Ms. Heidi Shields
Buncombe County

”Hello! My name is Heidi Shields, and I am grateful to the Beattie Foundation for sponsoring my participation in the Global Teachers 2026 program. Today was a day of transition and contrast, highlighting the diversity of experiences during the program.

At 6:00 am. we left the urban setting of Sandton, South Africa, in a foggy, cold winter drizzle. As we headed to O.R. Tambo International Airport, we understood the reason for the name of the airport and Mr. Tambo’s role in the anti-apartheid movement.

During the relatively short flight (1 ½ hours) to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, the overcast skies made way for sunshine. City buildings and townships faded away, and we were greeted by natural shrubs and unfamiliar trees on Zimbabwe’s local roads.

Excitement and energy shifted as we gained our first glimpse of the Smoke that Thunders in Victoria Falls National Park. As our van travelled, local residents walked roadside, dressed for church on this Sunday morning.

After a quick check-in, we embarked on a Chobe River sunset cruise through the Chobe National Park in Botswana. This section of the river serves as a national boundary between Botswana and Namibia. Our tour guide, Keith Holshausen of Lazy Lizard Travel, and Mr. Offy, our boat guide, provided valuable facts about the setting and animals. Most of us have only been familiar with this wildlife from books and movies. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience as we watched an elephant swim across the river. Did you know they are excellent swimmers? Hippos are not! We learned of the symbiotic relationship between the cattle egrets and the elephants and saw nests and adaptations of the pied kingfishers. 

I am looking forward to bringing stories and photos of today back to my students in my visual arts classroom! I am fascinated by the scale of the elephants, as well as the lines and texture in their skin. As I admired the patterning and range of color in the African Nile crocodiles sunning in the grass, I learned from a colleague that the scales are called scutes. The ripple effect of this day will continue for NC students throughout our many disciplines and counties represented. It will be an unforgettable day for all of us as we contemplate our place on Earth and our role in preserving it!

As the sun sets over the Chobe River into Namibia, our dreams tonight will be of the land safari early in the morning.”

Mr. Tyler D’Angelo
Durham County

“As our time in South Africa has come to an end for the Global Teachers – Southern Africa program, the group left the Sandton Garden Court hotel in the early morning hours. The group traveled to the Johannesburg airport, where we had to say our goodbyes to Daryl, our guide while in South Africa, as well as Enkululeku, our amazing driver while in the region. Daryl’s parting words to the group stated, “May the dust on your shoes, rhythm in your feet, and the beat in your heart long for South Africa.” Our tired eyes were full of gratitude for being grounded in such rich history. While sadness for leaving such a beautiful country was shared among the group, we were eager to move into the next phase of our program while in the country. 

We eagerly boarded the bus to our Airlink flight to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. We were met with our driver, Bigboy, who informed us of the area as we drove to the border to Botswana. With a few steps at immigration, we made it just in time for our Chobe River cruise on the Chobe River in Chobe National Park. As I walked across the border into Botswana, I was reminded of just how vast our world really is. While borders may separate countries, the human spirit lives among the people. In the words of Don Winslow, “A border is something that divides us but also unites us; there can be no real wall, just as there is no wall that divides the human soul between its best impulses and its worst. ” As you learn more about each country, you realize that we are more alike than we are different. This border crossing reminded me of the spirit of “ubuntu” that we learned about while in South Africa, which means that I am because we are. This phrase captures the spirit of our human existence: that we each carry with us the responsibility of caring for one another, no matter how different we may look or act.

We eventually made it to the Cresta Mowana Safari Lodge to complete a three-hour river cruise safari. The guides pointed out Sedudu Island, a piece of land within Chobe National Park that has been fought over between the Botswana and Namibian countries. They also pointed out a wide variety of wildlife animals, including Egyptian geese, crocodiles, African elephants, hippopotamuses, giraffes, and various monkey species! Many of these animals exist in abundance and alongside one another, showing us just how beautiful nature is. The mighty animals of the Chobe River were a great reminder of just how beautiful our world really is. 

We concluded the day with a Sunday dinner in the Ku Muzi Boma, which means “back home.” The magic of Africa was felt through the love in the staff and the camaraderie shared among the group. The group enjoyed a traditional African dance under the full moon in the great Ku Muzi Boma. In the words of a wise Indian proverb, “To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak.” 

Thank you to the Borchardt Award for sponsoring my participation in this program. The Global Teachers – Southern Africa program has forever changed my heart, mind, and spirit as a North Carolina educator.”

Mrs. Windy Lampson
Alamance County

”On June 28, our group left Johannesburg and began the next part of our journey. We traveled through Zimbabwe and crossed into Botswana, eventually arriving in Kasane. After several days of learning through museums, schools, monuments, and public spaces in South Africa, this day shifted us into a different kind of classroom.

Before we even reached the hotel, the landscape began to change. From the bus, we saw kudu, impalas, mongooses, baboons, and a warthog. It’s amazing to think that these are everyday sightings for the people here. 

We spent the previous days thinking deeply about history, justice, education, inequality, and memory, and suddenly, we were looking out the window at animals moving through the land as if reminding us that this region cannot be understood through history alone. Location matters. Environment matters. What people protect, preserve, live beside, and depend on matters too.

By the time we arrived at Cresta Mowana, unloaded our luggage, and boarded the river cruise, I think many of us were tired but still awake to the moment. As we moved along the Chobe River, we gasped, pointed, and took so many pictures and videos. Again and again, people said some version of, “I can’t believe I’m here.” That phrase has been the theme of this program.

We saw elephants feeding in the grass, crocodiles resting near the water, giraffes near the riverbank, vervet monkeys, pied kingfishers, kudu, and more birds than I could identify. We even saw a hippo widen his mouth as if posing for us. But the experience was not simply about seeing animals. It was about seeing them in relationship to the river, the grass, the trees, and one another. It was a lesson in interdependence and one that we were all eager to learn from.

As meaningful as the river cruise was, one of the strongest takeaways for me came later that evening at dinner. After we ate, a group of performers shared music and dancing with us. There were drums, whistles, singing, movement, and rhythm. Almost immediately, members of our group were invited to join in. What could have been a performance quickly became a shared experience.

That moment has stayed with me because it connected to something I have felt throughout this program: the strong sense of community in the countries we have visited. We have seen it in schools, in public spaces, in meals, in music, and in the way people welcome us into their stories. At dinner, dancing became a way to feel that sense of community immediately. It did not require the same language, background, or experience. The rhythm made space for everyone.

That message is especially meaningful to me as a teacher. I spend a lot of time thinking about how to help students connect with one another and with the world beyond our classroom. This trip is reminding me that learning is not only about information. It is also about participation. It is about being willing to enter into an experience, even when you don’t know every step and you might look silly. Dancing that night reminded me that community can be built quickly when people are invited in with joy instead of hesitation.

As an art teacher, I also think about how humans communicate through more than words. Visual art, music, dance, clothing, food, architecture, and ceremony all carry meaning. They help people say, “This is who we are,” and they invite others to listen. That night, dance became a language we could all understand, even if we could not fully understand every song, step, or tradition behind it.

I am especially grateful to the ABSS Teacher of the Year Award, sponsored by the Alamance Chamber and Impact Alamance, for making my participation in this experience possible. Their support allowed me to be part of this journey and to gather ideas, questions, and inspiration that I will carry back to my students. This experience is helping me grow as a person and as a teacher who wants students to see beyond the walls of our classroom and understand their place in a much larger world.

June 28 was a day of crossing borders, but it was also a day of widening perspective. We crossed into Botswana, onto the Chobe River, and into a deeper understanding of how place, community, and shared experience shape the way we learn. For me, it was a reminder that the world is full of lessons waiting in unexpected places, and sometimes the most powerful thing a teacher can do is keep learning.”