The Rooster Chronicles

How on God’s green earth do I begin to describe these last two weeks. What a time of growth. Not only have I grown, so has my project, the relationships with my students, and the inventory of my classroom. Currently I am at school taking a much needed break from painting. I was supposed to paint my classroom with my students in an effort to teach them the technical skills of painting and also the work skills of being on time, quality of work, etc. However, this was not to be because most of my students are not back to school yet. The students just came back this week and it usually takes about two full weeks for the school to get all of the learners back as many come from far away and their parents can only bring them when they can afford transport. There are other reasons for the kids coming late as well, but those are things not worth getting into because I will become unreasonable and venture off into multiple tangents about little respect is given to children here in South Africa. Call it the maternal instinct; I just don’t care for excuses. Regardless, my learners are not here and the painting has to be finished before next week when we are to start the five times a week life skills, work skills, and technical skills training. So that leaves me painting, taping, and cleaning up for the next two days. But, I am happy; no complaints.

Peace Corps has this World Map Project where PC volunteers paint…you guessed it…WORLD MAPS on walls at schools, community centers, etc. This is supposed to provide a semi-accurate depiction of where countries are located and their size relative to other countries. It is supposed to broaden some horizons and provide for learning activities that are bases in both geography and sociology. However, my kids cannot read so well and teaching them about geography and country capitals will not be beneficial or perhaps even possible for them to learn. So, the reason why I decided to paint the world map is primarily because I want my learners to stop asking me if they could buy a boat could they row to America and where my state is located. Once I finish the map, I will post a picture of my face on Virginia and pictures of their faces in South Africa and I will once again kindly explain that Virginia is no where near California and therefore, the distance alone makes in nearly impossible for me to have meet Mel Gibson, though we share the surname. Our uses for the map here at Inkanyiso Special School are probably not exactly what Peace Corps had in mind, but they are useful to us nevertheless. I am guessing that throwing suction cup darts at the map as a learning activity is probably not conventional but hey, who needs normal?

I am painfully aware that I work at a special school because as I am writing this I am looking out of my window of my class and there is Themba with a plastic bag on his head again singing “Avukile Amasango (The Gates Are Open)”. Wait, I have to go take care of this….okay back now. Sorry for the momentary delay in service delivery, but I think that if Themba had suffocated for almost the forth time today, that would have been less than pleasant. I am also very conscious of the fact that perhaps my Peace Corps experience is not at all how I envisioned it would be before I got here, because it is so different and so much better. I never thought I would work at a school, never mind, a special school that is very special in almost every way possible. For instance I was painting cutting elastic pieces for one of the sewing projects my girls are going to work on when I realized that two of the pieces I had cut and set out on the chairs to organize everything outside are missing. Then I hear this hacking sound mixed with some clucking and I turn around to face the biggest baddest rooster I have seen in my life. This rooster must be at least a foot and a half tall if not two and with the most brightly colored feathers I have seen on a domestic fowl. And hanging out of this rooster’s mouth is one of my elastic pieces. I immediately became angry because it was already taking me forever to prepare all of the materials for my girls and then this cock (yes, that is what they call them here) took my materials. I really believe that either you get mad, get even, or get it all and of course I chose to get it all. So I commence chasing this rooster as he squawked and yelled into a corner and as I almost had my hand on him to get my elastic back, he jumps at me and scares me enough that I take a few steps back. Then he runs and oh how he ran. So I chased him. As I am chasing this domestic fowl across the school grounds I eventually become acutely aware that I am being watched and I stop. I look up and I realize that over half of the student and teacher population has just seen this American chase this Africa hell-raising rooster across the yard and they are amused. I smile, wave, and say in Zulu “Just playin’” before I amble my way back to my class to hide my head in my silly American shame. I realize that this rooster probably mistook the elastic for a worm but at the time I was just fed up with having stuff stolen because the same day someone stole the soap I just bought for my class. Not to worry though, the rooster is still on school grounds and I am sure we will meet again; next time I will be ready.

I recently had a conversation with one of my students as well which would not seem to be anything special back in America but it meant a lot to me here. It was also in English so I was actually able to understand the majority of what he was saying. Phumlani came to my class on Tuesday as I was painting and talked to me frankly about South Africa and was really interested in what I am doing here. He ended our thirty minute dialogue with “Miss, you have too much to learn. We, black people, are dying and there is nothing that you can do to help us. We have to fix ourselves, but we like that you are here and you are nice to us.” In some strange way, he stole every last little bit of hope for me actually making a difference, yet at the same time he made me realize that I may have already done enough by just being here and that was gratifying in itself. Knowing that one of my students actually believes that lecture that I am constantly doling out about how we are responsible for our own wellness and inversely our own demise; the choice is entirely up to the individual regardless of circumstance. Many of my learners try to pass of their choices as completely contingent upon one circumstance or another while attempting to believe that they actually have to take no responsibility for their choices. This is something we are working to change because even when your back is against the wall, you always have choices; not that things will work always out the way you wish regardless of your decisions, but you have choices. One of my students understands this and has internalized it. Maybe this happened before I came, maybe after. Regardless, it is fairly astounding.

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”-Martin Luther