I
originally told Vernon that I wanted to work in a school for my internship.
When I said this, I was picturing a run down school in a township where the
students didn’t wear shoes. This was based solely on my preconceived notions of
schools in developing countries. The school I was placed at, however, was very
different than I imagined.
Christel House is a school that focuses on overcoming poverty. It does this by taking
the poorest learners and busing them into a more suburban area. There is an
extensive application where the students are not only proving their desire to
come to the school, but also their level of poverty. If they meet all the requirements
and are accepted into the school, they are clothed, fed and bused to this
school everyday of the week. These students also get to stay at the school from
Kindergarten (Grade R) age until Grade 12, when they will graduate.
Today,
I got to meet the primary donor and creator of the school, Christel De Haan.
Christel has funded and set up schools all over the world. She has schools in
Mexico, Venezuela, the United States, India, and South Africa. I was lucky
enough to come on the year that Christel House: South Africa was hosting the
Global Conference. The Global Conference is a chance for representatives from
all of the schools to come together and discuss issues. This was the opening
day. The introduction assembly made me overwhelmingly impressed with the school
and the students. I remember in my high school assemblies I was always nervous
for the chosen speakers. I could barely stand to watch the unrehearsed stutters
and stammers as my classmates stumbled through their scripts. This was nothing
like what I expected. The student emcees were amazingly articulate and confident
and I detected no anxiety in their voices.
As
the students were performing, singing, dancing, reciting poetry for this women
they barely knew, I was thinking about how they felt. Did they feel like this
was something they had to do? Did they feel like they had to repay her in some
way? Did they understand what she does? I got the chance to ask some of the
older students what they thought about all of the hoopla surrounding Christel
De Haan’s visit after the assembly. One tenth grade girl’s response made me
step back and stop thinking about Christel De Haan as some white women who
simply wants to give money to a school so a huge framed picture of herself can
be hung in the corridors. This girl told me, as serious as can be, “Ms.
Christel saved my life. I am happy to sing for her”.
I
was a bit skeptical at first, thinking that I wasn’t getting the full
experience. There I was on the first day of my internship sitting in the nicest
teacher’s lounge I had ever seen sipping coffee in the air conditioning. I felt
guilty and wanted to be in that township school. I thought that is where I
could truly help the community. However, now that I have seen how passionate
these students are about their school, I realize that I can do good anywhere I
am, no matter the level of funding they have. I judged the school instantly and
I have so much more to learn about it. I am still a bit skeptical, as always,
thinking as a realist, but I have three months in this school where I can
hopefully meet a lot of students and faculty and truly understand Christel
House.
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| Student Marimba Players at Assembly for Christel DeHaan |
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