“English is very difficult and I don’t know what you’re talking about” said my young Zulu-speaking Learning Partner early on in our relationship.
“Learning Partners” is the only way to describe our 2 year association because I have certainly learnt as much as (I hope) he has - although, to be honest, I’ve sometimes felt my biggest contribution was to give his class teacher an hour’s break twice a week!
I have to admit that my volunteering at the Shine Centre wasn’t entirely altruistic. I’d recently retired at the age of 73 after a long working life and was wondering how to avoid mental stagnation. Not being a teacher (nor even a grandmother despite having 4 children of my own) I was initially nervous. Would I cope? Would he?
As it turned out, I think we were a well-matched pair. I liked his chutzpah and saying what he thought, even if it wasn’t always complimentary. He was fascinated by my wrinkles and blotched hands and delighted to discover that he can play chess and I can’t!
As he frequently showed a strong aversion to anything resembling ‘school work’, I learnt to devise alternative means of getting through to him. After weeks of unsuccessfully trying the conventional ways to teach him the difference between “b” and “d”, I realised that he knew how to spell his name (which has a ‘d’ in it) and we easily adapted the capital ‘b’ from his favourite car – a BMW.
There were even occasions when, if he was upset or miffed about something and wouldn’t talk, we ended up writing notes to each other.
Over the years we’ve become more than Learning Partners: we’ve become friends and we’ve had fun. His aim is to become a lawyer and it saddens me that I won’t be around to see him reach his goal.
Go well young friend. Persevere with your legal dream … and get your BMW! I’m going to miss you.
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