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[Back to index of March 2007 articles] From township to White House By Lu León Sheila Radebe sat on the edge of the bed in Northwest Washington, D.C., staring at the photograph of herself standing with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office. That morning she and six fellow South Africans had been invited to the White House, where they had tea with First Lady Laura Bush and met with the President. Radebe, a teacher at a township preprimary school near Johannesburg, had a hard time believing it had really happened. "People back home asked me to make sure and get a picture of the White House," she said. "I never dreamed I would actually be inside the White House, talking with the President, having tea with Mrs. Bush. Now they'll have to believe me. "This was a God-given gift to be a delegate for Kwasa." For St. John's, Lafayette Square, the God-given gift was the week-long presence of Radebe and her fellow travelers at the end of January. Since 2004, St. John's has enjoyed an ongoing partnership with the Diocese of Highveld, South Africa, with an emphasis on the Kwasa Centre, where Radebe teaches. The partnership is multi-layered. In addition to providing financial support for Kwasa, groups of St. John's parishioners have traveled twice to South Africa, and two groups of South Africans have visited Washington, D.C. St. John's Sunday school classes have raised money to buy soccer goals for Kwasa, and this year collected soccer clothes and shoes to send back with the South African visitors. The Kwasa Centre is a preprimary school that draws its pupils from Vukuzenzele, an informal settlement east of Johannesburg that is home to some 15,000 residents who live in some 3,000 shacks. The jobless rate is estimated to be near 80 percent, most adults have little education, and HIV/AIDS is widespread. The township lacks basic services such as electricity and waste removal. The school, which serves about 130 students - 65-70 in preprimary, 15 in the crèche and about 45-50 in after-care - was founded by the Rev. Sharron Dinnie, who led the most recent South African delegation to D.C. In addition to Radebe, Dinnie was accompanied by her husband, the Rev. Don Dinnie; Dorcas Sifunda, who also teaches at the Centre; Promise Sibiya and Dinah Phalatsi, both 14, who attend the centre's after-school program; and Peet Smith, who is a warden at St. Peter and St. Paul Anglican Church, where Sharron Dinnie is the rector. While the White House visit was definitely a highlight, much of the week-long trip was hard to believe, even for seasoned Washingtonians. During a tour of the Capitol, the South Africans saw several senators, including Barrack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Chris Dodd and Chuck Hagel. Members of St. John's tried to explain that it was very likely they had just seen the next president of the United States. When leaving the Capitol, the group encountered Obama, who stopped in the hallway to chat and shake hands. That night, the South Africans were invited to the Verizon Center where they watched the Washington Wizards take on the Detroit Pistons. At halftime they were called out to center court, where they were introduced and presented with souvenirs. The South Africans remained the center of attention for much of their trip. They were introduced at Diocesan Convention and on Jan. 28, they were honored at St. John's with the premier of "A South African Mass," which was written and conducted by music director Dr. William Bradley Roberts. Other highlights included touring an HIV/AIDS clinic and visiting Ferebee-Hope Elementary School in the District and St. Francis Episcopal Day School in Potomac. For Phalatsi and Sibaya, the youngest members of the delegation, the trip was beyond their wildest dreams. Both have lived in squatter camps for most of their lives. "When it's cold, the house is cold. When it's hot, the house is hot," Phalatsi said matter-of-factly. Their school fees are paid by donations to the Kwasa Centre, where the girls go every weekday after school. During their White House visit, when the President asked about their dreams for the future, both replied that they wanted to build a house for their mothers and attend a university. "This was the most perfect time of my life," Phalatsi said on her last night in D.C. "To see the president was the most fun thing. I felt like I was the most special person." Phalatsi, Sibaya and the dozens of children like them are what led Radebe to become a teacher at Kwaza. Her credentials are stellar, with 17 years experience as a preprimary teacher, she has worked as a principal at a township school and as a trainer for preschool teachers. She heard about Kwasa at her church, St. Andrews Anglican Church in Kwa-Thema, which is where she lives. "We had monthly meetings at Mother Sharron's church. That's how I got to know her," said Radebe, a widow who lives with her 19-year-old son. "Sharron kept talking about a preschool she wanted to start and wanted people with training in early childhood development. That's where I grew this passion to work with her. I decided to resign from my work. Everybody thought I was mad. People said to me, 'You are over qualified for what you are going to do.' I said to myself, I've worked for organizations and this is my time to work for God." Sifunda, who lives with her husband and two young children in a house not far from Kwasa, is an assistant teacher who started at Kwasa in 2004 as a volunteer. Part of her job is interpreting Zulu and several other native languages for the school's principal. Like Radebe, Sibaya and Phalatsi, Sifunda speaks approximately six native languages, in addition to English and Afrikaans. One of the main purposes of Kwasa is to teach the children English, the required language in many of the state schools, which many of the children hope to attend following preprimary. As the South Africans waved goodbye and boarded a train to visit a potential partnering church in Chapel Hill, N.C., St. John's already was looking ahead to its next pilgrimage to South Africa. [Back to index of March 2007 articles]
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