Thank You St Cyprian's

Last Monday my daughter wrote her last school exam, ever. When she was finished she took off her school shoes tied them together by the laces, and put them in a big box for Mama Amelia, along with the shoes of all the other girls who had finished writing. Mama Amelia will distribute the shoes to those who are in need of them.

She walked out of the school grounds barefoot, leaving behind 14 years of formal schooling and stepped towards a new phase of her life. She has been nurtured and prepared for her adult life all the while being made aware of the needs of those less fortunate. Leaving her shoes behind is just one of many reminders that have helped her on this path.

St Cyprian’s has proved to be a very special school. The ethos of social responsibility, tolerance and respect, runs deep. The school is working hard towards being as diverse as it can be – teachers and students of different cultures, colours and creeds work and learn side by side. At one stage there were 20 different languages being spoken in the boarding school. The French students had petit dejeuner with pain au chocalat and croissants; after the Afrikaans exam their teachers were there with koffie en melktert to sustain them.

For Human Rights Day this year they came to school barefoot with a pair of their own shoes to donate. By the end of the day they were able to trace out a giant ‘140’ with all the shoes on the sports field, for the 140 years the school has been in existence.

Every year Africa Day is proudly celebrated – everyone dresses up in the colours of one of the African countries, classroom doors are decorated and food pyramids created.  From grade eight they are challenged to complete a certain number of hours of community service. The school enables this by organising various projects. In December senior girls are chosen to go off to work on one of the Round Square International Service projects.

As a Round Square school, St Cyprian's subscribes to the ideals of internationalism, democracy, environmentalism, academic excellence, and leadership. They are certainly fulfilling these aims. And year after year the girls come back to celebrate St Cyprian’s Day in St George’s Cathedral, ending with a scrumptious tea in the school grounds and a dance around the cypress tree!

Cypress tree in front of the school

Saving the World in Thailand

My daughter is back from her "expoitition and adventure" in Thailand. She is tanned and fit and her bed and bathroom have never looked this good to her. Digging trenches, breaking up rocks and building a water storage tank is not the average holiday pastime of 16 and 17 year olds but that is exactly what she and 14 other teenagers did this December. After a selection process that looked at community involvement and leadership skills, she was chosen for the project in Thailand. 

I was confident that she would be well looked after, judging from the very good organisation and preparation involved but made sure that she was prepared with medicines for diarrhoea, nausea, pain and fever and Wetwipes ... I had no idea that you could get so many wetwipes - wetwipes for outdoors and for feminine hygiene, wetwipes in lieu of  toilet paper, wetwipes with mosquito repellent and wetwipes for sensitive skin! And then there was the Tabard candle to burn to keep mozzies away, plus the cream and a little battery-operated gadget that was supposed to do the same. Satisfied that we had covered most medical emergencies, we put her on the plane with warnings ringing in her ears not to leave her bag alone nor to carry parcels for other people and breathed a sigh of relief when she got safely to the village.

St Cyprian's School is part of Round Square (which suits her aim of saving the world very well). Round Square has four other service projects in Honduras, Kenya and India and six St Cyprian's girls were chosen to go and do their bit. They have lived and worked with villagers, met young people from around the world and experienced firsthand what it means to make a difference. 

Accommodation in the village - 4 hours drive from the nearest town, not a word of English and (luckily) a flushing loo installed the week before they arrived! This was not her first time away from home, but there's a world of difference between staying in boarding school in Toronto and a hut on stilts in the hills of the north of Thailand!   

Halfway there! Boulders collected from the river, smashed up to make concrete, learning to skim cement...talk about hard labour!

Proud as punch to have made a difference!
In front of the water storage tanks. 

The highlight of the trip for her, was standing in front of the water tank for a photograph, and hearing it fill up, knowing that the village would have fresh water when they left - what a wonderful opportunity for students and villagers alike.