April 21

This morning at school Jeff, Kate, and I met with the acting principal Dr. Rogers and discussed similarities/differences between the school systems in the US and in South Africa. We had a long talk about the fact that in SA there is a lot of prayer and religious practices while in the States there is no way you can do the same thing in the public schools. After our talk Dr. Rogers took us for a drive in the township of Cloetesville so we could see where are students come from. This was a sobering moment because I could see that the only place where the students are safe and are taught social morals and values is while they are at school. Well over half of the students at the school do not have any home structure to speak of so it was important for us to see the role that school has for these students. In the afternoon we went on a tour of a completely different school than Cloetesville. We toured the "privileged" school called Rhenish. This school is located in Stellenbosch and is absolutely amazing. The majority of students are this school are white and every class is taught in English. This is much different than most schools in SA. It was great to see two completely different schools and situations during the same day and be able to compare that advantages of some compared with others. The most interesting thing is that Cloetesville and Rhenish are only about 5 minutes from each other but it feels like you are on the other side of the world in terms of facilities and resources.