A Very Special Day!

I never imagined that my time here in South Africa would go by as quickly as it has been. It is so hard to believe that I only have four days left but I know that the days that I have been here have been well worth it. Today was a special day for myself and my fellow Mizzou companions. Instead of heading directly to school as we do every morning, the seven us along with our advisor and graduate assistant ventured to the Jan Kriel Special School for a brief tour.

Quick note: Schools in South Africa do not have the resources to fund school psychologists, therapists, or special education teachers for students who suffer with a physical or mental disability. At least, they don’t have the funds to place them in every school. Thus, parents who believe that their child(ren) need extra assistance in their academics, they must apply through a government program. The government then selects students based on the severity of their disability and then place them into a special school which is better equipped to teach them. Jan Kriel Special School is one of those.

We arrived to Jan Kriel slightly passed 9:00 a.m. We drove through the gated campus and finally arrived to the grand entrance of what appeared to be a well-funded institution. The physical appearance looked exceptionally well kept compared to Montevideo Primary School, the school at which I have been conducting my studies in. We entered the doorway with a warm greeting from a man with a husky build and cheery smile. It was the principal of the school. He greeted us in Afrikaans but little did he know, we weren’t South African students, we were Americans. His toned quickly changed when he discovered our foreign presence. He was extremely excited that a group of Americans had arrived to his school and gladly began the tour of the school. Before he began his expedition, he introduced the group to the Head Boy, Head Girl, and Deputy Head Girl of the school. These students act somewhat like the governing body for the students. As he introduced the students, he would ask them to tell the group why they were at the school in terms of their disability. The head boy had ADHD, the head girl had ADD, and the Deputy Head Girl was in a wheelchair. I was very surprised that students with ADHD and ADD had to go to a special school simply because in the United States, they are integrated into the mainstream school so well. The introductions went quite quickly, though, and the tour pushed onward. We passed by several classrooms, a gymnasium, and a shop room on our way to our first destination. As we passed by each classroom, I peaked inside each one and many of them had 8 learners at maximum in the room. This was also a surprise. Montevideo had 40 learners per classroom and Jan Kriel had 8. We finally arrived to a room that the principal referred to as the learning laboratory. In the room, there was a desk placed in the center for the therapist who worked the lab. Surrounding the well-organized desk was small cubicles with computers in each one. There were also learners at each one with headphones and an attached microphone. They were using a system that allowed them to talk into the microphone and the words would appear on a word document of some sort. Many of the learners in this room were visually/hearing impaired or had a learning disability that hindered their writing or reading abilities. I was so intrigued to listen into their work. It had appeared as though they were doing quite well with their work despite their disability. Forward we went to the cooking laboratory. Along the way, the principal stopped a variety of students and instructed them to tell our group of their disability. Much like the first, they had ADHD or ADD. We then arrived to the cooking center. This room had several stove tops, ovens, and cooking utensils. The principal had shared with us that many of the students who graduate enter into a serving career of some sort and it was vital for them to grasp the concepts of cooking and serving. Afterwards, the principal had to depart the group and we were connected with one of the three school psychologists who gladly took on our final tour of the primary school on campus. It was an extremely brief tour only consisting of a walk down the primary school hallway. It was a completely different atmosphere than the primary school I was placed in. There were well-decorated hallways, small classroom sizes, learning equipment, and more than one teacher in each classroom. This was certainly an interesting contrast to note. Afterwards, we joined the psychologist for some more questions about the school and how it functions. However, our time had quickly expired. We had to board the Boogey Bus once again and rejoin our placement schools.

Overall, Jan Kriel Special School is indeed a very special school. The school has an abundant amount of resources, even more than some in the United States. They are so well equipped and staffed with high-quality educators making it far different than many other schools in the region, including Montevideo Primary School. Many of the learners have a wide range of disabilities but it had appeared that nearly all of them were white students with a few black and colored students walking throughout the campus. They encourage diversity and have no sign of segregation. The school is funded by the government but they receive most of their funding from the three churches that are near the school. The school is operating at its full capacity of 590 students but they often send out educators to schools around the area who need more assistance with their learners. Surprisingly, I haven’t seen any assistance being offered at Montevideo Primary School, at least in the grade that I was assisting in. The disparity between Jan Kriel and Montevideo is so intriguing for many reasons. On one hand, it is comforting to hear that learners who have a disability are being so well taken care of at Jan Kriel. On the other hand, I am surprised at the amount of resources the school has which many of the schools in the region, including Montevideo that more than likely has several learners with learning disabilities, do not have. Many of the learners at Jan Kriel have the opportunity to travel to different parts of the world to study or participate in sporting events. Whether this is school funded or privately funded, I was surprised that money that was used for these trips was not being used to better the country as a whole in terms of students with disabilities. In conclusion, I was humbly privileged to tour the campus of Jan Kriel Special School and it is intriguing to learn that the University of Missouri will be working with the school to send future special educators there to complete studies.

We departed Jan Kriel and headed back to Montevideo Primary School. Along the way, we stopped by Kentucky Fried Chicken to grab a quick lunch! One of my fellow companions began singing, “Kentucky Fried Chicken, is the chicken, for you and me.” Let’s just say that the lyrics have been firmly molded into my brain all day. I may have to spend an evening of jamming to Sia’s “Chandelier” just to get them out of my head!

Montevideo was beginning their second and final interval for the day upon our arrival. Today, my companions and I were joined by our advisor, Professor Whitney, and graduate assistant, Jayme Gardner, who had the pleasure of visiting each of our classrooms. Of course, my learners were so excited to see more Americans in their presence! Chaos broke loose. To add to the chaos, Professor Whitney wanted to get a group picture with me and the learners. As you can imagine, this was a ten minute process of screaming and shouting from both the learners and the teacher, Ms. Fisher. Luckily, I had taken a hefty dose of ibuprofen before this occurrence. Best choice of the day!

We finally were successful in getting a group picture which I hope to post very soon! In the meantime, however, I must prepare a lesson on the American Revolution which I am extremely excited to present tomorrow. Until next time my followers, “Kentucky Fried Chicken, is the chicken, for you and me!”