Just One Spark Starts the Fire

11.  I believe the epigraph means that everyone is interconnected, and we live in a society where every individual is valuable.  The story from Credo Mutwa is relevant to this epigraph in the best possible way.   On page 77, Mutwa exclaims, “And the Living Fire was consciousness.  ‘I am,’ the spark wailed, ‘I AM!’ In its fury and loneliness, it fed upon the Nothing and the Fertile Darkness, and so it began to grow a great blaze.”  This quote relates to the epigraph because it also describes how just one spark starts the fire, or rather, how one individual affects the next. 

22. Working with Bahia Vista, I can understand the epigraph even better.  The children are all given wonderful opportunities to expand their learning through the after school program services.  The people who serve as role models for these kids are the “sparks” that fuel the “fire” or passion in them. 

3. Page 92 of the narrative states, “Here – on this tiny parcel of land no bigger than a football field that carries in its earth the entire history of South Africa – here, a community has dared to turn to one another to create a sense of safety, care for its children, educate its adults, empower its youth, grow its own food, and make wise use of its own waste.”  The way I see, the challenges this society has is a blessing in a disguise.  This quote shows how instead of avoiding their problems, the people choose to overcome them.  The same can be said for the Bahia Vista students.  These kids always have questions to ask me, and I am always more than happy to answer them.  Their thirst for more knowledge shows that they want to know more about the outside world.