The System

I know this is true of all things, but education is one of those Systems that seem to create an unbreakable cycle of problems.

It’s not just Namibia. I was watching “Waiting for Superman” the other day, (great film, if you haven’t seen it you definitely should!) and it really highlights serious problems with the American educational System.

Here in Namibia, there is a problem with education that is at least as serious. We work and work to improve education in our own classrooms, in our own schools. But the longer I am here and the more I see, it seems to be more a problem with the System as a whole than with individuals. And I know that’s the case in the States as well – what can we do to address this problem? It’s almost enough to make me want to go into politics.

Over the weekend, a police officer came to my house. He is clearly successful since many people in Tses don’t have jobs, and talking to him, he is also very clever. But the reason this particular police officer came to visit was that he needed help with a mathematics assignment. He is taking a distance course through PolyTech, so this was college-level work. You have to give the guy some serious credit for trying to take a college maths course through a distance program!!

But the thing is, he was struggling. No, you can’t blame him for struggling when he is trying to teach himself math using an arguably not-that-helpful textbook. But one of the problems he asked for help on was a word problem that required you to set up and solve two simultaneous equations. (2 equations, 2 variables) I think I learned that around 7^th grade. Another problem involved Venn diagrams.

My point is this: What has the system done to us? If a smart and motivated individual is struggling in college with concepts that are covered in middle school in other places, where did the problem occur? How is it that the lower primary school learners seem smart, motivated, and successful, but by the time they come to my junior secondary school every single one is woefully behind grade level? And maybe more importantly: If this police officer isn’t seeing success in this System, who will? How much does the System really ALLOW people to learn?

And the real problem is that it’s a problem without a clear solution. Yes, we as volunteers can work with individual learners and with individual teachers to maybe cause a slight change in understanding, or in critical thinking, or in perspective. But what are we really doing when we just throw these kids right back into the System when we leave? Is it just an ongoing cycle where we set an artificial ceiling on the amount of learning that can take place?

And to continue on a vein that's closer to home for most of us, What about these problems in America? Because we have exactly the same ones.

That’s my frustrated rant for the day, thanks for reading...

My best grade 9 learners - we tried positive reinforcement, so the ones who managed to behave in class got a party at the end of the term!

Hostel Life

Recently I've been thinking a lot about what it must be like to actually live here, at St. Therese Junior Secondary School, for the learners.

The boys' block

In the US, everyone who goes off to college or boarding school expects to have a small, crappy room their first year. Those are the “bad” rooms.

Here, it’s usually the lucky learners who get to stay in the hostel. They get 3 meals a day and a guaranteed bed (to themselves, no less!) every night. The thing is, by our standards, these are pretty dire conditions. The kids stay up to 12 in a room, and the rooms are NOT big.

one of the girls' rooms

In the girls' bathroom - no idea why, but they really wanted me to take a picture... so here it is!

At our junior secondary school (grades 8-10), we have room for 72 girls and 72 boys to stay in the hostel – they have separate buildings for girls and boys and they are locked in whenever they have “block time” so they can’t escape and have sex. I think that’s the logic, anyway.

The eating hall at the hostel doubles as a study facility and place for holding big events (similar to a cafeteria/gymnasium you would expect at an elementary school, but much smaller). The learners are there for 3 meals a day (which are oddly silent since they file in, pray, eat quickly, and leave in about 15 minutes), plus an hour of mandatory study time at night.

We had a big school event at the hostel hall last week – basically a drag beauty pageant. “Miss Funny” was a school fundraiser where 20 of our boys dressed up in casual, school, traditional, and formal –wear and paraded up and down a makeshift runway (a bunch of tables lined up). It was HILARIOUS and we made lots of money for the school!

All of the boys dressed in formalwear, in the corner of their "dressing room" (aka the kitchen that is attached to the eating hall)

I found the emptying-out of the hall to be really interesting, though. First, the kids from outside the hostel were let out and we watched them al leave the hostel gates. Then the hostel gates were locked and the hostel girls were escorted to their block, where they were immediately locked in. The hostel boys stayed and helped set the hall to rights, then were escorted to their block by 4 different teachers – apparently we are very worried that they’ll get out and cause problems (which to be honest, a few of them probably would). It’s a very long process, though.

On top of this, we’ve recently started locking the hostel gates ALL THE TIME. This means the hostel kids basically are locked in the hostel and the school 24/7. They’re not even allowed out to play for community sports teams (some kids just got in trouble for that) because the school is liable if they get hurt. It totally makes sense and I obviously understand why we’re worried, but it seems crazy to lock energetic teenagers in such a small area all the time!!!

 Just a note - not trying to be sexist or anything by only having pictures of the girls. But let's be honest, I'm pretty terrified to go into the boys' block and I try to avoid it when I can.

AfriCat Adventures (also known as Easter weekend with Noah)

“Easter weekend is a huge deal for Namibia,” someone told me two weeks ago.

I unwittingly assumed this meant “most people in Namibia are religious and therefore we care a lot about Easter as a religious holiday.” Turns out, I’m pretty sure he meant “Easter means a long weekend and Namibians love holidays when they can go visit their family and friends!”

 Well, far be it from me to argue with Namibian standards! Noah met the manager of the NGO AfriCat while working at Gobabeb, and somehow they managed for us to come visit for free this weekend!

AfriCat is a really interesting place when you look at it. It’s a huge piece of property which houses 2 nature reserves, some wild animals kept in captivity (they are rescued and unable to fend for themselves in the wild), a lodge, and an education centre.

The lodge is the only profitable part of the whole place – AfriCat itself is the reserve and care for dozens of (formerly) wild cats. Cheetahs, leopards, lions, hyenas, caracals and some other things like wild dogs. Although the reserve is fenced in, it’s a sustainable ecosystem of predators and prey, bush and savannah, etc. It’s really incredible to see these animals being cared for in a place like Namibia, where so many things/people are not environmentally conscious and where most people are farmers and hate predators like these! It’s such a successful business/NGO and a beautiful place. (Not to mention the fact that it’s green and rainy, two characteristics I haven’t seen in a LONG time…)

Some of the cheetahs AfriCat is famous for

Anyway, I mostly just wanted to share with all of you the cool pictures of animals we saw =) More updates coming soon, it’s been a hectic week!

Why yes, that is a donkey head they are feeding the cheetahs

Caracal got angry over his food

Our warthog friend who lived right next door to our temt (in the lean-to shack thing that was meant as an observation place for people to watch the birds from)

leopard!

chameleon

Global Warming and Namibia

The other day in class, I was talking about synthesis reactions with my grade 9 physical science classes. One good example of this is photosynthesis (yes, because it has the word “synthesis” in the name, but also because they have already learned about it in life science, and it’s a more concrete example for them than the stuff we did in organic chemistry!!)

The interesting thing (at least to me!) was that when we talked about carbon dioxide, they immediately told me that photosynthesis is good because it takes carbon dioxide out of the air. The same thing happened with fuel combustion – they immediately connected the release of carbon dioxide with global warming and the ozone layer. (side note – I commented that whenever they turn on the lights, they’re using electricity which means coal is being burned somewhere. “But Miss, don’t you Americans have many more lights than we do?” Touche, Namibian learners.)

some of my grade 9 learners 

Now, I know these kids don’t always perform the best in school, and they definitely struggle in science more than normal students in America. But as soon as you mention carbon dioxide, they jump to climate change!! How is it that we still have Americans who don’t believe in climate change, but these poor-performing learners in Namibia can tell me the causes of global warming, problems with ozone layer depletion, and actively discuss the effects of climate change on their community??

And it’s not just the kids. Some of the adults I was talking to the other day, about the drought currently facing all of Namibia, had some interesting insights. In the US, we’re used to elders telling us how much harder things were when they were kids. (“I had to walk 2 miles to school, uphill both ways, barefoot in the snow…” you know those stories?) Here, it’s the opposite. The elders never whine about anything. And maybe it’s just a cultural thing, I don’t know. But I find it interesting when they tell us how much cooler the weather was when they were kids, how much more rain they used to have. How we’re having droughts more frequently how, and they feel like the sun is burning their skin more now and do I think it could be because of the ozone layer disappearing since they were kids?

On a tangentially related note – if anyone has great ideas for bringing solar power to southern Africa, you should totally jump on that. I can’t imagine a place better suited for photovoltaic technology, but there’s absolutely none here!!!

ok, I know I already posted pictures of athletics. But seriously, look at that blue sky! there are never, ever clouds here! It's kind of weird actually...

Volunteer Overload!

Last week, 4 extra Peace Corps Volunteers came to Tses! This had two significant outcomes:

1.     Our community was really confused about the number of white people

2.     We had a wonderful week-long business training for the youth/community!

lots of volunteers, all in my living room!

Peace Corps helped me to organize a week training worshop on business development (including what makes a good business, how to register your business, writing a business plan, and making sure your business succeeds). 4 of our business volunteers, Marie (from Aroab), Mayank (from Luderitz), Adam (from Otjiwarango) and Neil (from Okahandja), came to stay with me in Tses for a week to run the workshop.

The workshop was one outcome from our local Youth Development Group – the people here really want help starting their own businesses. Jobs are hard to come by and money is scarce, but they are a hard-working bunch and we really want to get some local businesses going before the big Tses Glass project comes in and starts taking over the village.

Our 4 business volunteers with a few of their trainees at the workshop

I’m really excited that the workshop happened at all, because funding is hard to get for big projects like this, and the group actually had to do some fundraising on its own. But they pulled through and we raised N$1 000 to accompany the N$5 000 provided by the regional council to help us pay for the workshop. 

A local concert for the kids was one way the youth raised funds for the workshop

4 of the volunteers who stay in Tses permanently - we participated in the concert to help fundraise! Let me tell you, learning to play the guitar in a week is a terrible idea.

The volunteers ran sessions from 8-4 every day, including some time for one-on-one meetings with our local business-people-wanna-bes. 

Marie working with Zelda, one of my favorites from the Youth Group 

Neil working with Saartjie (her name sounds exactly like mine but with an "r". Confusing.) 

After the workshop was finished, the feedback I got from our community was that it was “great” and “informative” and “they knew so much!” I think they are really grateful that so many ‘experts’ were willing to come to Tses for a whole week to spend time with them. And even though some of them may have struggled with the English a little bit, I think everyone got something out of it! This will be a great starting point for us to move forwards from.

Proud trainees after finishing the workshop!

track in Keetmanshoop

Once again, I spent much of the last weekend at a track meet! I absolutely love track and field, but it is SO different to be viewing it from the other side! Coaching is really, really different from running as an athlete! (I did especially love the part where one of my learners asked for sweets – I told her she had to wait because she hadn’t earned them yet. “But why can you keep them then, Miss? You don’t have to do ANYTHING…” thanks.)

Aside from the part where I’m a coach instead of a runner, track here is really just a whole different animal.

some of my kids at the Youth center where they spent the night

For instance – some of my learners participated in field events like high jump and javelin. Let me tell you, our school does NOT have high jump mats or javelins. One of my boys was really interested and so he has been practicing javelin by himself with a treebranch (also shockingly hard to come by in Tses)! Some of them high jumped before in primary school, so we practiced one day on some mattresses from the hostel and they just went for it at the meet! They do really well given these constraints. One of my girls jumped 1.35m SCISSORKICKING the bar. She can’t go backwards. It was so impressive!

One of my boys throwing a shot for the second time in 2 years!

I have never seen such a successful scissorkick.

There are also some interesting cultural comparisons to be done at meets like this. Our region varies a lot socio-economically, and we have the highest Gini coefficients in all of Namibia, 0.63 (the Gini coefficient ranks discrepancy in where wealth lies). So we had one school competing that had only white learners. They wore spikes, knew how to use starting blocks, and raced events like the hurdles.

These aren't my kids - but have you ever seen hurdles like these??

Start of the under-17 girls' 800m - you'll notice the girl on the left is wearing spikes and the 2 in the middle have on socks because of the rocks on the track

Then there are schools like mine. All of our kids are barefoot, most of them haven’t seen a hurdle outside of the regional competition, and we most definitely don’t have organized practice through the school! I’m proud to say, they definitely still held their own.

 Aloysius ran a 10:20 for a 3k, barefoot on a cinder track. He won, and had 0 competition.. he just jogged with the other guy until the last lap, which he ran in a 63 low. Not even tired. I really hope they advance him to the national meet in Windhoek!

Projects, Projects, and more projects… Tses is growing!

I’ve been very busy over the last few weeks, with a whole host of different projects. Although I’ve been busy at the school with my teaching and planning, athletics, after school clubs and classes, etc., it’s actually the work with the community that I’ve been loving the most lately.

1. Tses Youth Group. A few years ago, Tses had 2 different youth groups, which met about once a month and focused on different things. In talking with a pastor /village councilor (advisor for the local government), we decided that the need for, and interested in, a local youth group probably merited the recreation of one.

So once a week, for about two hours, I meet with the youth of Tses! (here, “youth” means vaguely 20-30 year olds.) It’s so cool – when they’re really given a chance to speak out and act on their ideas, there are people staying here who have some really great thoughts about the future and ideas to improve the social conditions of Tses. Already, we have worked on forming a community English group (to improve English skills), a business group (more later), a local Girls’ club (there are really high incidences of rape and other abuse here, and especially as Tses grows with the big glass factory coming in, we want to work to empower our young girls before these kinds of things can happen to them), and a kids’ soccer league. It’s SO COOL to see these people having ideas of what they want to have happen, and act on them! I’ll try to get some pictures later, but seriously it’s really incredible to watch them do their thing. It’s also great that there are some other volunteers staying in Tses from the UK and Germany. They’re all younger (just out of high school), but they’re really enthusiastic and are really very willing to help me out with running all of these projects when I run out of free time to coordinate them! It’s pretty fantastic! The British volunteers are taking over the English classes, and the German volunteers will start working on the Girls club with a woman from the church and one of the youth.

2. Tses Entrepreneurial Development Group. Out of the youth group, there was a huge interest in business development (especially since Tses will soon grow into a town)! We want to get started before people from “outside” come and take all of the business/job opportunities. So a group of ~30 youth (and a few elders) have gotten together to try to start their own small businesses.

3. Business Workshop. I pretty quickly got out of my league, so next week FOUR other (business) Peace Corps volunteers are going to come run a workshop for me! I’m really excited to see them, plus really excited that my community will get the chance to think together about business plans, getting their businesses registered with the government, and so on. This means we’ve had lots of meetings and have been doing lots of fundraising to try to make it happen!

That’s about it. My life in a nutshell. I don’t have any pictures of these things yet, so I’m adding some pictures of my classroom and stuff, just for fun…

see those big white sheets at the back? best idea ever. they're Sticker Charts, which my mom used when we were little as positive reinforcement for good behavior during the day... works the same with grade 8 and 9 kids when you give them a sticker for good behavior or for doign their homework! Victory!

some of the girls one afternoon