The big plan

This summer I will achieve a long-standing dream to travel to South Africa and see how this country is overcoming its apartheid history without civil war; study the role of public education in this unique emerging democracy; and extend my understanding of challenges facing high-needs schools and students beyond North Carolina and the United States by volunteering for a month in a high-needs school in Cape Town, South Africa. As a volunteer, I'll work through Cross-Cultural Solutions (www.crossculturalsolutions.org), a well-established and highly-regarded non-governmental international aid agency. Volunteers are expected to pay all costs, including inoculations and visas; travel to and from the volunteer site; room and board, and incidental expenses. I'll also travel on weekends to experience the region around Cape Town. Without the NCAE Linda Rader Award I wouldn't be able to do this--I do still have a daughter in college. I also will purchase music CDs and cultural items and artifacts to use in teaching about South Africa. I won't know what my volunteer placement will be until about a month before I leave, but it will likely be in a township school or a school for street children. I leave Charlotte about noon on July 29, fly to Atlanta, then to Dakar, Senegal, and finally arrive in Cape Town late in the afternoon of July 30. I'll have a few days to "recover" from jet lag and explore the city before reporting to the my homebase on Saturday, August 2. On Friday night, August 29, I begin the over 25-hour-long trip back to Charlotte.