Rachel on learning valuable lessons

For my activist project, I decided to assist Brittany in starting and running an art club at Thandokhulu Secondary School.  This included buying art supplies, making announcements, teaching kids, helping kids express themselves, cleaning up classrooms, and making a video of what we are doing for fund raising. I wanted to do this as a project because I really wanted to work with kids coming from the townships.  I wanted to give them an opportunity to express themselves, I wanted to give them time out of their homes (many of the children seem to lead stressful lives outside of school), allow them to have fun and relax, and just making them smile makes their lives a little bit better.  In the States, I have had art classes since I was in elementary school.  Here in South Africa, they do not offer art classes.  This isn’t an issue in the United States, this is why I thought it would be perfect to help this cause.  I am not an art expert, I wouldn’t even call myself an artist, but I took something that I took for granted as a child and gave it to someone who actually wants it.

I learned several things.  One thing I learned is that just because I come from a more privileged area and schooling, I cannot just come into another country and be able to change it.  I can’t come close to changing people lives, or fixing things that need to be fixed. I cannot single handedly change social issues anywhere in the world no matter how much money, schooling, or power I have.  I know this may sound ridiculous but this came as a big shock to me.  In the states I hear about these kids and these problems that they are having and think that with my magical American powers change their lives forever.  That is not how it works.  This is a completely different culture, a culture I still after three and a half months know little about.  I am upset with myself for thinking that.  I felt selfish and ashamed.  Matters of fact, most of these children have more life experience than I will ever have.  I guess this directly relates to what we are learning about in class, specifically the article “What White People Fear.”  How white people just think that they are better than everyone else, I am a racist, I am white therefore assumed I know more I am better and therefore fix other people’s issues and problems that I know absolutely nothing about.  Now that I know this about myself, I can fix it.  I am happy for that, I do not want to ever think that way again. 

The second thing I learned is how passionate these kids actually are. Kids are kids no matter where you live in the world. They just live differently than kids in other places in the world.  They have different songs that they sing, different games that they play, different issues that they must deal with.  I am pretty sure though, they are more passionate about the things that they talk about and the things they do than I still am today.  They are excited to learn new things. 

I loved talking to the kids.  Everyday, they came in excited asking new questions about me as well as the USA.  They wanted to know if I personally knew Jay-Z.  One of the children (a goof-off) asked me if I knew anyone who designs cars.  “I know someone who owns a muscle car shop,” I told him.  He was so excited.  He handed me his notebook full of car drawings.  Better drawings than I have ever seen.  He asked me if I could show him these and tell me what he thinks.  I think I was more excited than he was for him to ask me that.  Of course I did!  It was amazing.  My friend showed me his website and told me to show the kid.  It was so rewarding.  I made this child so happy, the one kid I thought that didn’t care about anything.  The one that I thought, I could never connect with or make a change.

I would love for this art programme to continue after I leave Cape Town, but it would be difficult since Brittany and I are the ones running it and we will no longer be here.  There is a person that we met who is an artist here in Cape Town, he ran a class for us when we were in Johannesburg.  If somehow we can set something up for him to do this, than I would love to continue raising money in the States and sending it to him to continue this amazing programme. I will do the best I can to keep this running.  If I do not succeed, another way to help is just by spreading my stories back in the States to people who are unaware of the issues of South Africa.