Do Your Little Bit Of Good Where You Are

A quick 25-minute walk separates me from an entirely different human experience, and I make the journey at least twice a week. When I walk down Kloof Street, over to Orange Street, through the Company Gardens, down Plein Street, and over to Commercial Street, everything changes.

Along the way, I pass the Mount Nelson (a famous hotel known for its high tea), the South Africa Museum Planetarium, the Italian and French Consulates, the South African National Gallery and the schoolchildren playing in the Company Gardens, and the juxtaposition of businessmen and beggars in front of the Parliament of South Africa.

Each week, I make this trek to the Scalibrini Centre of Cape Town, where I teach and tutor refugees from other African countries. I teach a Beginners English class of 15-20 students (the roster, or "register" as they say here, keeps growing) on Fridays from 9 AM to 12 PM, and I've just begun tutoring a 16 year old unaccompanied refugee with dyslexia. The youngest student in my English class is 22 years old, and they range in age beyond that. Most of the refugees in my class (but not all) are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (or DRC), Malawi, Central African Republic, the Congo, Rwanda, and Somalia.

Refugees and asylum seekers may take English courses at the Scalibrini Centre of Cape Town for R200, which equates to about $22. Four levels are offered - Beginner, Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, and Intermediate - and each level is divided into two courses, which last five months each. In addition to the English School, the Scalibrini Centre offers other welfare and development services thanks to a team of 26 employees and about 40 volunteers who are always in and out.

I knew I would enjoy volunteering at the refugee center, but I had entirely underestimated the impact being back in front of a classroom (of African refugees, no less) would have on me as an individual, as a professional, and as a temporary resident of South Africa.

For refugees, English is the language of opportunity - for communication, for employment, for understanding. My students seem to love our frustrating language, and they love learning how to talk about their lives and ask about others' lives. Their faces light up when I plug my own details into our lessons (my mother's name, my hometown, my favorite words, etc.), and I enjoy talking about the home I miss.

Perhaps the most striking contrast between teaching at Scalibrini and my own teaching experience in the past is that these students, unlike my beloved teenagers who practically run out the door at the sound of the bell, reluctantly pack their materials at the end of each lesson. Teaching students who intensely want to learn your material is refreshing and inspiring, especially when it reaffirms your love for your career choice.

At the end of one day's lesson, one student lingered to practice his conversation skills with me. With a few pauses for collecting the right combination of words, he said, "Teacher, nice to meet you. Thank you for teaching me English. I love English and speaking English. I want to learn so much English."

After doing my best to explain to him how much I loved teaching him English, I packed up my things and headed out the classroom door with a smile on my face. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I found several of my students gathered there. Their newfound classroom camaraderie had apparently led to collaboration in French. "Teacher, do you like coffee?" one student said. "Do you want to come to coffee with us?" he continued, as the others stood by with smiles of their own.

My heart hasn't felt so full in the longest time. I was humbled by such a small gesture of gratitude and proud of their growing English language skills, even after only three class meetings. I had made a connection with people who come from far different backgrounds and experiences, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to do so.

Desmond Tutu, a South African social rights activist and opponent to apartheid, once said, "Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world." Teaching English at Scalabrini might not be changing the world, but it might be changing some of my students' worlds, and I am extremely thankful for this chance to do my little bit of good where I am.