Laura Eberly '05

Mpho Mtolelehas never taken a formal art class, never been to the Louvre or New York's Museum of Modern Art; his school offers no art classes, and he lives more than four hours away from the closest art gallery. Yet he has decided to devote his life to art.

Motlele attends the Tiger Kloof school in Vryburg, South Africa. Closed in 1962 when the Apartheid government enacted the Bantu Education Act, which placed stringent restrictions upon the education of blacks, the Tiger Kloof School was reopened in 1995 by Hilary and David Matthews, Deerfield's 2002-2003 Wilson Fellows. The school was among the first in post-Apartheid South Africa to open its doors to black students.

With 50% of South Africans living in poverty and an exorbitant 37% unemployment rate, much of South Africa still suffers from the aftershocks of apartheid.Impoverished blacks still battle deeply-rooted racism and an economy struggling to bring more than 30 million previously disenfranchised black citizens into the workforce. Many whites still harbor an unspoken racial discrimination against the country's native black majority.When poverty-stricken families, and at times entire communities, face a daily struggle simply to survive, schooling is not often a priority and is frequently left by the wayside.

When the Matthews reopened Tiger Kloof in 1995, they did with the intention to educate and empower a future generation and help disadvantaged blacks escape from devastating cyclical poverty.Tiger Kloof was rebuilt in 1995 by residents of Vryburg, and today the school is funded by sponsorships from local and overseas donors. Deerfield participated last year in this international effort when Dave Matthews (nephew of Tiger Kloof's David and Hilary Matthews) played a benefit concert for Tiger Kloof at Amherst's Mullen Center. Nearly 650 members of the Deerfield community were in the crowd of 5,800.

However, a lack of endowments has kept the Tiger Kloof curriculum simple and pragmatic. Subjects include three languages (English, Afrikaans, and Tswana), speaking to South Africa's vibrant multi-culturalism. The school also offers courses in economics, accounting, math, science, and computers. Pragmatic courses such as bricklaying, plumbing, and hotel keeping show that even the most educated in South Africa do not always have the opportunities Americans would expect for the average high school graduate.Due to this limited funding, there is no formal art program at Tiger Kloof or any formal art classes. The nearest gallery and theatre are a four hour drive away in Johannesburg and the cost of petrol alone prevents any hope of making the journey. It would seem that Tiger Kloof's students have no access to the arts, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Students come from backgrounds steeped in artistic African tradition, and each student brings a culture and arts to the Tiger Koof community.

Artists enrich the arts at the school in their own ways. Mpho Motlele captures his versions of the vivid South African landscape in pencils and oil paints, while Nkoketseng Konopi captures his version with fluid English poetry. Ninth grader Neo Moroka has won acclaim at international art competitions for his oil renditions of South African birds.Earlier this school year, Tiger Kloof students made crafts as gifts for visitors to display their African traditions and surroundings. They created handmade paper from the seeds and grasses of the veldt and ecoupaged leather-bound calendars with pictures of indigenous birds and animals. They delved into the arts of their ancestors in learning African beadwork and melded those traditions with their modern world by crafting bracelets from the beads. They made African dolls and created penholders from feathers and quills.

The traditional music and dance of Africa pulsates in Tiger Kloof. Spontaneous dance and song are a way of life, broken into between classes or during work to pass the time. Students come from families rich in musical lore, and the traditional songs shared by children and communities across the country provide standard material in the background of each student. "It's absolutely amazing," says Deerfield graduate Emily Parfitt '02, who is taking a gap year to spend a year volunteering at the school. "They all know the same songs and they'll just break into them together out of nowhere." She remembers a day when students were laying brick for a new walkway and as they passed the bricks from hand to hand in a chain they began a rhythmic song in time to their work.

The architecture of the school itself fails to emphasize the rich artistic traditions of the community. All the original buildings of 1905-1962 were constructed by the students themselves. Expert masons taught the student the now-dying art of masonry, and the intricate stonework of the church and clock tower remain the standing result. The stones of the buildings are the color of the veldt grass, and the original clock tower stands above the rust-red roots of the school buildings that mirror the tiny orange flowers that cover the veldt.When the school closed in 1962, a local contractor was hired to demolish the original buildings. He destroyed several staff houses but when he came to the church, its soaring majesty struck him and he could not find it within himself to demolish the building. The original church still stands today.

Sipho Muchinda and Lesego Serelong are students at Tiger Kloof School in Vryburg, South Africa. Their thoughts on art in South Africa are recorded below. Transcribed by Brett Masters '04 and Laura Eberly '05 Choosing a Cultural Identityby LESEGO SERELONGSouth Africa is a country rife with cultural, ethnic and economic divides. Home to dozens of racially and culturally distinct native tribes, Afrikaners, English and other European whites, Indians, and Asians along with 11 official languages, South Africa simmers under racial tension. Some of the oldest cultures on earth, in the traditions of the native tribes, are juxtaposed with the newest trends and influences from the modern world. This world of dissonant contradictions and competing influences is the world of fifteen-year-old Lesego Serelong.

"I am a fifteen-year-old girl," Serelong writes, "living in a remote village in the North West Province of South Africa. I am the second born child at home and my two siblings and I have lived with my aunt since my parents died."

"I am a Batswanan and part of the Barolong tribe, which is very united. Every year we host a cultural ceremony wnere we all get together in our customary clothing, eat cultural food and sing and dance around a fire. The men wear cow skins and the ladies wear patterned cultural dresses.

"Serelong questions her role within these festivities and her relationship to her background. Caught between her ancestry and her modern existence, Serelong questions whether she is still proud of her roots, her customs, and her mother tongue. She attempts to muddle through her own mixed feelings regarding wearing her cultural clothing amid peers wearing all the current brand names.

Yet she makes a critical connection. As Serelong questions her pride in her cultural dances, beliefs, legends, and songs, she translates this into pride in her heritage, a background which, she realizes, is what makes her who she is.

"Am I still proud of my background?" she asks. "Am I still proud of what made me who I am today? Am I still proud of myself?"

Sipho Muchinda Discovers Himself Through Poetry, Rap by By SIPHO MUCHINDASipho Muchinda introduces himself as the last-born son of Spence and Dorsa Muchinda. His parents, however, died when he was young and he was raised by an aunt and uncle in Botswana.But he does not dwell on his loss. "I think," he says, "it's how people resurrect their lives and learn from mistakes when something goes wrong that's important, rather than dwelling on the trouble they may be in."Muchinda has certainly taken his own advice; he cites his years at Tiger Kloof as a window of opportunity. Muchinda, who calls himself an accomplished rap artist, has begun, without instruction, to teach himself both piano and guitar at the school.His favorite music? American hip-hop and R and B.Muchinda's plans and current tenacity reflect his determination to overcome the adversities of his past.

"I have always been fascinated with the human body," he states, "so I am thinking of embarking on a medical career when I have finished school."I would like to help communities with my heart rather than think about the thickness of my wallet.

"Muchinda has emerged from a tumultuous childhood with a solid sense of identity. He uses his art forms of choice, collage and poetry in English, his second language, and, of course, rap, to express my very own identity for the whole world to see.

As published in the January 4, 2004 issue of the Deerfield Scroll, the monthly newspaper of Deerfield Academy.