Teacher’s selfless sacrifice
THE Cambridge Dictionary defines selfless as “caring more for what other people need and want rather than for what you yourself need and want”.
This definition is admirably embodied by Mavo Solomon, a 42-yearold man who has foregone a lucrative life as an engineer to teach maths and science for free to rural and township schoolchildren in the Eastern Cape.
Solomon holds a BSc in maths and science from the former Vista University in Port Elizabeth, a BSc in mechanical engineering and a master’s in engineering; both from UCT.
Between 1996 and 2013, he had distinguished, financially rewarding engineering-related careers at Eskom, the Development Bank of Southern Africa and at the University of Cape Town.
In 2014, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande gazetted the National Scarce Skills List: Top 100 Occupations In Demand, which showed that electrical, civil and mechanical engineers were the three most sought-after professionals in the country.
Nzimande’s research showed how people like Solomon were in high demand due to his extensive qualifications and work experience.
So what made him forgo a potential life of financial riches in order to teach the Eastern Cape’s schoolchildren?
“While I was still living and working in Gauteng, I was tutoring and helping out with maths and science at Alafang Secondary School in Katlehong, and at other schools in Orlando, Soweto. I realised that most of the people I worked with were the people I knew from back home in the Eastern Cape. And as people are aware, the matric results in the Eastern Cape are the worst in the country,” Solomon explained.
“I was working with these qualified and skilled engineers and accountants in townships around Gauteng and then, eventually, I said: ‘You know, I think one of us needs to go back home and give back to the Eastern Cape what we were giving back in Katlehong and Orlando.’ So I decided in 2013 to stop everything I was doing, and I moved back to the Eastern Cape.”
Solomon is currently based in Queenstown and teaches at a school in Tambo Village, which is roughly 35km outside of Queenstown.
He said he started working at the school earlier this month after seeing in a newspaper that the school had been without a maths and science teacher since September last year, saying he felt he had to go and help out. Solomon added that he only went there to teach grades 10 to 12, but realised upon arrival that other grades were in dire need of his assistance as no one was teaching Grade 8 and 9 pupils these two critical subjects.
“I don’t like to see kids idling outside of class. So I walked into one class and it turned out to be a Grade 9 class, which I helped with their maths assignment. But as I was helping them out, I realised that there was a lot that these kids were not learning,” he said.
“For the first two-and-a-half months of this year, the pupils have not learnt maths, they have not learnt science – they have only been learning the other subjects where there are teachers. The department (of education) has been slow to provide them with maths and science teachers.”
Asked whether he engaged the provincial Education Department for assistance and to highlight the plight of this village, Solomon said he had been trying to cultivate relationships with the department to no avail – hence he choose to just concentrate on his teaching. He added that he used to post alerts on his social media pages – Facebook and Twitter – asking for assistance with school supplies, water and other necessities so that he could conduct his volunteer work properly, but has stopped doing this, too.
“I used to post a lot last year but I don’t do it any more – I just concentrate on the work and if someone remembers me or hears about what I do, they might send something. I currently cross-subsidise what I do with some private tutoring. I tutor privileged kids and charge them about R360 a month, and that also helps a lot because I can travel with my own cash and not ask for money,” he said.
Solomon’s astounding selflessness is equally complemented by a genuine humility. He said he did not see anything extraordinary in what he did as this type of volunteer work was done for him and his peers when they were growing up. He said families used to volunteer their homes and churches and turn them into schools to make up for the lack of schools where he grew up.
“So I feel like I’m not even close to what those families did for us. Families used to give up their comfort and allow us to use their homes as schools. I certainly don’t feel like I’m doing anything unique,” he stressed.
Asked for how long he planned to continue volunteering, Solomon emphasised: “The way things seem around here, I’m going to be needed in the Eastern Cape for the rest of my life. I see myself doing this volunteer work for as long as I’m needed. Initially, I thought I was going to do it until I turn 45 – but I won’t lie, these kids need all the help they can get from me.”
khaya.koko@inl.co.za