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   The U.S. Department of Education’s Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Aboard program enabled History professor Richard Corby to lead 15 teachers from throughout the states to South Africa for six weeks in June and July 2005. 

   The English and social studies teachers spent the first three weeks in Cape Town attending lectures on South African history and culture at the University of the Western Cape. Afterwards, they traveled via a chartered bus throughout the country for three weeks. As the teachers learned and collected artifacts, they also developed curriculum materials to use in their classrooms. 

   Corby said he always enjoys himself on the African continent due to it being the part of the world in which he specializes. 

   “I’ve spent 10 years teaching and conducting research in West Africa and have traveled in other parts of the continent,” he said. “For me the highlight of any travels to South Africa is Cape Town and the surrounding area, as I believe it also was for many of the teachers.”   

   The teachers visited cities such as Durban and Johannesburg and traveled across rural areas in many parts of the country, which helped them see South Africans as people with opportunities, problems and challenges – much like people everywhere. 

   “When they teach about Africa in general in their classroom and South Africa in particular, they will be able to convey these experiences to their students,” Corby said. “The result will be that these Arkansas junior and senior high students will learn about and gain an understanding of South Africa and its people.” 

   Due to it being winter in the southern hemisphere during July and August, and South Africa being so far south that it’s not even in the tropics, many of the teachers oftentimes found themselves cold throughout the trip.  

   “The temperatures weren’t that bad–mid to high 60s during the day, down to the low or mid 50s at night–but most of the buildings are either not heated or have just wall heaters,” Corby said. “It did get a bit warmer when we traveled, particularly along the Indian Ocean coast where the highs were from 78-80.  There goes the stereotype that all of Africa is unbearably hot every day of the year!” 

   South Africa contains a mix of various people – Cape Colored/Mixed Race, Xhosa (a principal South African ethnic group) and European-descended people, mainly from Britain and The Netherlands. The Cape Colored/Mixed Race group composes about 50 percent of the total population. 

   “It’s fascinating to observe the interaction among these groups in this cosmopolitan city,” Corby said. “Cape Town’s natural setting is most beautiful with Table Mountain in the background and the city spreading from the mountain down to the Atlantic. Our modest hotel for the three weeks we spent in Cape Town was just a three-minute walk from the ocean.” 

   Though Vanneise Collins, dean of the Social and Behavioral Sciences department, intended to assist Corby during the trip, she had to cancel. 

   “Unfortunately, I was not able to go on the trip because of a medical emergency involving my Mother,” Collins said. 

   Corby led 20 teachers, including the 15 participants of this trip, to South Africa in June 2004. The Arkansas Humanities Council funded the trip which allowed the teachers to study about South Africa while they began to develop curriculum materials for use in their classes. After intensive study, Corby said the teachers were ready for field work, which prompted this year’s trip.

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