Dispatches:
Sahana Prasad
Michael Williams
Jasmyne Jackson
Zakiyah Sayyed
▸ Rocky Block
Mansi Goyal
Noelle Sanford
Porscha Kazmierczak
Raina LaGrand
Randy Dowding
Ann O’Neill
Sithembiso Nkosi
Jasmine Ishmael
Carson Phillips
Simisola Oyeleye
Rocky Block with Fazela Haniff
Dr. Nesha Haniff Conclusion
This dispatch is written by Rocky Block and Mansi Goyal. Rocky has now taken on the technological role in upgrading the look and content of the dispatches (funded by ISS). He has also been a long time member of POA and is also a lecturer for the Global and Intercultural Studies.
Enjoy, Nesha Z. Haniff
More Than Buttons?
Even though Durban, South Africa engenders tropical climates with lush flowers, plants and a warming sunshine, the weather during the winter can get quite cold. Zero degrees Celsius at 6am for a primary age student can be a barrier to learning for those without proper shoes, sweaters or breakfast to eat. As a 3rd grader runs through the outside campus, Shavani Naidoo stops the child because she notices the young girl is missing the buttons on her sweater. But instead of scolding the pupil, she takes her aside and proceeds to sew new buttons on her sweater providing the child with proper matching attire.
Is that what a revolutionary educator does?
Sews on buttons?
The Pedagogy of Action has collaborated with Shavani Naidoo in South Africa since 2000. Dr. Haniff first met her during her time as a teacher at Cato Crest Primary where she prepared the students for our arrival and smoothly integrated the university students into the classroom for training. Every year since, Shavani has greeted us with open arms, loving smiles and daily Rooibos tea and biscuits. Her hospitality and zeal for students continues at Charles Hugo Primary. She truly cares for her students and takes the time to get to know them, their family backgrounds, obstacles, hopes and dreams. She realizes that if she does not get to know the lived realities of her students she will not be effective. “Often, educators and politicians speak and are not understood because their language is not attuned to the concrete situation of the people they address…In order to communicate effectively, educator and politician must understand the structural conditions in which the thought and language of the people are dialectically framed”. This quote by Paulo Freire reminds me of how Shavani engages with her students. She realizes that to be the best teacher, she must get to know her students and the environments from which they arrive. Teaching is a passion, not a job for her. She wants the students to achieve not for the reputation of the school’s performance standards, but because she wants to be engaged in creating beautiful and talented citizens of South Africa. I fell in love with Shavani the first time I met her because I saw how she interacts with the students and how she treats the POA team members.
Perhaps buttons are merely buttons. But perhaps a new set of buttons could lead to new confidence, a sense of being loved and cared for. Perhaps it could allow the next Steve Biko or Albertina Sisulu to keep warm enough to study and want to learn. Maybe it’s more than buttons. Just maybe sewing on a new set of buttons is the most revolutionary thing an educator can do.
Rocky Block
Pedagogy of Action Team Member 2012
An interview with Mrs. Shavani Naidoo can be viewed at this link:
