Mike Rossmassler

Saturday, July 11th
After running in the morning, went to school anticipating that I would be helping Joy with her workshop. When I got there, found out that we would be cooking lunch for the LEAPSAs, so Dom, Amy K and I went to the grocery store, to get ingredients for macaroni and cheese, and potato salad. We couldn't get a taxi back to the school, so we had to walk the trolley back. When we arrived at school, we were surprised by an employee of the supermarket who had followed us all the way back, and was waiting to take the trolley back to the market. We cooked the food (scratch mac and cheese and potato salad), and had a small celebration, where we danced, sang and gumbooted. All in all, a great time. Went home for a few hours to relax, before we went out to dinner on Long Street in downtown Cape Town. Had Indian food, and then went out to some of the clubs on the street. The first club was an R&B club, and after that we went to a House club, and finally went to an irish pub.

Sunday, July 12th
Was an off-day, so did very little. Played some rummy, drank lots of tea. I remember very little of the day, because it was so relaxing.

Monday, July 13th
Packed to go to camp with the grade 12 students. Got on the bus at half past 9, and drove for about an hour to a camp near the southern tip of Africa. Met Bonesile, Fozia, Shamila and Tyrone, who are the Life Orientation staff at LEAP. Had some small activities, including a walk down to the ocean. Upon return, helped out in a group study session, where the students were supposed to be working on their winter break science project. Was surprised to see that some of the students had not brought their study materials, or writing utensils. Had a group processing meeting where the students were supposed to outline the rules for the camp. They were, for the most part, very reluctant to talk in the group setting, which led to the facilitators having to pull most of the information from the students. Split off into a two smaller groups, where we had more intimate sessions. My sesssion was led by Bonesile, who has a very informal, but still intense style of session. After dinner, we had a much smaller group session, which was led by Fozia, who is South African, and Malay Muslim. She is very outspoken, and about as honest a person as can be. She never holds an opinion or insight back, which she says makes her a very “hectic” and somewhat abrasive personality. Nevertheless, it was an honesty that was endearing and helped me to feel instantly at ease with her. Her emphasis on speaking from feelings, and from the heart, was very much in line with what John Gilmour speaks about, and I felt quite a lot of admiration for her. In our session, she, as well as two of the LEAPSAs got into a very intense discussion about race with a white South African LEAP teacher, over the fact that they had never spoken in the six months that the teacher has worked at LEAP. The two sides of the discussion were about racial relations in South Africa, and about personality. The summary of the discussion was that while white South Africans may feel that they should not be blamed for apartheid because they were born after it, they still live and function within a highly segregated society. For me, the session became a bit uncomfortable about 5 minutes in, while I was identifying with the teacher, but as Fozia and the LEAPSAs continued to explain their point of view, I began to realize that they were merely speaking from a place of feeling, and that while it might feel and look like an attack, it really was not, and was instead very healing, because it was the first step to mend the racial wounds inflicted by apartheid and racism. Went to sleep in the back of the boys' dorm. Dinner and meals were a bit awkward, as the group had requested special versions of the meals for the people with dietary restrictions, and as a result, the shopping had been done at Woolworths, and included snacks like cheese and fruit, while the students were eating porridge for breakfast, and the like.

Tuesday, July 14th
Woke up early to the boys of grade 12 singing and dancing. After breakfast, helped the students to work on their science essays for a bit, and then switched to help students with their trigonometry. It took a little while for me to clear the cobwebs from that portion of my brain, but it came back quickly, and it wasn't long before I was recalling all of the details from high school, like Mr Hatling's sound effects for moving transparencies from the pile to the projector. After lunch, we had some down time, followed by more group processing. In that group session, the students began to (reluctantly) address some of the issues from the day and night before, including how late the boys stayed up, and long-standing conflicts between the girls of LEAP 1 and LEAP 2. The session became extremely awkward when two groups of boys appeared at the door, and were called into the middle of the circle to explain why they had left, and why they had not told anyone. It was sad for me, because I had seen two of the boys walking away from the the camp just prior to the group session, and had not thought to stop them, or ask where they were going. They claimed to have gone to the shop to get food because they were hungry, and that they were not getting enough food at the meals. While this may have been partly true, I felt that it was a lie, having seen the leftovers after the meals, and knowing that the LEAPSA girls cooking the meals had taken great care to ensure that there was food for everyone, even the ones who refused to eat porridge. It also felt like a defensive maneuver, as it later came out (through gossip) that the boys had earlier been caught with marijuana, and at this time had snuck out to buy cigarettes, which were prohibited at the camp. The camp leaders were adamant that the boys were to be sent home, but I never learned what came of it. Talked for awhile with Bones, who is amazing person, and reminded me quite a bit of Fozia.

Wednesday, July 15th
Woke up late, as the students were exhausted, and slept well past the start of breakfast. Packed up, and got ready to leave. The students stood up and sang for us, which felt like a tremendous expression of gratitude. Got on the bus back to the school, with the expectation of a hot shower. Was disappointed to find the power out again, when I returned, so I threw on clean clothes and went to school to work our creative computing workshop. Students to quickly to Audacity, which was a relief. Would like to get into some of the more advanced features, but maybe that can happen when I get back from Jo'burg. Went in the afternoon to REALISTIC, and interviewed two participants. Spoke with the staff at great length, while watching a 4 on 4 soccer match. Had dinner in the mess, and finally returned home, for a hot shower.