We've been traveling through Namibia & South Africa for just over a week now and are having an amazing time whilst eating summer fruit (peaches, watermelon, plums, corn)...and we've just entered the Western Cape and are seeing something we haven't in a long time...green! It's amazing and today, after a year hiatus, we hope to see the ocean. So cool!
Leaving the village was sad as so many kids came by and were obviously upset that this was it as we had been their playmates for the last year. We gave away some of our stuff & clothes and decks of cards and harmonica lessons were taught successfully by Eve and were a hit!
Then off to Etosha where we saw the most spectacular lightning ever as well as Leopard, a lion family with cubs & kill and many new creatures for us (Cape Fox, etc.)
Then off to our favourite mountain Spitzkoppe, through Windhoek and down through the desert. Yesterday we had a day of hiking in the Cedarburg Mountains which was great after some long days. Tonight fish & the sea, tomorrow Cape Town!
Looking forward to seeing and hearing from many of you...we'll be home the 22nd and there are plans for a few gatherings. Looking forward to Double Chocolate Porter, Tofu, black beans, mexican food and some beautiful cold weather!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
The Learning Centre
Thanks to your support through your donations, the tireless work of a few teachers at my school, and speedy reimbursement & communication with WorldTeach, the learning centre at Omugwelume J.S.S is up and running and looks terrific! Even as our school year closes I’ve had learners in there every day trying it out and they love it! The funds flew in during October and once I was sure that this was going to happen, we started cleaning out the room. I found the electricity in working order, but the room ugly, with a large termite hole in one corner. So drywall patching equipment was bought, and paint & termite killer to start us off.
Next was a journey to the local big city of Oshakati with my principal and Mr. Haindobo, who fortunately happens to be a part-time builder in addition to his teaching job. We bought many items for the infrastructure of the centre: boards & cement supports for shelves, a large metal
security door, benches, etc. Once those were installed, we brought in spare metal tables & we were ready to begin with the audio equipment.
Next was a journey to the local big city of Oshakati with my principal and Mr. Haindobo, who fortunately happens to be a part-time builder in addition to his teaching job. We bought many items for the infrastructure of the centre: boards & cement supports for shelves, a large metal
security door, benches, etc. Once those were installed, we brought in spare metal tables & we were ready to begin with the audio equipment.Now we have 4 CD players, some which play MP3s and some with Cassette players. We added security cables to keep them from being stolen, a lockbox to store all the items. I added a few beauty items like curtains (also for security) and tablecloths. Now in our cupboard we have more than 100 CD’s and cassettes and capacity for 13 headsets & splitters to be used. The kids have be
en in it and have listened to short stories, novels & music for hours at a time. I am so happy, and glad that John & Eve (Chris’ family) could bring over so much of your donations when they came to visit us.
en in it and have listened to short stories, novels & music for hours at a time. I am so happy, and glad that John & Eve (Chris’ family) could bring over so much of your donations when they came to visit us.I ended the year with a teacher training for all teachers interested and had a fun scavenger hunt of the room to learn about it. They had a fun time even though they originally thought they were too busy with marking. And I’ve created a schedule & system and put some teachers and learners in charge of it so that it will run next year.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Looking Forward, Looking Back
"From the day we arrived on this planet,
And blinking steppped into the sun
There's more to see, than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be done.
There's far to much to take in here,
More to find than can ever be found.
But the sun rollin' high, in the sapphire sky
It's way too small, on the endless bound" --Elton John (The Lion King)
I can't describe how it feels these days, and perhaps the lion king can do it best with the description of the red African sunset like outside our home each night that seems to be counting down the days. The feeling that we're almost done, and that its been a terrific journey is certainly there. We can't do everything that can be done here and although I can see ways that I could continue to make a huge difference here, more than I could in many ways than at home, what we've managed to accomplish this year is, I think, as much as we could have. I've put in place some programs that will enhance the learning experiences at my school after I'm gone, have sided with the administration when it was clear we needed to crack down ondiscipline of teachers and learners, and confronted him when it was clear his own behavior was unhealthy for the school. I've created a sustainable library program that will now run for the next 2 years without much effort from the teachers. And I've shown a few hundred learners and my fellow teachers some extremely different teaching methods to what they are used to. Now its up to my fellow Namibians to use what they find the most beneficial, and to improve their country's education system.
My school's learning centre is almost complete except for a few items that John and Eve will be bringing in just over a week. It looks amazing and I hope to have pics up here before I go. Thank you everyone. I even had extra money to purchase a dvd player, so now my school can show educational programs....when the power is on, of course!
We're marking exams and invigilating...and that consumes most of our time these days. I find myself trying to plan for what's next and counting down. Here are the countdowns:
-30 days left in Africa
-9 school days left
-9 days until John and Eve arrive in Omungwelume
It's really unbelievable!
And blinking steppped into the sun
There's more to see, than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be done.
There's far to much to take in here,
More to find than can ever be found.
But the sun rollin' high, in the sapphire sky
It's way too small, on the endless bound" --Elton John (The Lion King)
I can't describe how it feels these days, and perhaps the lion king can do it best with the description of the red African sunset like outside our home each night that seems to be counting down the days. The feeling that we're almost done, and that its been a terrific journey is certainly there. We can't do everything that can be done here and although I can see ways that I could continue to make a huge difference here, more than I could in many ways than at home, what we've managed to accomplish this year is, I think, as much as we could have. I've put in place some programs that will enhance the learning experiences at my school after I'm gone, have sided with the administration when it was clear we needed to crack down ondiscipline of teachers and learners, and confronted him when it was clear his own behavior was unhealthy for the school. I've created a sustainable library program that will now run for the next 2 years without much effort from the teachers. And I've shown a few hundred learners and my fellow teachers some extremely different teaching methods to what they are used to. Now its up to my fellow Namibians to use what they find the most beneficial, and to improve their country's education system.
My school's learning centre is almost complete except for a few items that John and Eve will be bringing in just over a week. It looks amazing and I hope to have pics up here before I go. Thank you everyone. I even had extra money to purchase a dvd player, so now my school can show educational programs....when the power is on, of course!
We're marking exams and invigilating...and that consumes most of our time these days. I find myself trying to plan for what's next and counting down. Here are the countdowns:
-30 days left in Africa
-9 school days left
-9 days until John and Eve arrive in Omungwelume
It's really unbelievable!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
This week was marked by being a complete reversal of my experience at Omungwelume JSS this term. Leaving me at the end of term feeling like I've really made a difference, that I'm going to be missed, that I'm still creating changes and I'll leave something positive long after I'm gone.As other teachers stop teaching or do tests, and too much review, I've been still actively engaging my classes. Now that teachers are being cajoled into the classrooms, the discipline problems are much reduced. So I tried something a little different. We learned about renewable energy in Geography so we built and cooked on solar ovens. This may sound simple, but it blew their minds that the sun could cook food (albeit slowly). The idea of doing it cheaply is cool too and now most of my learners are vying to "win" the solar ovens in a draw next week. We cooked porridge (in Owambo, porridge or Oshifiima is made of mahangu or maize)...this "Jungle Oat" porridge they think is hilarious--- the Oshiloombu "white person's" porridge. So even though it only half cooked they fought like wolfhounds over ever last morsal...(of course they're not all fully nourished so they'd eat anything...even chalk). We heated up our solar shower and they thought that was amazing too...the whole school was flocking to see this "phenomenon". One learner put it real nice... "Oh, miss, you are so knowledgeable...you bring us new ideas, new technology!" I'd love work on a project how solar could be better utilized cheaply in places with ample sun....it really just seems so logical. Sounds like a masters maybe? :) Hahahaha....
Today was the last Friday of class so I held a library "party". All my library helpers came and all I had to do was announce it and feed them a cookie and some juice, let them listen to music for a few hours and they worked worked worked. Our library is well-labeled, ship shape and ready for next year. Together, Chris and I found two of his book-aholics going into Grade 12 at his school to run my library next year in case there is no volunteer or super-human teacher to run it and teach a full load. So they have been coming and training with me. I'm pretty proud about that. Sustainability of these things is key. So we had an amazing time hanging out with my favourite learners. I miss them already and will remember today forever.
Whilst that was going on, I was feeding Mr. Haindobo while he laboured on my new Learning Listening Centre room. He's patched the hole and today he scraped and painted it a light blue, and fixed the door handle. We're well on our way now. Once the shelves are up I'll be home free. Hooray! I don't think I'll ever be able to this easily feel like superwoman with such simple ideas. It's fantastic!
Oh, one more day highlight...teaching my 8D's the double meaning of "ass" and how to insult each other. I'm not sure which one they think is ruder...being called a bum or a donkey? There's about equal numbers of both here so its a real toss up...donkeys can be real dumb. Thanks Helen for a great story from Brothers Grimm which kicked this discussion off! :)))))Tuesday, November 3, 2009
From Hell to Hope
Two weeks ago I had one of the most difficult weeks of my life...and certainly the most difficult school-days ever. Those who have read my previous blog may have noticed that my term was spirally down a difficult and frightening path. It got a lot worse, in ways that I hope even my fellow Canadian teachers will never experience. From October 19-23 two events plagued my week: public displays of corporal punishment and mass hysteria.
Corporal punishment in Namibia is illegal but until independence was the encouraged method of discipline so its still around to varying degrees at most schools (although it seems Chris' school has completely done away with it). It exists through a few teachers at my school and usually manifests itself when teachers get angry from blatant disrespect by learners or mass-bad behavior (when most of a class starts running around and fighting, which is a regular part of my day these days). I've intervened a few times which is frightening but so many things are surprising and new here that I accept that as one of my jobs. However, on Monday I witnessed learners being forced to beat each other so that my school could get around the corporal punishment law (a learner a few weeks ago went to the police about it). Something inside me just snapped and I realized that I had to confront the principal. I developed over the rest of the week an action plan and I'm happy to say I think, due to the positive efforts of my principal, it's going to work. Anyway, that way my Monday.
Wednesday my week went from awful to what I refer to as "Hell on Earth". My school came down with a disease that Chris' school contracted last term which we call "The Eengedjo Disease" (after the school's name) and can only be best understood as being Mass Hysteria. Mass hysteria is when physical changes occur to someone that appear to have a physical cause yet no known cause can be found. I'm stil finding this hard to wrap my head around as it really seems like an illness. Our disease manifests itself only in girls, usually, but not exclusively the hard-working ones, and is a nervous tick in the head, a violent jerking of an arm or leg or a twitching of the whole body. On Monday, one of my best, most favorite learners came down with it really bad to the point that she had to be restrained and was hallucinating saying she was being attached (think schitsophrenia symptoms). I held her between blocks while she fought us and cried and we could do nothing for her except try to keep her calm and warm. This is a girl who gets top marks in school, who is a fantastic in the classroom and who I have rational conversations with all the time so it was extremely difficult to watch her go through this. The administration wouldn't take her home-- a parent had to be found and both her parents are ill and one's deaf and were very difficult to reach.
The end result is that eventually the whole school saw this and pandemonium broke out. Bored, deprived village learners keen on seeing something interesting gawked, left class or ran and screamed...which added pressure and fear to more learners. By break more than 10 girls had the disease and by the end of the day more than 20. Some went home, and some stayed it out as technically mental illness in Namibia is not deemed an illness and learners are not to be excused...which is bullshit and didn't help with my already spiralling day. We were supposed to continue teaching, which I did, as I figured trying to normalize the classroom for my learners was the best way to prevent further outbreaks. But let me tell you it wasn't easy. I cannot remember ever feeling so emmotionally drained and being so tense as when I came home that day.
Fortunately, after a weekend with my fellow WorldTeach volunteers at our end of service conference I came back energized and to a school that had basically returned to normal. Most of my learners seem completely fine this week...a few are still suffering minorly and can be set off, but the school is dealing with the problem. I confronted my principal about teacher absenses, lateness to school and class, lack of a good discipline plan in the school and corporal punishment and this week I have seen him taking on teachers who are late or absent, heard his words of encouragement at a staff meeting, and seen him working on the learners to behave in a non-violent way. All encouraging signs as well as him carrying around the documents on corporal punishment that I distributed to him. I want my school to take it a little further than than, but for now its a promising start. What a week, what a month!
Still learning more than I thought possible and with only 5 weeks left to go! This week's task: patching a termite hole and building shelves for my learning centre. Wish me luck!!
Corporal punishment in Namibia is illegal but until independence was the encouraged method of discipline so its still around to varying degrees at most schools (although it seems Chris' school has completely done away with it). It exists through a few teachers at my school and usually manifests itself when teachers get angry from blatant disrespect by learners or mass-bad behavior (when most of a class starts running around and fighting, which is a regular part of my day these days). I've intervened a few times which is frightening but so many things are surprising and new here that I accept that as one of my jobs. However, on Monday I witnessed learners being forced to beat each other so that my school could get around the corporal punishment law (a learner a few weeks ago went to the police about it). Something inside me just snapped and I realized that I had to confront the principal. I developed over the rest of the week an action plan and I'm happy to say I think, due to the positive efforts of my principal, it's going to work. Anyway, that way my Monday.
Wednesday my week went from awful to what I refer to as "Hell on Earth". My school came down with a disease that Chris' school contracted last term which we call "The Eengedjo Disease" (after the school's name) and can only be best understood as being Mass Hysteria. Mass hysteria is when physical changes occur to someone that appear to have a physical cause yet no known cause can be found. I'm stil finding this hard to wrap my head around as it really seems like an illness. Our disease manifests itself only in girls, usually, but not exclusively the hard-working ones, and is a nervous tick in the head, a violent jerking of an arm or leg or a twitching of the whole body. On Monday, one of my best, most favorite learners came down with it really bad to the point that she had to be restrained and was hallucinating saying she was being attached (think schitsophrenia symptoms). I held her between blocks while she fought us and cried and we could do nothing for her except try to keep her calm and warm. This is a girl who gets top marks in school, who is a fantastic in the classroom and who I have rational conversations with all the time so it was extremely difficult to watch her go through this. The administration wouldn't take her home-- a parent had to be found and both her parents are ill and one's deaf and were very difficult to reach.
The end result is that eventually the whole school saw this and pandemonium broke out. Bored, deprived village learners keen on seeing something interesting gawked, left class or ran and screamed...which added pressure and fear to more learners. By break more than 10 girls had the disease and by the end of the day more than 20. Some went home, and some stayed it out as technically mental illness in Namibia is not deemed an illness and learners are not to be excused...which is bullshit and didn't help with my already spiralling day. We were supposed to continue teaching, which I did, as I figured trying to normalize the classroom for my learners was the best way to prevent further outbreaks. But let me tell you it wasn't easy. I cannot remember ever feeling so emmotionally drained and being so tense as when I came home that day.
Fortunately, after a weekend with my fellow WorldTeach volunteers at our end of service conference I came back energized and to a school that had basically returned to normal. Most of my learners seem completely fine this week...a few are still suffering minorly and can be set off, but the school is dealing with the problem. I confronted my principal about teacher absenses, lateness to school and class, lack of a good discipline plan in the school and corporal punishment and this week I have seen him taking on teachers who are late or absent, heard his words of encouragement at a staff meeting, and seen him working on the learners to behave in a non-violent way. All encouraging signs as well as him carrying around the documents on corporal punishment that I distributed to him. I want my school to take it a little further than than, but for now its a promising start. What a week, what a month!
Still learning more than I thought possible and with only 5 weeks left to go! This week's task: patching a termite hole and building shelves for my learning centre. Wish me luck!!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
3rd Term Madness!
Yesterday was the prime example of how orderly schooling can descend into chaos. Third term is generally viewed as a "free" term, where academics aren't as important, you can be lazier and generally its to hot to teach or learn. This strikes us as odd as it culminates in final exams which can be anywhere from 50% to 100% of the learner's grade. Why not stop learning and teaching and erupt into general chaos?
Fridays are the worst because after a week of half-assed learning, you need a break, and that break might as well start on Friday at block 3 of 8. There also seems to be a large number of non-promotionals (art, lifeskills, PE classes, etc.) on this day which most teachers have not taught all year (because they don't need to give the learners a mark). Those of us teaching fridays 3rd term, therefore, get a little taste of hell. I teach 7 classes out of 8 this day, making it my busiest.
This Friday 2 blocks went fine. Then in the third, after going over the instructions I had an open fistfight between 3 boys (all speaking in Oshikwanyama...so who's at fault? who knows). Then one boy openly defied my instructions, refused to give me back my print out when I told him he was to get zero, and in the end was suspended.
I walk out of this class to see my school having an early break (we have break after 4th period)...2 teachers out of 13 classes are teaching that I can see. I march around trying to get learners in their class while dragging my suspension boy with me....where are the teachers? I bounce into the principals office and warn him that chaos is erupting. 10 minutes later a fight breaks out on the school ground and the entire school evacuates their classes to watch. Um, did I call that?
Things settle down for a bit but end with my best class trying to fight me to leave. They were being noisy so I insisted we had to stay until they were quiet and had heard the comments from their peers. 20 minutes later we were still their and kids were still yelling and refusing to be quiet. There is definitely more of a "get up and fight authority" atmosphere here than a reason and follow instruction. Part of the rebellion side has served them well...it helped end the apartheid teachings in South Africa. But, there needs to be some reasoning on when to fight and when to submit. An interesting but frustrating cultural experience.
Anyway, I am enjoying most things about teaching, but I'm counting the number of Friday's I have left to teach....2!
Fridays are the worst because after a week of half-assed learning, you need a break, and that break might as well start on Friday at block 3 of 8. There also seems to be a large number of non-promotionals (art, lifeskills, PE classes, etc.) on this day which most teachers have not taught all year (because they don't need to give the learners a mark). Those of us teaching fridays 3rd term, therefore, get a little taste of hell. I teach 7 classes out of 8 this day, making it my busiest.
This Friday 2 blocks went fine. Then in the third, after going over the instructions I had an open fistfight between 3 boys (all speaking in Oshikwanyama...so who's at fault? who knows). Then one boy openly defied my instructions, refused to give me back my print out when I told him he was to get zero, and in the end was suspended.
I walk out of this class to see my school having an early break (we have break after 4th period)...2 teachers out of 13 classes are teaching that I can see. I march around trying to get learners in their class while dragging my suspension boy with me....where are the teachers? I bounce into the principals office and warn him that chaos is erupting. 10 minutes later a fight breaks out on the school ground and the entire school evacuates their classes to watch. Um, did I call that?
Things settle down for a bit but end with my best class trying to fight me to leave. They were being noisy so I insisted we had to stay until they were quiet and had heard the comments from their peers. 20 minutes later we were still their and kids were still yelling and refusing to be quiet. There is definitely more of a "get up and fight authority" atmosphere here than a reason and follow instruction. Part of the rebellion side has served them well...it helped end the apartheid teachings in South Africa. But, there needs to be some reasoning on when to fight and when to submit. An interesting but frustrating cultural experience.
Anyway, I am enjoying most things about teaching, but I'm counting the number of Friday's I have left to teach....2!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The Ondangwa 10K
This morning we ran in the Ondangwa 5km/10km Fun Race sponsored by Beaver Canoe Canada (that's actually an exclusive clothing store in Namibia!). There were several hundred people running, most of them school children running the 5km fun run. Many of these kids, having no idea how far 5km was, sprinted the first 200 metres and then slowed to a walk for the rest of the race. The race was free for them and they got a free hat, T-shirt, and a coke. They were thrilled.
In the 10km race, there were only about 20 of us. They ranged from dedicated athletes to teenage boys in good shape to two white foreigners (that would be us). The elite athletes sprinted off ahead of us and probably would compete very well in the TC 10K at home. One of the girls had no shoes and still finished in under 40 minutes. Chloe and I plodded along near the back. We passed a few people near the end but they then disappeared and did not finish the race, so we continued to pull up the rear. However, I now have my souvenir T-shirt from a race that cost less than 1 Canadian dollar.
We talked to the race coordinator afterwards and told him we were from Canada. He mentioned that he went to Victoria for the Commonwealth Games in 1994. It was the first time that Namibia competed as a nation. Cool!
In the 10km race, there were only about 20 of us. They ranged from dedicated athletes to teenage boys in good shape to two white foreigners (that would be us). The elite athletes sprinted off ahead of us and probably would compete very well in the TC 10K at home. One of the girls had no shoes and still finished in under 40 minutes. Chloe and I plodded along near the back. We passed a few people near the end but they then disappeared and did not finish the race, so we continued to pull up the rear. However, I now have my souvenir T-shirt from a race that cost less than 1 Canadian dollar.
We talked to the race coordinator afterwards and told him we were from Canada. He mentioned that he went to Victoria for the Commonwealth Games in 1994. It was the first time that Namibia competed as a nation. Cool!
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