Limpopo Writing Project Day 9

So many of us wanted to share our journals this morning! We write all the time, we’re truly a community of writers. It was also wonderful to have Dr. Makalela back with us. Thoko shared her demo on genealogy, and had us develop family trees. This led to a discussion about how there are all kinds of families, and we need to add extra lines to accommodate step-children, step-parents, step-families and other kinds of families.
We looked at Sean’s demo today and were amazed by his detailed Prezi. He shared poems, pictures, letters, writing and writing exercises. Later when we were on Skype, Modkadi complimented him on his demo and noted that it was more detailed than the ones we are doing here. Sean explained that his demo was for 90 minutes, a much longer time period. When we Skyped, Barry invited Joyce to Skype his classroom to watch him teach. We were also able to talk with Dorothy and Vicki about their demos. It was great seeing Pam, Aurelia, Shannon, Justin and the others if only for a moment.
The filmmaker Teko Sgegede Nhlapho and his friend joined us today. He’s making a film that will be shown on TV stations about the Limpopo Writing Project. He was able to film us writing lunes (from Sean’s demo, and Skyping with the SAWP Summer Institute. He brought us a surprise, a bag of gifts promoting the South African Census which will take place in October. We took pictures of all the LWP teachers in the yellow shirts and hats that were in the bags.
Teko shared that he had spent time in the United States and that he graduated from The University of Texas at San Antonio, where I met him as did Ngokoana and Dr. Makalela, when they visited San Antonio. All three of us were so excited to see him and very grateful for his support. We ended the day with dancing to song This Time for Africa. The theatrical students who have been performing for us at night came and joined in and soon Teko was filming all of us dancing together. Teko even joined us in the dancing. Later he commented that when he visited SAWP, he never saw us dancing. We were dancing with delight, we were dancing with happiness, we were dancing because we knew this was a special moment that might never come again. For one magical moment, we were unified and all was right with the world.

I’m sharing Nteveleni’s journal to end this blog:

What I Have Learned in 8 days So Far
By Ntevheleni

I never thought that talking through one’s pen could be healing and I never thought of myself as a writer. In a week’s time I have realized that I am a poet. Now I also know that I have the potential and that the only person who can unleash it is myself and no one else. I have also realized that all people belong to one big family. I have also learned that one must make a remarkable contribution in life. I have been to various academic institutions, but most of the things I have acquired within a few days. I had not known them for the longest periods that I have spent in those institutions. I am even thinking of going to “those” institutions for a refund. I have also realized that through sharing you tend to know the realities of life through other people’s experiences.

Limpopo Writing Project Day 8

We began the day as we always do singing beautiful songs and with a prayer. Then in honor of the 4th of July, I sang My Country Tis of Thee and This Land is Your Land. The teachers suggested that I share the words with them so that they could sing it with me. We did this at the end of the day and we also watched a video of fire works on the 4th of July. They asked me about Apple Pie and Ice Cream and I explained that they are part of the American tradition. I thanked the teachers for helping me celebrate the day and they thanked me for inviting them into America.

Today we talked about writing conferences and we practiced as a group both as the author and the questioner. We discussed the ethical responsibility of the author to be as clear as possible in the writing and when answering questions. We also discussed the ethical responsibility of the questioner to ask good questions and to really listen to what the author is saying. As we practiced this, we practiced how we would teach our learners about it.

Today was Cony's day. She shared her journal for the first time today, was a volunteer for the writing conferences session, and shared her demonstration today. Her demonstration was on invitations and she had created some invitations for us to look at. It was an exciting day for Cony and for all of us.

Ngokoana is here for the week and we are so grateful to have her wise words and insights in the workshop. Teko comes tomorrow to make a film of our project, and we are very excited about it. We looked at Ilna Colemere's incredible technology Prezi that is on the Prezi site, and at some other educational videos.

Today Hobbs announced that he joined facebook and we were excited for another way for us to keep in touch. I shared Sean's story on Facebook about his stepping into the hall at the university to get some help for skyping. We loved the story. Then I passed on Kalpana's request that we share some of our participant's writing on the blog. I received a number of them, and I'll share one or two of them each day.

This is from Cony, her first journal that she has shared with the group:

Thanks for everything LWP. I had never said anything about LWP until today. I am blessed and special. I am not here by mistake, never mind the slow pacing of my grasping the ideas. I came here blind and blank, but now I have realized that I can do it.

I never thought that I could write something that can be read to people and that would make sense. The Limpopo Writing Project taught me that whatever comes into your mind, write it. It is of importance.

I am dreaming of publishing a book soon. Thoughts, sweet and bad memories were there before, but I could not vomit them out. The project taught me to take whatever is in me and share with others to get relief.

Authors are not born. A pen and a book are going to be my friends henceforth. I know that I am going to do it. I thought that I should have known about this project before, but it was not the time. This is the right time.

By Cony
July 4, 2011

Limpopo Writing Project Day 6

The university was quieter because it was a Saturday, and the feeling of Serenity wrapped around the room. The beautiful African songs that start our day added to the peaceful feeling. I played Carol King's You've Got a Friend and some of us quietly sang along. Many of us wrote about friendship and shared our pieces. We have been together for over a week, and we are a community of writers. One of our blog readers, Kalpana has asked if we might share some of our journals in the blog. What a wonderful idea, and I'll ask the teachers if they would like to share some of their work here. For today, here's my journal:

You've got a friend.

Four simple words, yet they mean so much. You've got a friend to rely on, to care about, who will be with you in good times and in bad. You've got a friend.

This workshop is about friendship to me. It's about bridging two oceans and two countries and navigating through multiple cultures and languages. It's about reaching out and making new friends and caring, truly caring for each other.

You've got a friend. I am here for you and I want the best for you. I will share all I have to offer and support you as you learn and acquire new skills. I have learned so much from my time with you and I promise that I will never forget your kindness. During this workshop we have laughed together and cried together. We have sung together and danced together. We have shared our writing and in so doing, we have opened up the deepest parts of our hearts. When I return to my side of the ocean, I will be changed because I have a friend.

We also had a discussion about what writing does for us, how it opens up our eyes and heals old wounds. I talked about how writing and reading should be every child's right, that it is part of the heritage of being a human being. We also discussed the power of writing response groups when we enter the I-Thou relationship that Martin Buber has written about.

Our two demos had us thinking about vegetable gardens in Mokadi Lekota's lesson, and working with freewritng in Sehume's lesson. At the end of the day, we Skyped my Mother to wish her a Happy Birthday. She was completely surprised and excited when she realized that all the teachers were on Skype and singing Happy Birthday to her! Both she and my Dad were amazed. "I can't believe you are over 12,000 miles away," he said. " It seems like you are next door." My Mother said that this was the best birthday of her life.

Limpopo Writing Project Day 5

We have bonded and gelled so much as a group. We truly feel like family. At the end of the day today, we were sharing the love we have for each other.

Ngokoana joined us again today and led the journal time. Solomon shared a moving piece about a woman dying from a botched abortion. Joyce then shared a part of her life that was so beautifully written and heartfelt. The day had just begun and it was already memorable.

We looked at The San Antonio Writing Project website and viewed the video. Then we started to look at Ilna Colemere's Prezi on technology which is an incredible resource. We just viewed the beginning of the Prezi and have already learned so much. We then collectively designed our own Wordle for the Limpopo Writing Project. It can be viewed on the Wordle website.

We had three strong demos today. Joyce began by teaching us about poetry and having us write poems. Then Solomon asked us to consider if the world is falling apart, and how can we make changes for the better. Finally Ramovha taught a lesson on wants and needs. He pointed out that things like IPods and IPads are wants not needs. People were curious about the IPad and IPod so later I showed them mine. We discussed how in the future we might be doing everything on smart phones, especially as the prices go down.

Ramovha welcomed me to the real South Africa, as he explained that he is the 37th child of 44 children. He explained that he has 10 mothers. We marveled at that. We also looked at a map and saw where San Antonio, Texas is located. We ended the day singing and dancing to African songs and Dolly Parton's song, Island in the Sun.

During Joyce's presentation, she showed us a picture of people walking in the rain and to then do a stop and write. Here's what I wrote:

I remember days like that,with thenrain slowlyndripping lightly on my umbrella. I imagine that it is a summer day so that the air is warm and intoxicating and it is ever so pleasant to be walking in the rain. I took the rain for granted all the years I lived in Chicago. Rain came so easily, it was in abundance. Now I live in a water-starved state where we've had enough rain to count only once or twice in the last months. The earth is gasping for a tiny drop of precipitation.

The Limpopo Writing Project Teacher Consultants 2011

Day 4 The Limpopo Writing Project

We've settled in to the routine of LWP day. We begin with a song and a prayer and then we start writing in our journals. Joyce wrote about her life and all the changes she has gone through. That led Dr. Leketi Makalela to reflect on the change in his life as he leaves the University of Limpopo for his new faculty position in JoBurg. We discussed that even as change is good, "parting is such sweet sorrow." He remains committed to the Limpopo Writng Project and to it's long term continuation.

We then heard the daily log and started on our writing time. During writer's response groups, we had a visitor, Professor Lukas Mkuti who shared his poetry. Afterwards, he shared that he had studied at The University of Arizona with Drs. Luis Moll, and Drs. Ken & Yetta Goodman. When I shared that I am good friends with the Goodmans and their daughter Debi, we marveled at how small the world actually is.

Later we went on the SAWP SI 2011 and marveled at the quotes the SAWP teachers submitted for the anthology. They seemed to capture the essence of writing beautifully. We also uploaded pictures from our LWP site to the google site.

We had two demonstations today, one about the problem of eating nutritious food for South African children by Seipati which led us into the discussion of obesity in the US, and how we are trying to combat it. Then Esther led us in a demo with a film clip of the student's uprising in 1976. One of our participants had been living there during this time and talked about the wounds it still holds. We had a fascinating discussion about healing, sharing history with our learners, and encouraging learners to build a better life for themselves. We discussed how drugs and other forces are problems for young people in both countries. This critical literacy lesson was moving, emotional and an important one to share with students and learners.

Day 3 The Limpopo Writing Project

After 2 days of struggling with the computer center, we decided not to go there. Instead, we worked in the room and had a very productive day. Since we knew that we would Skype with SAWP teachers today, we spent journal time writing questions that we had for the teachers in America and describing the teaching situation in The Limpopo Region of South Africa. This led to quite a discussion about the difficulty of teaching 21st century literacies when you don't have computers or the Internet in your classroom. They wondered if the teachers could help them get computers. When I explained that many classrooms in San Antonio don't have computers for every student or even a few in each classroom, they were shocked. They imagined that every classroom in San Antonio had a computer for every student.

We looked at the google-site and read every introduction from the SAWP teachers. Then we looked at their pictures, and I helped them associate the writings with their faces. At lunch we took several group pictures that we will put on the google site tomorrow. We held up our name tags so the SAWP teachers will know who we are. We are hoping to connect every South African teacher with a SAWP participant. The challenge will be how to keep in contact without computers and email to rely on. We want all the learners in the teacher's classrooms to connect with American students through writing.

As we prepared for SAWP to contact us on Skype, my Mother and Father Skyped us. We only had a minute before the SAWP call came in, but the teachers were glad to meet my parents and amazed that they were so computer proficient.

We were very excited to Skype with SAWP and this time we knew each other better and had more questions to ask. Barry from SAWP was amazed that the SA teachers meet for 12 hours a day and he promised to help SAWP look for technology grants for the Limpopo teachers. Shannon gave us a tour of the SAWP room. The SA teachers encouraged Dr. Hanlie Dippenaar to return to SA soon and lead the Writing Project with them. But the funniest moment of the day was when one SA teacher asked for Justin to come to the screen and told him that Roxanne has said that he was single and available and was that true? This caused teachers on both sides of the ocean to burst out laughing.