Last week as I was waiting for transport to pick me up from Manenberg a terrible fight broke out between two 7^th grade boys. All of the teachers were in a staff meeting and oddly the security guards who usually patrol school grounds were nowhere to be found. All of a sudden Sam, Eva, Bre and I heard all of this shouting and whistling. When we rushed around the corner we saw a mob of about 20 kids marching down the hall. Before I knew what was happening two of the boys were in the center of the mob, one had a pair of child scissors and the other had a sharp piece of metal, they were trying to stab each other. A third boy was carrying a brick. We began to yell at the children to stop fighting and go home. Eva recognized the boy holding the scissors and began to try and get him to sit down so she could figure out what the conflict was about. As the boy was struggling to get away from her, he scratched her in the stomach with the scissors. At about this time, two teachers finally realized what was happening. They were able to find the two boys and bring them into the office. Eva was very upset about the situation, as we all were, but she wasn’t badly hurt. We were mostly concerned about how the safety of the children and really wondering why there hadn’t been any supervision after school hours. Eva briefly talked to the assistant principle, a teacher, and the two boys. The boys were smacked in their heads by the adults, and yelled at. While Eva was in the office, the 7^th grade teacher who had just let the boys out of class approached me to talk about the incident. Nothing could have prepared for the conversation we were about to have. He began by explaining to me that his entire class had been out of control all day. The two involved in the fight were on edge all afternoon. It was as if he knew something would happen between them but let them go regardless. Next he tells me that on the previous day he “beat the child (who scratched Eva) to a pulp” because the child had cursed out his mother. It took me a few moments to process what I had just heard. Finally I responded by saying, “I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but you just told me that you, personally, beat that very child who just got into a fight.” I asked him how he expected this child to handle his conflicts? He admitted that violence breads violence and he understood where I was coming from. He continued to talk about how the children shouldn’t blame their poor behavior on their socio-economic statuses, how he grew up in the very same neighborhoods, during apartheid, and in rougher conditions but that he did not turn out like a gangster or a criminal. I explained that I thought it had much more to do with family environment, support, and love rather then socio-economics. He tried to tell me that 80% of the children come from loving homes. These are the very same homes where brothers, uncles, and fathers are frontrunners for dozens of gangs. It was outstanding. He wondered aloud how this child could have been so disrespectful to go so far as to hurt Eva, an American, who was simply there to help. He compared Eva to Amy Biehl, an American student who was murdered in 1993 in a black township. The comparison was beyond ridiculous. Although I believe that all adults deserve respect, why should these children treat us American students any different than anyone else? What do they owe us? Here we are, foreigners, coming into their world. This is a world filled with violence, drugs, abuse, hunger, improper housing and poor education and they are angry. They have every right to be angry, and I’m angry for them. I left Manenberg feeling really stressed out and upset about the entire situation.

The next morning when we got to Manenberg the children had just had an assembly with people from prison. They were there to talk about what will happen to them if they make bad choices and get involved in criminal activity. The principle ended the assembly by announcing that one of the American teachers had been stabbed. It was completely untrue to the actual event. All of the children were coming up to us and asking if Eva was okay and if she had been hospitalized. They were really scared! This afternoon we had a meeting with the principle and two other members of the school body. Their main focus of the meeting was to apologize for the behavior and to ensure us that our safety is their number one concern. I couldn’t help but voice that although I realize we must stay safe, Eva, Sam and I are just as concerned about the safety of the children. It is unreasonable to compare one life to another and we would refuse to do so. They made it clear that if a fight was ever to break out in the future we mustn’t get involved. We explained that we didn’t actually get involved and the whole thing was an accident for the most part. But I inquired, must we just stand there if something like this was to happen again, or turn our backs while children are trying to stab one another? They seemed to receive our message well. If nothing else the incident turned out to be a way in which we were able to open a conversation with the principle and get some of our frustrations regarding the school and staff members out into the open. I now feel more comfortable voicing my concerns within the school.