Mark Mathabane Coming to BIS

On April 30th, Mark Mathabane, the author of Kaffir Boy, will be coming to give a lecture at BIS. There will be two sessions (for the students during school), then there will be an evening session (at 7:00 pm) for parents and members of the Burlingame community.

For the evening session, tickets will be sold at school (some in the office) all of next week. The donations for these tickets will be between $2-$20. This ticket will guarantee a seat in the auditorium. All proceeds from the tickets will be donated to an educational scholarship fund in Alexandra, South Africa to help young black kids who want to learn but whose families cannot afford to pay for school fees, books, and other supplies. The scholarship fund is called "Magdalene Scholarship Fund", named after his mother.

If you cannot attend the evening session, but you would like to donate to the scholarship fund, please leave the donation in a sealed envelope in my box with your name on the envelope, or send the donation with your child to give to me at school.


Have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,
Ms. Amelia Ramos

- Written by Cathryn Baylock

Comments

[Locke]

Its going to be a great, uplifting, eyeopening expirience. Please come.

Locke, wasn't that a fascinating evening with Mr. Mathabane? It was inspirational on so many levels and had lessons to be learned for students (and adults) - especially in the priviledged environment of Burlingame.

I particularly liked his emphasis on a global kind of leadership, using our imagination, the importance of empathy for others, the love between mother and son, how his father never left his family and the importance of books and education. Of course, the most important message was about peer pressure (something that seems to have been lost on many - especially those who have taken the controversial paragraphs out of context).

Thank you, Mr Mathabane, for coming to Burlingame - your writing, your opinions and your courage should be inspirational to those who wanted the book "pulled" and those that did not and those who think the whole Burlingame process was wrong, wrong and wrong again.

[BIS parent]

I second Fiona's comments. Mr. Mathabane was an incredible speaker and made some very insightful comments about our city and the importance of opening our children's eyes to the world. My son wasn't able to make it last night but is very much looking forward to hearing him speak today. He is a truly great man.

[Burlingame Parent]

I read "Kaffir Boy" in the late 1980's and was very excited to finally have the opportunity to see Mr. Mathabane speak. I thought the evening was incredible. My son was unable to attend as well, but unfortunately he will miss out completely. Mr. Mathabane will only be speaking to the 8th grade students. It would be nice if this was something offered to all the BIS students during the school day. I think all the students would benefit from his insight and experiences. Perhaps the school will have the insight and ability to have Mr. Mathabane next year.

I was wondering if Mr. Mathabane's attendance was gratis?

I don't know the answer but I was somewhat surprised when writing my donation check to Mr. Mathabane's Magdalene Fund that I was asked to write the check for BIS and not the Fund. When I questioned this, I was assured that my donation would go to his educational fund.

I hope I will receive some kind of confirmation that this has been done and my donation has been forwarded on to such a worthy cause.

This seems to be something to be investigated for two reasons. First of all I would not have wanted BIS to have paid for this event, as wonderful and enriching as it may have been, while we still have this situation with the teachers salaries. That just does not seem fair at all. Second if he did attend for free, why are we doing the bookkeeping for the charity. I know that that could take quite some time for the money to go throught the district and be filtered back to Mark Mathabane. What could be the possible reason? Why not just write the checks directly to his charity? It seems rather odd.

I would not have had a problem with paying an entrance fee to cover Mr. Mathabane's travel expenses because it would have been worth every penny - and more. His words of wisdom were priceless!

But it was just odd that the publicity had stated the entrance fee was going to Mr. Mathabane's scholarship fund and I am sure this will happen. For anyone who has read the book, these kids have to pay to get an education and Mr. Mathabane himself was beaten because paying schools fees and buying school books were a hardship for his family.