THE willingness to learn, openness and welcoming nature of teachers at a small school in Addo have left a lasting impression on a family from the US who spent three weeks with them.
Eileen and Larry Kugler, along with their daughter Sarah, 26, visited the AV Bukani Primary School in Addo‘s Nomathamsanqa location to help the teachers to encourage pupils‘ interest in reading.
Larry said: “This school is wonderful. The teachers are open and willing to try new things. We specifically worked with teachers to teach them how to help learners learn to read and write.”
Sarah, who is a teacher trainer back home, said it was amazing to see how, despite the lack of resources, challenges at the school were overcome and teachers were willing to learn. “It is frustrating not to have enough money to support people,” she said.
The family lived in a house in the township while they were at the school.
Sarah said: “We lived five minutes away from school and we loved our stay because we were taken good care of.
“They kept us busy with visits to the elephant park, playing with the kids and holding singing concerts for us.”
Eileen said their days typically started with professional development and teacher training. She specifically taught computer classes. “The teachers were so eager to learn about computers, so much so we had to have lunch-hour classes.”
Eileen said one thing she loved about the teachers was that they didn‘t blame anyone for the lack of resources. “They made do with what they had.”
Larry said they wanted people back home in the US to have an insight about South African communities. “The people of this country have a sense of community.”
And Sarah felt they were very lucky to have had this opportunity. She said: “People here have great respect for each other.
“While people might see all the negative things, we saw the richness of life and we were happy to be part of it.”

AV Bukani principal Zilindile Thambo said the school gained a lot from their visit.

Dieketseng Maleke HERALD REPORTER