Just before half-term we were lucky enough to host two wonderful facilitators from the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre (JHGC). Cathy and Catherine worked closely with the Grade 6s and 7s on a specially developed workshop that dealt with notions of identity, empathy, and what it means to be an upstanding citizen.

As a warm-up activity the girls were asked to draw their hands and write down specific traits they believed were crucial to their sense of identity or belonging. They were then invited to stick their hands on the board, and find connections between what they wrote. The girls expressed frustration at being limited by their five fingers, and began to understand how difficult it must have been for the victims of the Holocaust to be seen as only one aspect of their identity.

The Grade 7s focused on the definitions of perpetrator, bystander, victim and upstander while the Grade 6s focused on stories and testimonies from the Holocaust, and were asked to write or draw what they would pack in their suitcase if they suddenly had to leave their homes. At the end, both grades were asked to compose a pledge and commit to what they could do in their own small way as upstanding citizens.

We would like to thank Catherine, Cathy and the JHGC for putting so much care and effort into creating this programme for us. We hope it is the first stepping stone in developing critical literacy about complex identities, empathy, and the devastating effects of discrimination.

In remote Book-Ed lessons this past week we read two stories about strange school experiences. In Jerry Pallotta’s What I Saw in the Teacher’s Lounge, we imagined what secret activities and adventures the teachers might get up to in the staff room. I invited the girls to draw what they think happens in the staff room, and they sent in some lovely, creative responses.

ROSA ELK
SENIOR PRIMARY LIBRARIAN