Something I learned from Rhodes University

Every other year, students at Rhodes University (where I spent my Rotary Ambassadorial year in 2008) get together and decide on a major philanthopic project they want to take on. Students nominate ideas, they vote, and then they spend two years organizing, working with the community, fundraising, and making it happen. The year I was there, the project was 'Galela Amanzi', or Pour the Water. Essentially, the students at Rhodes are fundraising to build water tanks at schools and community centers in the townships surrounding Grahamstown, where most of the schools don't have reliable water sources.

The thing that gets me is that the project is the student-initiated, student-led, student-run. Its a way for students to change their community for the better RIGHT NOW. And it is the collective energy of the entire university, in conjunction with the community, that makes it happen.

At this moment, I wish I was going to be at University of Denver just a LITTLE BIT longer so I could have time to get something like this geared up.

Or that I was a teacher again and could get some students in gear. How cool would that be to see a high school take ownership of a project like this.

Or what about a middle school?

I'm envisioning: kids forming a team to lead the project, talking to community members to see what is needed (or identifying needs right inside their own neighborhoods), learning about the processes that have to happen to implement, creating a budget, presenting at a city council meeting, utilizing the skills they are learning in class to MAKE IT HAPPEN.

Community benefits +

Kids empowered =

Bam.

Powerful.

The Last Days...

Right when it is time to fill out all of the reflections, evaluations, and finish my papers, I am suddenly mentally exhausted and have lost the inspiration to write.

I think that a large part of that is that these last days have been filled with goodbyes, gifts, parties, notes, and just an overwhelming realization that my time here is coming to a close.

On Monday, one of the Rabbis and I finished the concept note for a grant to the EU!!! It felt like such an accomplishment. He said that it was the first EU grant they had ever completed, because they are SO much work. We both stayed late and went early the next day, but we cranked it out. It would be fabulous if they got the grant, and I am thankful for having had the experience of writing it.

The same day, the staff and Rabbis for Human Rights threw me a little goodbye party. Working there has been one of my very favorite life experiences, so it is I who thank them. I'll write more about my overall reflection about my internship later.

Yesterday was my last day with the Bedouin teachers - it was actually very emotional for me. I took one of my friends with me - she is going to take over the classes when I am gone, which I am so thankful for. It feels good to be able to hand of these lessons to someone else who I know will do a fantastic job. I didn't want to abandon these ladies after they have opened up to me so much. I took with me a couple of scholarship applications for one of the teachers there. She is just a standout - I saw something special in her the very first minute I met her. She is someone who no matter how difficult a situation she lived in, she would excel. It has been hard for her though, she has enormous amounts of ambition in a society that is patriarchal and that makes it very difficult for a woman, especially a young woman, to follow their passions if they fall outside of the realm of what is considered socially acceptable. People talk about her behind her back, and her family puts enormous pressure on her to get married and settle down. Though life would probably be even more difficult for her if she wins one of these scholarships, it would give her the opportunity to travel and pursue her passions. She a leader, naturally, and she could do anything she put her mind to if given the opportunity. The teacher who is taking over my classes will be working with her to fill out the scholarship applications, and God willing, someday this Refugee Bedouin teacher will be changing the world.

This note was from her, and it is now one of my most prized possessions:

I have not known you so much yet, but Really I have Learned a lot of things from you. and I will never forget person like you. A good, neat, kind, funny person like Haley will never be forgetten easily.......
I appreciate everything you did for me. I appriciate your generosity in giving me the hope to continoue during the time I feel I need to stop.
Haley, Be sure. there is someone in Palestine called --- loves you. I just wrote there words there is no time and if there is more time I'll would write you many thing to say I love you... I'll miss you. Remember Jerusalem Palestin.

What a phenomenal experience I have had here. I am kind of bewildered to think that it is coming to a close! Where did it all come from, and how in the world is it over?

Today is a holiday (Purim) so, no work. I am going with a friend to Ramallah, finally. And tomorrow - I leave for Egypt. Then back here for a day or two, and then... back to Denver. I'll arrive on the 22nd, and classes for the next quarter start at 9am on the 23rd. Eek.

So many things to catch up on in this journal/blog - but it will have to wait.
Hope you all are having a wonderful week.
If you are in Denver, start preparing some Mexican food, because I am close to being on my way...

Speaking of which...

This interview with Queen Rania of Jordan (yay, Jordan!) is very relevant to what I will be talking about with the Bedouin teachers next week!

Check out her comments on women in Islam, and why Hamas has suddenly been able to garner support among the Palestinians. Super interesting and articulate.

The Bedouin School

Yesterday was an especially wonderful day with the Bedouin Teachers. Each Tuesday, I take an Arab bus across the border into the West bank city of al-Azarya. I get off where I see the slab rocks piled, I walk past the vegetable shop, up the hill, and toward a multi-level building that has tires piled out front.

This is the school.

I walk inside, and I can hear children yelling, doors slamming, teachers teaching. I wait in the office area, which doubles as the nursery for the teachers' infants and toddlers. I usually arrive around noon, but it is only about 1 by the time that the teachers have ushered out their student, fed their babies, and are ready to start any sort of a lesson.

These women are Bedouins, born as refugees. Their fathers and grandfathers were herders, and their families were nomadic until the 1948 war, when everything changed for them.

They call this war Al Nakba - the Disaster.

Israelis call it the war of Independence.

Either way, since this war their families have no longer been nomads, they have been refugees.
Most of the teachers cannot enter Jerusalem - they have a Green Pass. Some of them have family there they will never meet.

The teachers all wear a hijab, a head covering, and some of them wear a face covering as well, where only their eyes are visible. They keep this on as long as the older children and men are in and out of the building, but when my 'class' starts, they pull up their face coverings.

The first time this happened, my eyes teared up, and I was honored.

These women's lives amaze me.

Every time we start class, they sit attentively, pen and paper on their desk, looking to me to teach them English, to offer teaching advice, to tell them what it is like in America.

I am becoming a better teacher. The first day I stumbled and bumbled. The second day, I realized they thought I knew what I was doing. The third day, I became a teacher.

Each time, they open up a bit more, ask more questions - though they have never been afraid to ask 'racy' ones. The first day of class, when I asked if they had any questions (thinking they would ask me something about the grammar lesson I had just given), the first one was:
"Was there really a pregnant man in America?"

The second one: "Where did his parts come from?"

And the third: "Why are there gays in America?"

Do you see why I was stumbling and bumbling?

The second day of class they wanted to know about my engagement ring, (I just wear a silver band here), how I could travel alone as a woman, and if I really had a laptop computer and a driving license.

Tuesday, they wanted to know why I was wearing so little clothing (I had on jeans, a t-shirt and a sweater), if I wore a bikini when I went swimming and did the men stare, and why Americans thought they were all terrorists.

They wanted to tell me more about being a woman in Palestine, so they asked that their writing assignment for that week be about that - and we will discuss it more next week.

They made sure, though, before even starting, that I knew that they covered their hair and faces by choice, and that it was a good thing. I smiled and asked them to teach me how to wrap my hair in a scarf next week, and this was a very exciting prospect that led to a lot of laughter.

Working with these teachers is becoming my very favorite part of the week.

My precious Bedouin babies

Last Wednesday I went with a human rights worker, Nitsa, out to a Bedouin school. Nitsa teaches Hebrew at the school each Wednesday and took me with her to make some contacts and to see if I could set up some sort of conversation group with the teachers.

I had the most wonderful morning - I spent most of my time talking to one of the teachers, who is 22. She was one of the only people there who could speak English easily, and she was SO excited to talk with me. It turns out that she visited the US a couple of years ago on a language -learning scholarship through BYU - go figure! Her impressions of Utah, Mormons, and the USA in general were hilarious and insitful.

After about an hour of visiting, she asked me to come with her to teach her English class. It was a complete disaster of a class - the kids were all over the place.. but I loved every minute.

I will be going back every Monday to have a conversation group with the teachers - they want to practice English and bounce teaching ideas off of me (I was introduced as an expert teacher - ha!). It is something I am looking forward to greatly.

I used to be a teacher.

This just made me cry.
I miss it so much.
Go watch this and you'll see why.

YES PREP Recruitment Video
by Craig Brandenburg

Four Generations of Greatness

While I was visiting YES, a little bit of magic happened. For the first time ever, we were able to get four generations of amazingess together in one room. Katie, on the far left, was my mentor when I was a first year teacher. She made my life bearable, provided endless support, anecdotes, advice, and more than anything, gave me an example of what a truly great teacher looks like. Not only is she phenomenal at her job, but she loves the kids with every bit of her, and watching her showed me what really matters in teaching. The next year, I had the chance to be a mentor, and my little precious Pears (middle right) came to YES. Now, she didn't quite need the mentoring that I did because she became a master teacher after something like 3 weeks in the classroom (no lie, she's a phenomenon), and in truth, she took care of me MUCH more than I ever took care of her, but we definitely passed on the legacy of fabulousness and love that Katie started, and we turned into team Best EVER. Then my little one grew up and now she has a mentee of her own, my grandbaby Cara (far right). This was my first time meeting my grandbaby, and I couldn't be prouder. :)

A new building for YES Prep Public Schools

On my last day in Houston, Victor and I went to visit the school where I taught for two years: YES Prep North Central. When we pulled up, I was absolutely stunned to see the progress they have made on the compound. I teared up to see that it looks like a real school. When I started teaching, the school was in its 3rd year of operation, and we only had a warehouse for a building. My second year teaching we moved to the current location - we bought the building from a church - having a real building was the ultimate luxury, and slowly over the first year, we made it into a school...

While I was in Malawi this year, I was heart-broken to hear that large portions of the building had been destroyed by Hurricane Ike.

HOWEVER - it turned out that the hurricane was a blessing in disguise, because it forced renovations on the school that otherwise may not have been made for years... and the final result is amazing - it is a school as nice as any I've ever seen.

I don't believe, and those at YES don't believe, that buildings mean much when it comes to education. In fact, they don't mean anything really. We were ranked an exemplary school while we were still in the warehouse. Its the dedication of the teachers, the administration and the parents that make this school successful - but the building makes things easier, and it is a testament to the success of the school, since the money to build the building has all had to be fundraised (as a charter school, the capital costs are not paid for by the state.)

It was wonderful to see that the teachers who put in such insane hours to make a difference will now have an amazing building to work in every day, and that the students who attend YES will spend their days in a school building that they can be proud of, especially considering it was they who helped build it.

If you want to know more about YES and its vision for providing an excellent education to all children, regardless of academic background, email me or check out their website:
www.yesprep.org

Working at YES was one of the best and most defining experiences of my life.

Precious Preschoolers + Origami

When Victor was here a few weeks ago, he volunteered with me at St. Phillip's preschool. We took an origami 'pig' project for the kids. The results were just precious. However - I VASTLY overestimated the paper folding abilities of preschoolers. I thought we were going to have a whole farm of animals by the end of the morning, but we were lucky to even get through the pig. These kids light up my week every Tuesday - just look at how precious they are.


This is the 'model' of the pig we were folding. I got instructions from http://www.origami-fun.com/

Origami

Next week I am going to do origami projects with the kids, so I have been looking up ideas on the internet - this site is the best I've found. If you are looking for a little craft idea, it is a great resource!!

Origami for Kids

Couldn't be more proud..

The past couple of weeks I've been getting news from several of my Ghana Team (the group of students from YES who went with Victor and I to Ghana last summer to work with the Peace Corps) about the colleges they will be attending.
I don't have a picture of all of them here, but I HAVE to share the amazing news!!!

• Keara (pictures far left) will be attending Harvard University!
• Erika (second from left) will be attending Texas State San Marcos!
• Mirna (center) will be an all-star junior in high school next year!
• Nicole (second from right) will going to Syracuse University!
• Leah (far right) will be going to Davidson College in North Carolina!
• Danielle (not pictured) will be going to Santa Clara University in California!
• JR (not pictured) will be going to Reed College in Portland!
• Alex (not pictured) will be another all-star junior in high school!

I could not be any more proud of you guys. You truly represent. :) All my love and congrats to you from South Africa. I think of you EVERY DAY!!