

Throughout the past two weeks I have gotten to not only talk to some of the teachers about the education system in South Africa, but also experience firsthand both the great advancements and issues of the modern-day system. Many of the learners at Ellerton travel great distances from the townships, which are non-permanant settlements outside of Cape Town, to attend school everyday. While this speaks well for the quality of education at Ellerton, it is obvious that the schools in the townships are as inadequate as the housing. The government is currently implementing a plan to build permanent homes with electricity and running water for the nearly 9 million citizens living in shacks, but this takes time. In addition, the economic gap between ethnic groups has yet to be closed. After a lengthy conversation with one teacher I learned that when the schools in South Africa were desegregated, instead of raising the colored and black schools up to the level of the white schools, standards were decreased to the lowest level. This caused all the families that could afford privates schooling, mainly the white families, to leave the public schooling system. Less than 2% of the learners at Ellerton Primary are white.

While the conditions within the South African education system are not ideal, the children have proven to be a beacon for the future. I spent most of my time assisting in a 2nd grade class and came to love all the children I worked with. They were energy packed and had little-to-no attention span like all 8-year-olds, but were instantly accepting and eager to learn. I was greeted the first day with songs and finished today with heart-warming letters from each (and even a few tears). Many learners do not get the love and support at home and simply needed one-on-one attention and someone to care for them. The teachers are engaged in the classrooms, but do not have the time or resources to attend to each learner's individual needs. I hope that my time spent with them has touched their lives like they have touched mine, and that meeting someone from America has broadened their horizons. Heading back to the U.S. I plan to keep in touch with the learners at Ellerton as they develop into the men and women that will shape the continuing transformation of their country. Based on my experiences with them, I am excited for what the future holds.