Hitting the Road

November 16, 2007

by James Collins

I’ve decided to leave Johannesburg for the time being to explore South Africa from the open road. I’ve had a great time in Joburg so far, but I’d like to see more of the country before deciding where to base myself for the rest of the year. I plan to visit as many field bands as possible along the way, and if all goes well, I will cover most of the country in just one month.

I’m excited to visit the bands and to meet the tutors and see how they work with the kids. From what I’ve seen so far, each band is very distinctive. Some run on a tight schedule, while others are pretty loose. Some try to experiment with their performances, while others choose to “go with the flow”. Some place a strong focus on teaching life skills, while others stick more closely to the music. There are a lot of different teaching styles and approaches in use and I’m hoping to learn from the different bands and see what works best. I think my teaching will benefit greatly from the experience. I’m also looking forward to meeting some teachers from the Norwegian Peace Corps who are working with the field bands in Limpopo (a province in the northeast). Some of them have been here for over a year, so I’m sure I can learn quite a bit from them.

I’ll be sure to send some updates and hopefully a few videos from the road. Thanks for all your recent comments! Keep them coming and let me know if you would like to see anything in particular on the blog.