It wasn't the audible voice of God, but there wasn't a doubt in my mind Who was speaking, and I knew that for my future - and the future of the kids He's given me, I needed to take it seriously. So fast forward 6 or 7 weeks. I'm back in Cape Town, and every morning my prayer is "God, show me how to be a mom today." He's been gracious to answer, and one of the things He's reminded me (not an earth shattering revelation), is that a good Mom fights for the well being of her kids. I had already been mentoring 3 Grade 7 girls at this point, and incredibly, one of them was awarded full board and tuition for the next 5 years at one of the most prestigious schools in South Africa, starting in January.
Unless you have been to a township, you really don't have a grid for what this means. To a kid from Masi, where the only thing there is an abundance of, is despair; going to a place like St. Cyprians - with pool, tennis and squash courts, a ballet studio and a lush expanse of well manicured gardens and playing fields, is like leaving earth for an entirely different galaxy. I was thrilled for the one, but my heart ached for the 2 other girls who did NOT get a scholarship. They were brave, and genuinely happy for their friend - but we all understood that their high school experience would be at an overcrowded, poorly resourced township school that is currently failing by every conceivable measure.
I couldn't stand it, so I started hunting for alternatives. There ARE good public schools in South Africa - but unlike the U.S., where public means FREE, in South Africa it only means that the public can go there, IF they live in the district, IF there is space available, IF they can complete the application and IF they can afford the tuition. Needless to say, my kids do not live in the district, the nearest non-township school had awarded all it's places 7 months before the school year began, the application was 14 pages long (and required documentation showing proof of address - when my kids don't HAVE an address), and the tuition was $4000.00-$7000.00 per year.
Fast forward AGAIN - funds are made available through the incredible generosity of friends who hear the girls stories and want to help. Now I have money for tuition, but still no school. I start writing letters to every good public and private school in a 35 mile radius, knowing full well that I am MONTHS behind the game, when I get an invitation for an interview at Wynberg Girls' High School. WGHS is a 130 year old public boarding school with a stellar reputation and a social conscience. I can't believe they want to interview E. and A. but I'm excited and the girls are bouncing off the walls.
OK - it took me 5 paragraphs to get to the point but I'm here. Finally! Yesterday, I drove both girls over the mountain that separates Masi from the rest of Cape Town, to Wynberg - a suburb aptly named for the vineyards visible on the side of the mountain not far from campus. The day had gotten off to a rough start; both girls had arranged with their teachers to leave class early, but when it came time for them to head to my office, their teacher wouldn't let them go. When they insisted, he went in to a rage (and this is not an exaggeration). He followed them to my office, screaming that they thought they were better than others, and they were insolent and disrespectful. The girls were sobbing, and I was trying to calm him down. (In the teacher's defense, he collapsed from kidney failure in school today and was rushed to the hospital - I'm certain that his health was behind much of the outburst). Finally I just pushed him out the door, grabbed both girls and made a run for it. Then I spent the 35 minute drive trying to get them to laugh and forget about the incident.
Oh how I wish I had a video of their interview and of their reaction when we got to Wynberg. The school is stunning. The head was warm and asked great questions, and quite honestly, my kids were UTTERLY SPECTACULAR. I was trying to stay in the background and let them do the talking, but the whole time I kept thinking WHO ARE THESE CHILDREN? At one point, Mrs Harding asked E. what things she thought still needed to change in South Africa, and without missing a beat, E. responded (and this is almost verbatim) - "I have heard that Nelson Mandela said 'we can only move forward if we forgive the past'. I think that here in South Africa, we HAVE the things we were fighting for during the apartheid years. We can vote. We can move freely. We can go to school. But now, the rest is up to us. It is time to stop blaming whites for our problems and start solving them ourselves." Mrs. Harding and I are just staring at each other, and I'm pretty sure we're both thinking "Please let's elect this child President immediately." A. is just as eloquent - and I try not to laugh because every time the Head asks her a question, she automatically raises her hand. It's charming. I'm proud - and the whole time, I'm trying to fight back tears because I know where these kids come from - and now I'm sitting there watching as they kick ass (really - that's the only term that I can come up with that even begins to sum up their performance) in the halls of a place that 20 years ago, they could only have entered to clean the floors and toilets.
After the interview, the Head sends us on a tour of the Residence Hall. Typical for this country, it's spartan (and FREEZING of course - everything in South Africa is freezing in the winter months) - but to kids who've lived in 2 rooms with 7 people, it's the Ritz. They want to look in the showers. Their eyes are like saucers when they see the individual bedrooms (that in reality, are like little tiny monastic cells with just enough space for a bed, a desk and a wardrobe.) And then I start to tear up again when we go to the Dining Hall - because they have no words when our tour guide explains that there are 3 meals a day, plus mid-morning and afternoon Tea. Neither A. nor E. is starving, but they have never had 3 meals a day, consistently, in their entire lives. They just kept reading and re-reading the menu, as if to make certain that they were really getting this.
All the way back over the mountain, to the very different world that is their home, they talked as if they were already "Wynberg girls". They talked about the school motto - "Honor before Honors" (who even KNOWS their school motto?) - and how they want to bring honor to Wynberg, and to their families, and to Masi. They worried about how they would buy books and uniforms (which much to my relief, were NOT ugly). All this is a bit premature - because they're not IN yet.
I have until Monday to get their applications filled out, meet with their parents/guardians and PRAY LIKE CRAZY for incredible favor. Wouldn't it be amazing - if 3 kids, who by the circumstances of their birth should have no expectation of ever going beyond Masi High School, got accepted to the best schools in the country? God is good - all the time!