CHAPTER 4: CARVING THE FIRST LAYER OF MY MASTERPIECE
4.2 PORTRAIT ONE: SOLOMON, THE STRONG-CARING TEACHER
Solomon Nkosi Dube is a 43-year-old male teaching at a Q1 school in a rural area. He is presently the acting principal at the school. Solomon comes across as a resilient male who has confronted his difficulties head-on and who has emerged a winner.
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Figure 4.2 Solomon’s collage portrait
My early life as a poor crippled boy
My name is Nkosi Solomon Dube. However, most people call me Solomon. I am the youngest child of my parents. I come from a very big family from a rural area in Tongaat on the North Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. I was born in Indwedwe and schooled here. I had ten siblings. There are two girls and eight boys.
I would regard my family as being poor. My father was not working. Living in a rural area, I was not exposed to beautiful houses and cars. I remember that from Class One to Standard One I went to school without shoes. We did, however, have a herd of cattle. As children, we had to take the cows to the fields. We had to go to the river and fetch water in the mornings and afternoons. As boys, this was our work. My sisters were expected to do the cooking. We accepted this. It’s how things are done around here.
My father, who was a pastor in the area, was a very humble person. I am just like him.
My dad was my inspiration. He inspired me to study and achieve. So the values I learned from my father are the values I live by now. My love for education was instilled in me by my father. He told us that we cannot live a better life without education. This is what drove me. I took that advice. I knew for me to move forward I had to study.
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However, my father was also very strict. I was scared of telling him any of my problems.
We were not allowed to speak to my father. He was not approachable and never liked to socialise with us. If we had a problem, we went to my mother. My mother knew how to show love. I also learned the importance of fairness and justice from my mother.
I also experienced pain and heartache in my childhood. As a child, I was crippled. I had a clubfoot. I loved sport, but I could not play because of my disability. I experienced a lot of discrimination as a result of this. Children used to tease me because of my limp. This made me unhappy, and I used to cry. My mother used to tell me that I was only disabled in my legs but I was not mentally disabled. So I could hit the children with intelligence.
This was a motivating factor and made me want to learn more and achieve more than the other children.
Our rural schools were not good but I went to school every day
I started my primary school education in the area. I remember the schools were not very good. However, we were expected to go to school every day. I did not know English, as we were taught in isiZulu. My teachers used to say if we wanted to learn English, we must listen to the radio and read the newspapers. From a very early age, I started reading. My father was my role model. My father used to buy the paper. When he was finished reading, I used to take it and read it. I wanted to learn so that I did not have to be poor when I grew up. However, apart from my parents, I also had another role model. At our primary school there were no male teachers. So in Standard Five, I was writing my exams, and a male teacher from another school came to our school to invigilate the exams. So I saw this male teacher wearing a tie and a nice coat. I said to myself, “One day I want to become a teacher. I want to be like this man”.
I wanted to do teaching, but I did not have the funding
After matric, I wanted to do teaching, but I did not have the funding. I did not know there was a bursary for students who wanted to do teaching. I went and did a course in security.
I completed it but did not get a job. So I ended up going to Shoprite and working as a trolley porter. Then they employed me as a packer. I worked as a packer for 10 years,
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working three days a week. In 2006 I registered at UNISA to do teaching. By now I was 32 years old. But I did not care. I knew my vision. I knew what I wanted to achieve.
During this time, I also had my family. I have two wives. My first wife had two girls. But when I look at myself I said I do not have a son to carry my name. So I decided to try something else to try and get a son. My second wife has a son. However, I did not pay the entire lobola as yet. So I am planning to pay for my second wife because she gave me a son that my first wife did not give me. It was very important for me to have a son. My father had eight sons. So it was very important for someone to carry the family name after me. A male is very important to carry the name.
I teach at a poor rural school. We are using a container as an office.
I teach at a poor rural school. We have multi-grade classrooms with learners from Grade R to Grade Seven. We teach and assess as required. However, whether you are at a rural or urban school, the curriculum is the same. But how can we compete with the rest when our infrastructure is not the same?
Figure 4.3 The rural school where Solomon is a teacher
We don’t have an admin block. The soccer field is just sand with bumps, potholes and stones. The school is tiny with two buildings only. We don’t have water, but we have electricity at times. We are using a container as an office. We don’t have facilities. When our school has no electricity, this makes teaching hard, and we cannot make worksheets
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for the learners. I then go to the neighbouring schools and ask for help in making worksheets for the learners. I also try to exchange learning materials and worksheets with the neighbouring schools and also use good ones from them. At times I had to pay from my own pocket for the worksheets because the other school is not rich also. We have to do this especially when we have tests that need to be given. As a child, I never let politics become part of my life; however, teaching at a rural school which does not even have a proper soccer ground now makes me think. When we see other schools with so many facilities, I question the government and their sense of justice and fairness. I teach in a poor community. The community cannot help the school with finances. Most of the people in the community have menial jobs. Some parents are also unemployed as a result of some of the companies closing down.
I am a teacher and substitute father
The neighbourhood surrounding the school is poor, so we have a feeding scheme. We cook every day at school for the learners. My learners need to know that as teachers, we are here for them. Most learners’ parents work in the city and only come home at month- end. So as a teacher, the idea of family is encouraged as we have learners, and we need to be mothers and fathers to the learners. As a father, I am different from the way my father was towards his children. My father loved us, but he also kept us at arm’s length.
Learners can come to me. I know how to keep their secrets. I am their father at school.
At school, we try our best with the learners. These are poor children from poor homes. I would hate to see the children end up without a future also. I don’t want the learners at school to go through life not knowing that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow if you try hard enough. I have high hopes for them. I have to make them see the potential they have. Although conditions are adverse at rural schools, I still make sure teaching goes on. I try to bring in the newspaper from home every day so that learners can be updated on current news. We read about the success stories of other schools in the community. We read newspaper articles that show rural learners and schools that have achieved a 100% pass rate in the matric exams. I also invite parents from the area who engage in entrepreneurship to motivate our learners through assembly talks. We have to learn to achieve despite the lack.
99 Teachers collaborate and learn from each other
At school teachers collaborate and learn from each other. Teachers also attend workshops.
Teachers know what is expected of them. They have their job description, and they carry it out. So we work together. However, I cannot say that everything is smooth all the time.
We have our differences, but we don’t let this interfere with our work at school. However, as a manager I want to be trustworthy, like a father who a child can talk to. I am approachable, and the teachers can come and talk to me.
I conclude this story of my life with a poem. This poem captures my life as a rural boy. It highlights the hardship of rurality, like not having the luxury of a beautiful mansion.
However, I was able to overcome the limitations that I experienced and excelled academically to position myself as a teacher with expert abilities.
From cripple to whole
Degree, expert ability Keeping secrets
Pretty talented Justice, the lives of one
Keeping secrets Wow!
Justice, the lives of one Bold, beautiful mansion
Wow!
Pretty talented Bold, beautiful mansion
Degree, expert ability.
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