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GLOBAL CLASSROOM CONFERENCE 2007: DIEPHOLZ, GERMANY
The Preparation
For about two months leading up to the departure date, the ten students busily prepared themselves for the Conference. They had to workshop and produce a play based on solving conflict at school, perform a song or dance typical of their country, paint a wall-hanging and put together a slide presentation depicting the effects of global warming and a video showing some aspects of the Cape Peninsula. They also had to take water and soil samples from different locations and compare them. In addition, they had had to do some community work (in our case the students spent time with the girls of the St George’fs Home for Girls in Wynberg) and present a video of their involvement. As can be seen, this was a great deal of hard work. All of this was done under the guidance of Mr Mark Slater and Mr Barry Saunders of SP, Mr Aubrey van Breda of the Academy and Mr Lionel Adriaan, the South African co-ordinator of the GC.
After a few very hectic last few weeks of organising tickets, passports and foreign currency (for which Mr Slater must take most of the credit), the group left Cape Town close to midnight on the 4 July.
Germany
The trip for the group was divided into three parts - the Conference at the Graf Friedrich Schule in the town of Diepholz (preceded by an ice-breaker camp which incorporated ridding a nearby forest of the alien black cherry tree), a 3-day trip to Berlin and a 5-day stay in a tiny rural village called Leezdorf, a few kilometres from the northern resort town of Norden.
 
Global Classroom students arriving at the ice-breaker camp ................. and at the the forest to rid it of the aliens!
 
This ice-breaker camp is tiring work! Earl in action against the Shetland Islands.
The first activity took place on the Sunday on the athletics track at the school. It was a sponsored run for all the GC participants as well as residents of the town. It must be stated that the teachers put the students to shame in terms of the number of laps completed. Money raised went to a local organisation called Agenda 21, as well as to the St George’fs Home.
 
Psyching up before the Big Charity Run... and enjoying a well deserved meal afterwards.
The conference itself was a great success. Despite a hitch with the video presentation, the South African contingent, although by and large perhaps not as outspoken as many of the other delegates, acquitted themselves very well, with their dance at the closing ceremony getting the audience rocking. The applause garnered was surpassed only by that given for the Japanese performers, dressed in their magnificent costumes. Perhaps the most valuable lesson learnt from the Conference, besides the absolute necessity of looking after our planet and protecting it from ourselves, was that teenagers and young adults, no matter where they come from, whether it be Germany, the Shetland Islands, Japan, Sweden, the Czech Republic or South Africa, are essentially all the same. Another highlight was the visit to Bremen, where participants could choose between a number of guided tours, either of around the city itself or of interesting historical centres or buildings.
 
Thuliswa at an environmental centre which the group visited. The South African contingent at the Council Building in Bremen.
 
The group doing a presentation ............................................and proudly showing their wall-hanging.
In Diepholz, the visiting participants and teachers were hosted by local families and were treated like members of the families, being taken to visit local sights, among other things. The weather for most of the week was grey and drizzly, although not particularly cold - it was summer after all.
 
Typical German architecture seen in Diepholz.
On completion of the Conference the South African contingent, accompanied by the Japanese and a few Germans with their teachers Ms Simone Muller and Mr Hans Gevers, boarded a train (and then four more) to Berlin, where the group was to stay in a youth hostel called ‘eThe Generator’f. This was a huge, bustling hostel, teeming with groups of young people coming and going, stopping over en route to other parts of Europe. Our stay here coincided with the hottest days of the year up to that stage. Based here, the group visited various historical sites, including Checkpoint Charlie, the Reichstag and the Holocaust Museum. We also went to Potsdam to visit the sumptuous summer palace of King Frederick the Great and took a boat trip down the River Spree, along which were the last remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall. After the third day the Japanese group departed and we went back to Diepholz for a day.
 
Departing from Diepholz station. Berlin, here we come!
 
Mr Saunders in front of a section of the Berlin Wall. The famous Brandenburg Gate.
 
Mr Adriaan at the Holocaust Memorial. Waiting for the presentation at the Reichstag (Parliament).
 
Part of the last remaining section of the Berlin Wall. Goodbye to Berlin!
The last part of our German experience (just the South Africans) took us to a little inn, which was the complete antithesis of ‘eThe Generator’f. Someone commented that it must be an old-age home. Even the village, a few streets surrounded by fields of green crops, cows and horses, was extremely quiet. The programme for the five days spent here was as follows: a very filling breakfast made by the owner Lilli and her team, an outing arranged for us by Ms Muller, and a welcoming and delicious supper. The outings included a canoe trip down a river, a guided visit to the mudflats in Norden, a sea trip on a fishing boat, and a ferry trip to the resort island of Nordeney. What made this part of our stay even more exciting was the discovery on the third day of a ten-pin bowling alley in the yard of the hotel. Every night from then on ended with a bowling tournament. One amazing feat was that we survived this week with hardly any of our hosts or guides being able to speak any English, and we were hardly able to speak any German.
  Fun in the Norden mud! The intrepid canoeists
  The teachers with Lilli, the innkeeper, and the indispensable dictionary! At Bremen airport, ready for the long journey home.
We arrived back home on the 27 July, unaccustomed to the bitter cold of winter, hardly able to comprehend the news that the roads around SP had been flooded the day before!
We were back - tired, but inspired!
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