Lisa Mbuli, English teacher

"I am constantly learning from my students who are interested in and excited by the opportunities for academic enrichment..."

I teach at a UWC because its spirit reflects the values I believe to be important. I believe in education, and that education should be available to everyone. I believe learning should be a holistic experience that teaches people how to live with others, including those whose beliefs differ from their own. The UWC that I work for, Waterford Kamhlaba, was forged in direct opposition to apartheid and from its birth has stood against ideas of intolerance, separateness and oppression. With the end of apartheid it could have been easy for the school to lose its focus but UWC gives our College a discourse within which it can continue to work towards its vision.

I often hear our students questioning whether our school has “the UWC spirit”, trying to define it and identify it amongst us all. Values, beliefs, ideals, hopes for the world, the future, our environment, ideas about the type of education people should receive spill out of young mouths and the students question themselves and others, trying to forge a place where, with all their differences, they can live together. And, I believe, it is exactly that ability and freedom to question that is “UWC spirit”. By consistently doing this we ensure we come to understand our own beliefs and those of others better and find a way to live in peace with one another. We take what we like from other cultures: beliefs, manners, cuisines, styles of dress, music… and constantly redefine ourselves in the search for who we are. By allowing others a voice even when we disagree with them, and choosing to quietly measure their values against our own, and being open to the fact that we may perhaps need to readjust our various positions, Waterford Kamhlaba prepares students to live in a world full of other people who are different from them. It encourages our students to be the type of people who will speak out for tolerance and understanding in hostile places. Our graduates are people who will question those who try to silence and subjugate others. We educate young people so that when they go out into the world they are able to approach everything around them with a broad, unrestricted view.

I teach at a UWC because as a teacher I am constantly learning from my students who are interested in and excited by the opportunities for academic enrichment offered to them through the Colleges. Their willingness to organise and get involved in a range of events from Peace Day to UWC day to World Environment Day, to be involved with Link Group and communicate with students at other Colleges, to create forums where their fellow students have opportunities to communicate their stories and tell others about their cultures is testament to the rich education offered.

One of the things I enjoy most about teaching at a UWC is that the College requires its teachers to contribute to the lives of students beyond the classroom, and be involved with them in more casual settings such as the hostels and the extra curricular programme. The high standard for teachers is enhanced by the IB programme. The opportunity to be part of delivering this programme is another reason that I teach at a UWC. The IB allows us to emphasise values such as the importance of an individual’s social responsibility and concern for the environment through the CAS component of the course. One of the things I like most about Waterford is the emphasis the school puts on community service and contributing to the societies we live in. IB requires pupils to do 100 hours of service over the two year programme but our students do many, many more. I am always impressed when students make their own connections within the local community and start projects of their own. For example, at the end of last year a group of IB1 girls began working with St Joseph’s Mission an organisation which supports people with disabilities; and what started off as a few students who made a link with Young Heroes, a project aimed at orphans and vulnerable children in Swaziland, has grown from its humble beginnings as a school community service project into something that other UWCs have become involved in.

I teach at a UWC because I feel that I am part of a movement that truly believes that education is a force to unite people and puts this ideal into practice. I teach at a UWC because I get to see this force in action every day.