Greetings! I hope everyone’s summer is beginning well. Our winter is proving itself very enjoyable.
The nights get down to mid-40’s & days heat up to low 80’s. Our concrete-block walls absorb the day’s heat & keep it very pleasant throughout the night. Rarely do we even need a fan during the day. Everyone else here is freezing, wearing jerseys & heavy coats in class. And gloves! They share them, so most wear one on the hand that they don’t use to write. They don’t realize it, but they are missing out on a great excuse for not getting their written work done!
For whatever reason, God stays very close by--could it be your prayers??? I find myself reflecting on our time here and getting frustrated with not having the impact that I know we could have, if the teachers would just change!!! So, one day last week, Olivia (with whom I have had a distant relationship due to her obnoxious classroom behaviour) asked if she could talk to me. I figured it was going to be “Miss, why do you hate me?”, and I was flabbergasted when she started out with “my dad beats my mom”. How, in heavens name do you respond to something like that? After many tears and expressed hopes for a harmonious (yes, she used that word!) family life, I asked her what I could do. “Please, just listen to me and advise me.” Okay, God, I get it, you are still using us. Since then, 2 more have asked to talk ‘in private” and another very unlikely candidate asked Jim if she could talk to him ‘sometime’.
I had a disappointment last week, also. Some LRC’s (Learner Representative Council) asked me to draft a letter to teachers asking permission to hold a meeting with all Grade 5-10 learners to gather input for making some changes. I was so excited to see some initiative! They got permission, although the meeting has not yet taken place because the Head of Department dismissed the school early the day of the meeting. Anyway, I got the ‘brilliant’ idea to guide this group to form a council similar to the student councils that we have at home. I offered to become their sponsor teacher (their previous sponsors quit over some money issue--a very long story). Then, the principal came up with guidelines for the “Guardian Teacher” for the LRC’s & I quickly withdrew my offer. The expectations for that group do not have room for anything that vaguely resembles representation of the learners. As Guardian, I would be expected to make sure that all the LRC’s keep their shirts tucked in, wear school-appropriate hairstyles, and generally exemplify model learners in order to monitor their fellow-learners’ appearance & behaviour. No, thank you.
We had a wonderful time with Maureen, Dane & Bobby. Dane loved school, & learners have been asking when he will be back. Maureen ‘taught’ one of Jim’s classes while he went to the dentist. She now understands our love for these children. Bobby talked with Grade 8 & 7, sat in a Grade 9 English class, and he saw the other side. Did not want to attend any more classes. Laughing at people is acceptable here. Knowing that it’s “the culture” doesn’t make it any easier to swallow. I had some very serious talks with those grades. Everyone already knew my stand on that issue. They had been punished numerous times for laughing at fellow-learners, so it is at times like that when I get discouraged.
During our travels to meet our family, we entered an area that was new to us. It was refreshing to see the differences between our area & that strip of land that jets over to Zimbabwe & Zambia. The rural areas look more “African” with almost exclusively round mud/stick homes with thatched roofs arranged into family settlements. The area looked cleaner, and there were FAR fewer ‘shebeens’--non-licensed bars. The rest of Namibia laughs at the Caprivi Strip, they are considered to be uneducated & poor, but it looked inviting to me. We visited the Himba’s again. Each time we see another facet of their lives. This family of about 50-60 had a very large herd of cattle & goats. We arrived as the animals were being brought back to the homestead for the night. The baby goats were kept in a very small & crowded kraal during the day, then as goats came home, three children were in the kraal & handed the babies out to others who very often tossed them to the ground for the baby to find its mother. After feeding, the babies were herded back into their kraal. They are kept separate so the babies don’t keep feeding--the people need the goats’ milk for themselves.
We took them to an open market where Maureen had her cel phone stolen. Our fault, we failed to warn her. She took a picture of a fruit stand & a guy demanded $$ for her taking the picture. She refused because she didn’t take picture of him…her phone was in a mesh pocket of her purse the last time she saw it. When she called it, he answered, but of course hung up as soon as he realized that it must be that rich American…whose phone he swiped!! Still, we have been so lucky. I believe, partly, because Jim is known throughout our town & he is quite the Ambassador!! He wears an ugly bright yellow & blue ‘Quicksilver” hat that makes him distinguishable…and he looks considerably different from most of our neighbours.
I am getting a Spelling Bee organized. Making some changes from last year & have quite a few new learners signing up. Hoping for more teacher support, but I’m okay without it. I know that if we are not replaced with a volunteer next year, this will be the last. This activity is not required by the syllabus, so there is no need to have it.
As soon as I send this off to you, I will remember what I really wanted to tell you, but right now, of course, I can’t.
Keep those prayers coming--the Lord is listening to them. We can handle anything if we know that He is with us.
With love & prayers for you,
sharon
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Easter in Namibia
Greetings to all.
Hoping this finds everyone in good health and enjoying life. Palm Sunday is right around the corner…wasn’t Ash Wednesday just last week??? We were blessed with a Mass last Sunday. The priest was scheduled for another town, but the church was surrounded by water, so he came to us instead. There is a good side to everything. Now don’t laugh, but on Easter Sunday, after Jim reads, I will be proclaiming the Gospel and giving the Homily. Absolutely amazing. And what can I possibly say to these people?? They know suffering, they know deep, deep joy, they fully understand their total dependence on Our Lord, they know what it is to rise with Him. I find it hard to believe that the Namibians are not the true chosen people. I will say one thing for our God, He knows how to humble a person!
It wasn’t that long ago that I wrote, but I see the long list of e-mails waiting for replies & I just can’t get to each. First, thanks for all the b’day & anniversary greetings. It was so nice to be remembered. We didn’t celebrate much. We were in the throws of end-of-term stuff.
We were into the last 2 weeks before term exams when I asked our Head of Department how often was the school septic tank emptied & when was the last time. About 2 hours later, the word spread that we were starting exams the next day. It was only by luck that Jim & I were at least partly ready with our tests. All of our teaching had to be suspended, and there were assessment tasks that both of us needed to do with our classes to calculate their grades. Okay, next day, somewhat ready for exams, we asked for the copies of the exams…oh no, we had no toner. Back to classes. 2 days later, we started exams. I announced to one class that they would not be having Oshindonga (language) tests. About 2 hours later, a teacher brought the exam to the staff room for someone to ‘invigilate” (proctor). All of this mess & confusion was due to their fear of the school septic tank filling up. Did anyone know when it was last emptied? Did anyone know how often it is emptied? Do you really need the answer? Then, this was one of their more ingenious moves…they released the learners 1 hour early one day so that they would not be using the toilets. So we had 400+ kids running around the school, using the toilets, anyway, because their transport was not notified of the early dismissal & they all had to wait for their rides. Then the Executives were informed that we gave exams early with the intent of closing the school if the tank filled. They threw a fit, said there would be no closing, & they found a way to have someone partially empty them. We had use of our own facilities for a while, & now we’re into day 6 with a full tank again & icky brown water backed up into our shower. Off we go, trudging across the yard to the school toilets in the middle of the night, again.
Back to classes…after the kids finished the exams, they didn’t want to settle down for classes again, so, we simply said that they wouldn’t have to come the last 3 days. And do those days need to be made up? The Ministry of Education requires 205 days…well, nobody checks, & all the other schools do it, so no, we don’t need to make up those days. Today, not even half of Grade 8 English was there for my afternoon class. Nothing will happen to those kids, and no one will have heartburn over it, except Jim & I.
This is Friday. Jim & I had a movie party for Grade 7 yesterday, Grade 8 today, & tomorrow will be Grade 6. It’s the reward for the top 10 in each class who completed the most assignments. So, after tomorrow, we have no more work to do, but we still have to sit in the staff room from 8:00 - 12:30 M,T,W because it is a scheduled school day, no learners, but we had to be there. Then report cards will be given Thursday, and we are FREE!!.. We are soooo ready for a break!!
The rains have mostly stopped, the waters are receding, and hopefully in 2-3 weeks things will be back to normal. In order to get off the school property, we have to walk over a very precarious ‘bridge’ made of sandbags, broken pallets, warped planks, roofing materials…and the flood waters have brought numerous snakes. I have been blessed not to have seen a live one, but the kids have seen quite a few.
Twenty-four days ‘til we meet Maureen, Bobby & Dane in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. We are so excited. Shortly after their landing, Jim, Bobby & Maureen will be going on a Lion Walk while Dane & I will have a lion cub ‘viewing’--I was so hoping that Dane could walk along with the lions, but they say he is too young. The next day we will view Victoria Falls & then go to Chobe Park in Botswana for an evening game drive or river cruise and a morning game drive. We will have a couple gruelling days of driving, some significant hours over gravel roads, and we will visit the Himbas. Back to Ondangwa for a couple days of classes for the boys. They will have taken in the flavour of Namibia along the way. They will see women carrying large parcels or containers of water on their heads, children herding cattle & goats, people wearing ‘African’ clothes, tin shacks, mud huts with thatched roofs, at least 1 million shabeens (bars), villages, settlements, people walking everywhere, little children walking in the middle of nowhere (where do they come from, where are they going; & don‘t they get lost??)…and very little more than poverty everywhere they turn (however, our accommodations are quite nice, which is actually a shame). They will see people who have learned how to cope without things that we take for granted every day and I truly hope that this will impact their lives to become conscious & concerned for the ways that some other people on our planet live. I truly hope that they will not just be thankful for what they have and think, “oh my, those poor people.”
We are too quickly coming to the end of our time here. We are becoming very conscious of that. There is so much we wanted to do & couldn’t. We see so much that needs to be done here, we see such potential, we understand so much more than we did before, but we are puzzled by far more than what we understand. God has used us to make a difference, and we are grateful for being allowed to know that. We will have a hard time leaving, but we have asked Him to make that time bearable & I believe He is preparing us for that. We are getting tired. We are sometimes crabby. We are more often discouraged, angry at our colleagues for not caring, less patient with those kids who give up too easily. And then, I worry about leaving them…who will Saara tell her “boy” problems to? Who will confront Ombili, Sagaria, Elina, & nearly all the rest of the kids about their incessant lying? Who will encourage them, forgive them, be kind to them…All these things that Jim & I have done, not because we are so wonderful, but because it’s just the right thing to do--all these ways of being are foreign to the teachers here.
I started this ‘book’ April 14 & now it’s the 25th. We made it to Holy Thursday & Good Friday services. Both were in Oshiwambo although I offered to read parts in English, but they only gave me one short reading. We were able to identify some of the parts, but not being a regular Mass, we were just guessing. Good Friday was a dramatisation of the Passion. Like last year, the congregation was laughing at their friends’ acting. I thought we were prepared for that, but we weren’t. When they laughed hysterically at “Mary’s” grief & wailing (which was way over-done) I was ready to leave. But we knew there would be the Veneration of the Cross. There were about 500 people there, after 1 ¼ hours, maybe ¾ of the church had gotten to the one cross & we could not sit any longer. The benches are hard wood, no backs, no kneelers & there was no standing or other movement by the congregation for 3 solid hours. I kept telling myself that if Jesus could hang there for 3 hrs, I could sit. Both Jim & I are painfully much weaker than our Lord.
We then passed on the Easter Vigil as it held no hope for English parts. We could not confirm the 7:15 service Sunday morning ‘til late Sat. afternoon, & then we didn’t know that there would be no Mass until 7:15 that morning. I had a homily prepared, so it was okay, but I was hoping a priest would show up & assume his role. All went well. The Filipino community was mostly there, so we joined them for breakfast. What wonderful people! Gentle, loving, extremely hospitable, very intelligent, the children are unbelievably polite and friendly with no trace of being over-bearing. Today Jim is fishing with them at Ruacana Falls, leaving at 4:30 this morning. There is speculation that there are crocodiles in the area due to the flooding…and some roads are under water…am I worried??? Well, not anymore! He just called. They caught a 6-8 lb catfish as well as a 20 lb & then something that looked like a Northern Pike. He said the catfish looked a bit strange. No crocodiles & the roads are fine.
I have much to do today to be ready for next term, so I guess I better get at it. Hope everyone’s Easter was joyous & Spring is bursting with life.
You are in our prayers,
sharon
Hoping this finds everyone in good health and enjoying life. Palm Sunday is right around the corner…wasn’t Ash Wednesday just last week??? We were blessed with a Mass last Sunday. The priest was scheduled for another town, but the church was surrounded by water, so he came to us instead. There is a good side to everything. Now don’t laugh, but on Easter Sunday, after Jim reads, I will be proclaiming the Gospel and giving the Homily. Absolutely amazing. And what can I possibly say to these people?? They know suffering, they know deep, deep joy, they fully understand their total dependence on Our Lord, they know what it is to rise with Him. I find it hard to believe that the Namibians are not the true chosen people. I will say one thing for our God, He knows how to humble a person!
It wasn’t that long ago that I wrote, but I see the long list of e-mails waiting for replies & I just can’t get to each. First, thanks for all the b’day & anniversary greetings. It was so nice to be remembered. We didn’t celebrate much. We were in the throws of end-of-term stuff.
We were into the last 2 weeks before term exams when I asked our Head of Department how often was the school septic tank emptied & when was the last time. About 2 hours later, the word spread that we were starting exams the next day. It was only by luck that Jim & I were at least partly ready with our tests. All of our teaching had to be suspended, and there were assessment tasks that both of us needed to do with our classes to calculate their grades. Okay, next day, somewhat ready for exams, we asked for the copies of the exams…oh no, we had no toner. Back to classes. 2 days later, we started exams. I announced to one class that they would not be having Oshindonga (language) tests. About 2 hours later, a teacher brought the exam to the staff room for someone to ‘invigilate” (proctor). All of this mess & confusion was due to their fear of the school septic tank filling up. Did anyone know when it was last emptied? Did anyone know how often it is emptied? Do you really need the answer? Then, this was one of their more ingenious moves…they released the learners 1 hour early one day so that they would not be using the toilets. So we had 400+ kids running around the school, using the toilets, anyway, because their transport was not notified of the early dismissal & they all had to wait for their rides. Then the Executives were informed that we gave exams early with the intent of closing the school if the tank filled. They threw a fit, said there would be no closing, & they found a way to have someone partially empty them. We had use of our own facilities for a while, & now we’re into day 6 with a full tank again & icky brown water backed up into our shower. Off we go, trudging across the yard to the school toilets in the middle of the night, again.
Back to classes…after the kids finished the exams, they didn’t want to settle down for classes again, so, we simply said that they wouldn’t have to come the last 3 days. And do those days need to be made up? The Ministry of Education requires 205 days…well, nobody checks, & all the other schools do it, so no, we don’t need to make up those days. Today, not even half of Grade 8 English was there for my afternoon class. Nothing will happen to those kids, and no one will have heartburn over it, except Jim & I.
This is Friday. Jim & I had a movie party for Grade 7 yesterday, Grade 8 today, & tomorrow will be Grade 6. It’s the reward for the top 10 in each class who completed the most assignments. So, after tomorrow, we have no more work to do, but we still have to sit in the staff room from 8:00 - 12:30 M,T,W because it is a scheduled school day, no learners, but we had to be there. Then report cards will be given Thursday, and we are FREE!!.. We are soooo ready for a break!!
The rains have mostly stopped, the waters are receding, and hopefully in 2-3 weeks things will be back to normal. In order to get off the school property, we have to walk over a very precarious ‘bridge’ made of sandbags, broken pallets, warped planks, roofing materials…and the flood waters have brought numerous snakes. I have been blessed not to have seen a live one, but the kids have seen quite a few.
Twenty-four days ‘til we meet Maureen, Bobby & Dane in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. We are so excited. Shortly after their landing, Jim, Bobby & Maureen will be going on a Lion Walk while Dane & I will have a lion cub ‘viewing’--I was so hoping that Dane could walk along with the lions, but they say he is too young. The next day we will view Victoria Falls & then go to Chobe Park in Botswana for an evening game drive or river cruise and a morning game drive. We will have a couple gruelling days of driving, some significant hours over gravel roads, and we will visit the Himbas. Back to Ondangwa for a couple days of classes for the boys. They will have taken in the flavour of Namibia along the way. They will see women carrying large parcels or containers of water on their heads, children herding cattle & goats, people wearing ‘African’ clothes, tin shacks, mud huts with thatched roofs, at least 1 million shabeens (bars), villages, settlements, people walking everywhere, little children walking in the middle of nowhere (where do they come from, where are they going; & don‘t they get lost??)…and very little more than poverty everywhere they turn (however, our accommodations are quite nice, which is actually a shame). They will see people who have learned how to cope without things that we take for granted every day and I truly hope that this will impact their lives to become conscious & concerned for the ways that some other people on our planet live. I truly hope that they will not just be thankful for what they have and think, “oh my, those poor people.”
We are too quickly coming to the end of our time here. We are becoming very conscious of that. There is so much we wanted to do & couldn’t. We see so much that needs to be done here, we see such potential, we understand so much more than we did before, but we are puzzled by far more than what we understand. God has used us to make a difference, and we are grateful for being allowed to know that. We will have a hard time leaving, but we have asked Him to make that time bearable & I believe He is preparing us for that. We are getting tired. We are sometimes crabby. We are more often discouraged, angry at our colleagues for not caring, less patient with those kids who give up too easily. And then, I worry about leaving them…who will Saara tell her “boy” problems to? Who will confront Ombili, Sagaria, Elina, & nearly all the rest of the kids about their incessant lying? Who will encourage them, forgive them, be kind to them…All these things that Jim & I have done, not because we are so wonderful, but because it’s just the right thing to do--all these ways of being are foreign to the teachers here.
I started this ‘book’ April 14 & now it’s the 25th. We made it to Holy Thursday & Good Friday services. Both were in Oshiwambo although I offered to read parts in English, but they only gave me one short reading. We were able to identify some of the parts, but not being a regular Mass, we were just guessing. Good Friday was a dramatisation of the Passion. Like last year, the congregation was laughing at their friends’ acting. I thought we were prepared for that, but we weren’t. When they laughed hysterically at “Mary’s” grief & wailing (which was way over-done) I was ready to leave. But we knew there would be the Veneration of the Cross. There were about 500 people there, after 1 ¼ hours, maybe ¾ of the church had gotten to the one cross & we could not sit any longer. The benches are hard wood, no backs, no kneelers & there was no standing or other movement by the congregation for 3 solid hours. I kept telling myself that if Jesus could hang there for 3 hrs, I could sit. Both Jim & I are painfully much weaker than our Lord.
We then passed on the Easter Vigil as it held no hope for English parts. We could not confirm the 7:15 service Sunday morning ‘til late Sat. afternoon, & then we didn’t know that there would be no Mass until 7:15 that morning. I had a homily prepared, so it was okay, but I was hoping a priest would show up & assume his role. All went well. The Filipino community was mostly there, so we joined them for breakfast. What wonderful people! Gentle, loving, extremely hospitable, very intelligent, the children are unbelievably polite and friendly with no trace of being over-bearing. Today Jim is fishing with them at Ruacana Falls, leaving at 4:30 this morning. There is speculation that there are crocodiles in the area due to the flooding…and some roads are under water…am I worried??? Well, not anymore! He just called. They caught a 6-8 lb catfish as well as a 20 lb & then something that looked like a Northern Pike. He said the catfish looked a bit strange. No crocodiles & the roads are fine.
I have much to do today to be ready for next term, so I guess I better get at it. Hope everyone’s Easter was joyous & Spring is bursting with life.
You are in our prayers,
sharon
Saturday, March 19, 2011
March update from Namibia
Greetings to all from flooded Namibia!
Hope this finds everyone well & thriving in whatever field in which you labour.
Our field is flooded, and we are facing some of the challenges that our poor neighbours face frequently. Jim has just left to get some bread & we are hoping that he is able to get out of the school yard. This rainy season is more what I had imagined, but I failed to imagine the complications that it presents. We still have many sunny days, but like Illinois, it can change very quickly. The rains are driving (it doesn‘t just fall, it‘s as if it is being slammed) & have been lasting anywhere from 15 minutes to hours when it lets up a bit, then drives with a greater vengeance. Not to be totally disgusting, but our septic tank is full and the truck that empties it cannot get to it with all the water--it would most likely get stuck in the mud & they are unwilling to risk it. Fortunately, we are not too far from the school toilets & they are on a different septic tank. Please, God, don’t let that one get full!! We will have to use our big laundry buckets for ‘bathing’. We are able to divert the kitchen sink drain to the yard, and that is a blessing. The smell of sulphur permeates the air. When the wind blows just right, the kids start covering their noses & groaning & generally acting up!
I have learned that it is not smart to offer suggestions for anything, because then you become totally responsible for it. We had an Independence Day celebration yesterday (Friday). It was not brought up until 3 days prior--did anyone have any ideas as to what we should do? Well, since they pass up so many opportunities to teach outside the classroom, I thought it would be great if each class had to research a person who was instrumental in fighting colonialism under the Germans, and later, rule under the South Africans. Sure, great, yes, everyone would help their class to do something then, each class would present to the rest of the school in our Hall--very nice large building where all can gather. The kids did a fantastic job--without any teacher support. Well, pre-grade & a couple Lower Primary classes had teacher input. I asked for teacher presence & support during the presentations--I had to drag several of them to the hall & then they stood in back, talking---loudly! Have you ever tried to control 450 kids confined in a hot, humid hall with all of them talking & generally ignoring the presentations? Mr. Principal was to give opening remarks. I stalled for awhile, as we were already running late, made some general comments regarding the seriousness of the day & the expected behaviour of everyone, introduced the 1st presentation, then Mr. P strolled in and talked for 20 minutes, when he had given us 1hr 15min for the program. We had 11 presentations prepared…..We released the kids (after they missed 4 classes) just in time for their break. Classes resumed & then we found out at 12:45 that Mr. P. told someone (who?) that we could leave at noon. I was teacher in charge this week--was I the one he told???
We have been having some interesting conversations in the staff room. We have 3 strikes against us: we are white, American and old. These young pups feel that they have to explain to us that change takes a very long time. REALLY????? So let’s throw up our arms & not even get started!
Yes, this is a very negative blog. We love the people & have found many Namibians who are just as frustrated as we are. And the kids are so great. Some try so hard, and they are succeeding! Some are so far behind they just give up. I love it when they come to me and say, “Miss, I didn’t do my homework,” and the smile on their face makes it very hard for me to be stern. And how very grateful I am that they feel comfortable enough to actually approach me & say it--up front, no lying, no making up excuses. To admit that, to another teacher, would mean hard labour (and just exactly what is the connection between digging in the garden & doing homework?) or no break (and that is the only time they have to eat). I swear that I will not give them any more chances, but I do!
We are looking forward, with great anticipation, to May 9 when Maureen, Dane, & Bobby arrive for a 10-day whirlwind tour of Namibia. I started to make plans for the trip, but am overwhelmed, so trying to contact an agency to plan it all out.
This is a 3-day weekend (Independence Day is Monday), but with end-of-term rapidly approaching, and flooded roads all over, we are staying home & knocking out some work. This morning I was finding performances of Chopin, Liszt, Schubert…to play for Grade 8 English so they can hear the sounds that a text is describing. Their writing is getting better, but are struggling in using creative language to describe--anything. I love it when they respond to a piece of poetry.
Usually have a hard time getting them settled for class, so for English 7 & 8, I am reading each one a book. I walk in, open the book, & start reading for 5 minutes. They are SILENT within 10 seconds. They actually do not want to miss anything. They are not easy books, either, but they are getting the gist & working out the figures of speech & vocab. Yea, it’s exciting!!!!!!
Had our first incident with theft (which is rampant here). We were in Windhoek (only large city, capital, 225,000 pop), Jim bought a pair of shoes, re-parked the car & when we got back to it, the back passenger door was open a few inches. They reached over the back seat to grab his shoes, some chip dip (THAT made me mad!), and some sticky stuff to hang posters. Someone told us that there is a way for someone who is watching you to “intercept” your keyless locking device while you are locking your car & they then have access. We cannot remember if Jim ‘unlocked’ the doors as we were approaching the car or not. The store where we purchased the shoes had closed, so we found the same pair at another place--for N$100 more! So, he got 1 pair for the price of 2 ½!!
Yesterday he went to a doctor to have a strange growth on his arm checked out. His birth-family had a lot of skin cancer, he had one minor incident a few years ago, he is in the sun a lot, so I threw a fit & he went. It is a wart! On his forearm! Doctor said that she treats kids all the time, but usually on feet or hands. She is concerned that the stuff she gave him would burn his skin (it’s the WHITE thing, again!) but it’s been fine--you know, he’s so tuff!! I may have had one on my wrist, actually. A bump appeared shortly after we had visited the Himbas the first time, & almost disappeared while we were home--that was nearly a year.
Okay, this is way too long, but I have enjoyed rambling. My resolve was to write at least 1/month…
‘til next time, stay safe, healthy, & know that you are missed
God bless each & every one of you, and your loved ones.
sharon
Hope this finds everyone well & thriving in whatever field in which you labour.
Our field is flooded, and we are facing some of the challenges that our poor neighbours face frequently. Jim has just left to get some bread & we are hoping that he is able to get out of the school yard. This rainy season is more what I had imagined, but I failed to imagine the complications that it presents. We still have many sunny days, but like Illinois, it can change very quickly. The rains are driving (it doesn‘t just fall, it‘s as if it is being slammed) & have been lasting anywhere from 15 minutes to hours when it lets up a bit, then drives with a greater vengeance. Not to be totally disgusting, but our septic tank is full and the truck that empties it cannot get to it with all the water--it would most likely get stuck in the mud & they are unwilling to risk it. Fortunately, we are not too far from the school toilets & they are on a different septic tank. Please, God, don’t let that one get full!! We will have to use our big laundry buckets for ‘bathing’. We are able to divert the kitchen sink drain to the yard, and that is a blessing. The smell of sulphur permeates the air. When the wind blows just right, the kids start covering their noses & groaning & generally acting up!
I have learned that it is not smart to offer suggestions for anything, because then you become totally responsible for it. We had an Independence Day celebration yesterday (Friday). It was not brought up until 3 days prior--did anyone have any ideas as to what we should do? Well, since they pass up so many opportunities to teach outside the classroom, I thought it would be great if each class had to research a person who was instrumental in fighting colonialism under the Germans, and later, rule under the South Africans. Sure, great, yes, everyone would help their class to do something then, each class would present to the rest of the school in our Hall--very nice large building where all can gather. The kids did a fantastic job--without any teacher support. Well, pre-grade & a couple Lower Primary classes had teacher input. I asked for teacher presence & support during the presentations--I had to drag several of them to the hall & then they stood in back, talking---loudly! Have you ever tried to control 450 kids confined in a hot, humid hall with all of them talking & generally ignoring the presentations? Mr. Principal was to give opening remarks. I stalled for awhile, as we were already running late, made some general comments regarding the seriousness of the day & the expected behaviour of everyone, introduced the 1st presentation, then Mr. P strolled in and talked for 20 minutes, when he had given us 1hr 15min for the program. We had 11 presentations prepared…..We released the kids (after they missed 4 classes) just in time for their break. Classes resumed & then we found out at 12:45 that Mr. P. told someone (who?) that we could leave at noon. I was teacher in charge this week--was I the one he told???
We have been having some interesting conversations in the staff room. We have 3 strikes against us: we are white, American and old. These young pups feel that they have to explain to us that change takes a very long time. REALLY????? So let’s throw up our arms & not even get started!
Yes, this is a very negative blog. We love the people & have found many Namibians who are just as frustrated as we are. And the kids are so great. Some try so hard, and they are succeeding! Some are so far behind they just give up. I love it when they come to me and say, “Miss, I didn’t do my homework,” and the smile on their face makes it very hard for me to be stern. And how very grateful I am that they feel comfortable enough to actually approach me & say it--up front, no lying, no making up excuses. To admit that, to another teacher, would mean hard labour (and just exactly what is the connection between digging in the garden & doing homework?) or no break (and that is the only time they have to eat). I swear that I will not give them any more chances, but I do!
We are looking forward, with great anticipation, to May 9 when Maureen, Dane, & Bobby arrive for a 10-day whirlwind tour of Namibia. I started to make plans for the trip, but am overwhelmed, so trying to contact an agency to plan it all out.
This is a 3-day weekend (Independence Day is Monday), but with end-of-term rapidly approaching, and flooded roads all over, we are staying home & knocking out some work. This morning I was finding performances of Chopin, Liszt, Schubert…to play for Grade 8 English so they can hear the sounds that a text is describing. Their writing is getting better, but are struggling in using creative language to describe--anything. I love it when they respond to a piece of poetry.
Usually have a hard time getting them settled for class, so for English 7 & 8, I am reading each one a book. I walk in, open the book, & start reading for 5 minutes. They are SILENT within 10 seconds. They actually do not want to miss anything. They are not easy books, either, but they are getting the gist & working out the figures of speech & vocab. Yea, it’s exciting!!!!!!
Had our first incident with theft (which is rampant here). We were in Windhoek (only large city, capital, 225,000 pop), Jim bought a pair of shoes, re-parked the car & when we got back to it, the back passenger door was open a few inches. They reached over the back seat to grab his shoes, some chip dip (THAT made me mad!), and some sticky stuff to hang posters. Someone told us that there is a way for someone who is watching you to “intercept” your keyless locking device while you are locking your car & they then have access. We cannot remember if Jim ‘unlocked’ the doors as we were approaching the car or not. The store where we purchased the shoes had closed, so we found the same pair at another place--for N$100 more! So, he got 1 pair for the price of 2 ½!!
Yesterday he went to a doctor to have a strange growth on his arm checked out. His birth-family had a lot of skin cancer, he had one minor incident a few years ago, he is in the sun a lot, so I threw a fit & he went. It is a wart! On his forearm! Doctor said that she treats kids all the time, but usually on feet or hands. She is concerned that the stuff she gave him would burn his skin (it’s the WHITE thing, again!) but it’s been fine--you know, he’s so tuff!! I may have had one on my wrist, actually. A bump appeared shortly after we had visited the Himbas the first time, & almost disappeared while we were home--that was nearly a year.
Okay, this is way too long, but I have enjoyed rambling. My resolve was to write at least 1/month…
‘til next time, stay safe, healthy, & know that you are missed
God bless each & every one of you, and your loved ones.
sharon
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Back home in Namibia
Well, we are back in Namibia with one week under our belts. Today we started serious teaching & things look promising. I have English 7 & 8; Jim has English 5 & 6 as well as Grade 9 PE, 8,9,10 Religion & Moral Ethics. I also have Grade 6 Social Studies & one class per week of Grade 5 Life Skills. We are quite happy with our schedules. Most of mine are in the mornings (before it gets too hot) and Jim has mostly afternoons—so we can each work at home with no interruptions (except learners coming to door for whatever strikes their fancy). Wish we could report major changes in administration/colleagues, but we can’t. Things are just too much like last year, with evidence of some possible changes coming into play, but we just won’t hold our breath.
This is rainy season. Unlike last year at this time, it is HUMID & not so hot & has been raining nearly non-stop. We did get a break over the weekend, however, so we did all of our laundry. Jim got some of his tan back hanging it all out. We did a small load in the middle of the week & it ended up hanging on the line for 2 days & we finally brought them in, rinsed them & dried them inside. But that’s when the rains stopped! They should begin again in another day or 2. If they remain as heavy as last week, we will have some serious flooding. Already there are some businesses that are not open as they are surrounded by water. We have ants building hills up the walls inside our flat. That presents its own challenge.
The trip back was exhausting. I don’t know how that can be avoided. It’s just a lot of miles to cover. I think that we are recovered, but still find ourselves more tired than we think we should be. Some of you were aware of Jim’s health issues while we were home. No need to go into all of that, just to say that he is fine. His test results were favourable, and he is doing well.
Being home was yet another learning experience for us. It was wonderful to see family & friends, of course. We did not spend enough time with anyone, so there was a certain amount of frustration in that. We found ourselves restless & unable to focus, maybe a bit lost, out-of-sync. The first few days I felt like a stranger in our own home—that definitely caught me off-guard. Never did reach a level of comfort in the different culture. There’s no question, we love Namibia & missed it. When we arrived back in Windhoek, we met the new WorldTeach volunteers who were wrapping up their orientation. One young lady has spent extended periods in several countries and she said that her experience has been to have minimal ‘culture shock’ upon arrival in the foreign country, but every time that she went back to US, she had difficult adjustments. That was comforting, because in living both in Germany & Namibia, I also did not feel the ‘culture shock’ that might be expected, but then struggled upon our return. Our Lord has a job to do next Dec/Jan!!
Went to church Sunday—how wonderful it is to have a car, making trip soo much easier! It was wonderful. The “crèche” was still up: a small thatched roof held up by poles imbedded in empty oil buckets filled with sand. The ‘decorations’ consisted of garlands of various colours of tinsel, attached to the church walls and roof of the ‘hut’ with wide brown postal-type tape. In compositions that learners wrote, most mentioned that they decorated for Christmas only a day or 2 before-hand. The simplicity moves my heart, but what I have seen isn’t what I would normally call ‘beautiful’
Time to fix dinner (sweet & sour chicken stir-fry—not exactly traditional Namibian!), then come up with spelling lists for the 4 English classes. Spelling is not stressed (obviously, in even their official documents) so Jim & I post lists each week & quiz them for points they can earn for a movie party at the end of the term. Bribery is rampant here—we’re just moving with the culture!
It is now a week later. I just discovered that, while I wrote, I failed to send it. But, I see that I was talking about bribery. Jim just told me about his experience with it. He was speeding, got pulled over, and the fine was going to be N$1400. Of course, he didn't have that on him, so he pointed out to the officer that it was Sat. afternoon & the office to accept fines probably would not be open & he couldn't wait around 'til Monday (he was a distance away), and he had to be back Monday to teach, so how would $N200 be? The officer agreed, pocketed the money & Jim went on his merry way. Officer didn't pat an eye.
Apparently our principal is going to be more conscientious this year, & the teachers are NOT liking it! There is a push to re-instate corporeal punishment as they don't know what else to do. I have a copy of "Alternative Methods" from the Ministry of Education (mind you, THEIR MoE) and am charged with providing copies to them to review & possibly get some ideas. I am grateful that I have something with Namibian origin, or it would not be considered.
Went to dinner at our Executive Treasurer's house last evening. He was the person to greet us when we first arrived & has been very supportive of us. He has spent extended time in several European countries, so he understands our frustrations & agrees with our desire to see some changes made. He is an insurance agent & one of the 2 founders of the school, so we had pictured a rather nice home. Oh my. He has a lot of land with many imported trees, most of which produce fruit, goats, chickens (& cows that he keeps elsewhere). But what seems typical, junk all over the place. They just do NOT throw anything away. (we had 2 pillows that were here when we arrived, and when I pulled them out of our 'storage', smelled very badly. Jim put them on the burn pile & they were snapped up by our house mates and he was sternly reminded not to throw anything away). The house is a large sprawling complex of additions with probably 15 rooms. Several rooms are arrange like a motel--a row of rooms with doors to outside. These he has for people who have nowhere to stay, like transients or 'homeless". But there was no room that I would say is finished. Either the ceiling is just bare wood, or piles of things on the floor because they have no adequate armoires, or it's not painted...It was a little depressing, but they said, "our home is small, but our welcome is great". It was a delightful evening. Our dinner started with rolls (wonderful German brotchen) with peanut butter, jelly, and cheese as accompaniaments. Thought maybe that was it, except for the cake & some other sweets that were on the table. But then, their children were cooking meat & brought a small plate with what looked like breakfast-sausage links. So we had our 2nd course of just the meat, which was very tasty. Then after much conversation, were were served huge pieces of cake. After much more conversation, they put wine glasses on the table, but we discovered the time & headed home. We were there over three hours & seemed like maybe one. This couple have 2 children of their own, plus probably 6 that they have adopted or simply taken in. Interestingly, whenever we have eaten in a local home (Namibian or Filipino), the children did not join us. even the adult children. But they did cook & serve us.
Okay, it's past time for me to get to work. It has been fun sharing with you. OOPs, one more thing. A new building is being added to our school, nearly completed. All labor was done by hand, in the hot sun, and the workers are paid N$5/hour. That is about $0.75 US/hour. Any construction workers out there who want to come work in Namibia?
With love,sharon
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Last of 2010
I hope this finds everyone well.
The last time I wrote, it was the very beginning of the term, and now we are having our last teaching days and preparing for the year-end exams. We were warned that Term 3 would fly, but this has been ridiculous.
I told you last time that we were rejoicing over the Corporeal Punishment ban. The problem now is that the teachers know of no other way to discipline. And if we suggest something and they try it once, if they don’t get immediate results, well, then, that obviously doesn’t work! Now they threaten suspension or they send the kid home. But there is a new Minister of Education and he has been doing his homework. A good sum of money has been allocated to educational reform and the list of proposed changes is very long. Most things are targeted for implementation Jan. 2011, such as textbooks for all, recommended practices for discipline, “remedial” training for some principals who are on thin ice (possibly ours), banning of entrance exams which exclude low-level learners, banning discrimination toward foreign teachers & learners…Many very positive and much-needed changes. We are all-the-more excited to be coming back, hopefully to witness some of these changes.
We have to constantly remind ourselves that the country is only 20 years old, and the independence came after 100 years of some very serious oppression. There are many obstacles to overcome and most of them are related to a way of being and attitudes for which there are no quick fixes.
The saga of our car continues. The initial problem occurred Aug. 3, we got it Oct. 29 (it was in the shop the entire time). After we drove it back home, one of the tires kept losing air, then the power steering fluid started leaking & a part had to be ordered. While the car sat for 4 days, the battery died (a ‘new’ one according to previous owner) and even with a battery out of another car, it wouldn’t start. Had it towed to a near-by garage, a blown fuse was replaced, I think Jim ordered 4 new tires, one of the shocks will be replaced. We should have it back in a day or two & then we hold our breath for the next thing!
The construction of a new school building has begun. They started digging for the footings (by hand, of course) and an executive came by & said it needed to be moved farther away from an existing building (so that the septic truck could get to our tank). Fortunately he discovered the potential problem so early. But that is how things are “planned” out. Had learners running up to an end-loader that was moving--I nearly had a heart attack. The workers are making inappropriate (to say the least) remarks to our girls, so I had a talk with the foreman. What I have come to discover in myself is a great need to protect these kids. But there is so much more to be done.
We recently went to a volunteer end-of-year in-service, designed to help us with re-entry issues. It was very helpful. Even though our return this Dec. is not permanent, it helped us realize that there will still be challenges. I remember all-too-well the challenges we faced when we returned from Germany. It took me, especially, a very long time to adjust. I hope it will be easier this time.
It is very hot these days (around 120 in the sun). We are waiting for the small rains to begin--they are late. We do have clouds now, and they are so very pretty & make for incredible sunsets which we are able to watch from our kitchen window every evening. We often sit out to watch the stars before calling it a night. When we arrived, it was the rainy season & the night sky looked like a planetarium. As we moved into the dry season, the stars became less impressive (were we just becoming used to the beauty & no longer appreciative?). What was happening was the air was so full of dust, it interfered with the view of the sky. The winds have settled, somewhat, so we don’t have as much. When we walk the 50 yds to school, and then from class to class, it is like walking on a beach (without benefit of a nice ocean). When the rain comes, that will all become a hard (bumpy) surface. When we get back in Jan., the full rains should have arrived and we will get to see the cycle of planting & growth again.
Jim continues to chase goats out of the school yard every day. We have gotten a pretty good handle on insect-control. The ever-present sand & dust doesn’t bother us so much anymore. We have found sources for most of the foods we want (but we have along list of ‘must eats’ for when we are home). Life has become routine. We no longer flinch when we see public urination, the ever-present mess of trash everywhere is just part of life. Women dressed in traditional dress, carrying large loads on their heads is as things should be. This has become ‘home’
It’s now a week later, & we will be arriving in Chicago 2 weeks from today. The small rains have arrived. So now, it is HUMID!!! We are used to hanging the laundry out & having the first load dry by the time the second load is ready to be hung out. Today, it’s taking much longer. We have, what is to us, a very strange phenomenon when it gets dark. There are insects of some sort that sound somewhat like crickets, but they are much louder & last night there sounded like MANY of them & we actually had a hard time listening to the movie that we were watching. We have not been able to see one--they stop their infernal chirping when we get near them. Jim has thrown rocks in their direction, but it has not made any impact. It is a very annoying sound.
Well, since we are going to be home soon, I don’t need to continue. We hope to see many of you while home.
Have a very Happy Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be thankful for!
Jim & Sharon
The last time I wrote, it was the very beginning of the term, and now we are having our last teaching days and preparing for the year-end exams. We were warned that Term 3 would fly, but this has been ridiculous.
I told you last time that we were rejoicing over the Corporeal Punishment ban. The problem now is that the teachers know of no other way to discipline. And if we suggest something and they try it once, if they don’t get immediate results, well, then, that obviously doesn’t work! Now they threaten suspension or they send the kid home. But there is a new Minister of Education and he has been doing his homework. A good sum of money has been allocated to educational reform and the list of proposed changes is very long. Most things are targeted for implementation Jan. 2011, such as textbooks for all, recommended practices for discipline, “remedial” training for some principals who are on thin ice (possibly ours), banning of entrance exams which exclude low-level learners, banning discrimination toward foreign teachers & learners…Many very positive and much-needed changes. We are all-the-more excited to be coming back, hopefully to witness some of these changes.
We have to constantly remind ourselves that the country is only 20 years old, and the independence came after 100 years of some very serious oppression. There are many obstacles to overcome and most of them are related to a way of being and attitudes for which there are no quick fixes.
The saga of our car continues. The initial problem occurred Aug. 3, we got it Oct. 29 (it was in the shop the entire time). After we drove it back home, one of the tires kept losing air, then the power steering fluid started leaking & a part had to be ordered. While the car sat for 4 days, the battery died (a ‘new’ one according to previous owner) and even with a battery out of another car, it wouldn’t start. Had it towed to a near-by garage, a blown fuse was replaced, I think Jim ordered 4 new tires, one of the shocks will be replaced. We should have it back in a day or two & then we hold our breath for the next thing!
The construction of a new school building has begun. They started digging for the footings (by hand, of course) and an executive came by & said it needed to be moved farther away from an existing building (so that the septic truck could get to our tank). Fortunately he discovered the potential problem so early. But that is how things are “planned” out. Had learners running up to an end-loader that was moving--I nearly had a heart attack. The workers are making inappropriate (to say the least) remarks to our girls, so I had a talk with the foreman. What I have come to discover in myself is a great need to protect these kids. But there is so much more to be done.
We recently went to a volunteer end-of-year in-service, designed to help us with re-entry issues. It was very helpful. Even though our return this Dec. is not permanent, it helped us realize that there will still be challenges. I remember all-too-well the challenges we faced when we returned from Germany. It took me, especially, a very long time to adjust. I hope it will be easier this time.
It is very hot these days (around 120 in the sun). We are waiting for the small rains to begin--they are late. We do have clouds now, and they are so very pretty & make for incredible sunsets which we are able to watch from our kitchen window every evening. We often sit out to watch the stars before calling it a night. When we arrived, it was the rainy season & the night sky looked like a planetarium. As we moved into the dry season, the stars became less impressive (were we just becoming used to the beauty & no longer appreciative?). What was happening was the air was so full of dust, it interfered with the view of the sky. The winds have settled, somewhat, so we don’t have as much. When we walk the 50 yds to school, and then from class to class, it is like walking on a beach (without benefit of a nice ocean). When the rain comes, that will all become a hard (bumpy) surface. When we get back in Jan., the full rains should have arrived and we will get to see the cycle of planting & growth again.
Jim continues to chase goats out of the school yard every day. We have gotten a pretty good handle on insect-control. The ever-present sand & dust doesn’t bother us so much anymore. We have found sources for most of the foods we want (but we have along list of ‘must eats’ for when we are home). Life has become routine. We no longer flinch when we see public urination, the ever-present mess of trash everywhere is just part of life. Women dressed in traditional dress, carrying large loads on their heads is as things should be. This has become ‘home’
It’s now a week later, & we will be arriving in Chicago 2 weeks from today. The small rains have arrived. So now, it is HUMID!!! We are used to hanging the laundry out & having the first load dry by the time the second load is ready to be hung out. Today, it’s taking much longer. We have, what is to us, a very strange phenomenon when it gets dark. There are insects of some sort that sound somewhat like crickets, but they are much louder & last night there sounded like MANY of them & we actually had a hard time listening to the movie that we were watching. We have not been able to see one--they stop their infernal chirping when we get near them. Jim has thrown rocks in their direction, but it has not made any impact. It is a very annoying sound.
Well, since we are going to be home soon, I don’t need to continue. We hope to see many of you while home.
Have a very Happy Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be thankful for!
Jim & Sharon
Friday, September 10, 2010
Namibia update
Well, my goodness, our friends, it has been a long time. I heartily apologize, but will try to bring you up to date on our Namibian adventure. First of all, we are coming back to US Dec. 4 & returning to Namibia Jan. 12 for another year. Do we love it that much??? We don’t know, but we both feel compelled to stay & are comfortable in that decision.
Working backwards a bit, I just returned home from our between-term holiday. We bought a 4x4 a couple of weeks ago & headed out Aug. 26. Not the best timing since it was a Holiday honouring those who lost their lives in the struggle for independence--so we found most places closed. God went along with us, for on the first day, we failed to get gas at the last station before a long stretch with no stations & glided into our first destination on a wing & a prayer. Even Jim was worried, so I knew we were in trouble!!
Went to the town were the Hereroes ( a tribe that wears many layers of Victorian-type dress & headdress that resembles the horns of the cattle that is their livelihood) have their annual gathering to honour their fallen heroes, but the gathering had been the weekend before. Maybe we can catch it next year. Stopped at Windhoek to shop at a wonderful Craft Mart. Picked up a few things to bring home, but we were very tired & overwhelmed, so may need to return for more before we come back to US.
We continued south into unknown territory to us, but still on good main road. We were in the Kalahari at this point. While there are very few towns, southern Namibia holds all the wealth, so we did a lot of grocery shopping. The south is full of Afrikaners & Germans, so the stores are well stocked with many things that we cannot get up in our area. There is actually a “red line” that we cross about an hour south of us that separates the poor, subsistence farmers of the north from the rich in the south. We have to stop at the checkpoint where they make sure that we are not carrying any meat from the north into the south (an effort to control hoof-&-mouth disease) & no meat from the north may be exported. Going south is like entering a whole new world. Not that they have no poor, they certainly do, but the presence of rich is very evident.
We stopped at a town where we met an American doctor (working with AIDS patients) & his visiting friend who recommended the site of a Quiver Tree forest & Giants’ Playground. Quiver tree is actually a tall plant related to the aloe family, but looks like a tree. The ‘trunk’ has yellow bark that is reminiscent of a birch tree & the leaves were used by tribes of the past to make quivers for their bows. These ‘trees’ usually grow individually, so this ‘forest’ was unusual. We approached the Giants’ Playground as the sun was low in the sky, but were told the shadows & colours of sunset were amazing there, so, we fell for it & entered the area having no idea what we were getting ourselves into. It is a huge maze of massive boulders that teeter on top of each other. There were arrows that pointed the way, but as it got dark, we could barely see the signs, and they were not spaced as close together as we would have liked! Just as the last light left the sky, Jim spotted our car. God held the sun up just long enough to get us safely back. If we had been back in the US, we would not have been allowed into the area so late, but this is NOT the US!
Now we left the main road & started several days of travel on rough, gravel roads. We were heading west to end up at the coast, right above the Sperrgebiet (restricted diamond area). Along the way is a small herd of feral horses. There is speculation regarding their origin, but most likely were abandoned by the German army when the South Africans invaded the area with an over-whelming force. Anyway, these horses have adapted to the desert (by now we are in the Namib). They can go 7 days without water. A concerned person at one point commissioned a borehole or the horses would no longer exist. As it is, their numbers have gotten down to 30, but have never topped 280. They are very thin, but if the rains are good, they fatten up & can last through a couple years of sparse moisture.
Then on to Luderitz, a sleepy harbour town that is quite isolated. Our cottage was right on an inlet where a ship was dredging the waters for diamonds. The area is still filled with them. When diamonds were first discovered in the area, they were just laying all over on the sand. We visited a ghost town where the miners & their families lived--now, the sands are filling the buildings & eventually it will all be buried. That particular area, while still somewhat restricted, is more accessible, but they are sure that the area still contains diamonds. When larger ones were found farther south, the operations moved, but eventually will move north again.
Headed back north to an area of rocky hills, mountains, and the most incredible sand dunes in the world. We stayed two nights in that area and absolutely loved it!!! I was perfectly content to just sit out & look over the expanse of the desert with the hills in the distance in one direction & the dunes in the other. We had to go to Dune 45 (the most famous & most photographed) & Jim walked about ½ way up, I was happy to watch. We drove further until we came upon a parking area where there were guide vehicles to take us further. Since we had run out of cash (credit cards are NOT as universally accepted here as one is lead to believe--and if accepted, their card readers don’t work half the time!) we couldn’t go with the guides, but Jim decided he could do it in our 4x4. I opted to sit under a camel-thorn & enjoy the breeze. That reminds me--we had cold weather. It felt wonderful to me, Jim was not quite as enthusiastic. Anyway, Jim & God headed out & of course, he got stuck in the sand. Now, remember, even though this past week was a high tourist season, the expanses here are seemingly endless, so we would still travel even as long as an hour & not meet another car. Anyway, there is Jim, stuck in the sand up to the rear axle, trying to lay twigs down to get some traction & one of the guides who was returning back to the parking area delivered his paying customers & doubled to check on Jim (and he had warned Jim that the sand could be very dangerous). So, again, another close call, but we were saved.
Reluctantly, we headed back home, but we were definitely ready for smooth roads. Had an evening in a lakeside self-catering cottage & were all set to braai (grill) some top-quality southern beef--stores were sold out, so ate at a lovely lakeside restaurant after canoeing. Met an American who was visiting a Namibian couple who are doing orphan-orientated work. Interesting discussion on the Namibian school system.
Stopped two days ago in a town that has a wonderful German corner café & GREAT grocery stores (Sheila, Sandy, & Colleen, it was Otjiwarongo where we ate at the c’est si Bon restaurant--huge meat balls--and stayed at the new B&B run by a nice young couple). After enjoying our time there, stopped for gas before heading out & the attendants were sooo excited to see us, for they spotted a flattened tire. Wthen they put air in it, they could hear air escaping (fortunately the hole was not on the bottom). So, they put the spare on--they get so excited when they get work & are paid well. We were booked at a lovely lodge 27km out in the hinterland (Colleen, S&S, we stopped in Windhoek & met w/ Edna who planned the entire trip--you know what kind of accommodations we had!). So, we again were so very thankful that the leak had been discovered before we headed out into no-mans-land. We were scheduled to arrive home that next day after a wonderful breakfast & watching wildebeest, sable, impala, springbok, & I don’t know what all, in large numbers. Got a few kms down the road & detected a horrible smell, but saw a water plant & thought maybe it was the source. Oh, no. It was us. So, fortunately, AGAIN, there was a gas station (along a fairly short stretch where there were stations at each end--why was there one in the middle??) We pulled in & there was a huge cloud of smoke that followed us & the back end of the car was HOT. We had no idea where to call, what to do, no one spoke enough English to be of help, although one man brought a chair for me to sit. Jim called one of the school executives who spoke to a guy at the station, but we could still get no help. Decided to limp along to the next town. The car had cooled down enough & we made it!! I failed to mention this is Saturday afternoon--most stores close & many services don’t even open Sat. mornings, but definitely close at noon. A very helpful cashier called a mechanic who came (amazing) said that the differential seal was bad & we were leaking fluid. He filled it up & felt that we could make it to the next town where there is a Toyota dealer. So we giddily headed out toward Tsumeb, we thought. We actually headed the wrong direction. Fortunately…Jim thought we were going the wrong direction, flagged someone down, & ended up going 20 k’s out of out way--when were just limping along, anyway! The smell got bad again, Jim could see a lot of smoke, so pulled onto the side of the road. Got out of the car, cursed, jumped back in & drove a few feet ahead--the grass under the car had caught on fire. He put that out & some guys stopped, were very agitated, they had seen the grass fire (we thought), no, they were seeing the fire under the car. They threw sand at it & we had a gallon of water (Colleen, S&S, the water you bought on our trip) & were able to put the fire out. I had grabbed the computed--decided the rest didn’t matter. Now we were 35km from Tsumeb, had no idea who to call or what to do, but these guys had a tow belt & they said they would pull us. Okay, we took off--I was a wreck, just knew we were going to go crashing into the back of their car! All of a sudden, maybe 10km into this harrowing journey, there was a huge, sound from the back of our car--as if the back half fell off or something. Safely stopped & they still wanted to pull us & I could not agree to that. So, Jim stayed with car & I went into Tsumeb with 4 young, strange men. We drove into town (which we had stayed at before, so I was somewhat familiar) & proceeded out of town. All sorts of ideas were flying through my head. I asked where we were going, & of course, it was fine--we ended up at a very large garage, which was closed, but the guys must have seen a number to call on the door, because they soon handed me their phone & it was a towing service. I knew of a Backpackers accommodation where the owners spoke very good English & had the guys take me there. As I was asking the guy at reception if the owners were available, a familiar face appeared--3 of our WorldTeach colleagues had just checked in & heard me! Jim eventually arrived after the car had been delivered to the garage & there was an available room for us. This morning, I joined 2 of our colleagues who were also headed up to the Ondangwa area & we ‘hiked’ back home. Not hiked, but there are ‘hike points’ where drivers gather & you negotiate a price for them to take you somewhere. For distances like today, there are usually several ‘combies’ (vans) that have open trailers behind that are more than willing to take you. We had a full van (Namibians don’t feel the need to follow occupancy restrictions) & it took a very long time as we had to stop many times to drop people off, & not always along the main road on which we were travelling. I was so grateful to be travelling with people I knew! The garage will check the car first thing in the morning & Jim will either wait for the car or hike home & return to get it later in the week. It was a wonderful trip, really. Each challenge that could have been disastrous turned out to be just a bump on the road. God was with us every km of the way.
Term 3 starts tomorrow for the teachers. Not sure what we do, but won’t be surprised if there is no plan, we’ll just be expected to be there. Exam time was very tense, again. Most of my learners went down in both English & Social Studies. If half of Grade 8 passes to Grade 9 it will be a miracle--and not a good one for they won’t be able to do Grade 9 work! In order to pass, they must get a 40% or better for their final Marks in English, Maths, and 4 other subjects and above a 30% in the 3 remaining subjects. I’ve told them repeatedly to just guess if they don’t know the answer, not to leave anything blank. Shear luck will get them a few points. They don’t like to do that, but I saw that some did listen. Didn’t get any more right doing that, but made me feel better.
We went to an Owambo wedding. Owambos comprise the largest tribe & are largely responsible for Independence. I was disappointed as it was a very European wedding. Understandable, however, since during colonization, Christianity was imposed on them. They did a few things that were different. After the actual marriage ceremony (exchange of vows), various people from each side got up & “advised” the bride & groom. The remarks were prepared & they alternated from bride side, then groom side. Then we travelled by caravan to the bride’s parents’ homestead. Bride & Groom rode in a Hummer Limo to a point not too far from her house & then they had to walk the rest of the way with many people following them. We drove closer to the homestead. There were huge tents set up, music playing on boom box (mostly American). There was a huge buffet with many different salads, beef that had been ‘braaied’ & they brought whole chickens around to the tables that people just took in their hands & tore apart. The head table had more traditional food (porridge that they take by hand from a common bowl, roll into a small ball & dip into a spinach concoction--everyone loves it), there was sort of a champagne toast--glasses were filled, but people just drank. When we needed to use the toilet, we were led into the house--which had no electricity, so they found a flashlight--there was electricity in the tents & around the property, & I think I heard a generator, so maybe they just switched the electricity from the house to the party area. There were TONS of people & security guards. Oh, when B&G arrived at the homestead, they sat on chairs with a table & gifts were presented--wrapped, & not opened, just presented. Because our teachers chipped in to give money, we were given the hindquarter of a cow that was slaughtered for the occasion. After school Monday, some cut the meat up into thin slices. The leg & foot, still with sand on the foot & skin on leg, was sitting there--one of the teachers was going to take it & cook it. They eat every part. They really like the eyes. The children are not allowed to eat the tongue--bad luck or something. Since we were a group, we all had to dress alike--black skirt, black vest, & white long-sleeved blouse. Our maintenance supervisor’s sister made them for us--US$21 included the fabric & labour. Skirt & vest were lined. I had to provide a blouse on my own. I tried to pay more--wasn’t allowed.
We have been struggling with enforcing rules that teachers & learners ignore. The inconsistency drives us crazy & we are trying to address it. There is still corporeal punishment practiced at our school--and apparently at all but a few throughout the country. It is against the law. Everyone nods & says yes, but they are just more discreet in doling it out. We are doing what we can & making no friends in doing so. Our executive board is behind us, but the administration & colleagues resent us. When we come home, we will tell you all about it. In the mean time, please continue praying. Every day seems to have its own challenge & by days’ end we are usually exhausted.
I have organized their first-ever spelling bee. As usual, everyone was excited when I first presented the idea, & many signed up. However, when it came time to get their lists to study, about half committed to it. Follow-through is lacking throughout all the ranks, so we just work with what we have. Grade 6 also took on a water conservation project that they will have to carry out this term as part of Social Studies. I was soo proud of them! They thought of every obstacle & how to over-come it. That class is great. They are beginning to think independently, creatively--our buzzword is thinking ‘out of the box’ and I have heard the term used in the schoolyard! We also have a “no ‘Me I‘” campaign going on. It’s a Namlish thing--everyone says it. But when they say it, they catch themselves & they remind others when they hear it. Hopefully they are not correcting their teachers. We also refuse to ‘borrow them’ anything. And no, she is NOT having a pencil--she has a pencil!!! They are quite proud when they remember to say it right! We had quite a battle with the student teacher who was supposed to teach English in my Grade 6 & Jim’s Grade 5. After I commented on two of her days’ teaching she didn’t come back to my class but stuck with Jim. Did not always show for class, was not always prepared, would not follow Jim’s plan, and at the end, when he asked if he was supposed to fill out an evaluation of some sort, she just waved him off & said that it was taken care of. What she doesn’t know is that we are friends with lecturers and student teacher tutors at UNAM & they have her name & will be checking up on her. The system has enough struggles with unqualified teachers, they don’t need new ones, who are supposedly trained, to simply follow in the footsteps of their predecessors.
Well, I have gone on long enough. I must get ready for tomorrow--whatever that will bring. I can hear the principal now: well, tell Mr. Jim he must just hike back. You knew every teacher had to be back today.
It is now Friday & we completed our 1st week of Term 3. On Jim’s way home with our car (on Tuesday), from the garage about 250km away, the car started smoking again. He pulled off the road, about 65km from home. Called our school executive friend who dispatched a tow truck, but Jim was on then side of the road in the dark--NOBODY is out alone after dark here, but he was kept safe & came home exhausted & frustrated. Garage in Tsumeb then towed the car back to their garage yesterday & we are now waiting to find out what’s going on.
At our briefing Monday, the principal informed us that corporeal punishment will no longer be tolerated at our school!!!!!!! It was difficult to sit there & not react. I believe it was the result of our contacting the parents of two of our girls after one of them had been slapped. We also reported to a school executive who demanded action. So, now, our next battle is to convince some of our girls to report incidents of inappropriate actions and comments made by one of the male teachers. In a conversation with Jim, 3 asked if the “no touching policy” related to no corporeal punishment extended to unwanted sexual advances. He brought stories home & I have been talking to the girls. Each time, they tell me of yet another girl who has been touched. So, again, we need prayers to advise or act in a way that will protect these girls.
Sometimes I get impatient with the US for over-protecting us (banning a product that I like because a few people died using it), but there are very few safely regulations here, & the ones that are in place are largely ignored. Our children run helter-skelter in the school yard as cars & taxis drive helter-skelter--neither watching for the other. Pre-grade through Grade 4 are released at 12:30. There is no supervision of them & many wander outside the gate--and we are located on a primary highway with cars racing by. Even after receiving a report that a local man was luring children into his car, the children were simply warned. So, somewhere between US & Namibia, there must be some reasonable measures taken to ensure safety.
Okay, if you have read all of this, you deserve a prize. Take a little trip to the store & buy a Dove bar.
With love & prayers,
sharon
Working backwards a bit, I just returned home from our between-term holiday. We bought a 4x4 a couple of weeks ago & headed out Aug. 26. Not the best timing since it was a Holiday honouring those who lost their lives in the struggle for independence--so we found most places closed. God went along with us, for on the first day, we failed to get gas at the last station before a long stretch with no stations & glided into our first destination on a wing & a prayer. Even Jim was worried, so I knew we were in trouble!!
Went to the town were the Hereroes ( a tribe that wears many layers of Victorian-type dress & headdress that resembles the horns of the cattle that is their livelihood) have their annual gathering to honour their fallen heroes, but the gathering had been the weekend before. Maybe we can catch it next year. Stopped at Windhoek to shop at a wonderful Craft Mart. Picked up a few things to bring home, but we were very tired & overwhelmed, so may need to return for more before we come back to US.
We continued south into unknown territory to us, but still on good main road. We were in the Kalahari at this point. While there are very few towns, southern Namibia holds all the wealth, so we did a lot of grocery shopping. The south is full of Afrikaners & Germans, so the stores are well stocked with many things that we cannot get up in our area. There is actually a “red line” that we cross about an hour south of us that separates the poor, subsistence farmers of the north from the rich in the south. We have to stop at the checkpoint where they make sure that we are not carrying any meat from the north into the south (an effort to control hoof-&-mouth disease) & no meat from the north may be exported. Going south is like entering a whole new world. Not that they have no poor, they certainly do, but the presence of rich is very evident.
We stopped at a town where we met an American doctor (working with AIDS patients) & his visiting friend who recommended the site of a Quiver Tree forest & Giants’ Playground. Quiver tree is actually a tall plant related to the aloe family, but looks like a tree. The ‘trunk’ has yellow bark that is reminiscent of a birch tree & the leaves were used by tribes of the past to make quivers for their bows. These ‘trees’ usually grow individually, so this ‘forest’ was unusual. We approached the Giants’ Playground as the sun was low in the sky, but were told the shadows & colours of sunset were amazing there, so, we fell for it & entered the area having no idea what we were getting ourselves into. It is a huge maze of massive boulders that teeter on top of each other. There were arrows that pointed the way, but as it got dark, we could barely see the signs, and they were not spaced as close together as we would have liked! Just as the last light left the sky, Jim spotted our car. God held the sun up just long enough to get us safely back. If we had been back in the US, we would not have been allowed into the area so late, but this is NOT the US!
Now we left the main road & started several days of travel on rough, gravel roads. We were heading west to end up at the coast, right above the Sperrgebiet (restricted diamond area). Along the way is a small herd of feral horses. There is speculation regarding their origin, but most likely were abandoned by the German army when the South Africans invaded the area with an over-whelming force. Anyway, these horses have adapted to the desert (by now we are in the Namib). They can go 7 days without water. A concerned person at one point commissioned a borehole or the horses would no longer exist. As it is, their numbers have gotten down to 30, but have never topped 280. They are very thin, but if the rains are good, they fatten up & can last through a couple years of sparse moisture.
Then on to Luderitz, a sleepy harbour town that is quite isolated. Our cottage was right on an inlet where a ship was dredging the waters for diamonds. The area is still filled with them. When diamonds were first discovered in the area, they were just laying all over on the sand. We visited a ghost town where the miners & their families lived--now, the sands are filling the buildings & eventually it will all be buried. That particular area, while still somewhat restricted, is more accessible, but they are sure that the area still contains diamonds. When larger ones were found farther south, the operations moved, but eventually will move north again.
Headed back north to an area of rocky hills, mountains, and the most incredible sand dunes in the world. We stayed two nights in that area and absolutely loved it!!! I was perfectly content to just sit out & look over the expanse of the desert with the hills in the distance in one direction & the dunes in the other. We had to go to Dune 45 (the most famous & most photographed) & Jim walked about ½ way up, I was happy to watch. We drove further until we came upon a parking area where there were guide vehicles to take us further. Since we had run out of cash (credit cards are NOT as universally accepted here as one is lead to believe--and if accepted, their card readers don’t work half the time!) we couldn’t go with the guides, but Jim decided he could do it in our 4x4. I opted to sit under a camel-thorn & enjoy the breeze. That reminds me--we had cold weather. It felt wonderful to me, Jim was not quite as enthusiastic. Anyway, Jim & God headed out & of course, he got stuck in the sand. Now, remember, even though this past week was a high tourist season, the expanses here are seemingly endless, so we would still travel even as long as an hour & not meet another car. Anyway, there is Jim, stuck in the sand up to the rear axle, trying to lay twigs down to get some traction & one of the guides who was returning back to the parking area delivered his paying customers & doubled to check on Jim (and he had warned Jim that the sand could be very dangerous). So, again, another close call, but we were saved.
Reluctantly, we headed back home, but we were definitely ready for smooth roads. Had an evening in a lakeside self-catering cottage & were all set to braai (grill) some top-quality southern beef--stores were sold out, so ate at a lovely lakeside restaurant after canoeing. Met an American who was visiting a Namibian couple who are doing orphan-orientated work. Interesting discussion on the Namibian school system.
Stopped two days ago in a town that has a wonderful German corner café & GREAT grocery stores (Sheila, Sandy, & Colleen, it was Otjiwarongo where we ate at the c’est si Bon restaurant--huge meat balls--and stayed at the new B&B run by a nice young couple). After enjoying our time there, stopped for gas before heading out & the attendants were sooo excited to see us, for they spotted a flattened tire. Wthen they put air in it, they could hear air escaping (fortunately the hole was not on the bottom). So, they put the spare on--they get so excited when they get work & are paid well. We were booked at a lovely lodge 27km out in the hinterland (Colleen, S&S, we stopped in Windhoek & met w/ Edna who planned the entire trip--you know what kind of accommodations we had!). So, we again were so very thankful that the leak had been discovered before we headed out into no-mans-land. We were scheduled to arrive home that next day after a wonderful breakfast & watching wildebeest, sable, impala, springbok, & I don’t know what all, in large numbers. Got a few kms down the road & detected a horrible smell, but saw a water plant & thought maybe it was the source. Oh, no. It was us. So, fortunately, AGAIN, there was a gas station (along a fairly short stretch where there were stations at each end--why was there one in the middle??) We pulled in & there was a huge cloud of smoke that followed us & the back end of the car was HOT. We had no idea where to call, what to do, no one spoke enough English to be of help, although one man brought a chair for me to sit. Jim called one of the school executives who spoke to a guy at the station, but we could still get no help. Decided to limp along to the next town. The car had cooled down enough & we made it!! I failed to mention this is Saturday afternoon--most stores close & many services don’t even open Sat. mornings, but definitely close at noon. A very helpful cashier called a mechanic who came (amazing) said that the differential seal was bad & we were leaking fluid. He filled it up & felt that we could make it to the next town where there is a Toyota dealer. So we giddily headed out toward Tsumeb, we thought. We actually headed the wrong direction. Fortunately…Jim thought we were going the wrong direction, flagged someone down, & ended up going 20 k’s out of out way--when were just limping along, anyway! The smell got bad again, Jim could see a lot of smoke, so pulled onto the side of the road. Got out of the car, cursed, jumped back in & drove a few feet ahead--the grass under the car had caught on fire. He put that out & some guys stopped, were very agitated, they had seen the grass fire (we thought), no, they were seeing the fire under the car. They threw sand at it & we had a gallon of water (Colleen, S&S, the water you bought on our trip) & were able to put the fire out. I had grabbed the computed--decided the rest didn’t matter. Now we were 35km from Tsumeb, had no idea who to call or what to do, but these guys had a tow belt & they said they would pull us. Okay, we took off--I was a wreck, just knew we were going to go crashing into the back of their car! All of a sudden, maybe 10km into this harrowing journey, there was a huge, sound from the back of our car--as if the back half fell off or something. Safely stopped & they still wanted to pull us & I could not agree to that. So, Jim stayed with car & I went into Tsumeb with 4 young, strange men. We drove into town (which we had stayed at before, so I was somewhat familiar) & proceeded out of town. All sorts of ideas were flying through my head. I asked where we were going, & of course, it was fine--we ended up at a very large garage, which was closed, but the guys must have seen a number to call on the door, because they soon handed me their phone & it was a towing service. I knew of a Backpackers accommodation where the owners spoke very good English & had the guys take me there. As I was asking the guy at reception if the owners were available, a familiar face appeared--3 of our WorldTeach colleagues had just checked in & heard me! Jim eventually arrived after the car had been delivered to the garage & there was an available room for us. This morning, I joined 2 of our colleagues who were also headed up to the Ondangwa area & we ‘hiked’ back home. Not hiked, but there are ‘hike points’ where drivers gather & you negotiate a price for them to take you somewhere. For distances like today, there are usually several ‘combies’ (vans) that have open trailers behind that are more than willing to take you. We had a full van (Namibians don’t feel the need to follow occupancy restrictions) & it took a very long time as we had to stop many times to drop people off, & not always along the main road on which we were travelling. I was so grateful to be travelling with people I knew! The garage will check the car first thing in the morning & Jim will either wait for the car or hike home & return to get it later in the week. It was a wonderful trip, really. Each challenge that could have been disastrous turned out to be just a bump on the road. God was with us every km of the way.
Term 3 starts tomorrow for the teachers. Not sure what we do, but won’t be surprised if there is no plan, we’ll just be expected to be there. Exam time was very tense, again. Most of my learners went down in both English & Social Studies. If half of Grade 8 passes to Grade 9 it will be a miracle--and not a good one for they won’t be able to do Grade 9 work! In order to pass, they must get a 40% or better for their final Marks in English, Maths, and 4 other subjects and above a 30% in the 3 remaining subjects. I’ve told them repeatedly to just guess if they don’t know the answer, not to leave anything blank. Shear luck will get them a few points. They don’t like to do that, but I saw that some did listen. Didn’t get any more right doing that, but made me feel better.
We went to an Owambo wedding. Owambos comprise the largest tribe & are largely responsible for Independence. I was disappointed as it was a very European wedding. Understandable, however, since during colonization, Christianity was imposed on them. They did a few things that were different. After the actual marriage ceremony (exchange of vows), various people from each side got up & “advised” the bride & groom. The remarks were prepared & they alternated from bride side, then groom side. Then we travelled by caravan to the bride’s parents’ homestead. Bride & Groom rode in a Hummer Limo to a point not too far from her house & then they had to walk the rest of the way with many people following them. We drove closer to the homestead. There were huge tents set up, music playing on boom box (mostly American). There was a huge buffet with many different salads, beef that had been ‘braaied’ & they brought whole chickens around to the tables that people just took in their hands & tore apart. The head table had more traditional food (porridge that they take by hand from a common bowl, roll into a small ball & dip into a spinach concoction--everyone loves it), there was sort of a champagne toast--glasses were filled, but people just drank. When we needed to use the toilet, we were led into the house--which had no electricity, so they found a flashlight--there was electricity in the tents & around the property, & I think I heard a generator, so maybe they just switched the electricity from the house to the party area. There were TONS of people & security guards. Oh, when B&G arrived at the homestead, they sat on chairs with a table & gifts were presented--wrapped, & not opened, just presented. Because our teachers chipped in to give money, we were given the hindquarter of a cow that was slaughtered for the occasion. After school Monday, some cut the meat up into thin slices. The leg & foot, still with sand on the foot & skin on leg, was sitting there--one of the teachers was going to take it & cook it. They eat every part. They really like the eyes. The children are not allowed to eat the tongue--bad luck or something. Since we were a group, we all had to dress alike--black skirt, black vest, & white long-sleeved blouse. Our maintenance supervisor’s sister made them for us--US$21 included the fabric & labour. Skirt & vest were lined. I had to provide a blouse on my own. I tried to pay more--wasn’t allowed.
We have been struggling with enforcing rules that teachers & learners ignore. The inconsistency drives us crazy & we are trying to address it. There is still corporeal punishment practiced at our school--and apparently at all but a few throughout the country. It is against the law. Everyone nods & says yes, but they are just more discreet in doling it out. We are doing what we can & making no friends in doing so. Our executive board is behind us, but the administration & colleagues resent us. When we come home, we will tell you all about it. In the mean time, please continue praying. Every day seems to have its own challenge & by days’ end we are usually exhausted.
I have organized their first-ever spelling bee. As usual, everyone was excited when I first presented the idea, & many signed up. However, when it came time to get their lists to study, about half committed to it. Follow-through is lacking throughout all the ranks, so we just work with what we have. Grade 6 also took on a water conservation project that they will have to carry out this term as part of Social Studies. I was soo proud of them! They thought of every obstacle & how to over-come it. That class is great. They are beginning to think independently, creatively--our buzzword is thinking ‘out of the box’ and I have heard the term used in the schoolyard! We also have a “no ‘Me I‘” campaign going on. It’s a Namlish thing--everyone says it. But when they say it, they catch themselves & they remind others when they hear it. Hopefully they are not correcting their teachers. We also refuse to ‘borrow them’ anything. And no, she is NOT having a pencil--she has a pencil!!! They are quite proud when they remember to say it right! We had quite a battle with the student teacher who was supposed to teach English in my Grade 6 & Jim’s Grade 5. After I commented on two of her days’ teaching she didn’t come back to my class but stuck with Jim. Did not always show for class, was not always prepared, would not follow Jim’s plan, and at the end, when he asked if he was supposed to fill out an evaluation of some sort, she just waved him off & said that it was taken care of. What she doesn’t know is that we are friends with lecturers and student teacher tutors at UNAM & they have her name & will be checking up on her. The system has enough struggles with unqualified teachers, they don’t need new ones, who are supposedly trained, to simply follow in the footsteps of their predecessors.
Well, I have gone on long enough. I must get ready for tomorrow--whatever that will bring. I can hear the principal now: well, tell Mr. Jim he must just hike back. You knew every teacher had to be back today.
It is now Friday & we completed our 1st week of Term 3. On Jim’s way home with our car (on Tuesday), from the garage about 250km away, the car started smoking again. He pulled off the road, about 65km from home. Called our school executive friend who dispatched a tow truck, but Jim was on then side of the road in the dark--NOBODY is out alone after dark here, but he was kept safe & came home exhausted & frustrated. Garage in Tsumeb then towed the car back to their garage yesterday & we are now waiting to find out what’s going on.
At our briefing Monday, the principal informed us that corporeal punishment will no longer be tolerated at our school!!!!!!! It was difficult to sit there & not react. I believe it was the result of our contacting the parents of two of our girls after one of them had been slapped. We also reported to a school executive who demanded action. So, now, our next battle is to convince some of our girls to report incidents of inappropriate actions and comments made by one of the male teachers. In a conversation with Jim, 3 asked if the “no touching policy” related to no corporeal punishment extended to unwanted sexual advances. He brought stories home & I have been talking to the girls. Each time, they tell me of yet another girl who has been touched. So, again, we need prayers to advise or act in a way that will protect these girls.
Sometimes I get impatient with the US for over-protecting us (banning a product that I like because a few people died using it), but there are very few safely regulations here, & the ones that are in place are largely ignored. Our children run helter-skelter in the school yard as cars & taxis drive helter-skelter--neither watching for the other. Pre-grade through Grade 4 are released at 12:30. There is no supervision of them & many wander outside the gate--and we are located on a primary highway with cars racing by. Even after receiving a report that a local man was luring children into his car, the children were simply warned. So, somewhere between US & Namibia, there must be some reasonable measures taken to ensure safety.
Okay, if you have read all of this, you deserve a prize. Take a little trip to the store & buy a Dove bar.
With love & prayers,
sharon
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
a little about the culture
Greetings from Namibia. I started a blog entry several days ago & I thought I saved it to finish later, but now I can’t find it. It was a good one, too!
My intent was to tell you about some of the Namibian culture that might give you a little insight into the people here. I think we have begun to take some of these “differences” as the status quo, so before we become totally acclimated, I will try to share these with you.
When someone hands something to us, they always use their right hand (the left would be a sign of disrespect) and touch their right elbow with their left hand. It isn’t important for us to do the same to someone younger or of equal or less social /professional status, but we make an effort to do it when we want to show respect to someone older (that’s a joke!--there aren’t too many older than us) or a school official. Women usually do a little curtsy, also.
They often use what I consider to be an Italian greeting: grasp each others’ shoulders or arms in sort of a hug, & touch right cheeks, then left cheeks. That is most often with people you know fairly well.
They use a greeting that we find very hard to get used to, but if one does not greet in the right way, he is considered very rude & they mught refuse to help you. We did not make a good first impression here because we failed to greet properly. In fact, at our last staff briefing, we got an “indirect” lecture on how to greet, I’m sure because we just are not good at it.
Desmond: Good morning, Ms. Helen?
Helen : yes.
Desmond: Are you fine?
Helen: Yes, and how are you?
Desmond: yes
Helen: Are you fine?
Desmond: yes
It can continue …
Helen: Is your wife well?
Desmond: Yes, Is your husband well?
Helen: yes. Was your weekend fine?
Desmond: yes
And it can go on & on.
And every person has to greet every person. So when we walk into the staff room, we have to go through this ritual with every person there, preferably along with an African handshake (3 part--I’m sure you have seen African-Americans do it, mostly the young “hip” ones. Here, it is traditional. Men almost always use it, and women frequently do, but I notice that men don’t always use it with women--at least not me. It can be awkward for me ‘cause I’m never sure which way they are going to shake my hand). Then, as others come into the room, they go around & do the same thing. It is very time consuming & irritating for me esp. if I am trying to get some work done & keep being interrupted. Our Filipino colleague entered the staff room one morning & said “good morning, everybody”--she was informed that is not acceptable. And just because you greeted someone in the morning doesn’t mean your obligation is complete. See them later & it’s the same song & dance.
I referred to our “indirect” lecture. It is difficult to understand what people are saying, because they don’t always say what they mean. The principal might say “some people are not turning in their lesson plans. I don’t know, maybe there is a problem with the copier, or maybe they forget.” He will not talk to the person/s who don’t turn them in, and he will offer some sort of an “excuse” for them. When we ask questions, we rarely get a straight-forward answer. They will say “maybe it is this way, I don’t know.” and they might tack on “ maybe someone knows.”==but we’re not asking for an explanation for the theory of relativity, we just want to know when we are able to use the computer lab, or do the learners have school tomorrow, or is there a parent meeting Wed.
Our Head of Department is getting married in August. We had a meeting to discuss what we are going to do for her. No one would offer a suggestion. I made the mistake of suggesting that people contribute whatever amount they wanted, then a present could be purchased accordingly. Oh, no, we must all give the same amount. Finally, it was asked what was done for the last wedding, & they came up with N$50 ($7US), but could women contribute less since they have to buy a dress. I nearly flipped my wig--we all have to wear the same outfit! That discussion lasted an inordinate amount of time. I was told a few days later that the outfit has been designed & the seamstress will get together with me “sometime”. I should have an interesting report on the wedding. I do know that if they live in a village, the bride has to leave her village & live in her husband’s parents’ home until he is able to build for them.
Many people live in villages, but if they have a job in town, they might stay in town during the week & go to the village on weekends. I find it rather amazing how they float from one style of living to another. In the village they may very well not have running water (except they run to the nearest water supply & haul it back). Maybe no electricity, mud floors, round mud huts w/ thatched roofs & no windows. No kitchen as we know it, no bathroom…& then they come back to town where people live a more modern life. But I see in their culture far more flexibility than we have. Because they rarely plan anything ahead, they are ready to “go with the flow”--wherever, whenever, however it happens to be.
Time means little to them. While the principal admonishes us to be on time for meetings & classes, he is usually late. Shops close promptly, but opening is another matter. Today there was a meeting with Grade 10 parents at 1:00. At 1:00, teachers headed to the hall to set up for the meeting. This is AIDS awareness week. Today is Tuesday, there is no school tomorrow, but Friday we will have “something” in the hall, so teachers should have their learners do “something” for the “something” Friday. “Maybe ‘some people’ could hang condoms all around the school.”--I kid you not, that was said at our briefing & it was not meant to be a joke. Yea, we are pre-grade (kindergarten) through Grade 10.
Men wear western clothing. Women wear professional clothes if needed for their work. But older women usually wear traditional tribal dress. Here the majority of the people are Owambo (Ovambo) and the dress is very practical. The yoke of the dress fits the woman, is a simple round neckline, sleeves are a little puffed & can be short or a bit longer. The full dress then is gathered at the yoke & is usually about mid-calf in length. Made of cotton, they are comfortable & cool. They often take length of matching fabric (or clashing, if that suits them) & wrap it around their heads. The Ovambo fabric is various shaded of pink stripes. They can wear the fabric as a skirt (full) with a western blouse or as a full dress. Another tribe here, but by far in the minority, is the Herero. They are herders & their lives revolve around their cattle & goats. The women wear several (like 8!) layers of dresses and a headdress that is reminiscent of the horns of their cattle. I wrote of the Himbas before. We rarely see them in our region, but Jim saw one recently, but she had a blanket around her--it was “cold” by their standards.
They are very open in their expressions of their faith. Conversations are peppered with references to Jesus & “my Lord”, prayers are frequent, cel phone rings are often religious songs or a preacher quoting a Scripture passage. Any music played in the Staff Room is religious, (I made the mistake of taking our CD player one day to play the Mamas & the Papas & was drowned out by Gospel music). The music in the taxis is always blaring “church” music (or rap, the lyrics of which I would be too embarrassed to quote).
Unemployment is very high, some estimates run up to 50%. No surprise that theft is a way of life. We had burglar bars put on our door (they are standard on windows) & we have an armed guard at night & our campus is surrounded by chain-link fence w/ barbed wire on top. Any home that has any value at all is walled in w/ barbed or razor wire on top & electric wire along with it. Women keep their cel phones in their bras, men wear their money under their shirts or in their front pants pocket. Computers are concealed in another bag, maybe a grocery bag, or they will be ripped out of your hand. We are constantly being warned to be careful as we are sitting ducks. We don’t stand out as American, however. We are often asked if we are Norwegian, or we will be asked where we are from. They know we are not Afrikkans--we can identify them, now--but can’t pinpoint our country of origin. It surprises me--I thought that certainly we would be recognized as American. Maybe we aren’t the center of the universe, after all!
Well, that’s more than enough. Jim & I ended buying 160 dictionaries for each of our learners. They wanted to know when they had to return them. Decided they should own them--they just can’t believe it.
We need your prayers. We are seriously considering staying for a second year. We have applied, and we are asking God to block it if it is not what He wants. If accepted, we have until Aug. 31 to make a commitment, so we have time, but we need assurance that to stay would be in the best interest of all concerned. Please pray that we know what to do. Right now we are comfortable with the idea.
So, until next time, may you all take good care of yourselves & know how very blessed you are.
Jim & sharon
My intent was to tell you about some of the Namibian culture that might give you a little insight into the people here. I think we have begun to take some of these “differences” as the status quo, so before we become totally acclimated, I will try to share these with you.
When someone hands something to us, they always use their right hand (the left would be a sign of disrespect) and touch their right elbow with their left hand. It isn’t important for us to do the same to someone younger or of equal or less social /professional status, but we make an effort to do it when we want to show respect to someone older (that’s a joke!--there aren’t too many older than us) or a school official. Women usually do a little curtsy, also.
They often use what I consider to be an Italian greeting: grasp each others’ shoulders or arms in sort of a hug, & touch right cheeks, then left cheeks. That is most often with people you know fairly well.
They use a greeting that we find very hard to get used to, but if one does not greet in the right way, he is considered very rude & they mught refuse to help you. We did not make a good first impression here because we failed to greet properly. In fact, at our last staff briefing, we got an “indirect” lecture on how to greet, I’m sure because we just are not good at it.
Desmond: Good morning, Ms. Helen?
Helen : yes.
Desmond: Are you fine?
Helen: Yes, and how are you?
Desmond: yes
Helen: Are you fine?
Desmond: yes
It can continue …
Helen: Is your wife well?
Desmond: Yes, Is your husband well?
Helen: yes. Was your weekend fine?
Desmond: yes
And it can go on & on.
And every person has to greet every person. So when we walk into the staff room, we have to go through this ritual with every person there, preferably along with an African handshake (3 part--I’m sure you have seen African-Americans do it, mostly the young “hip” ones. Here, it is traditional. Men almost always use it, and women frequently do, but I notice that men don’t always use it with women--at least not me. It can be awkward for me ‘cause I’m never sure which way they are going to shake my hand). Then, as others come into the room, they go around & do the same thing. It is very time consuming & irritating for me esp. if I am trying to get some work done & keep being interrupted. Our Filipino colleague entered the staff room one morning & said “good morning, everybody”--she was informed that is not acceptable. And just because you greeted someone in the morning doesn’t mean your obligation is complete. See them later & it’s the same song & dance.
I referred to our “indirect” lecture. It is difficult to understand what people are saying, because they don’t always say what they mean. The principal might say “some people are not turning in their lesson plans. I don’t know, maybe there is a problem with the copier, or maybe they forget.” He will not talk to the person/s who don’t turn them in, and he will offer some sort of an “excuse” for them. When we ask questions, we rarely get a straight-forward answer. They will say “maybe it is this way, I don’t know.” and they might tack on “ maybe someone knows.”==but we’re not asking for an explanation for the theory of relativity, we just want to know when we are able to use the computer lab, or do the learners have school tomorrow, or is there a parent meeting Wed.
Our Head of Department is getting married in August. We had a meeting to discuss what we are going to do for her. No one would offer a suggestion. I made the mistake of suggesting that people contribute whatever amount they wanted, then a present could be purchased accordingly. Oh, no, we must all give the same amount. Finally, it was asked what was done for the last wedding, & they came up with N$50 ($7US), but could women contribute less since they have to buy a dress. I nearly flipped my wig--we all have to wear the same outfit! That discussion lasted an inordinate amount of time. I was told a few days later that the outfit has been designed & the seamstress will get together with me “sometime”. I should have an interesting report on the wedding. I do know that if they live in a village, the bride has to leave her village & live in her husband’s parents’ home until he is able to build for them.
Many people live in villages, but if they have a job in town, they might stay in town during the week & go to the village on weekends. I find it rather amazing how they float from one style of living to another. In the village they may very well not have running water (except they run to the nearest water supply & haul it back). Maybe no electricity, mud floors, round mud huts w/ thatched roofs & no windows. No kitchen as we know it, no bathroom…& then they come back to town where people live a more modern life. But I see in their culture far more flexibility than we have. Because they rarely plan anything ahead, they are ready to “go with the flow”--wherever, whenever, however it happens to be.
Time means little to them. While the principal admonishes us to be on time for meetings & classes, he is usually late. Shops close promptly, but opening is another matter. Today there was a meeting with Grade 10 parents at 1:00. At 1:00, teachers headed to the hall to set up for the meeting. This is AIDS awareness week. Today is Tuesday, there is no school tomorrow, but Friday we will have “something” in the hall, so teachers should have their learners do “something” for the “something” Friday. “Maybe ‘some people’ could hang condoms all around the school.”--I kid you not, that was said at our briefing & it was not meant to be a joke. Yea, we are pre-grade (kindergarten) through Grade 10.
Men wear western clothing. Women wear professional clothes if needed for their work. But older women usually wear traditional tribal dress. Here the majority of the people are Owambo (Ovambo) and the dress is very practical. The yoke of the dress fits the woman, is a simple round neckline, sleeves are a little puffed & can be short or a bit longer. The full dress then is gathered at the yoke & is usually about mid-calf in length. Made of cotton, they are comfortable & cool. They often take length of matching fabric (or clashing, if that suits them) & wrap it around their heads. The Ovambo fabric is various shaded of pink stripes. They can wear the fabric as a skirt (full) with a western blouse or as a full dress. Another tribe here, but by far in the minority, is the Herero. They are herders & their lives revolve around their cattle & goats. The women wear several (like 8!) layers of dresses and a headdress that is reminiscent of the horns of their cattle. I wrote of the Himbas before. We rarely see them in our region, but Jim saw one recently, but she had a blanket around her--it was “cold” by their standards.
They are very open in their expressions of their faith. Conversations are peppered with references to Jesus & “my Lord”, prayers are frequent, cel phone rings are often religious songs or a preacher quoting a Scripture passage. Any music played in the Staff Room is religious, (I made the mistake of taking our CD player one day to play the Mamas & the Papas & was drowned out by Gospel music). The music in the taxis is always blaring “church” music (or rap, the lyrics of which I would be too embarrassed to quote).
Unemployment is very high, some estimates run up to 50%. No surprise that theft is a way of life. We had burglar bars put on our door (they are standard on windows) & we have an armed guard at night & our campus is surrounded by chain-link fence w/ barbed wire on top. Any home that has any value at all is walled in w/ barbed or razor wire on top & electric wire along with it. Women keep their cel phones in their bras, men wear their money under their shirts or in their front pants pocket. Computers are concealed in another bag, maybe a grocery bag, or they will be ripped out of your hand. We are constantly being warned to be careful as we are sitting ducks. We don’t stand out as American, however. We are often asked if we are Norwegian, or we will be asked where we are from. They know we are not Afrikkans--we can identify them, now--but can’t pinpoint our country of origin. It surprises me--I thought that certainly we would be recognized as American. Maybe we aren’t the center of the universe, after all!
Well, that’s more than enough. Jim & I ended buying 160 dictionaries for each of our learners. They wanted to know when they had to return them. Decided they should own them--they just can’t believe it.
We need your prayers. We are seriously considering staying for a second year. We have applied, and we are asking God to block it if it is not what He wants. If accepted, we have until Aug. 31 to make a commitment, so we have time, but we need assurance that to stay would be in the best interest of all concerned. Please pray that we know what to do. Right now we are comfortable with the idea.
So, until next time, may you all take good care of yourselves & know how very blessed you are.
Jim & sharon
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Namibia update
Hello again, from beautiful Namibia. The temperatures are dropping & for that we are quite grateful.
Jim just came back from our school-supply store with 100 dictionaries, thanks to many of you. Not sure exactly how we will distribute them, but we both are on a mission to improve our learners’ vocabularies & spelling, so we might just hoard them for our own! We are going to Windhoek for a 3-day in-service & at that time will visit a larger supply store to see if we can get a couple of sets of Namibian literature for the classes to read & study together. There is very little aimed at upper-primary level, so I may have to settle for American lit. There are a couple of learners who show some writing potential & I’ve told them, the market is open for Namibian authors…dream on.
We are now coming to the end of our Term 1 break. It has been wonderful. Our oldest daughter, Colleen, & my 2 sisters were with us for a week & we traveled to see a very different Namibia from what we live in. Started with a game drive through Etosha Nat’l Park. It’s not the best season for that since the animals still have plenty of food & water available to them, but we saw enough to make our “guests” happy. Went north to the Angola border to visit a beautiful waterfall & discovered a lush, green, hilly area quite unlike our region. Proceeded to visit the Himbas, which Jim & I had done before, but wanted to share it with the “girls”. Colleen had done great research to find accommodations throughout the trip & our first treat was to “camp” provided with large tents on solid floors, flush toilets w/ hot & cold running water added on to each of our tents (found out there is nothing like taking a shower or sitting on the throne while basking in the sun or gazing up at the stars! Wonderful beds w/ lovely linens. Wish you could have been there with us!
We headed south through the Namib desert (oldest in the world) where we saw petrified trees 280,000,000 years old. There we stayed at a lodge in the middle of nowhere, built into cliffs of HUGE rocks. Colleen came upon a cobra snake that reared its head & spread its hood. After quite a long time & the effort of several brave men, a guide raised in the bush was called & he captured it to release it back into the wild. Yes, they are very poisonous. It was exciting, but only because no one was struck or sprayed.
Reminded Jim & I our trek in the Amazon where our group had a close call with a fer-de-lance (extremely poisonous). As long as they don’t strike…
We had to check out Swakopmund, a resort town on the south-eastern coast that took us back to Germany. It’s is a very wealthy town & we felt we were in a different world. The famous dunes are in that area of the coast, & while we didn’t make it to the largest one, we were impressed with what we saw. Time was running out, so we had to head back home. We had rented a Toyota Yuris, thinking it would be okay since we weren’t going to attempt roads that are “restricted” to 4-wheel. We made it okay, bumping along many, many kms of rough, gravel roads, but next time, we splurge for something tougher. My back is slowly recovering. We’ve kept the car to take to mid-service in Windhoek & have enjoyed the freedom it gives us. Mostly got a bit more familiar with the local region. There is a town at the Angola border that is full of China shops--no, they don’t sell China ware, they sell “junk” from China, run by Chinese & they all have the same things to sell--luggage, aluminum pots, clothes, shoes, low-end electronics, earrings, watches, necklaces, purses, tote bags, plastic flowers, curtains, table cloths….it’s amazing. We have a lot of them here in beautiful downtown Ondangwa (tongue in cheek), but that town is much smaller than Ond. & I’ll bet there are 200 of them. But we also found a fantastic pizza place there, which also has a store in the town where we go to church, so now we have a way to satisfy that craving--they said that they would deliver to us (for a price, of course, but when the need arises, it is do-able). Slowly, but surely, we are finding what we “need” here!
We started our break by “closing out” Term 1 & getting organized for Term 2. We learned a lot & are planning better for next terms. The system is quite different here & we have been working blind, but we’re both geared up for school to start again & looking forward to it. Have missed the learners (one of my most challenging ones has enrolled in a boarding school, so that class should be much easier to handle!). I will be anxious to learn of their reactions to their grades--they were very low. I’m not easy. We’re finishing break by preparing some lesson plans so we can hit the ground running. Colleen, Sheila & Sandy came with suitcases full of pens, pencils, frisbees, books & misc. supplies, so we are excited to be able to distribute those things, too. I don’t know about you, but every summer, as the new school year approached, I would organize my new school supplies & admire whatever new clothes I got & battle the butterflies in my stomach--nothing’s changed (‘cept there are no new clothes!).
May God bless each of you for your support of us. If you have any questions about anything over here, e-mail us. I’m sure I overlook many things in this blog that might interest you. Let me know.
Uhala po nawa
Jim & sharon
Jim just came back from our school-supply store with 100 dictionaries, thanks to many of you. Not sure exactly how we will distribute them, but we both are on a mission to improve our learners’ vocabularies & spelling, so we might just hoard them for our own! We are going to Windhoek for a 3-day in-service & at that time will visit a larger supply store to see if we can get a couple of sets of Namibian literature for the classes to read & study together. There is very little aimed at upper-primary level, so I may have to settle for American lit. There are a couple of learners who show some writing potential & I’ve told them, the market is open for Namibian authors…dream on.
We are now coming to the end of our Term 1 break. It has been wonderful. Our oldest daughter, Colleen, & my 2 sisters were with us for a week & we traveled to see a very different Namibia from what we live in. Started with a game drive through Etosha Nat’l Park. It’s not the best season for that since the animals still have plenty of food & water available to them, but we saw enough to make our “guests” happy. Went north to the Angola border to visit a beautiful waterfall & discovered a lush, green, hilly area quite unlike our region. Proceeded to visit the Himbas, which Jim & I had done before, but wanted to share it with the “girls”. Colleen had done great research to find accommodations throughout the trip & our first treat was to “camp” provided with large tents on solid floors, flush toilets w/ hot & cold running water added on to each of our tents (found out there is nothing like taking a shower or sitting on the throne while basking in the sun or gazing up at the stars! Wonderful beds w/ lovely linens. Wish you could have been there with us!
We headed south through the Namib desert (oldest in the world) where we saw petrified trees 280,000,000 years old. There we stayed at a lodge in the middle of nowhere, built into cliffs of HUGE rocks. Colleen came upon a cobra snake that reared its head & spread its hood. After quite a long time & the effort of several brave men, a guide raised in the bush was called & he captured it to release it back into the wild. Yes, they are very poisonous. It was exciting, but only because no one was struck or sprayed.
Reminded Jim & I our trek in the Amazon where our group had a close call with a fer-de-lance (extremely poisonous). As long as they don’t strike…
We had to check out Swakopmund, a resort town on the south-eastern coast that took us back to Germany. It’s is a very wealthy town & we felt we were in a different world. The famous dunes are in that area of the coast, & while we didn’t make it to the largest one, we were impressed with what we saw. Time was running out, so we had to head back home. We had rented a Toyota Yuris, thinking it would be okay since we weren’t going to attempt roads that are “restricted” to 4-wheel. We made it okay, bumping along many, many kms of rough, gravel roads, but next time, we splurge for something tougher. My back is slowly recovering. We’ve kept the car to take to mid-service in Windhoek & have enjoyed the freedom it gives us. Mostly got a bit more familiar with the local region. There is a town at the Angola border that is full of China shops--no, they don’t sell China ware, they sell “junk” from China, run by Chinese & they all have the same things to sell--luggage, aluminum pots, clothes, shoes, low-end electronics, earrings, watches, necklaces, purses, tote bags, plastic flowers, curtains, table cloths….it’s amazing. We have a lot of them here in beautiful downtown Ondangwa (tongue in cheek), but that town is much smaller than Ond. & I’ll bet there are 200 of them. But we also found a fantastic pizza place there, which also has a store in the town where we go to church, so now we have a way to satisfy that craving--they said that they would deliver to us (for a price, of course, but when the need arises, it is do-able). Slowly, but surely, we are finding what we “need” here!
We started our break by “closing out” Term 1 & getting organized for Term 2. We learned a lot & are planning better for next terms. The system is quite different here & we have been working blind, but we’re both geared up for school to start again & looking forward to it. Have missed the learners (one of my most challenging ones has enrolled in a boarding school, so that class should be much easier to handle!). I will be anxious to learn of their reactions to their grades--they were very low. I’m not easy. We’re finishing break by preparing some lesson plans so we can hit the ground running. Colleen, Sheila & Sandy came with suitcases full of pens, pencils, frisbees, books & misc. supplies, so we are excited to be able to distribute those things, too. I don’t know about you, but every summer, as the new school year approached, I would organize my new school supplies & admire whatever new clothes I got & battle the butterflies in my stomach--nothing’s changed (‘cept there are no new clothes!).
May God bless each of you for your support of us. If you have any questions about anything over here, e-mail us. I’m sure I overlook many things in this blog that might interest you. Let me know.
Uhala po nawa
Jim & sharon
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