Sandra's First Day in Africa

The big day for me has arrived! I landed in Johannesburg at 8:30 a.m. after an eleven hour flight from London and was graciously greeted and welcomed by our great driver, Martin. I later learned this was Martin’s second trip to the airport to meet us (me and Gabriel Diamond - the wonderful videographer you will meet through the blog at some point!) as we had erroneously reported our arrival date as a day earlier. Obviously, my travel clock was a bit confused as I was sure I would have the rest of the day to recoup and to get my pep back into my step……… WRONG! When we telephoned Erik to let him know we arrived, he said “GREAT, the girls will be here in about an hour”. I quickly discovered the instant cure for jet lag – the anticipation of meeting thirty South African teenaged girls!

The girls that are scheduled to attend the Digital Arts workshop are from three different organizations that provide 24 hour care to children that have no other appropriate/safe place to live. I’ve been told that many are orphans whose parents died of AIDS, many are abandoned at orphanages by their parents for varied reasons, and some have been taken away from their parents for mistreatment or neglect. As an American educator, I am somewhat familiar with circumstances of this nature and have worked with children in similar situations. I am a very experienced educator – I know lots about what is required to facilitate learning in settings where children are disadvantaged. I had prepared myself to work hard to be extremely upbeat and uplifting as I was sure these girls would need a heavy dose of positive reinforcement and encouragement to learn. Let me just say there was a lot of uplifting going on – just wait until you hear about the greatest beneficiary!

My initial reaction within thirty seconds of the girls walking in: How wrong can one human be? My other initial reaction: Dr. Sandra Reed – You know nothing about what is required to facilitate learning to disadvantaged South African teenaged girls! My other initial reaction: These girls are beautiful (heartwise as well as physically), delightful and brilliant. Yes, that’s right all those initial reactions at one time! During the first ten minutes of meeting the girls – my heart is racing, my palms are sweating with excitement and I’m fighting back tears (I think they were tears of joy and relief)! I wish I could draw you a picture of the entrance of the girls. They all bounced in, they all smiled graciously, and they all displayed perfect manners. WHAT???????? These girls have every reason and then some to be dismayed with the circumstances of their life. My mind wanders over to the reaction of many Americans (myself, primarily) to situations in life that don’t go exactly as we’d like and I’m ashamed. All this within the first hour with the girls!

After quick introductions, Erik presents a brief (as in ten minute-ish) photography lesson and hands digital cameras to the girls with instructions to “go take pictures”. They shriek with excitement and run outside – laughing all the while. Moments later, I went outside to watch – amazing. The girls are taking photos of each other, strangers, the city, etc. Some girls are teaching one another how to use the cameras! After a short period of playing/learning with the cameras, they girls return to the classroom for the introduction of the lesson.

Erik presented a quick introduction to Premiere and asked the girls if they wanted to learn to use the software to make movies. They quickly affirmed and the lesson was on! Andy and Erik did an amazing job of teaching the girls the basics of making movies utilizing Premiere in about an hour and the girls did a more amazing job of learning the basics of utilizing Premiere to make movies in about an hour! I continue to be amazed. The girls worked in groups and followed on their computers as Erik/Andy led the activity on the screen. Let me just say that many American classrooms could learn a bit from the learning style of these girls: they worked well in groups, they were respectful of others in the classroom, and they were very appropriately engaged in the activity. It was apparent to me that they were very grateful for the learning opportunity provided.

After a quick lesson on Premiere, the girls were asked to write a short narrative for the movie they were going to make. The movies the girls are making are relative to their experiences with a multi-media communication initiative developed by UNICEF to promote adolescent issues in Africa – Sara. Publisher - Maskew Miller Longman has partnered with UNICEF to promote existing Sara materials to more children and to develop additional materials. I quickly decided this was a great idea as I listened to the girls share some of their experiences with the Sara curriculum and how it was relative to their lives. The girls were able to very clearly articulate the impact of the Sara curriculum on their lives and all quickly pointed out that they were very aware that the future of their lives would largely be shaped by the choices they made.

I was able to maintain my composure (barely) as one girl spoke of being raped by her father, one girl spoke of her mother deserting her and her siblings permanently with no explanation, one girl spoke of going to sleep hungry every night before coming to live at the shelter, and one girl spoke of being sexually abused by many of her mother’s boyfriends. However, you can be sure that as I reflect on it now and write about it, my composure is nowhere to be found. As the mother of a girl very close in age to these girls, my heart feels like it might beat out of my chest as I remember the experiences the girls shared. Tears are streaming down my face but they are really strange tears. I’m not sure if they are sad tears or tears of joy that these girls now have a safe and wonderful place to live – it’s really strange.

The most common thread among the experiences the girls shared was that they all expressed that they knew they had opportunities presented to them for a better life and that they had made the decision to take advantage of all such opportunities. These girls are the picture of making lemonade from lemons.

Who gained the most from day one – me or the students? Clearly, me. More later as we are off for another day with the girls!

Sandra