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| Learning sign language |
Today is Nelson Mandela’s 94th Birthday. Everyone was asked to celebrate his birthday
by spending 67 minutes (I have no clue why 67???) helping someone. In honor of Mandela’s birthday, I took 25
learners from my youth club at Thethe High School (a mainstream school) to a
Kultwaneg (a special school). As I mentioned in an earlier post, Kultwaneg is a boarding school for deaf and
intellectually disabled learners from preschool to high school (for your
reference in photos the Thethe learners are in grey uniforms and the Kultwaneg
learners are in blue and gold uniforms).
When we arrived at Kultwaneg, the learners surrounded the Thethe learners and stared at them. I could tell the Thethe students were nervous. Although, we have had great conversations about acceptance, inclusion, and tolerance, this was now the real world. One learner actually told me she was traumatized and asked were the kids violent and would she be safe.
We started the activity by teaching the Thethe learners the
alphabet, hello, bye, and thank you in sign language. I then took all of the learners through a series
of Mandela quotes. The learners were
then asked to share a motivational word inspired by the quote. Next, in pairs the learners painted the motivational
words on rocks and on a curb to decorate the school.
The awesome part of the activity was that I could see the
Thethe and Kultwaneg learners forming friendships as the day went on. They relaxed and really enjoyed
themselves. At the culmination of the
activity, about 8 of us had to wait around at Kultwaneg as the taxi dropped off
the first group of Thethe learners. I
was so touched to see the kids talking and playing together. Some of the Kultwaneg learners took us on a
short tour of the school. We saw a
garden that had been started and the Thethe learners volunteered to work on it
the next time we came. And in the taxi
on the way home, the Thethe learners were practicing sign language and asking
when we were coming back. I have to
admit I shed a couple of tears as I listened to the kids chatter on about the
days activities (well they were speaking in Tswana but pretty sure that’s what
they were talking about). I was so proud
of them. They opened up and truly were
accepting of the Kultwaneg learners. The
girl who was initially traumatized even made really good friends with one of
the intellectually disabled learners. So
much so that he wanted to fight another Kultwaneg learner because he talked to
her. ROTFL.
I know I keep saying this but when I look back over my life
today will be one of those moments I will remember (I am becoming such a sap).
I was so humbled and in awe of how it all transpired.
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| One of the learners that was initially scared and her new friend |
“If there are dreams about a beautiful
South Africa, there are also roads that lead to their goal. Two of these roads
could be named Goodness and Forgiveness.”
“For to be
free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects
and enhances the freedom of others.”
“After climbing a great hill, one only finds
that there are many more hills to climb.”
“The greatest glory in
living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
“It always
seems impossible until it’s done.”
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
“Education is
the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
“One of the things I learned
when I was negotiating was that until I changed myself, I could not change
others.”
“There is no passion to be
found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are
capable of living.”
--Mei
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