Where, oh where

It's been almost two weeks since I've left the Free State and I'm still slowly coming off of what I experienced there. I've left a changed person, but also encountered myself in new ways and learned a lot about myself while in that new context.

2008 is wrapping up here. The "New Year" of 2009 seems to have more bearing here as it means a new work year, a new school year, a new fiscal year. Summer is in full swing and people begin taking their holidays now - businesses and schools are all shutting down and people are in reflection mode. Which has put me in that space a bit, mentally.

This past year has been tough and certainly dynamic. For me this past year includes everything since I left Chicago, as that was a big marker, a huge chapter closing. Having just had a birthday too, I realize this is the year where I "grew up" in leaps and bounds. I've had to become more independent, more flexible, more money conscious, emotionally more tough; I've learned to overcome distractions & to be more self-motivated. I've worked towards difficult goals and pushed my way through that incredibly tricky process. I feel as if I've met myself again and again in lots of different ways and had to learn how to get over myself.

This year of growth has contributed largely to the success of my time in the Free State. It was awfully lonely at times and with nothing holding me to "who I am," I had to rediscover what it is that builds me up, find where my self-contained barriers are, understand what boundaries I need, and to find the holes in the atmosphere necessary for steady, even breathing. I won't say it's an A+ job - as we all know, growth is ongoing and is not always quantifiable. I say it was a success of a time, but it was also a struggle.

I've been staying in Johannesburg these last 2 weeks (see the pictures of the industrial part of town in which I'm staying), apart from having work, a schedule, a network and have spent a lot of time writing and reflecting on this recent frame of time. I've also had a lot of time to ponder the next set of adventures lying in store for me in Cape Town. I have a significant holiday gap before starting my teaching job in Cape Town due to the lack of organization through the group I'll start working with once there. I was supposed to be helping & training with them in their Jo'burg headquarters the month of December, but that's fallen through. On the up side, my Dad was able to arrange special travel plans on his way back to the US from China to stop through SA. So early tomorrow morning he'll be arriving.

Our plans are to travel to the St. Lucia Wetlands and game reserves north of Durban, just to the south of Mozambique. We'll also spend a few days in Durban following that time, so it will be a lovely week moving about the northeastern part of the coast. Do expect some good wildlife photos in my upcoming postings! Following his trip it's Christmastime and I have plans to see my Gran, uncle & cousins back in the Karoo, just before making my way to Cape Town.

So Cape Town. Sigh! Everyone and anyone has told me I will never leave once moving to the Cape. I'm looking forward to it for multiple reasons but also have a whole new set of challenges awaiting me there. The school I'm slotted to teach English in is a couple miles walk from where I'll be living which will be nice and feasible. It's a mission school and the population is bussed in from the surrounding townships. I'm not sure of any further circumstances and am feeling VERY loosely supported by the organization that has set this job up for me.

Based on my original plans to move to SA -- dating back to my Fulbright proposal -- I have stayed in touch with a couple of the artists and organizations that supported my initial proposal to do art workshops with survivors of sexual assault. I have every intention to make use of these contacts, especially as I am becoming wary of the organization I'll be working with. A couple of new friends I've made here in Jo'burg have been pushing me to reconsider teaching English as it is such a departure from what I'm really wanting to do. Point taken. I still plan to go forward with the teaching but am trying to work through my own ideas of what it is I'm trying to accomplish - and to set forth with that at the forefront. There are lots and lots of organizations here that don't have an online presence, which I'll be able to find in person, that might be more closely tied to arts programming and sexual assault. Also, there is a lot of untapped funding here, so I'm gaining confidence that if I can solidify a new proposal for what/how it is I'm wanting to do through these workshops, I can procure the funding needed for materials, space, advertising, etc. It feels good to be moving back on track with proposals and writing - and at the same time to have a short-term plan in place for getting to know the issues of urban & modern Cape Town. For now, these are my current thoughts in a Shannon-nutshell. Not a lot "going on," but the cogs are a-turnin' !

Last Day at Rietpan

Last full day, can you believe it?! Tomorrow morning I teach at Sussex and have one last lunch on the farm and off to JO'burg I go. I put in a full day today, finishing a series of "thank you" paintings, taking lots of bird photos, celebrating Iris' upcoming 2nd birthday with all of Chris & Miriam's local family, packing my bags and celebrating one last sunset at the vlei. You may notice a few more photos of me recently - I've finally taken some of you up on your complaints and decided to record my presence here! Will conclude this period with one more series of sock puppet photos later this week. Till then, adieu adieu!

Mural Chronology

Before Pictures:

Today we finished the mural! Hoorah and hooray for it has been quite a tedious process. To give you a sense of how this mural came about over the last couple of months, let me explain from the beginning.

I came to Huntersvlei Primary with the intention of doing a mural, based on discussions with the organization. Unfortunately, upon arrival, I found out that the school is going to be demolished and the student population will be relocated to a new school in a developing local township, Phahameng, next year. The principal was happy for me to do a mural onsite, but to me there is no point to doing a semi-permanent mural only to have it bulldozed. So we investigated the new site and realized the existing creche (nursery), next to the new school's grounds, would be a perfect place for the painting. The creche already houses 100 First, 2nd, and 3rd graders in addition to 30 some little ones.

The problem with the creche site in Phahameng is that it's about an 8k drive from the current school and so it really limited the involvement of all children from the very beginning. You might ask why I went ahead with the mural with such circumstances under foot? But the school children knew my mural intentions before I'd even met them and the paint was heavy in my trunk. Not ideal in the least, but I did the best I could to involve as many of the 350 students as I could.

For content, I began working with Grades 4-7 on dream drawings, using the book "Where the Wild Things Are" as a springboard. Translation is a big issue in this school, where the classes are too large for students to really get one on one attention with their English studies. I didn't always have another teacher in the class with me to help explain things, so I did get some funny "dream" drawings. Some were of South African flags and other material that probably didn't stream from their subconsciouses. Many of the students drew pictures of rain and there were some unusual ones of birthday cake, guys running from snakes and silly looking ostriches.



From these 150+ drawings, I assembled a group of 10 students. We pasted the drawings on the blackboard and then I told the group to pull down a few images that they found interest in. From these drawings, they redrew different aspects and together we assembled these drawn collages into a linear design. From there, we went to the site.


I could only legally fit 4 students in my car and therefore could only take that many to Phahameng with me at a time. Over about 6 weeks, 2 days a week, I took different groups of students from Huntersvlei to the mural. Some days the principal was able to bring even more in his truck. We primed the low wall in front of the school, drew the outline of the mural, painted the background and then the foreground.


On a separate occassion, I worked with students in Grades 1, 2 & 3 at Huntersvlei to draw fencepost designs. The idea was that the students at the Phahemeng site would then use those drawings as a blueprint to copy onto the actual fence. Beautiful idea in theory, involving about 200 students, but in actuality a bit more tricky! Each time I went to work on the fence, I brought some of the older students from Huntersvlei to assist me with the students as younguns' English is non-existant. It was totally chaotic each and every time. Gathering control of the group was a loss, and not many students actually "copied" the designs, but in the end it really looks fabulous.


I don't know if the pictures can even convey what a spectrum of color this sheds onto the pock-marked dirt roads and water holes outside of the gates. The township is certainly not without character, but it is poor and most of the government housing and self-made tin shacks lack color and shine. The stench of the outhouses permeates the streets on hot, windy days and the litter is devasting, blowing out of the open dump next to the school.


I have a handle on pedagogy, as much as a person could without a degree or lifetime in education. While I wasn't able to involve the adult community, I hope that the participation of the students enables the community to feel some part in the project. I hope that the mural remains, that it is respected and that it will continue to be a source of pride for those who directly worked on it. Personally, I am proud and felt good walking away today and leaving this as a source of color and pleasure for those living and studying in the area. Crossing my fingers the rust holds off!

Goodbye Shah-Non!

The end is drawing near - my last day of teaching is Monday, so the goodbyes have officially begun. It's been a while since I've posted any video, so here's a little diddy comprised of the morning assembly song/dance at Huntersvlei Primary and a goodbye show from the students at Leoka & Waaisand. I am so glad for my tiny little point and shoot camera for its video capacity, however the sound is not optimal. So I've added a South African favorite, Vusi Mahlasela, singing his song "Basimanyana," to make up for the silence (the music was too distorted). But at the very end you can hear my students thanking me for making them so "heppy" - it's quite lovely!

Drakensburg

For a nice change of pace I went to the Drakensburg mountains for the weekend with a friend. These mountains are located in Kwazulu-Natal, where much of the Zulu speaking population resides. Stunning views - they made me quite nostalgic for NC, although these mountains are lacking the trees of the Appalachians. Most of the trees in the area were even planted, a big problem South Africa is facing all over with regards to water issues. Eucalyptus, wattle, and gum trees were planted for paper making, fire wood and tanning hides and suck up great proportions of water that the land was not made to yield. Many of these trees were brought over during colonization to re-create an idea of home for the farmers far away from the comforts of their European landscapes. Still, to the naked eye, the trees do create beautiful boundaries to the farms all over this country and a wee bit of shade where it is needed. This particular farm, where I went to stay, is going through a process of pulling out the trees and purifying the sustainability of the land.

Waaisand & Leoka

These pictures are from a combination of my 2 smallest schools, Waaisand and Leoka, taken on location at Leoka Primary. At Waaisand there are 4 pupils and at Leoka 11 so this has made for my most focused and intimate work setting thus far. Although these students are much younger than my previous high school group at Niekerksrus, I decided to go forth with these more advanced puppet types. Today, while the older students helped with sewing the bodies, the younger ones were put to work with sidewalk chalk. The little girl I nannied for in Charlotte, Rachel, did an amazing popsicle fundraiser last August to raise money for art supplies. With that money, she was able to purchase a wide variety of supplies, including sidewalk chalk. I've had a problem figuring out how on earth we'd utilize the chalk seeing as there aren't many sidewalks or tar roads to be found near the schools - all dirt and gravel! This little school worked out perfectly and here you see these kids happily rolling in the chalk dust!

Which brings me to....take your focus to the first image posted, the chalkboard. I want to appeal to those of you who might be looking for a Christmas gift for a friend who already has everything - I'm hoping to find a way to give this school, Leoka, a new chalkboard for the beginning of the new school year in 2009. As you can see, the math problems are barely visible above the dust streaked board that won't go black - the board was installed when the school was built in 1976. There are so many things that could be given to these schools, but the basics are essential. How can you learn if you cannot see properly? If you're interested in helping me out with this blackboard problem please email me at sbrinklee@gmail.com.

The Pan & the Vlei

So "Rietpan" the name of the farm literally stands for "Reed Pan." Chris says his great & great-great grandfathers used to hide behind the reeds to target lions that preyed upon their cattle, back in the 1800s. Really, nary a lion to be seen out here anymore. Almost all larger, wild game is extinct from this area. Not so for the birds, luckily.

As you will see in some of these photos, the reeds create a lovely habitat for many African birds. I'm still slowly adding new birds to my collection of knowledge but you will see featured in the reeds namely red billed quellia, red bishops (with the bright red face), yellow weaver birds (see the nest nestled in the reeds + a close up of a nest that fell from a tree), and then flamingos skimming the water.

You should hear the sounds outside my window! A trellis full of flowers and humming bees is directly below the sill and just beyond is a symphony of birds mixed with the strains of other insects. It is so loud. At night it's much more quiet with the mere chirping of crickets and creaking of bullfrogs.

The dam or "pan" of Rietpan is natural and wells up from the springs, or vlei, below ground. Right now it is quite low, partially for lack of rain and partially due to water theft (for the purpose of catching the fish), so I've been able to ride horses and walk around the entire perimeter which is nice. At dusk it is like glass and captures the vastness of the sky in a way that will melt your heart. Like a spoonful of sugar.



































p.s. note baby iris & miriam walking towards the dam

Performance Spectular!

For a tremendous sweep of all the time we've put into the performance, sewing, painting, hammering, singing, writing and practicing, today was a culmination of lots of effort over the past 6 weeks. I think the pictures mostly speak for themselves - as soon as I have video to post I will do so - perhaps on youtube so to make it bigger/longer. All in all we performed 5 plays - 3 quite short, traditional stories and 2 longer, more contemporary ones. In order there was "Johnny, the Best Cheater" (a story about a princess seeking a mate through a competition to see who could eat spicy food without making a peep), "Linda Perseveres" (a story about a farm girl who escapes her destiny as a domestic worker to go to college), "The Monkey & the Crocodile" (a funny little story about 2 friends, a monkey and a crocodile, and the advice given to the croc by a traditional healer to give his ailing mother the heart of a monkey), "A New Way to Love" (a modern-day story about 2 teenagers who are feeling the pressures to have sex - especially unprotected - and the advice they seek from their role models in how to pursue the other), & finally "Yabo and the 3 Goats" (a children's story about a shepherd and the 3 goats that wind up in the pumpkin patch and the many friends he enlists to help him get them out).

A list of photo descriptions from top to bottom: 1) Visitors in the audience from Sussex, the neighboring Primary school where I will begin teaching next week. 2) a behind the scenes look at our performers, 3) a good look at the faces of the performers behind the masks of their puppets, 4) more of the crowd, 5) the final puppet stand/set, 6) more crowd - baby Iris (in blue) is sitting in the lap of Mammakie her nanny, both of whom live with me at Rietpan, 7) scene from "A New Way to Love", 8) Panyalatsa in "Johnny the best Cheater", 9) puppets in action, 10) a group shot of me with a few students - the "teach", 11) Miriam, my host, filming the event, 12) students from Sussex meeting their first puppets!, 13) a brilliant shot by Seboko of some ladies who live on farm where the school is located

These first photos & last 3 photos were ones taken by a high school Senior, Seboko Phillemon Morobi, who showed special talent in film editing during a previous dramatic need workshop. On Tuesday, to help raise money to send him to Johannesburg next year for a film internship, an article was written about him in the London Times. I took a whole series of photos of Seboko for the article and apparently one of them appeared along with it, though it is not visible online. Would be the first time I'd be published in a newspaper! It's quite an interesting article detailing th need for expressive arts in ares where trauma, poverty and hunger abound - check it out at: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5126664.ece