I teach History at Torquay Grammar School for Girls at Key Stages 3 and 4 and also to A Level. My specialist field is 16th Century British History. I am also Head of Careers Education and Guidance, Work Experience and Industry Links Co-ordinator. I am currently studying for an MBA in Educational Management. As part of the Crossings Project I plan to research to history of District 6 in Cape Town concentrating on oral history sources, photographic records, statistical data and relevant novels, literature and music. I hope that this will form part of a package to be delivered in Key Stage 3 national curriculum history.

The Crossings Project gave me a terrific opportunity to research a number of different aspects of South African history which I hope to build into a curriculum package to be delivered to Year 8 Key Stage 3. Whilst visiting Cape Town I made a good link with Rob Sieborger at the University of Cape Town School of Education. He was extremely helpful and enabled me to research themes concerning human dilemmas and human rights in South Africa. I was able to gather primary and secondary sources on slavery in the Cape, on the removal of personal freedoms and living space, and aspects of resistance to apartheid including a look at the bureacratic control of people i.e. use of Pass Laws.

With the help of the University Resources Centre I was able to gather books, documents and video material. A memorable visit to Robben Island with John Valentine from the University enabled me to make a video of the Island featuring its use as a base for criminals, the ill, lunatics, lepers and later the victims of the struggle against apartheid. There were also remains of second world war fortifications because of the feared invasion from the Axis Powers. It was a humbling experience to see the cell in which Nelson Mandela was held captive for 27 years and fascinating to stand in the corridor of cells - the so called "University of the ANC". A highlight of the visit was the opportunity to interview a past inmate of the top security prison who recalled his feelings, experiences and his part in the struggle. The island shop afforded yet another opportunity to gather primary sources and video material.

"If I were to sum up in a few sentences our years in prison, I would say: While we will not forget the brutality of apartheid, we will not want Robben Island to be a monument to our hardship and suffering. We would want Robben Island to be a monument reflecting the triumph of the human spirit against the forces of evil." AHMED KATHRADA 1993.

I spent a lot of time visiting the District Six area of Cape Town including the District Six Museum because I was very interested in collecting materials about the forced removals of the 1960s.

District Six was a successful multi-racial community which was razed to the ground by the government in 1966. This was done in the "name of slum clearance and urban renewal" but was really nothing more than an attempt to make Cape Town a completely white area. In the event District Six was never redeveloped and remained a potent symbol of the evils of the apartheid regime. A whole community was wiped out and bitterness remains to this day.

Visitors to the Museum can see the original street signs that were rescued by Council workers on the day the bulldozers moved and there there is a wide range of photographic evidence and primary and secondary written material. It was very moving to see members of this past community visiting the Museum for the first time and encountering pictures of their streets and houses which brought back poignant memories of this terrible event in their lives. I was greatly inspired by the reading of a poem "Nothing's Changed" written by Tatamkhulu Afrika who was born in Egypt but while living in Cape Town suffered discrimination during the apartheid regime because of the colour of his skin. He made his home in District Six and his anguish at the destruction of his community was reflected in his poetry and his memories of this continue to be very bitter. I was able to interview him to find out more about his feelings. I also talked to a pupil from Westerford High School who I met whilst listening to a discussion about the poem and whose father and family had been victims of the District Six removals. This was yet another excellent piece of oral history to be added to the teaching pack which will be put together.