Marumofase High School Limpopo Lunch Meeting Notes

Limpopo Lunch Meeting Notes 9 – 10 – 14

Friday         

·      Limpopo students will arrive at 5 pm

·      30 students, 7 are new

·      Tour of School

·      Watch a movie at school

·      Need to know busing for AISJ student home.

·      Fundraise for movie/snacks if we want to see a movie at Monte Casino.

Saturday

·      8 am breakfast Limpopo students

·      AISJ students arrive at 8:30 am

·      9 – 11 am Project Dignity morning presentation

·      11:30 – 12:30 pm lunch break           

·      12:30 – 4 pm work on book

o   Table of contents

o   Editing

o   Cover

o   Final drafts

o   Photos

o   Seminars for new members

·      4 pm swimming in the pool

Limpopo Service Project Video September 2014

http://youtu.be/hamfbfZey5I

Marumofase High School Limpopo Visits! Izindaba Article September 19 - 21, 2014

Marumofase High School Limpopo Visits!

Izindaba Article

September 19 – 21, 2014

            The American International School of Johannesburg (AISJ) started preparing for our visit from the Marumofase Limpopo School. The preparation began Mid-August until their arrival on September 19, 2014. The preparation included: housing accommodations, eating arrangements, pool party, braai, movie, writing workshops, project dignity presentation, and AISJ campus tour. The MarumofaseStudents stayed for 3 days from Friday, September 19 through Sunday, September 21. The itinerary that the AISJ students and staff planned for the Marumofase students ran smoothly.

The Marumofase students arrived on Friday around 5:00 p.m. and quickly found their accommodations for their sleeping arrangement on the AISJ campus. Upon meeting and greeting the returning Limpopo students, the AISJ students conducted a campus tour to get them acquainted with common areas. Followed by dinner and a movie at the AISJ cafeteria. This concludes their first day. On Saturday at 8:30 a.m. the Limpopo students were presented with a Project Dignity presentation discussing controversial issues regarding sex education. Lunch at AISJ and then the start of writing workshops to revise and edit their ‘born-free generation’ short stories began. This time was spent taking pictures, making the final touches on their stories, and discussing the future plans of the published book. The AISJ students have set a preliminary date for published sometime in January the second semester 2015. This was then, followed by a continuation of a debrief and reflection. Finally, time for a little fun. The bathing suits were put on, the pool was open, refreshments were available, and the fun was beginning. Exhausted and fulfilled the Marumofase students returned back to their sleeping quarters for a nights rest.

On Sunday, the Marumofase students ate breakfast at AISJ and departed to Limpopo at 7:00 a.m after a fruitful and productive visit. We wish the Limpopo seniors the best of luck on the matric exams.

At this time the AISJ staff and students would like to thank the Marumofase students for such a rewarding visit. We are extremely grateful for them to share their experiences and stories with us, and we cannot wait until their publication. We would like to thank everyone who took part in making this happen, as we know this took a tremendous amount of time, effort, and cooperation to make this event successful. Shoutouts to Mr. Sheblak who tirelessly helps each awaiting Limpopo student and provides assistance to the AISJ students on writing techniques. Thanks to Coach Funky we are provided with this wonderful international opportunity to connect with others from different cultures. We all have some great memories to share. Thanks to Ms. Murgues organization and planning ran smoothly with her calm exterior and level mind. Thanks to Project Dignity for their insightful and interactive presentation that we’ve all gained from. Thanks again to all participating members. I know we all had fun in the process, learned some, were humbled some, and can’t wait for the next visit.

Written by Enya Calibuso

Communication’s Officer of the Limpopo Service Project

Marumofase High School Limpopo 9 – 20 – 14

Marumofase High School Limpopo 9 – 20 – 14

            On Saturday, September 20, 2014 the AISJ students arrived at 12:00 p.m. after the Limpopo students morning session with Project Dignity. We began by preparing the writing workshops during lunch to ensure a smooth and thorough event. The writing workshops consisted of taking photographs of all participating students to be published in the book, summary exercises, story shaping using the worksheet, and introducing new students to our project. In addition, returning Limpopo students were given the opportunity to add detail, characterization, and setting, key aspects of a short story, to enhance the imagery and effect on the reader. Lastly, we concluded the writing sessions at 4:00 p.m. with final editing and reviewing. This final edit with the Limpopo students will be what the AISJ student’s type and revise for the final published product. The future work on this project will only be minor details such as: cover, title page, contents page, layout, and pictures/graphics. This will all be discussed further in the second quarter during our Wednesday lunch meetings. At 5:00 p.m. following all the students hard work and dedication the reward of the sparkling pool with refreshments and food awaited them. We had a mini service celebration congratulating the Limpopo students on the completion of their ‘born-free generation’ short stories. The visit came to a close at 7:00 p.m. with the AISJ students departing. The Limpopo students spend the night and would leave early the following morning.

            Teamwork was a necessity on all aspects of this project. The completion of the ‘born-free’ book is the final reward for both participating AISJ and Limpopo students. This will be produced in the New Year. This two-day seminar has provided immense experience on communication skills, character, and group sessions that can be applied to everyday life. Areas for growth encompass recruiting new members from both the AISJ and Limpopo schools to make this a sustainable service project that provides international awareness and camaraderie.

            One of the problems that occurred during this visit was that some of the returning AISJ students were not present, as they had moved away, but failed to pass on their edited Limpopo stories. This caused a problem for the Limpopo student who had no edited version of their story to revise. Luckily, the AISJ students had organized original printed version as a backup. Still a bit time consuming, but it worked. In the future, all these stories must be handed over in both hard and soft copy to one AISJ student for safekeeping in the following year.

Marumofase High School Limpopo Reflection 9 – 19 – 14

Marumofase High School Limpopo Reflection 9 – 19 – 14

            On Friday, September 19, 2014 the AISJ students stayed afterschool from 3:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. to prepare and meet the arriving Limpopo students. We began the preparation time from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. promptly. In this allotted time, we made we made encouragement cards for the Limpopo seniors entering into their matric exams. In addition, we prepped and organized the food and the location in which to place it. Then, at 5:00 p.m. the Limpopo students arrived, where the AISJ students met and greeted them in the parking lot, eager to show them around the school and make them feel at home. The AISJ campus tour consisted of: the gym, library, HS11, kgoro cafeteria, and pool. In that time, we were able to socialize and get reacquainted with some of the students we remembered from last year. Also, we escorted them to the cafeteria to pick up some dinner and enjoyed the kgoro dining facility. While the Limpopo students ate, the AISJ students excused themselves to set up the movie that was going to be featured in the HS11 classroom. At this time, the AISJ students departed to get some rest and be fresh for the new day.

            Again, emphasis should be placed on the importance of collaboration between the AISJ and Limpopo students to make this a successful and fruitful project. I feel that one strengths during this project was my ability to communicate effectively, while I conducted the AISJ campus tour for the Limpopo students. Personally, an area for growth, I should focus on is working in groups. Since, I am an independent worker. Skills that I’ve developed during this visit is personality, and being able to be more outgoing and friendly to these returning Limpopo students.    

            My personal insights while I was giving the Limpopo students the tour of our campus, was that they were excited, curious, and was ready for the big event. My personal thoughts were that I was proud to give a tour of my school. In comparison to last years meet and greet with the Limpopo students, I feel the progression of the schedule flowed well and was more organized in all aspects. Thus, I feel the AISJ students were able to rectify several of the issues that we identified last year to enhance this year’s visit. No conflict occurred. Our immediate future goals were centralized around the forthcoming day with the writing workshops for the Limpopo students.  

Marumofase High School Limpopo Reflection 9 - 17 - 14

Marumofase High School Limpopo Reflection 9 – 17 – 14

            On Wednesday, September 17, 2014 the AISJ students met during lunch to discuss the schedule of the Limpopo students arrival as well as possible methods to focus their short stories around. The meeting began at 12:40 p.m. with Maya Campbell, as the President, proposing a preliminary schedule of events for the two days that the Limpopo students will visit our campus. The remaining AISJ students concurred with the schedule layout and advised to print and email copies for each individual AISJ student. This will be our tool to being on task, productive, and organized during the Limpopo student’s short stay. Maya’s hard work will help all of us to work more efficiently and will help the project progress effectively. The schedule consisted of a basic outline of the two days: Friday, September 19 and Saturday, September 20.

First, on Friday, September 19, we would meet and greet the arriving Limpopo students and give them a tour of the AISJ. Next, we would ensure their dinner and movie was set up and ready before our departure home. Returning in the morning on Saturday, September 20, the AISJ students would start off with the writing workshops in which to revise and edit the Limpopo students ‘born-free generation’ short stories. The AISJ students were to be provided with a worksheet titled “Critical Features of Fiction, Story Helpers a la carte,” which will be our template in which to focus their stories. This template contains several essential features that must a short story must be centralized around to include content and include the reader: theme, purpose, main message, characters, narration, conflict, plot, plot development, setting, literary features, tools, and devices. At the conclusion of our writing workshops a pool party, service celebration, and braai are planned for the grand finale. In the end, this would be the conclusion of the AISJ students first meeting with the Limpopo students this year.

In the future, we are already planning the AISJ students visit to Limpopo sometime in the second semester to involve new students in our project. In the mean time, we are focusing on publishing these current stories to the public for awareness on the ‘born-free generation’.

This service project would not be possible without all the constructive collaboration, cooperation, and hard work from both the AISJ and Limpopo students. Areas of growth that had weakness were the time constraint in which the AISJ students had to organize this event. A new skill that I will continue to develop is patience with working with many students at one time.

            On a relatable basis I am prepared for the language and cultural differences between the AISJ and Limpopo students, as it is similar to when I went on a French trip last year to L’île de la Réunion. The food and the interaction and activities were foreign. Thus, I will be able to relate to the Limpopo students slight uncomfortable reaction to the new environment and new faces.