Who are we?
We are three students from GLU 5-10. All of us are from Northern Norway and have the subject Food and Nutrition as our third subject in common. We also enjoy skiing in the wintertime and like to try out new things.
Tord Fjellvang Karlsen is from Bleik on Andøya. Mr. Karlsen has Natural Science as his master subject, and math as his second.
Linnea Brunes Henriksen is from Tromsø, the city where we all study. Ms. Henriksen has English as her master subject, and Social Science as her second.
Ulrikke Johanne Hansen is from Ballangen. Ms. Hansen has Norwegian as her master subject, and Social Science as her second.
Our first week in South Africa
We traveled from Oslo the 2nd of October. Our plane went to Stockholm, and then to Ethiopia. From Ethiopia we went to Johannesburg. In Johannesburg we met a friend of Tord who we went out for dinner with. The day after we went to Kruger National Park, which is north-east in South Africa. We stayed there for four days and saw lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, impala, hippo, rhino, and a lot of cool wild animals. We met some new friends from Spain, Canada, The Netherlands, South Africa and the U.S. The safari was an experience we would recommend others to try. We are so happy that we spent an extra week before the practice. We got used to the “hello, who are you?” culture, and how we act in this country, like don’t take up the phone outside on the street. On Sunday we traveled to Port Elizabeth and met the students from GLU 1-7. We enjoyed lunch on the beach before we took an Uber for an hour to the surfing palace Jeffreys Bay.
Our second week in South Africa, and the first week of Practice
Monday the 9th of October all of the Norwegian students went to Nelson Mandela University and met the teachers and students there. We got an introduction about the South African school system, all the languages and some other useful tips. After some hours of lessons, we went for a walk in the Nature Reserve next to the University where we saw many new insects and plants, as well as zebras. After the walk we enjoyed good pizza all together. We got some good wishes from the SA students and went back to our crib.
Vukani Combined School.
Tuesday morning Eileen and Sylvan picked us up before we drove together to Hankey. Hankey is a town with 12 000 habitats, and it was the home to South Africa’s first inhabitants, the Khoi and Mfengu people, centuries ago. It has modern waterworks, residential areas as well as many church denominations, primary and high schools, modern businesses, a well-known golf course, picnic places and hiking trails. The town is surrounded by beautiful landscape and fertile farming land.
We are having our 4 weeks practice at Vukani Combined school in Hankey. There are 700 students at the school and 20 teachers. In SA they call students for learners and teachers for educators. On Tuesday we got introduced to the principal, some teachers, and the school. Before we went back to Jeffreys Bay and rented a car. South Africa is one of the few countries in the world who drive on the left side of the road, but fortunately Tord drove on the left side in Australia some years ago.
The first impression of Vukani Combined School.
Our first week is now over. The impressions and emotions are almost a bit overwhelming as there is so much that’s new to us. Their schedules, type of communication, their way to teach, ourselves teaching in our second language, warm weather, and few resources available is some of the things going through our minds now. We are sitting in our apartment in Jeffreys Bay now. Jbay as they call it, is 40 minutes away from Hankey, and the contrasts are immense. There are restaurants everywhere, surfers in the ocean and new apartments shining just next to the beach. In Hankey thing are simpler. The gravel roads around the school are busy in the mornings as people deliver their kids to school and kindergarten. By foot of course as there is not many cars in the area. The goats and dogs roam the streets, and a few pickup cars are passing by with five to ten people standing at the back of the truck. They are most likely farm workers. Around Hankey there is huge areas of citrus farms. There is a different, but nice vibe in the town, and it seems like the school is the center of it all. The houses around the school area are small and very simple. But here we sit in our shiny apartment in Jeffreys Bay. It’s strange for us, but it seems like that’s normal in South Africa. Very big contrasts. It’s hard to explain how we feel, but in one way it’s nice to get to be in those contrasts. It makes us more aware of the lack of resources that you can find in other places, just like in Hankey. There is one computer at the school. Electricity is coming and going, but we don’t really notice as we use blackboards in the classrooms. The learners have notebooks, but not their own textbooks. They share rulers and sometimes even the pens. The small classrooms are filled with 40-60 learners, and as the only way to circulate the air is to have the door open, the air gets very heavy throughout the day.
This first week we were supposed to observe. It only took a few days though before we were asked to take a class. We got a minute heads up for that one! It was challenging but fun, and we even ended up with singing the Norwegian national anthem for 60 learners as they song the South-African one for us. This first week was a bit chaotic in one way. We didn’t have any teachers following us and we had no time schedule. We just tried to follow the flow and ask teachers if we could observe their classes. With that said, everyone has been very nice to us and helps us when we need. People are very talkative and smiley so it’s fun to arrive in the morning. On Friday we managed to get a meeting where we agreed that we were going to be in the two 8th grades and focus on our own subjects. We also got a schedule for the different classes, so everything was a bit more organized. Even though there are many impressions to digest, there is one thing that really struck us. They really try to do the best out of the resources they have. They see the value of education. The teachers want to teach, and the learners want to learn. Regarding sustainable development, this must be the most important thing in the area. There is now better way to develop a society than knowledge. Knowledge that can pass on for generations. Knowledge to get work. Knowledge to give back. The education will help the future and the economy, for both people and the whole society.
