ON SAFARI: Local students tour South Africa

CORNWALL, Ontario – They explored the mountains and jungles on the southern tip of the Dark Continent, witnessing all manner of beasts from African elephants to crocodiles – and still found time to catch a wave.

From March 8 –16,  a group of 16 students from Char-Lan District High School, Glengarry District High School and Tagwi Secondary School toured South Africa in a bid to break down stereotypes and develop an appreciation and understanding of African cultures. The trip was led by Char-Lan teachers Lori and Craig Carlisle – the third student trip the husband-and-wife team has organized to South Africa.

“It’s important to take learning out of the classroom and help students develop an appreciation for various cultures and people around the world,” said Lori Carlisle, a program resource teacher with the board.

“When we think of Africa we think of Oxfam and Third World aid, crying children and poverty. But that’s not all of Africa. A place like Cape Town is just like any other big city in the world. We want to show our students that the world is not big and scary. The people in these places are just like us.”

The trip began in Cape Town with various organized tours to help the students learn about the culture, geography, economy, and history of South Africa. The group enjoyed tours of Table Mountain, Victoria and Albert Wharf, a penguin colony, a bird sanctuary, and learned about agricultural practices of the Stellenbosch wine region. 

In Cape Town, the group took surfing lessons at a local beach, and nine members were able to catch a wave. Students also got up close and personal with small Jackass penguins at Boulders Beach Park in Cape Town.

“It was great for the kids because they could walk out among the penguins in their natural habitat,” Carlisle said.

The students were exposed to the other side of South Africa’s urban culture – the slums outside Cape Town known as “The Townships.” Students took a tour with representatives of a charity that works in the area. They were invited into the home of a senior who lived in a cardboard shack with a tin roof, no running water in her home, and no bathroom. Like others in the government-run area, they had to use portable toilets and communal wells for water.

The students stayed in an area hotel that had partnered with Great Commission United (GCU) Academy, a charity that works to break the cycle of poverty and drug abuse in The Townships through sports, tutoring, and mentorships. Students donated old soccer shirts from Glengarry District High School,  the local minor soccer association, as well as knitted squares which they gave to the charity to form into blankets for AIDS victims and others in need.

A highlight of the trip was a tour of Kruger National Park, where students spent an entire day on safari. The students toured the nature preserve in high-walled trucks. The beige trucks were seen as “one animal” and so not a threat to the zebras, elephants, crocodiles, black back jackals, and other animals in the preserve.

Katherine Oeggerli, an 18-year-old Grade 12 student at Char-Lan, said one of the most touching parts of the trip was when they visited The Townships and were told how doctors who had grown up in the poverty of the slums had opted to remain there to take care of their community instead of going to prosperous areas such as Cape Town or Johannesburg.

“These people are able to make a lot of money and leave, but they want to make things better for everyone else,” she said. “They’re not selfish at all. It made me look at myself and ask whether there is anything more I can do to make my community better.”