A weekend in Pietermaritzburg #ibmcsc South Africa

For our first weekend some for the group headed for the Drakensburg Mountains ( you can read about their adventures on Andrew's Blog ).   Three of us however (myself, Lou and Mirek) remained in Pietermaritzburg to explore a little of what there is around here.

On Saturday Lou and I headed for the Botanical Gardens



and had a fantastic time exploring these wonderfully diverse and well kept gardens.





As well as the plants there was also plenty of wildlife such as the Hadeda Ibis..

 ... a family of these ducks ...

.. and some impressive nest building.


We stopped at the restaurant near the entrance for our lunch and as we munched on our tasty repast we noticed a wedding party coming in to have their photos taken...


... and then another .... and another.... you can see 3 different groups in this photo.


Clearly an understandably popular place to come for photos and I noticed that they even have special entrance prices...


Should you be so inclined you can find plenty more photos of the gardens on my photostream on Flickr

Visiting Dundee #ibmcsc South Africa

Last Friday we had an early start (6:45am pickup from the hotel) for a journey north to Dundee for a meeting with another group of Science and Technology Subject Advisers.  Having previously spoken with advisers covering grade 10-12 we were now going to talk with the advisers who cover grades 4 - 9.

We stopped at a service station on the way north and I was struck by the ATMs which seemed to rely on satellite communications, another example perhaps of the complexity of connections that back home I take for granted.



As we headed north the scenery changed from the hills of Pietermaritzburg to a much flatter environment. We pulled in on the way at a shop called the Aloes which stood all by itself and stocked an incredible range of local meats. Freezer units in the shop bearing legends such as "Bones" and "Half Carcases".

 From here we carried on north through countryside that saw battles between British and Zulus in the past.

.. there were a few place names that I recognised en route to Dundee. Appropriately enough we passed near Newcastle and at one junction there was a sign ( which I was sadly too slow to get a photo of) which had Glen Coe to the left and Dundee to the right.

Finally we reached our destination ....
..and proceeded to have our meeting. We talked with the subject advisers about what they saw as the most significant challenges facing teachers in KwaZulu Natal Province's schools. We talked about the challenges of trying to do chemistry experiments when the school lacks any test tubes, or indeed chemicals, as well a myriad other topics. We also took them through the content on Teachers Try Science which received a positive reception so we will be back in Dundee in a couple of weeks to run a more detailed workshop with the subject advisers. I find that sometimes I am asked a simple question that really makes me stop and think. This was one of those times. At the end of the meeting one of the participants simply asked me what a similar group of people would list as the inhibitors if I was to ask the question back at home. The sad truth is that I think the response would have been very similar in that it would have including the need for more resources. "If only we had .... then we could do ....". Listening to the idea of a science teacher running a practical session without access to even the most basic of equipment certainly puts any challenges we might face in a UK school into a rather different perspective.

Meeting over we headed down the main street in Dundee to find a place to grab some lunch
 ... and then headed back down south

Rural secondary school #ibmcsc South Africa

In my last post I talked about our trip to a rural primary school.   When we had finished there, rather than take us directly back to the hotel our host took us down a different road


...past some more stunning scenery ...
... to a secondary school of  about 250 learners which had a very similar basic layout to the primary schools with buildings around 4 sides of a central area.
 
The principal did have an office here but again no internet connectivity.
The previous school was benefiting from a program of repairs so it was perhaps no surprise that there were more obvious structural challenges at this school such as many broken or missing windows.


What struck me most though was the barren classrooms. This one wasn't in use but was characteristic of those that were which were bare shells that simply contained desks for the learners and chalk boards at the front. 
 

As with the other school it was impressive to see that despite the obvious challenges the school was managing to improvise and deliver an education to their learners.  South African schooling ends with the "Matric" exam.  This school was focusing on business courses ( we got to drop in on an economics lesson during our tour).  Though there is a range of courses listed for the matric exam there is the practical issue of number of teachers and for a school this size there simply isn't aren't sufficient teachers to provide the range of specialisms that would be needed to deliver a wide ranging curriculum.  Struck by the contrast with the equivalent stage of schooling back home where we have Peter Symonds College and its phenomenal scale and range of courses on offer.

Meeting and tour of school completed we headed back out through the school gate....

.... and back down the track through the forests en route to Pietermaritzburg and our base.

Visit to a Rural School #ibmcsc South Africa

Wednesday was a day of working from the hotel where we spent time looking at the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements, starting to think about how the content on TeachersTryScience.org might map to it, and planning what we would do in a meeting with subject advisers set for Friday.

Thursday however was more out in the field.  We were keen to understand the challenges faced by rural schools so we could take these into account as we develop our recommendations.  A visit had been arranged for us to go to Mqolombeni Primary School which is one of the rural schools near Pietermaritzburg.

We left the hotel for the 1 hour journey to the school - after about 30 mins we turned off the main road and onto a gravel road

 that took us through the countryside to the school.


which you will note was also signed as a construction site.

The school had been damaged during a storm some time ago and the repairs, whilst largely looking complete were not yet finished.

We were greeted by the Principal and headed to his office ...

His office was also a store room and as we entered I was struck by a familiar smell - that of an outbuilding my grandfather had at his house in Tipperary. I suspect the presence of a lawnmower, gardening equipment, and all the other things being stored there will be what caused the familiar aroma. There is a nice looking new admin building on the site but until it is completed the principal's office remains where it is.

One issue that rural schools face is access to the internet.  They are too remote for landlines so the only connection is via the mobile networks and either a mobile device or a 3G USB data stick.  We wanted to do a short demo of the TeachersTryScience website so we were introduced to the internet connecting fridge.

I've previously come across the idea of an internet connected fridge but this was the first time that I'd come across the top of a fridge/freezer as a place to put your laptop in order to get the best chance of a mobile signal and access to the internet.  Running a demo of a website from a laptop perched on top of a domestic appliance was a new experience for me but a super example of the daily challenges that they face doing things that I just take for granted.

Meeting over we were given a tour of the school 


which is built around the central rectangle of grass - 2 buildings of classrooms facing each other, admin building and school hall making up the other 2 sides.
Classrooms were pretty basic but filled with eager looking learners

 We found an abandoned classroom but the mystery was solved when we saw the class outside enthusiastically learning the English for various parts of the body

With the tour over we said our thanks and goodbyes - fascinating to get an insight into the situation at this school and deeply humbling to see first hand just how little they have compared to an equivalent school back home but how they don't let that stand in the way of delivering an education to the children.

Expedition to Port Shepstone

Tuesday and the #IBMcsc South Africa education team of myself and Dan headed out for a trip south to Port Shepstone to attend a meeting of Science Subject Advisers.  These advisers focus on supporting teachers of science in grades 10-12 ( for my UK readers that is equivalent to our years 11-13).

We were picked up from the hotel at 8am and taken to the outskirts of Durban to meet one of our clients from the education department at a garage. Paused here as we waited for one of his colleagues who was to join us but was stuck in traffic so a chance for a couple of photos....all be it squinting into to sun a bit...

From here a short drive across the highway and into the car park of the Pavillion Shopping Mall to meet the now arrived colleague and all get into his car for the drive along the coast.  We passed some lovely scenery along the way with brief glimpses of beaches and a very choppy looking ocean.

Delayed for a while by a police checkpoint that was pulling what appeared to be a fairly random cross section of vehicles over to check driver's licences etc.  Large number of police vehicles parked up on the grass median of the dual carriageway and range of different police and immigration officers chatting with drivers and some passengers on some minibus taxis.  Apparently this is the sort of place that they normally set up these sort of road blocks - no where to turn off when you spot them ahead :-)  Didn't seem prudent to take any photos of the setup thought so you'll have to use your imagination.  After some checks of our driver's however licence we were on our way again.....

Once in Port Shepstone we made our way to what I think was the Suid-Natal High school to join the subject advisers.  I was puzzled that even though we were in term time the school seemed quiet but was informed that it is a boarding school and we were meeting in the boarders' dining room so the children were all down the hill in the main school building.

We had a very useful couple of hours with them where we go to talk about TeachersTryScience and also sit in on  their discussions on lesson planning support for a topic in Grade 12 Chemistry.

Then it was time to reverse the process and head up to Durban ( via a late lunch at the Galleria Mall) to be picked up and brought back to Pietermartizburg.

A really useful day continuing to gain insights into how the school education system works in South Africa - next job will be immerse ourselves in the CAPS curriculum documents.

As has become the norm a group of us headed over to the Mall for dinner in our continued quest to work our way round the various restaurant options.

Relocation and first meeting with clients #ibmcsc South Africa

On Sunday we left Johannesburg and headed south to our home for the next 4 weeks - Pietermaritzburg.  Short bus ride from the hotel took us to the metro station and a train to whiz us to the airport.

All checked in we made our way through security and had time to browse some shops and grab a coffee before boarding our South Africa Airlink plane for the 45 min flight to Pietermaritzburg which looks great from the air with houses spread up the many valleys and hills that surround the town.

Short journey from the airport to our hotel - the StayEasy Pietermaritzburg and a somewhat chaotic checkin with 11 of us arriving at the same time pushing the limits of the process.  Got our room key card and then the task of unpacking a month's worth of stuff and figuring out homes for everything.

Quick walk over to the Midland Mall which lies a short distance away from the hotel to buy some bits and pieces and then a return there in  the evening en mass for dinner together with the whole team.

Monday was an important day for all the teams as that is when we would all meet the people we'd be working with for the next few weeks and start to learn more about our projects.

Suitably smartly dressed for the occasion we all headed to the Premier's office building in centre of town.  In the meeting we heard from each of the project sponsors about what they wanted us to look at.

I am going to be working on the team assigned to the Department Of Education.   There is a website TeachersTryScience.org which has a range of freely available materials designed to help support teachers of STEM subjects ( Science Technology, Engineering, Mathematics).  Put simply our project revolves around the question of how this available resource could be applied to improve science education in schools here in KwaZulu Natal province.

Much work to be done to refine the scope of our project including identifying what schools such an approach might work best in - urban or rural, junior or senior etc

Following the general meeting we headed off with our local sponsors to start the work of refining the scope of the project.   For us this included starting to get to grips with how the education system is structured and organised in South Africa and identifying some of the people that we need to talk to.

I don't have too many pictures from these couple of days but can I commend the blog of my fellow CSC team member Andrew to you which is infused with photos..... you might even spot me in some of them...  

Note from 83–97 Stella Street in Sandton

So what's with the title I hear you ask?  I've just started experimenting with Evernote to capture notes, I hadn't decided what to title this blogpost so had left it blank - this is the title it came up when I saved it and I liked it, so I kept it.  Based I assume on where the GPS in my iPad says I am as I type.  To satisfy my pedantry I'll note that the hotel is actually on Maude street but it's close and there is some tree cover where I am that may not be helping.

We had our first team meeting today for the #ibmcsc South Africa 11 team and a trip to the IBM Johannesburg office to talk with some of the local IBMers about our time here in South Africa.

Great to meet all the rest of the team, with the sad exception of one member who has hit a delay on their visa so hasn't been able to travel yet - hopefully will be able to join us soon.

Super also to have the chance to talk with some local IBMers and a take a "before" photo of the team.    Struck by diversity of the team ( hailing as we do from 7 different countries) and how appropriate that is as we come to the "Rainbow Nation" to work on our projects.
  

Rainbow Team for the Rainbow Nation

Next we headed for the Apartheid Museum and a few hours of immersing ourselves in some of South Africa's history.  Shortly before coming here I finished reading Nelson Mandela's book "Long walk to freedom".  It's a very long book about a very long walk, a fascinating read throughout and one I would thoroughly recommend for its insight and perspective.  Museum had lots of engaging and moving information on the system of apartheid that was in place and the struggles to remove it.  

As you would no doubt expect it is a very thought provoking place to visit, here are a couple of the thoughts it triggered for me personally.

• I'm pretty much the same age now as Nelson Mandela was when he was sentenced to life imprisonment.  It is hard to leave your friends and family to come away for a month, I know that on this trip I will miss various events and family birthdays.  Could I hold true to my beliefs if the consequence was being cut off from them for decades instead?  I don't think one can ever truly tell unless faced with the situation but it is what one might term "a big ask".
• I was a student at Wadham College in Oxford between 1985 and 1988 and was certainly aware of the campaign to "Free Nelson Mandela", the song of that name being played at the end of every student "bop" in the college, a tradition which I believe continues to this day.  As one of the more politically active student bodies Wadham certainly had a good number of people campaigning for his release.  It was not something however that I ever got personally involved with.  Learning more about the topic does certainly make me reflect back on that time.... It's not so much that I ever actively decided not to do something but rather that I never decided to do anything. We are constantly surrounded by campaigns and issues clamouring for our attention that raise complex issues but can that really be an excuse not to get involved? 

 As one of my colleagues noted there are a lot of very wise and inspiring quotes attributed to Nelson Mandela so I'll close with one of my favourites from the many I have seen today.

"To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedoms of others."    

Nelson Mandela June 1999