Teach with Africa

I want to take the opportunity to express my thanks for being included in this “quest.” Rarely has a group of extremely talented young people like this been gathered in one place and given almost carte blanche to do important humanitarian work in an area where the needs are so great. For me to be part of this at this time in my life was a great honor.

TWA now has a body of work that will guide it as it morphs and grows. Your meetings now and in the future will help determine the direction which TWA-LEAP takes. I expect that LEAP-TWA will experience tremendous growth over the next few years, perhaps as a “third tier” of schools in Africa, similar to the charter schools in America.

As always, I am available to you to consult on any issue and would be honored to continue to be included in your discussions. I think we learned a lot this year and I would like to continue to emphasize the need for regular team meetings (in country) and debriefing sessions at the end of each tour in S.A. TWA is an amazing organization and your guidance and vision have been central to its success. Once again, thank you for this opportunity. I am sure that I speak for the whole team in expressing this gratitude.

Jack O’Neill

Last Sunday, I attended the convocation of returning fellows, accompanying staff and other support staff involved in this [Teach with Africa 2008 Summer Fellows] project. Each fellow spoke in very evocative and personal ways about their experience at the Leap School and other organizations in the area.

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Caught in a relaxed moment

Margie and Amy,

We’re coming to the end of Teach With Africa’s first period of work in schools and communities of Cape Town. It suddenly seems to be upon us that everybody is leaving and now we become more aware of the enormous work that has been done by each of the fellows of Teach With Africa.

Yesterday we had another staff meeting where three Teach With Africa fellows addressed the meeting and once again challenged and excited the staff of the LEAP Science and Maths Schools to be more creative, more in touch, more innovative and more aware. What a gift to hear Laura and Chrissy work together in a presentation that focussed on appropriate classroom skills and management techniques to optimize the full range of emotional styles and learning styles of students. They worked us through a workshop in which we identified our own learning styles and this was extremely valuable for all the teachers of both schools 1 and 2. Read more »

In anticipation of its widely anticipated electoral victory in April 2009, the [African National Congress] (ANC) has begun looking for solutions to the current educational crisis in South Africa.  As part of this effort, ANC leaders asked Mamphela Ramphele, noted physician, author, social activist and former managing director of the World Bank, to serve as a resource both on health and educational policymaking. After accepting this role, Dr. Ramphele solicited the expertise of John Gilmour, Founder and Head of the LEAP Schools. In turn, John recently introduced several Teach With Africa (TWA) members to the process during the TWA pilot project in July and August 2008.

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Things are going very well with the Teach With Africa delegation. Only good things are coming from this and we are very excited by all the input and all of the ideas and the support and the help that is flowing from the Teach With Africa delegation. The delegation are working hard in various fields:

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Summer Fellows relax with an overview of Cape Town

After our week at camp and weekend wine tasting and hiking around Cape Point, we were anxiously looking forward to the resumption of school at LEAP. The week took different directions for team members and, therefore, my report will be quite general in regards to the activities of the group and more specific in regards to mine. I assume you are getting individual reports from team members. Monday morning began with a meeting at LEAP with the TWA team, John Gilmour, Fozia, and Bonisile.

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I survived my first overnight camp experience in 45 years! It was great fun, intense and very social. The LEAP students were from the 12th grade class. Only a few didn’t or couldn’t come.
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Every morning a team meeting was held to discuss any logistical issues and go over the schedule for the day, as well as begin with any thoughts about what we expected we might encounter that day. At the end of each day, we had group reflection time to talk about our observations, feelings and responses to the day’s experience.

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I will end with the quote with which I began the first team meeting on the July 1, the first day of orientation. It is on the wall in John’s office, and it captured me completely the moment I walked in. I hold it up as the banner cry for this first project, and indeed for my own participation in this journey:
“If you’ve come here to help me, then you are wasting your time.
But if your liberation is bound up with my liberation, then let’s begin.”
We have begun.

One of the critical outcomes of this pilot project that CAN be prescribed is the need to document the project and its processes and systems that develop over the next two months. Each team member will be reporting back to his or her faculty sponsor, which will be shared with TWA. Additionally, each week Jim or Jack will send a coordinator’s report. A weekly update from each team area (education, Green MBA and psych) will be sent to Amy regarding the projects for that week, including descriptions of the project(s) as well as observations and reflections.

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