About 70 million children worldwide do not attend school, because they lack the resources and opportunities those of us in the Bay Area have been privileged enough to have.

For some sophomore Advanced English students on our campus, reading the autobiography Kaffir Boy was life-changing enough to inspire them to start clubs such as Room to Read and Free the Slaves to help change these statistics.

Kaffir Boy is read in DHS Sophomore Advanced English classes, and is a gripping narrative that chronicles author Mark Mathabane’s  experiences growing up under apartheid, and his eventual journey to America. One student in particular, sophomore Logan Bowie, felt so impacted by this novel that he decided to reach out to Mr. Mathabane personally via email and express how his story has given him a new perspective on both education and life. “I just wanted to send my appreciation of the book his way, and maybe at some point someone would read my message and understand that his book means a lot to me…”, says Logan. . “Sometimes reaching out in the smallest way can have the largest impact.”

And it certainly did. Mr. Mathabane directly responded to Logan’s email, and offered to provide a lecture for the students at Dublin High School , prompting  Sophomore Advanced English teachers Ms. Hollison and Ms. Vallejo to get into contact with him. The two teachers  met with Dublin High Principal Ms. Byrne and DPIE, and after a few more emails were exchanged with Mark Mathabane himself, two possible dates have been set for his arrival. Make sure you keep your lunch free on Friday, May 19th and Wednesday, May 24th!
Be sure to be on the lookout for announcements regarding any fundraisers to help make this all happen.