ellieINafrica

Good Bye Party at OVSS

2008-08-22T18:04:00.000-07:00

Smart Boards in use

2008-08-22T18:01:00.000-07:00

Marine Primary Dance Competition

2008-08-17T12:22:00.001-07:00

A Day With Mr. Kallis

2008-08-17T09:45:00.000-07:00

SOH CAH TOA

2008-08-17T09:34:00.001-07:00

Home Ec Practical

2008-08-17T04:11:00.001-07:00

Safari Day 2

2008-08-16T14:03:00.000-07:00

Safari Day 1

2008-08-12T12:32:00.000-07:00

Woman's Day

2008-08-12T12:29:00.000-07:00

Saturday August 10th was Woman's Day. We celebrated it at OVSS on the Friday. All the women wore orange and black (which, apparently, are women colors) and from 10am-11am we went to Imhoff farm for tea and scones. Meanwhile, all the male staff members and 1,200 students were in the assembly hall, hopefully writing poetry to their mothers.

Natasha (far left) came to visit for the day from her school in Fish Hoek.

The OVSS staff room- there is a faculty meeting every morning (8:00-8:15)

At Imhoff Farm

The whole OVSS staff!

Front Gate

2008-08-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

Every morning I wait for my taxi at the front gate of my security estate.

Meet Godknows! He is 24 and from Zimbabwe and the friendliest person I have ever met in my whole life. I often wake up early to go hang out with him, and then we debrief at the end of the day when I return. Godknows is good friends with my host family because he and his pregnant wife stayed with them during the xenophobia attacks in the Masiphumelele township, where he lives.

I help sign in the construction workers and visitors. The hat makes me legit.

Cape Malay Playdate

2008-08-08T14:14:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Sampson invited me over for dinner. She took me over to her parents' house in Ocean View. Her father was the tailor for the navy (see naval badges bellow).

Mrs. Sampson and her family are part of the Cape Malay community in this area. According to Wikepedia, the Cape Malay community i san ethnic group in South Africa, taking its name from what i snow known as the Western Cape of South Africa and the people originally from the Malay archipelago, mostly Javanese from Indonesia, who arated this community in South Africa. The community's earliest members were slaves brought by the Dutch East India Company. They are the group that first introduced Islam to South Africa.

Children playing cricket on her street.

She goes horseriding every afternoon.

Cooking fish briani from the Cape Malay cookbook.
Family dinner.

Get this....

2008-08-07T22:08:00.000-07:00

At the Ocean View Secondary School... the students all line up outside of their classrooms in two lines- one for boys, one for girls. The teacher waits for them to settle down, then lets them in the room.

Then.... they come into the room and stand next to their desks. Their teacher says "good morning (afternoon) 10E (or whatever class it is)" and then the students say "good morning miss." And then they sit out and get out their notebooks. Every time another teacher or the principal comes in the room, they stand up to greet them.

Then.... they take crazy neat notes with boarders and excessive use of rulers.

Projector-Happy

2008-08-04T22:10:00.000-07:00

This week's assembly was hosted by me and Huston, the other World Teach volunteer at the high school. We made a power point presentation for the two assemblies. "The Hall" was filled at the first assembly with only 8th and 9th graders, at the second assembly with 10th, 11th, and 12th graders (there is a large drop out rate after grade 10). My portion of the presentation focused on HSTAT and "a day in the life of a HSTAT student." I almost incited a riot when I showed pictures of our students not wearing uniforms. They were interested to hear about students who do not speak English at home who take all of their classes in English- the students at Ocean View have the option of taking all classes in Afrikaans (their first language). The picture below was taken during mine and Houston's 2 minute dress rehersal...

The school was given 4 Smart Boards by the government- they are super nice because, unlike mine, they are mounted on the wall and the projector is set from the ceiling. The school board was taking a long time sending people to set them up, so I did a professional development session about them and how I have used them and have been working with individual teachers on implementing them in their classrooms. Above is Ms. Johnson, who teaches Math, Physics, and Natural Science and is also the surf coach!!!

Supervisor Terry

2008-08-04T12:32:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday I was "supervising" (substituting) for a teacher and by some series of events ended up with SEVENTY tenth graders. I instructed them to "chill" and have since been rotating between supervising for the day and helping out in the 8th and 11th grade "pure maths" classes (as in not "maths literacy"- which is math mixed with literacy for the lower performing students).

Ocean Adventure

2008-07-29T12:54:00.000-07:00

Green Point Stadium

2008-07-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, I went as a chaperone on the 10th grade tourism class' field trip to Green Point Stadium in Cape Town. The stadium is under construction for the 2010 World Cup. The stadium will have a capacity of 68,000 and replaces an 18,000 seat stadium of the same name.

Evidence of the preparation for the 2010 World Cup is everywhere- they are literally widening the roads to get ready for the increase in tourist traffic!

We waited for the bus for 3 hours at the beach.

We made 2010 Coca Cola ads to pass the time.

Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday/ De-Worming Day

2008-07-22T09:29:00.001-07:00

Friday July 18th was Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday!

It was also the day I had to administer a de-worming pill to the 43 students I happened to be substituting during "guardian" period. I had to watch them put it in their mouth, chew, swallow, and then check their mouth. If the pills do their job and the students have worms, there is a possibility that they might come out of their NOSES, as well as out of other places.

Happy Birthday Mandela!

Letters to HSTAT

2008-07-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

Ocean View Secondary School

2008-07-20T07:38:00.000-07:00

For the rest of my time here, I will be working at the Ocean View Secondary School. It is the high school that serves the families in the "colored" area of Ocean View, and a small percentage from the neighboring areas. I spent the first day as a teacher's assistant in an Afrikaans-only classroom, and quickly volunteered to play the role of substitute. If a teacher is absent, the students are instructed to report to their "guardian" (homeroom) teacher- so they end up disturbing the other classes. Now, they come to me.

The students get 2 30 minute "intervals" (basically a recess) where they can have tea, eat lunch, walk around, and occasionally get into small fights that are quickly diffused by the grounds staff.

Table Mountain

2008-07-13T12:12:00.001-07:00

Robben Island

2008-07-13T12:04:00.000-07:00

Soetwater Refugee Camp

2008-07-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

District Six Museum

2008-07-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

Above is a map of the former inner-city residential area of Cape Town that was once known as "District Six" (and Shelly is pictured video taping). It is best known for the forced removal of over 60,000 of its inhabitants during the 1970s by the apartheid regime.

These are the street signs of the area that, on February 11, 1966 was declared a whites-only area under the Groups Areas Act. The colored and black inhabitants were relocated to the Cape Flats townships (in the area where I am). The old houses were bulldozed. Since the fall of apartheid in 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) has recognized the older claims of former residents to the area and pledged to support rebuilding. So far, 24 houses have been built and construction is currently stalled.

Cape of Good Hope

2008-07-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

We all hike around the Cape of Good Hope in the rain. Because it rains in South Africa in the winter almost every day. We all thought it was the southern most tip of Africa- but it's not, Cape Agulhas is. But Cape Agulhas has an ugly name and a less dramatic coast line, so we went here.

That's me.

That's me in my explorer hat.

This is our leader, Roddy Brey. He came to South Africa from England to volunteer for a year and never left. He knows everything and the dates to go along with it.

African Penguins

2008-07-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

Meet the African Penguin (formerly known as the "Jackass Penguin" because they sound like crying donkeys). Amazing!

Netball

2008-07-03T14:25:00.001-07:00

I tried to learn Netball from the kids, but they kept changing the rules. So I looked it up on Wikipedia.... apparently.... Netball is a non-contact sport derived from basketball usually played by girls. Over 20 million people play netball in more than 70 countries.

I am going to start a team at HSTAT for the dainty girls who cannot dribble, box-out, or use the back-board.

Sisters. Their mom dresses them alike.

Winter Holiday Program

2008-07-03T13:27:00.000-07:00

For the two weeks after orientation, the schools have a "winter" holiday. 8 volunteers, including myself, are running a camp at the Marine Primary School in Ocean View from 10am-2pm. The invitation was extended to the pupils from grades 4-7, but we take anyone who shows up (who doesn't look 16 or older), put a name-tag on them, and split them into 4 groups: sports (soccer or netball), games, crafts, and classroom activities.

I am handball/netball/4-square QUEEN!

Johari and Martha running "night and day."

My all- star netball team.

My Homestay!

2008-06-29T08:22:00.000-07:00

My host family lives in a "security community" just outside of Fish Hoek. They have a 3-year-old, an 8-month-old, and 2 dogs. It is THE PERFECT situation.

This is the view from their porch! You can see the suburb of "Sun Valley" all the way to the ocean.

KIDS!

2008-06-29T06:12:00.000-07:00

This is a "maths" class at the Ocean View School or children with Special Educational Needs.

Hanging out at Ocean View High School.

Hockey at the Fish Hoek High School which is in quintile 5, meaning it is in a wealthy area so it gets the lowest level of government finding. The government gives the school (which houses 650 students) 21 teachers, and the school must raise money from the parents to pay for another 14 teachers to run their school.

Uniforms at Marine Primary school.

Visiting the Schools

2008-06-29T05:26:00.000-07:00

We spent the first few days going around the local area visiting the schools everyone will be working at after the 2 week summer vacation.

Simon's Town school was built in the 1950s and has 500 students from ages 5-19. Above is a picture of the hostel, where a few dozen students stay. 8 World Teach volunteers are working and living at that school this sumer. Siomon's Town school gets money from the local maratime community, with the understanding that many of their graduates will be trained for and go into the Naval services.

Marine Primary school is where I will be working at a camp during the 2 week summer vacation. This school is in Ocean View and has mostly "colored" students. This school feeds into the Ocean View Secondary School (where I will be working for the final 5 weeks).

Ocean View Secondary School! My future school! More info to come!

Masiphumelele High School is a "no fee" school that services the black township of Masiphymelele.

Kalk Bay

2008-06-29T04:56:00.001-07:00

This train goes along the coast and up to the city of Cape Town.

SAFTEY 1st

2008-06-27T14:54:00.000-07:00

Baboon Invasion Prevention Signs.

Pickpocket-Proof Money Belt.

Rocklands

2008-06-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

For the first 3 nights, we all stayed at these cabins outside Simon's Town called "Rocklands." We had campfires, South African history lectures, and a visit from a BABOON during dinner (a huge male baboon came in, grabbed a loaf of bread, and ran up the mountain). We were shuttled around in 2 of these busses all around the West Cape.

QATAR AIRLINES

2008-06-27T13:53:00.000-07:00

I met up with the other 27 World Teach volunteers at Dulles airport and together we flew 12 hours to Doha, 10 hours to Johannesburg, and 1 hour to Cape Town.

Doha is in Qatar and there were no women at the airport (beside the 24 I was with).

Bon Voyage

2008-06-21T14:35:00.001-07:00

I am about to embark on a 24 hour journey to Cape Town by way of Doha, Qatar via Qatar Airlines. I might be incommunicado until Thursday, when I move in with my host family. This picture will have to suffice until then. (photo by Elizabeth Terry)