Raeesa Mohamed, an educator with LEAP Science and Math School in South Africa, traveled over 10,000 miles from the vibrant city of Cape Town to San Francisco in March to participate in a teaching and learning exchange with Gateway Public Schools.
Ms. Raeesa, as she is affectionately called by students and teachers here at Gateway, is part of a program called Teach With Africa (TWA), a San Francisco based non-profit organization empowering students and teachers in a reciprocal educational exchange in Africa and the U.S. Teach With Africa seeks to reduce the embedded inequities in our societies by working to provide access to quality education in order to transform children's lives, schools, and communities.
For the past three years, TWA has partnered with LEAP to improve access to quality public education for all students. LEAP was launched in 1990 during the transition from apartheid to provide free, high quality education to students from high-need communities in South Africa.
Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, Raeesa is passionate about using education to help students become agents of change in their communities as well as responsible and productive members of society.
During her time at Gateway, Raeesa partnered with faculty across many different departments, engaged with administrators on their work at school, and observed and participated in classes. She also shared pieces of the program she heads up at LEAP called Life Orientation which encourages students to be a positive peer voice, take responsibility for their own life, and serve as agents of change in their community.
"By hosting Ms. Raeesa, we were able to expand our impact on education in other communities, not just our own," said Elizabeth Colen, 8th Grade Humanities Teacher. "A community of learners is one that is constantly evolving and Ms. Raessa opened up our eyes to new skills and information and we did the same for her."
As Raeesa heads back to South Africa, she looks forward to incorporating the different teaching methodologies she learned at Gateway into the LEAP curriculum.
Gateway's contagious community-spirit and track record for success made a strong impression. "Gateway is a true leader when it comes to creating a supportive environment where all students can learn and succeed," said Ms. Raeesa. "Kids across the world are the same and struggle with the same challenges however, not every school has such a supportive, safe, and caring environment where kids can be themselves and thrive."
Pictured above from left to right: Ms. Raeesa and Ms. Colen.