khorixas! (december travels, week 1)

I spent this past week in Khorixas with Marie and Laurel, visiting Steve and Grace (who are both volunteers in Khorixas). Steve’s job is pretty awesome- he’s a SEED volunteer so he works a lot with the small conservancies around the area working on business development and helping with business plans, etc. That means he “gets” (from our perspective—I’m pretty sure it’s pretty old by now for him) to travel around to the surrounding areas lots for work! Up here in Khorixas (in the northwest of the county), there are a TON of local cultural and geologic sites that tend to be tourist attractions. We went camping for a few days to the west of the town, and while we were there we managed to see a ton of cool things!

the Damara Living Museum featured local Damara showing off their traditional customs. They did a great job selling it, and they were really friendly and willing to talk with us and share their opinions on things! (sorry i know these pictures look terrible but it just took me like 20 minutes to upload 2... )

The Organ Pipes are a unique rock structure that resulted from hot magma from the nearby Burnt Mountain quickly solidifying and then cracking due to heat differences.

Twyfelfontein (“doubtful springs” in Afrikaans) is a very famous site for rock engravings! Most of the art showed local animals (giraffe, rhino, elephant, gnu, ostrich,…) in the context of watering holes or hunting. People made these engravings 2000-6000 years ago (nobody’s sure, apparently?). The story is really cool though – locals used to live in the area and they would tell stories by drawing accompanying pictures on the rock. But even after they had to move out (they were semi-nomadic) in search of other food and water, they continued to make yearly pilgrimages to the mountain/caves at Twyefelfontein because they believed it to be a holy site. Thus, the rock art continued!

Petrified Forest – 280 million years ago, pre-conifer trees grew in northern Zambia! This is apparently back when Pangaea was a thing. The trees got swept down with a river or some water source to this valley, where they were buried by at least 1km of sediment, sandstone, water, etc. Under that pressure, the minerals (silicates, iron/iron oxide, and manganese) slowly replaced all of the cells in the wood until the wood literally became rock. It’s really cool though, you can see most of the trees’ structure (including bark and tree rings and everything!) even though now what is left is hundred-million-year-old rock. The biggest trees found in this area are 30m long and 1.? m in diameter.

it's december!

It's incredibly hard to believe since we're here sweating in the heat. It doesn't seem like the holiday season at all! In fact, since it's technically "summer holiday" from school (which means we all get most of December and part of January off from work!) it's kind of not-at-all like winter break at home. We're enjoying the holiday either way, though!

Sorry for the lack of updates recently! We were without internet for over a month at my school, the wireless box thing got messed up and had to get sent to Windhoek to be fixed.

BUT. Now we're on vacation! I'll have internet sporadically for the next month or so as I travel around Namibia until my school opens again. It's pretty slow right now, and apparently uploading pictures to facebook is faster than putting them on here? (sorry), so here's a link with some recent pictures from this corner of the world:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152341478745175.956242.819705174&type=1

My last month or so at school was very hectic, since it was exam time. Our grades 8 and 9 learners had to write exams in every subject, and the exams were prepared by the regional ministry, which led to some interesting scores. By interesting, I mean that less than 25% of my grade 9 learners passed (>40%) their maths exams. It was a little rough. The teachers were all busy trying to keep the learners focused and studying (especially with the added complication of the teachers' strike), marking exams, and reporting scores back to the ministry.

After school got out, I spent last week in Windhoek for some additional Peace Corps training. Now I'm in Khorixas (towards the NW of the country) with a few other volunteers (Marie, Laurel, and Steve) getting to learn a little more about environmental education in this part of the country. Also, doing some camping and really just getting to see a totally different side of the country than we're used to in the south. Next week we're on to Sossusvlei (world famous sand dunes) and the Naukluft (might've spelled that wrong) mountains.

Thanks so much for everyone who's been keeping in touch! Even if I suck at responding (seriously though, internet is hard to get sometimes), I promise I really really appreciate it and getting emails or any kind of mail from you guys really makes my day =)

Strikes!

Namibian teachers are going on strike!

All of the teachers in the Khomas region, in the middle of the country where Windhoek is, have been on strike for about a week. Teachers from other regions have slowly started to join them, town by town, and thousands of teachers (out of the 20,000 employed in Nam) are now striking, apparently. So far Tses teachers have not made the decision to strike, although they're worried that they are viewed as "parasites" and will not get whatever rewards the strike results in. However, 5/8 (I think?) schools in the nearest town, Keetmanshoop, are striking.

I remember our teachers striking at home when I was in middle school, and that was bad enough. But here, most of the kids don't have a place to be if the teachers on strike. There is nobody at home, or they are staying in the school hostel anyway. And, the older learners have exams starting on Monday (grades 8 and 9 for sure, I'm not positive exactly when exams start for other grades), and I wonder how much studying they are really doing on their own.

It's a contentious issue though, as all strikes are. Do the teachers stand up for their rights, or do they stay in school for the sake of the kids?

The two teachers' unions in Namibia are both involved somehow. Teachers are asking for more pay, time off, ... I don't know all of the issues, exactly. BUT, teachers already make more than nearly anyone else in Namibia. It's hard to know who's right!

The good thing is, Namibia is a super peaceful place and so far the strikes have just encouraged everyone to get this thing resolved quickly!

...in a little pond

Not to say that I'm a big fish, by any means... but Tses is a tiny village. Living in a small place like Tses, and living on the school grounds, reminds me in a lot of ways of living in Grinnell. It definitely is not a big city where you can get lost in the crowd- in fact, it's pretty apparent that anything I do is noticed by at least someone.

I know most of the secondary school students (from my school) by sight, and for sure all of the students from my school and our sister primary school, Nowak, know me. And while I know our teachers and some of the Nowak teachers, there aren’t so many other adults in the community who I’ve really gotten to know yet. So walking around the village here feels a little like walking around the town of Grinnell – you know and recognize everyone from the college, while you might recognize but don’t really know those who are actually from town.

For instance, yesterday I walked down to the shops to get an apple and just to move around a little. (more the latter, since buying fresh fruit in Tses is a little iffy.) A handful of primary school learners came sprinting out of a field to say hi and accompany on my walk, screaming “Ms. Sachi! Ms. Sachi, good afternoon!” They can be pretty cute when they try.

Since this was a group I hadn’t met before, I was peppered with the normal series of questions: am I a China? am I an India? am I a Germany? (those seem to be the only 3 other cultures learners here know, and conveniently apparently I look like I could potentially belong to any of them?) how old am I, am I married, do I have children yet, why do I not have children yet, why would I leave America to live in Tses?

Answering these questions has become a part of my daily routine, even at my school where hypothetically the learners should all know me by now. I think it’s just so unusual for them to have someone new come in that they’re really intrigued by nearly anything I have to say about… well, anything. Simultaneously really nice (when's the last time you had a dozen children sprint up to you just to walk a few steps and touch your skin?) and a little worrisome, since I have to watch everything I say because someone is always listening!

Philadelphia has the population of Namibia

…I think this comparison is the closest I’ve come to getting my learners excited about numbers. I realize that statistic is not totally accurate, but it's close enough. 

…And yes, I did just say MY learners! Barbara (the previous PC volunteer) officially ended her PC service and left Tses this weekend. Which means that now I’m a real teacher here at St. Therese!

Since I haven’t done so before, here’s a rough sketch of what my days generally look like:

6:45 staff meeting or morning assembly (once a week with all of the learners)

7:15-1:05 teach! For the remainder of this term, I’m just covering Barbara’s classes, which consist of 2 grade 9 math classes each day, plus some combination of BIS (library) and Arts for grades 8-10. Peace Corps suggests we don’t teach more than 70%, so I have a few free periods every day.

10:10-10:50 Afrikaans class at our sister primary school: my principal arranged for me to join the grade 7 learners in their Afrikaans class. The primary school is literally just across the schoolyard, so it’s easy to get to! It’s a great way to make sure I’m practicing my Afrikaans every day (plus I’m meeting some of my future grade 8 learners)! Technically my school only has tea break from 10-10:30, but I don’t really have any classes period 5 anyway…

After this, my schedule is kind of hazy. After school activities (afternoon study, club meetings, sports, staff meetings) all take place from 3-5 in the afternoon, so many days I’ll be back at school. Yesterday I officially ran my first meeting of our Let’s Speak Out! Club, which is similar to a GLOW club for anyone familiar with that. It’s basically a leadership club for learners interested in combating social problems like bullying, teen sex/pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, litter, etc. It basically covers everything. I have a group of pretty motivated learners though who are really interested in it, and we’re planning a community trash pick up day this Saturday! Whenever I don’t have actual commitments after school though, it means extra time to relax, plan lessons, or wander around Tses on my own.

At night, I’ve been doing some combination of running/working out, studying, planning lessons, reading, etc. And bedtime happens pretty early around here, since 6am wakeups are kinda rough if you stay up late...

Teaching has been going better than I anticipated at this point, honestly! Today for the first time I felt like I really had my classes under control, and the learners have been pretty focused about reviewing for their exams. Impressive since the exams are 3 weeks away and I think mine is the first class they've begun to study in. Teaching math is fun so far though, and the fact that at least SOME of the learners really wanted to learn today is pretty exciting!

what's that green stuff?

Oh right, grass. It's easy to forget the vibrant green of grass and trees and really most plants we're used to, since I don't think they exist in my part of Namibia. 

BUT they do exist in the north, where I went to shadow Dylan last week! He's a volunteer who's been here for a year already and is teaching math at a secondary school in the Tsumeb. Peace Corps is trying really hard to give us lots of experience and resources before we’re thrown into teaching on our own, which is really nice! So we were all instructed to go shadow someone teaching the same subject for a week.

Tsumeb was great. There was green grass, grocery stores, and other volunteers to hang out with and talk to! I especially enjoyed getting to hang out with Dylan, since he’s also from a small liberal arts Midwest college, and is an xc runner, and is a math nerd. Seeing him conduct classes was great, it was nice to see someone experienced present my subject.

I do still have a few reservations about how relevant this experience will actually be. Learners in the north are stereotypically much quieter, and more attentive during lessons, than learners in the south. That meant more time asking and getting responses to questions, and actually engaging with the material, rather than trying to keep the class under control and focused like we do at my school. Still, it was nice to see some of Dylan’s techniques for keeping them interested, making sure they were retaining knowledge so they can pass their exams, etc. I'm learning!

my first days of school

 I’ve been going to school for a week now, and I think I’m starting to get the swing of things. For now, I’ve just been shadowing other teachers and learning how things work.

Classes here are… well, kind of what you might expect from a school that asks for a Peace Corps Volunteer. Classes are large, learners are not always prepared for class, and they really need to work on critical thinking skills instead of rote memorization.

On the other hand, the kids are really cute! They don’t always want to be in school/care about school, but they’re just kids, you know? They like to talk to me and ask questions about America (finding out that Ms. Barbara and I did not, in fact, know each other in America—she’s from Texas—blows their minds). It’s crazy how everything I do is noticed by someone here, because I’m new/American/etc.

There are some really good teachers at my school, though! The teachers are, obviously, all different and come in with different skills. A lot of them seem to not know a whole lot more than their learners. But some of them are incorporating really good techniques for teaching to a variety of learning styles, using manipulatives in class, and other really encouraging things that I’m super excited to see here!

One of the biggest problems in our classrooms is discipline. Even though it’s technically illegal, corporal punishment is still really common in this region of Namibia. It’s culturally the norm, both at home and in school, and many people maintain that corporal punishment is the only kind of discipline that the kids will respond to. Volunteers get kind of laughed at for our noisy classrooms and lack of discipline among students, so I foresee that being a major problem next year.

On the other hand (I’m starting to feel like Tevye with all of these hands), there are SOME learners who really do care about their education, and try hard, and care about school! Those ones are awesome. For instance, on Saturday we had a mandatory study for all grade 10 learners, since they are just starting to take their exams (you need to pass national exams to move on to grade 11 at an upper secondary school). The classroom was pretty loud, most students had notebooks out but most of them were really just talking to friends. Then I had an optional study that night, so that if they had more questions about the physical science exam they are taking today, they could come in and ask me. A handful of really dedicated grade 10 learners came in and spent 2 hours asking me questions and going through examples. It was wonderful to see how much they cared! (It was also really nice for me to get to hang out with a small group of learners.)

Any of you who are reading this – I would love to hear any advice you have for classroom management, nonviolent discipline, dealing with rambunctious learners, running a classroom with learners at very different levels of understanding, etc. Thanks for your help!

We're Official!

I’m proud to announce that all 35 members of PC Nam group 36 were sworn in as official Peace Corps Volunteers on Thursday, 20 Sep 2012! We’ve officially started our 2 years of service as PCVs! 

Since then I've just been in Tses, minus a few-hour excursion to my shopping town in Keetmanshoop. 

I've been shadowing Barbara, the volunteer who's been here for 2 years (but is leaving in 2.5 weeks?!), and other Namibian teachers, to learn more about our school here in Tses. It's really very interesting how different schools are within Namibia, and even more so how different Namibian vs. American schools are.

Yesterday I met my "host family" - I live at the school hostel, but there is a family in town who I will hang out with sometimes after school and on the weekends. The father is on the school board for my school, St. Therese, and we spent a few hours yesterday talking about the school system, learners, teachers, the village community, etc. It was really nice!

This week is also the 85th anniversary of the primary school that is next-door to our school. There have been a bunch of events in the evening, from a gospel music night last night to a gala dinner on Friday. It's cool to see everyone out and gathered together in the evening! (plus let's be real, I'm not gonna turn down an evening of real music!)

Thanks to everyone who has been keeping in touch! I love hearing from all of you, and now that I'm at site I should have more time (and internet access) to respond better to you. Sending love from Namibia!

A Model School and the Nam education system

So I’m still backtracking here, but the week after site visit (about a month ago), we ran “Model School” for a week. The learners were on their 2-week long holiday between terms (their terms run roughly Jan-April, May-Aug, Sep-Nov), and we basically bribed them with free food, notebooks, and pens to come to school for one of those weeks so that we could practice teaching in a safe environment.

Model School was quite an experience for all of us, I think. Like everything, schools here are exactly the same as schools in the US, and also nothing like schools in the US. We were lucky that we had smaller classes (since it wasn’t real school), but the minimum class size in Namibia is about 30 learners. Even dealing with our small classes of 12-20 students was a challenge, so it’s hard to imagine teaching to a class of 40 or so learners, as some teachers do.

I think one of the biggest challenges that Janine (the volunteer I was co-teaching with) and I faced was getting the learners to THINK. Even though the learners who came voluntarily to Model School tended to like school already, the classes they are used to are different than the classes we want to teach. The Namibian government really values education, and is putting a great deal of effort and funding into the educational system. (which is wonderful!!) However, there are still a few kinks to be worked out. Part of this is similar to the problems in the US – lots of mandatory tests mean that teachers sometimes teach to the test, and learners memorize facts so that they will pass. Then there is the added problem of “automatic promotion”, which prevents learners from being held back even if they fail a grade (passing is 40%, which is a whole other problem). This all adds up to a lot of teachers reciting facts, and a lot of learners memorizing facts, without much critical thinking about what is actually being done.

Seeing this in classrooms was a bit frustrating for us. It was interesting that the grade 6 learners seemed to be able to think for themselves much more than the grade 8 learners initially, and you wonder if this isn’t because they have been exposed to the educational system for fewer years. But happily, we found that even the older students definitely have the capacity for critical thinking! Even by the end of the week that we were with them, once the grade 8 learners realized what we wanted them to do, they were much more willing to risk guesses at questions and try to come up with their own solutions to new problems than when we started teaching them. It was really amazing to see this transformation just in a week, when we set new expectations for them.

This raises interesting questions, though. The Namibian government is trying desperately to improve education, and rigorous syllabi and frequent testing do seem like reasonable ways to try to improve academic performance. Where is the line, though, between high standards to encourage high performance and so much governmental oversight that it hinders performance? Or is it the teachers? We have seen again and again that teachers are not necessarily trained to foster critical thinking. And at least by the American way of thinking, corporal punishment in classrooms is not a way to encourage free thinking and academic honesty…

Anyway, model school brought up lots of difficult issues and gave us lots to think about! I’ve just outlined the interesting results here; don’t let me make you think it was all bad. It was great to get to know some of the Namibian learners, work with them, and see their progress over just a week. Plus, our classes were adorable. picture (our grade 6 learners) below.

I'm sure I will be making lots of comparisons to my school in Tses! For now I'm still feeling out my school and the learners. Everyone here is really great, but when you get 35 or so learners in a classroom it gets a little rough to handle. I'm enjoying my week so far though, I'm shadowing Barbara as well as some of the Namibian teachers for a few weeks just to get a feel for how things work at the school. More to come!

Tses, part II

So, sorry I've been so terrible at actually updating this. We've been so so busy! I'm gonna backtrack though, to a few weeks ago when we went to visit our permanent sites for the first time. I'll be going back to Tses for good this Friday, and then I'll be there for the whole 2 years!!! 

 The Tses welcome sign! Somewhere on Facebook, I also have pictures of the sign with Barbara—the group 32 PCV I’ll be replacing. The junior secondary school has had volunteers, either Peace Corps or World Teach, for the last 10-15 years. The associated primary school/hostel also gets 2 German volunteers every year, who we usually end up befriending.

Upon my arrival in Tses on Saturday, I was intrigued to find that it is both exactly like, and nothing like, my expectations. The part of Tses that you might call the “downtown” (downvillage?) is something akin to a town square, I guess? There’s a shop where you can buy the essentials but not much more, two bars/clubs, a gas station, and a barbershop. Maybe a few other things too, but you get the picture. Side note: at least one of the clubs, the gas station, and the shop are owned by the same white South African woman. Which is pretty weird considering that those probably see half of the business done in the whole village. I saw two cars and three donkey carts while we were there. There are maybe 50 houses in ‘town’; then there are 5 locations, or separate shantytown-like neighborhoods on the outskirts of Tses.

The red-door structures are flush toilets that the village council installed for every home in this location last year. I’m still trying to find out who the sponsor was (we think it was someone from out of the country). The juxtaposition of these permanent structures with tents or corrugated metal shacks looks pretty silly, but the project was a huge deal in terms of sanitation and definitely worth it!

Outside of even the locations, there are lots of farms. Anywhere you go around Tses, there seem to be stray goats/sheep/donkeys/cows/horses/chickens wandering around. Nobody here really farms vegetables or grains, but there are definitely lots of animals!

In terms of the landscape, Tses is actually more diverse than you might expect. The Fish River (above) flows about 20km out of the village. Another few hundred km south, it turns into the Fish River Canyon, which is comparable to the Grand Canyon in the US (and we’re definitely hoping to hike it sometime while we’re in country)! There is also a big mountain structure that may or may not be a volcano (nobody seems to know), hot springs, and… well, lots and lots of desert.

There are a few sand dunes just to the south of Tses. Apparently there’s something special about dune sand? Construction will start on the Tses glass factory next year, and it’s expected to bring in about 8000 people eventually. Kind of a big deal when the population of Tses right now is estimated to be under 2000.

My school, St. Therese, is a former mission school and is still sort-of associated with the church next door. St. Therese is a lower secondary school, so we teach grades 8-10. Most of the learners stay in the hostel by the school (where I sort-of live, but in a separate building). Learners may live at the hostel if their families live far out of town, or if they qualify as OVCs—orphaned and vulnerable children. Nearly all of the learners attending St. Therese are OVCs, which 1) is crazy to imagine! and 2) means there is a definite lack of support from home/parents. But, it sounds like that’s pretty much the case with all Namibian learners regardless…

Needless to say, I'm both excited and terrified to move back to Tses for the next 2 years. I'm very grateful that Barbara will be there to show me the ropes for the first month or so, and also that all of my colleagues speak English! (since it sounds like that's not the case in all of the schools.) I'll keep you updated!

Heroes Day

There is a national holiday in Namibia called Heroes Day. It’s basically a second independence day, thrown specifically by the Herero tribe, where the country recognizes the people who fought for independence back in the 70s-80s. So everyone (besides us…) had off of work on Monday 27 August, and there is a huge national celebration every year in Okahandja, the town where we are now for training.

BUT.

This year, things went a little awry. Apparently the man who lights the ceremonial fire (I’m not clear on whether he’s actually an acting tribal chief or anything, or if he really just lights the ceremonial fire) died earlier this year. They haven’t replaced him yet, so the two factions of the Herero tribe—the red and the green—have been fighting over who will now control the ceremonial fire. This fire is really important to the Heroes Day celebration, and they have two separate proposed locations for the fire and everything.

So while the town of Okahandja and many individuals went about setting up for the Heroes Day celebration/festival (big tents in the middle of this huuuge field we walk past every day on the way from the location to town—kind of like a fairgrounds location, bringing in horses and things for the parade), things were still kind of up in the air. The government eventually banned the Heroes Day celebration from happening in Okahandja, which means the national celebration basically didn’t happen this year.

So the festivities, the {football, netball, rugby} matches that were planned, the parade were all cancelled and it seems like a lot of people were pretty upset. But, in true Namibian fashion, there were still a ton of people in Okahandja so there were still a ton of parties at individual houses. I think the bars must make more money on Heroes Day weekend than in most months, which is crazy because they are never unpopular locations…

Tses! (pronounced something along the lines of "chess")

Tuesday marked a big day in the lives of all 35 PCTs! Not only did we take our first language proficiency exams (I’m officially a novice-high Afrikaans speaker), but we also received our permanent site placements!! I’m going to Tses! https://maps.google.com.na/maps?hl=en&q=tses+namibia&ie=UTF-8&ei=_YErUMvrMcOChQfk_IGgDg&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAg

Tses is a small village in southern Namibia. I will go to Keetmanshoop (only 80 km away—yes, this really is “only” since some volunteers’ shopping towns are several hundred km away) to do my shopping. I will be the only volunteer in Tses, but there is a volunteer from another group in Keetmanshoop (who I just met in Okahandja where she stopped for a night). From group 36, we will also have 2 volunteers in Aroab and 2 in Ludderitz (both a few hundred km away from me). So definitely some opportunity to hang out with fellow PCVs!

I’ll know more after I spend next week at my site and nail down some details, but I’m replacing a current volunteer in Tses. I’ll be teaching grades 8-10 math and science, as well as helping with some art classes/clubs, BIS (basic information science = setting up & running the computer lab, helping with the library), etc. I’ll be living in teacher housing that’s associated with the hostel at the school. Our school is very small—230 learners and 8 teachers—which I’m psyched about! I hope that the small size will mean I can create closer connections with the teachers and many of the learners, giving us more of a community more quickly.

Pictures!

(Sorry, it's rare that I have enough time and enough internet to upload pics)

Group 36 trainees at the local internet cafe

Our trainers demonstrated how to bucket-bathe and do laundry in the yard of the town hall... Which was silly but also super necessary!

At the top of Pride Rock!

Well, Toto...

Definitely not in Kansas anymore. Our recent trip to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, was a huge eye-opener for me. 

On the one hand, the mall and the memorials that we visited felt very western and very similar to comparable places in the US. Downtown Windhoek is definitely really nice, there are areas with lots of $$, nice places to shop, and the whole city is really clean! (I was surprised. One of our trainers says it's ranked as one of the cleanest cities in Africa.) 

But, on the other hand... there is an insane difference between downtown Windhoek and the outskirts. There are a lot of locations around Windhoek, "locations" being the local term for any sort of poor suburb-y neighborhood, ranging from clusters of small houses to true shantytowns (one-room shacks made out of corrugated metal, no bathrooms, etc.). I live in one of the locations of Okahandja, but there are tons of these locations just outside of Windhoek, each of which has its own history.  It seems like nearly every part of Windhoek/Namibia has its own black vs. white historical drama, whereas all of the different tribes who live in Namibia seemed to manage to live together more peacefully (maybe by necessity, but still). Major events involving locations include the 1959 massacre, where a whole community of blacks were forcibly removed from a neighborhood sitting on land that some whites wanted, and the occasional bulldozing of really poor, illegal locations by the Windhoek police. These settlements are illegal, feature lots of shebeens (small local bars), and are presumably breeding grounds for disease, alcoholism, and other unfavorable traits; but what scale do you use to weigh these negative qualities against the fact that these locations are the only homes that thousands of people have/can afford? 

We also went to a pretty big market somewhere in Windhoek, which was a new experience for most of us. I hate American tourists who go to "cultural" places to gawk at things they don't understand and make a big deal out of everything. But this weekend, I was totally that person. Notable experiences in the market included eating a mopane (?) worm, walking past a row of very recognizable cow heads for sale, and trying a sip of some sort of fermented milk beverage. These things were interesting to try and I'm glad we did, but it also makes me cringe to think about the faces that some of us made in the process, and the way that our actions could have come off to others watching us. (There were definitely lots of people watching the large group of white people walking around the marketplace looking confused.) I think that it's important that we are learning about the local culture, which does include markets like this. But it's a new feeling, for me and I think for many of the PCTs, to know we're being seen as little more than privileged white tourists. And, I guess, to know that at this point that's basically still what we are.

Homestay

DESCRIPTION

Homestay, living with a host family for 7 weeks, is an important part of PST. We learn how to live with a local family, practice speaking a local language with them, and get to know part of the community. 

SPECS

Regularly in my house are my host mom, Alta (51), her daughter, Esme (27), and HER son, Cayleb (turned 8 months old on Sunday, and just learned to pull himself up to a standing position!). Alta has another daughter who lives in town, who has a 3 year old daughter. Alta was born in South Africa but is now Namibian, and her kids are Namibian. None of these women has ever been married.

We live in a location (poor suburb neighborhood) called Nau-Aib, about 3 miles from the center of Okahandja. I think I have about the best setup of any of the PCTs, featuring a hot water heater that can be turned on before bathing, a real bathtub that I can fill up, a washing machine (you have to rinse and dry clothes by hand, but still), and the most wonderful host family ever.

DESCRIPTION

Let me tell you, homestay is a lot more than just part of training.

My host family is amazing. I am already part of the family and I feel totally at home here. Alta has hosted volunteers before, and is an expert on providing guidance while realizing I'm an adult and giving me lots of freedom to do what I want. She's also spoiling me rotten--letting me think I'm helping with the dishes and laundry, but really doing everything she can to make me happy and comfortable. She's also awesome at listening to my horrible Afrikaans with minimal laughter, a kindness which I think basically speaks for itself.

Esme is also really great. We've already spent several hours talking about this, that, or the other thing. Today after my Sunday long run, I brought home a friend unannounced so that we could finish up our conversation (yeah, long runs provide the same wonderful opportunity for airing out grievances here in Namibia). Esme chastised me just for apologizing afterwards, because "this is your home" and "you should feel comfortable" and "ti's not a big deal." Absolutely wonderful!

A brief history lesson, and its relevance to education today

As a part of the SUPEP (Secondary and Upper Primary Education Program) within PC Nam, we've been getting some lessons on the history of the region of Namibia, as well as the educational history of the country. I realize that's kind of a boring topic for a blog post, (so if you're not interested, stop reading now!) but I think that it is really interesting and will really strongly effect the experience that we have here. It's very, very intriguing the ways that the recent colonial history of Namibia continues to affect the everyday lives of the people here.

I won't go through a thorough history of Namibia, since it's probably pretty boring to anyone who isn't living here! Suffice it to say that the entire region used to be inhabited solely by the San people (commonly known as "Bushmen," but that's now considered a derogatory term). Other tribes slowly moved in, and the local culture was also influenced by different colonial powers and missionary groups.

I always think of Namibia as a peaceful country--at least for Africa, it's been pretty stable for awhile. Namibia is something of a melting pot of cultures, since there are so many different tribes and groups of people living in one state. However, the last century or so was quite bloody. While the tribes tended to stay pretty isolated, colonial powers (Germany before WWI and South Africa after) imposing their will on locals led to many conflicts. The influence of Apartheid during South African rule can still be felt today, especially since Namibia only gained political autonomy in 1990.

Despite the existence of many different groups of people, Namibians now are very protective of their culture. Just 2 years ago, the body of a woman named Sarah was returned from a French museum. Her body was taken to France in the early 1900s as an example of the uncivilized African people and the physical differences exhibited in an African woman's shape (she was one of over 300 individuals collected by Germans on whom to perform "scientific experiments").

The culture of education in Namibia has also changed drastically over the last 100 years. Following the political history, English only became the national language 20 years ago. "Mother tongues" are still used to teach grades 1-5. Usually these languages are divided by physical region, and cities like Windhoek tend to exhibit isolated communities of different racial groups and mother tongues. The classroom language in Namibia abruptly switches to English in grade 6. It's hard for students to pick up English, because using English outside the classroom can be seen as an attempt to appear high-class. Additionally, many of the older generations do not speak English well and cannot help their children to improve this component of their education.

Colonialism, racism, and Apartheid in Namibia also have resulted in nonuniform education across the country. Missionary schools in the late 1800s did not teach advanced math or science, but simultaneously limited the amount of traditional education passed down from parent to child within some communities. Schools have been segregated, with white students receiving many more resources, through independence in 1990. The Education for All Act effectively demanded a reform of the entire educational system and an end to discrimination. Most recently, Vision 2030 is tied to the UN sustainable development goals and strives to promote social justice, science education, and health and development.

As PCVs, we will work within this educational structure to try to help Vision 2030 become a reality. Still, other issues like alternative teaching strategies, classroom management, and student motivation need to be addressed by schools before the idealistic, if commendable, goals of Vision 2030 can be realized.

That's it for now! I'm going to go enjoy a steaming cup of coffee that my host mom, Alta, just made me since it's a little chilly in the house right. I'll post an update on my new "homestay" living situation soon!

We made it!

Well, we've been here in Namibia for about 4 days, and I think I'm in love with it.

Since day 1 in Philly, my training group of 35 members has been absolutely wonderful. It was crazy to meet so many strangers from very different backgrounds, and still being able to connect with them almost immediately.

After our LONG day(s) of travel, we got through customs in Windhoek, Namibia to be welcomed, with song, by about 10 of our training staff. We took a ~2 hour bus ride through Windhoek, through lots of desert, to our hostel in Okahandja (a reasonably big town of 14,000).

We've already been spending pretty full days in training, although so far it's felt like the first day of school where you get introduced to each teacher but don't really do anything... Our training staff is wonderful, though. They're very friendly and easy to talk to, and most of them are Namibian, so they're really knowledgeable about all of the cultural stuff.

We start language training on Tuesday - yesterday we each had individual interviews with the staff so that they could decide our placements. There are 7 placements for math teachers, most of which have secondary projects involving computers/technology, library development, and other after school clubs. Sadly, none of the Group 36 members are being placed in areas using Nama or the other click languages.

Right now, we're off for the morning, so about half of our group is in the Garden Cafe, a western-style cafe just down the street from our training site (free internet if you buy something!) Yesterday, one of the locals working here introduced himself to my roommate, Marie, and me, wanting to know all about the Peace Corps and why we were here. So many people in this town already know who we are!

It's interesting being in a town. It feels much more modern than I imagined, although not having phones or internet most of the time is .. well, honestly, kind of a nice break. Okahandja has a nice little downtown and several markets that we haven't made it to yet during the day. We've been running through the town early in the morning, which is a cool way to see what's there before it gets busy. Being in town does mean that we haven't seen many of the barren desert landscapes that show up in pictures of Namibia, or that we hear about from the GrinnellCorps fellows!

We meet a member of our host families on Monday, and move in with them on Tuesday. I'm interested to see what my new family is like, and how it is living with them for the next 2 months!

Thanks so much to everyone who's been staying in touch, I love hearing from you all!

Namibia-bound

It's my last day in Collegeville! Spent with family and friends, as it should be...

My schedule for the next few days looks pretty horrendous, but in case you're curious, it should look something like this:
-Tomorrow (Monday), meet up with my fellow Peace Corps Namibia trainees in Philly around noon. (Some of them had to fly in today from around the country in order to make it on time!) We have a few hours of orientation and paperwork, then they put us up in the hotel for a few hours.
-Tuesday, 2am, leave the airport and drive to NYC
-hang out in the airport for something like 6 hours
-15 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa
-5 hours in the Joburg airport
-1 hr flight to Windhoek, Namibia
-bus/shuttle/car/some form of transportation to Okahandja, where our 2 months of pre-service training (PST) will be held
-promptly begin training, meeting host families, etc.!

I'm definitely nervous to leave home for so long, but mostly just excited to meet all of the other folks who I'll be going to Namibia with, and to finally experience this country I've been hearing so much about!

Getting Ready

Hi everyone! I'm writing this post from home as a kind of test for my blog. I'm about one week out from my staging (July 23 in Philly) and departure (July 24) dates. After such a long application process, it's mind-boggling that I'm actually about to leave for Africa. I'm insanely excited as well as terrified, since it's hard to know really what to expect.

As you might expect, though, I'm starting to contemplate the big chore that packing will be... We're limited to 2 suitcases and 80 lbs. of luggage, and while it doesn't look like I'll probably hit that weight limit, it's interesting to see what sorts of items wind up being important enough to make the cut. I'm grateful for the advice of current Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) in Namibia, and I look forward to actually meeting these wonderful people who are already looking out for us!