Themba,Yolanda from Equal Education and I attended the TEDXED on Saturday June 16th, Youth Day, along with 500 other eager people. Fighting through the early morning in some of the worst fog I have ever encountered to get to Ratanga by 8.30am, I wondered if I was doing the right thing. I was. I had the most inspiring of days: 19 incredibly up-lifting talks, mainly by fellow South Africans who are outstanding in their field, with the focus on education. We listened to various non-profit heads, slam poets, development leaders, peer educators, principals and teachers. It was a very impressive line up, and we all came away deeply moved and motivated. The highlights for me were listening to Craig Charnock, who has his own language teaching company, Xola Soliki, a peer educator, Brent Van Rensberg from Zip Zap Circus, and school principals Murray Gibbon from Claremont High and Phadiela Cooper, of the COSAT school in Khayelitsha. If anyone had told me I could sit and listen to 19 people, over the course of eight hours, on the edge of my seat with joy, inspiration, excitement and anticipation, I would not have believed them. However, I could not think of a more intellectually invigorating way to spent a day with colleagues who care, learning from the work of others. The talks can be viewed on this blog. I have loaded the talks that have already been produced and put them to the left hand side bar of the blog. You will find them under TEDX talks.
 |
| Great anticipation.... |
 |
| Dr Mamphela Ramphele... |
 |
| One of many standing ovations... |
 |
| On the edge of our seats... |
