From Mukuwa to Mr. Scott

Well I finally transferred from being the Mukuwa of Divundu to being Mr. Scott, Social Studies and English teacher. I began my tenure as a teacher last Monday with three 8th grade English classes and three 8th grade physical science classes. While both classes have complete and very thorough syllabi, sample lesson plans, and sample assessments, the school lacks any capacity to effectively carry out a class successful. I began my English class, by speaking and the kids just glaring back at me. According to the syllabus, they should be reading a novel, reading poems, and giving oral presentations. In actuality, they barely know how to carry out a full conversation. In my physical science class, I examined the well-written syllabus with delight, then I asked for the textbook. Indeed, they did have a textbook, however it consisted of doing labs with chemicals, experiments with test tubes, and measuring with a scale…all of which we did not have any.

Despite this, I knew when I coming here that it would be a challenge. So, I rolled up my sleeves and began teaching. In English, I had the students write a letters to me, so I could assess their level. Surprisingly, each one wrote very intimate letters and took their time describing their life. From AIDS, to lack a food, to working in the farm after school, to losing a parent to TB, Malaria, or another illness, these kids have really been through a lot. Currently, we working on simple sentence structures, but I am trying to make the class fun. Today we listened to Michael Jackson (their favorite artist) and I gave them lyrics to the songs and they circled/underlined the verbs, the adjectives, the prepositions, the nouns, and subjects. The day before we read an article on the World Cup in the Namibian newspaper. I think I am finally making headway with them. Ultimately, they had an opening for a 5th, 6th, and 7th grade social studies teacher, so immediately switched from physical science to social studies. Now I am beginning to develop lesson plans for the rest of my months here to make the classes fun and interesting.

The school day is from 6:50 am to 1:00 pm, then the students have an hour break for a very mini lunch, then they afternoon study, where they sit in their class and do their homework and study. Around 3:30 pm I am beat, so I head over to the village bar (it’s no Mantra, Jtree, or Brass Monkey), to watch the world cup games and have an afternoon beer (Windhoek Lager is the Namibian beer- tastes like rolling rock).

On Friday night, a few 10th graders (could be anywhere from 16-21 years old) and me organized an extravaganza night. I bought balloons, apples, and lots of rice. We did bobbing for apples, a dance competition, a singing competition, and a food eating competition (wish it could have been beer pong and flip cup, ha but they were too young). I asked the principal if they could stay up till midnight, and with permission, everything went to plan! All day they are yelled at by their teachers for not performing and at night they suffer in boredom without anything to do besides soccer or talk to one another, so this was definitely an escape. I worked it out with the staff that we can hopefully do this every other Friday. Should be fun.

Other than that, the teachers and students have been amazing towards me. On Sunday, one of the teachers friends had a car so they took me all around the Divundu area. Since I live on a beautiful river, there are 4 star lodges, where the white South Africans/Namibians come up for holiday. They drove us to one, where we got a beer and watched the sunrset and viewed hippos splashing in the water. To top it off we crossed the border into Botswana, which is 10km from my house. Along the way I saw warthogs, Kudu, Spingbok, and herds of zebras. Unbelievable!! I wish I could share this experience with all of you, or if I could just show you my daily life. It’s amazing!

Hope all is well, keep me updated on your lives.

Miss you all

Scott