Big moves for the future!

Well, if you haven’t already heard from my mother, my big news of the week is that I accepted a teaching job for next year! I had been in communication with a school called Lebone College after a friend from my running club recommended I check it out. The school is located in the rather rural town of Rustenburg in the Northwest province, but it has quite an incredible story behind it. During apartheid, the Royal Bafokeng people, who live in this area, lost ownership of their land. As a result, many of the men went to Joburg or Kimberly to mine for gold or diamonds and earn money. The people saved up enough money and were able to buy their own land back. Decades later, the Royal Bafokeng learned that they were sitting on almost 40% of the world’s platinum resources. The discovery of platinum in Rustenburg brought a flood of miners as well as an increase of wealth to this small rural community. The Kgosi (or King) of the Royal Bafokeng a few years back, Lebone II, decided that one of the best ways he could improve the community he lead was to pump money into excellent education programs. In turn, he created a stunning high school which was named after him- Lebone II College. The idea was to drastically raise the standard of rural education in South Africa and provide a high quality education to students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. In turn, the school has a large social responsibility to the community as it is a model for other local government schools. The school provides great amount of teacher training and participates in community work that benefit the local community.

Spending the day at Lebone, I was blown away by the campus, the kind and welcoming teachers, and bright students. The school teaches their students to think, a skill that seems simple, but is easier said than done. Many of my learners at Walmer, by no fault of their own, have been taught to copy, read, and recite. At Lebone, I saw students actively thinking throughout class, challenging each other and their teacher, and expressing their thoughts creatively.

While the town is certainly no Johannesburg or Cape Town, I was so impressed and excited by what was happening in Lebone that it didn’t seem to matter! I felt so welcome at the school in my one day there and could tell immediately that it was a community of teachers I would love to be part of. I am looking forward to the move and am excited to be challenged both personally and professionally. I am very grateful that I will be home for six weeks over Thanksgiving and Christmas, and that this job will also allow for me to visit home periodically! If you want to read more about the school or see more photos, here is their link: http://www.lebonecollege.co.za/

Have I convinced you to visit yet???? :)