Farewell PE and Hello Cape Town

We arrived safely in Cape Town this morning! When we arrived at the airport in Port Elizabeth, Mr. January came to see us. He was the former principal of Emafini. During my last visit, he had us over to his house for a barbecue on one day and a traditional Xhosa meal on another day. Although he is retired now, he is still quite interested in the U.S. educational system and wants to visit some of our schools in the U.S. He stressed the importance of finding dedicated teachers who are determined to improve the lives of children. This afternoon, we had a visit at the embassy in Cape Town. Officials there talked with us about the political and economic situation in South Africa. They stressed that South Africa is well developed when compared with other African nations but the country is still working to build its capacity. They also estimated that the country needs about 2 million more houses to move people out of the informal settlements. This could take another 20 years and the government is discussing the need to shift its thinking. Rather than trying to build new houses, they are considering offering people housing subsidies so that they could rent housing. Cape Town is a lively city with people from all over the world. Just today, we had a taxi driver from the Congo and another from Russia. We also met people at the embassy from Texas, Maryland, and Richmond. And, perhaps the shock of the day...we met a staff member at the embassy who recognized Stephanie from high school. They ran track together. What are the odds? In the photo above we are standing beside the soccer stadium and Table Mountain is in the background. Cape Town captures the essence of contradiction in South Africa. The landscapes are stunning, the people are vibrant, yet, according to our embassy officials, South Africa is the nation with the greatest wealth disparity in the world. It has a series of white papers that articulate its commitment to democracy and justice yet everywhere we have been people have discussed the difficulty of translating those ideals into practice. Today at dinner we also talked about the change in leadership at Emafini. Mr. January, the former principal, is Xhosa. The new principal is not. He is, by South African terms, Coloured. This is a new leadership context for the teachers at Emafini who were accustomed to speaking with Mr. January in iseXhosa. I wonder what shall be lost in translation? How will the very nature of teacher-principal interaction shift?