“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
In rural South Africa, a school for teachers is slowly changing an entire community.
By: Kiley McClean (South Africa)
Three years ago, I journeyed the 16 hour flight from New York City to the rural township of Siyabuswa, South Africa. As a special educator, I was asked to visit their newly developed teacher’s college and assist in their local primary school. The Siyabuswa Teacher’s College where I lived, ate, and worked was built just two years before I arrived. Though extreme poverty and the aftermath of apartheid certainly remain within rural South African communities such as this, family, resilience, and hope triumph their personal stories.
During apartheid, black children living in poverty received limited to no education and teachers were punished by the government if they tried to educate them. Once apartheid was dismantled in 1991, the government built the first teacher’s college for black students in Siyabuswa to train qualified teachers and integrate them back into the rural schools. The aspiring teachers I met, and quickly fell in love with, were 18–25 years old and the first generation in their families to even finish schooling, let alone pursue a college degree. For many of them, attending the college was their first opportunity to leave their village, sleep in a bed to themselves, gain access to libraries and computers, eat three meals a day, and receive quality healthcare.
The government provided each of the teachers with a scholarship that covered the cost of their tuition, living, and monthly expenses. The scholarship was only given to young adults from rural areas who would be unable to afford a teacher certification elsewhere. In return for the scholarship, the students had to return to their villages and teach in their rural public school for at least four years. When I arrived, 100 new students were enrolled with ten new professors. I heard three months ago that almost 400 students will enroll for next term and the faculty has doubled. I can recall every student in that first class of 100 and can only imagine the change they have already made in their home communities since they graduated the program.
Each day with the teachers, I was inspired and humbled by their curiosity to learn, inherent desire to give back, and compassion for working with children. Though language and cultural differences stood between us, they welcomed me with open arms into their little family. I was constantly in awe of their ability to create something from nothing. I watched them teach reading lessons to young children through songs from their villages, math lessons in mud from the ground, and science lessons with recycled trash gathered throughout the neighborhood. They were incredibly grateful for the resources and opportunities they had been given and their classrooms overflowed with warmth, family, laughter, and hope. The teachers closely studied every one of their college classes and then took this new knowledge to help the primary school children with excitement and skill. They would and will stop at nothing to provide a quality education to the children of South Africa. I saw immense growth in the primary school students with whom they worked- young children whose love of schooling was shown in their excitement to attend every day.
On one particular day when I arrived at the primary school, every child and teacher was congregated at the playground at a time typically spent in the classrooms. Suddenly, a car with windows rolled down, glided onto the campus streaming a song every student and teacher seemed to recognize. Teachers, children, and administrators exploded in cheers- dancing and crying across the yard. One teacher pointed to a small trophy placed atop the car- a trophy that could not have exceeded ten inches in height. Quickly pulled into the celebration, I was informed the school had received their first trophy ever in a local science competition. We sang and laughed and wept and kissed the trophy in celebration for several hours that day. The teachers and students beamed in pride; there was truly an overwhelming sense of family and joy around us. What this primary school, and others like it in the area, lack in materials and funding, they make up for in relentlessly positive morale, boundless pride in even their smallest accomplishments, and a fierce resilience to take every obstacle head on.
The aspiring teachers I visited and worked with have now graduated the teacher’s college and are off educating in different parts of the country. They are able to speak English, design exciting lesson plans, and easily use technology. Many of them, like my friend Rethabile, have built new schools and recruited other young people from their village to attend Siyabuswa teacher’s college. Many others, like my friends Thulile and Dimak, have gone on to attain their PhD degrees. I still remain in contact with this family in South Africa and a few of them have made plans to visit America in the coming years.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has recently recognized the incredible work of the Siyabuswa teacher’s college and has invested in its expansion over the last few years. The campus continues to provide a gateway for individuals living in poverty to access higher education, the workforce, and economic stability. They treat every person with dignity and develop the programs that young adults need to build and shape their communities. This program has tapped into the potential of an incredible group of young adults who had been born into and at times stuck within poverty and isolation. It has been an honor and a privilege to watch this group blossom and go on to inspire not only myself and their local communities, but the entire world.
