Sara in South Africa

We had the pleasure of visiting Crestway High School, a public school serving grades 8-12 in the Cape Town Flats. During apartheid, the Cape Flats communities housed Black and Colored people, many of whom were forcibly displaced from their homes in Cape Town proper. In 2023, Crestway High School was the lowest-performing school in the region. Professor Jonathan Jansen, whom we also had the pleasure of meeting, began a partnership with the school to make some improvements. On this day, we met with students who are among the top of their class and plan to apply to universities this year.

During our first visit, I sat in and observed a math class, led by a veteran teacher who came out of retirement to support Professor Jansen’s mission. He now teaches 8th and 9th grade math classes, working with some of the lowest-scoring students at the school. He said that we must look through God’s eyes when looking at our students to see their potential and capabilities.

On the second day, we met in small groups with “matrics” who are graduating seniors. I learned so much from them, proving that sometimes our students are teaching us! Many students plan to apply to universities abroad because of the unemployment crisis facing South Africa. Even students at the top of their graduating class could be rejected from university or find no luck in securing a job. As of this month, there are about 8 million South Africans out of work.

We also squeezed in some time to talk about more fun matters. The girls said that they like reading romance books, including vampire stories, running track, dancing, and scrolling Instagram. A lot of similarities there with my eighth graders at Rahway.