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

Mukuwa! Mukuwa!

After my two weeks of orientation, I finally made it to my village of Divundu. On Tuesday, a Ministry of Education vehicle picked up me and the other semester volunteer at 8 am and we set out for our VERY long journey. We would first travel to Rundu, the major’ city in the Kavango region, then part ways. I am 2 hours to the west of Rundu and she is 1 hour to the east of Rundu. The ride up was….barren. Once we were 10k outside the capital, the scenery was desert, then mountains, then desert again. At Rundu, I hopped in a new car and headed towards Divundu in the darkness. I knew I was leaving civilization when we were forced to go very slow due to cattle, donkeys, goats, and dogs crossing the road.
At my village it was nearly impossible to see anything. I was brought to my house by one of the teachers. I am living in a teachers house right behind the school. It is a cement house with a bathroom, a ‘kitchen’ (no refrigerator or stove- just hotplates), and three bedrooms. Two other female teachers and the niece of one with 2 children occupy the two other bedrooms. My room is small box with a locker in it.
Wednesday was the ‘Day for the African Child’, which honors the rights granted to all children. The students had off that day but they performed traditional dances and gave speeches. We were told that the Minister of Education would come and give a speech to our school, so we waited…and waited…and waited (in the blazing sun!). Yet, he did not show up. After school, one of the teachers invited me over for dinner and to show me around the village. The school, which I will be teaching at, is a combined school, in which it has grades 1-10 and the students live at the school. The village is on the Okavango River, a beautiful river dividing Angola and Namibia, and has hippos and crocs. The town has a petrol station and a market, and spread out huts, where the people live. 90% of the population here are subsistence farmers.
On Thursday, I woke up early to travel into Rundu to get my tax id number so I would be able to get paid. Getting into Rundu is a bit of adventure as the only way to get there is by hitch hiking. While this may seem like suicide in the states, it is extremely normal here as it is the only real mode of transport in the rural areas. Therefore, I put my hand up and hitchhiked in car with 4 other people inside. On the way home, I did the same thing, kinda cool and I will definitely be meeting some interesting characters through it. At night, the power went out in the village, so I was stuck using my flashlight and trying to fill out paperwork at the same time.
On Friday and Saturday I attended a big cultural competition at the local Youth Center. 15 schools from the nearby area all came to showcase their traditional dancing. The first day I thought I could walk there, and 6k later, I was burnt and exhausted. My learners (students), all acted out traditional stories and performed dances in costume. It was great! I also got to meet a peace corp volunteer who has been working there for 1.5 years. Good to see another American nearby!
As for the name of this entry, Mukuwa. The people in my village speak a language called Mbukushu. In that language mukuwa means white man. Since it is VERY rare for a white person to be in the village, whenever I walk by people will whisper mukuwa, or kids will scream it. Not offensively, just out of curiosity, and ha because it is true, I am the only white person for miles.
The principal is out on leave till Monday, so I will not begin teaching till Tuesday but it looks like I will be teaching 5-7th grader Social Studies, and upper level English.

Miss all of you.

-The Mukuwa of Divundu

Ame Yame Scott (My name is Scott in MBushuku, my language)

For the past 2 weeks, I have been in Windhoek, Namibia (the capital) at a backpackers hostel for orientation. Each morning and afternoon we have ‘class’ with our field director to discuss the culture of Namibia, take a lesson on the language of the people I will be living with, and tour downtown Windhoek.
The city itself is pretty developed, with a few malls, KFC, hospitals, markets, nice hotels, all over the area. This past Wednesday we went to witness the racial and economic divide that still exists in Namibia. We first visited a former settlement/township called Katutura, which was set up by the Apartheid regime to keep blacks separate from whites. Even though it is 20 years since Namibia gained independence from South Africa, the area has changed very little. Home to a majority of the Windhoek residents with over 120,000 people; the houses consist of tin shacks, little electricity, and little water. We stopped off a local market where I was able to eat meat cooked on a bbq and dried caterpillars (yum). Next we traveled not more than 10 minutes to the hills over-looking the city. Comparatively, this area was mostly all white, had huge mansions, gated communities, nice restaurants, and BMWs, Lexus, and Range Rovers scattering the streets. Pretty shocking that in such a short distance, two very different worlds exist.
At night, we went to a Herero Tribe (a tribe in the North) Restaurant in Katutura. All the volunteers were greeted with goat heads, in which most of us ate the tongue, the skin, the ear, and the eyes (including me!). We ended dinner by drinking a traditional drink, aka sour milk and dancing with people at the restaurant.
On Friday, with the start of the World Cup, a few volunteers and I went to the mall to pick up some last minute items. Everyone was blowing horns, painted in South African colors, and music was blasting. Later in the day we went to a local bar to watch the Mexico v. South Africa game. Watching it with South Africans, Namibians, and other foreigners was unbelievable. The enthusiasm is contagious. The next night we went to another traditional restaurant, with food consisting of porridge, caterpillars, chicken, and spinach. Even this tiny restaurant set up a projector to watch the USA vs. England game. Amazing!
Now I am awaiting the next part of my journey. I will depart on Tuesday morning for Divundu, Namibia, a 12 hour car ride north of Windhoek. This will be my home for the next six months, as I will be teaching English class at Divundu Combined School to multiple grades. I will be living right on the Okavango River, which separates Namibia and Angola, O, and by the way, it is FILLED with hippos and crocodiles. The closest ‘big’ town is 2 hours away and Victoria Falls (one of the world’s seven wonders), is a 7 hour car ride. So, basically…I am far far away from everything. But, I am looking forward to this experience very much, and can’t wait to share it with all of you.

NEXT STOP: Divundu, Namibia

Keep me updated on all of your lives- skarrel10@gmail.com

-Scott

Welcome to Namibia

Well, I finally made it to Africa. After a 15 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, a 5 hour layover, and a 2 hour flight to Windhoek (the capital of Namibia), I made it to my destination. My greetings to the country, however, was not one that I expected. Despite an hour yelling/crying saga with the Namibian immigration official, I was only granted a one week visa, not the 6 month work visa that I applied for. How this was possible, I do not know. With entry into the country at least, me and a few other volunteers met our field director and went to the hostel where we were staying. The 30 minute drive was spectacular. From that short drive I was already able to see the beautiful landscape of the country.

That night I met the 12 other volunteers who would be in Namibia, had a quick dinner, then quickly fell asleep from exhaustion. The next morning we began our orientation by going into the city. I exchanged money, got a namibian cell phone, and ultimately worked out my visa situation (so all is good now!). At night we went to the bottle shop (liquor store), and a few of us played Kings and watched the laker/celtics game (from the night before)with a few Namibians, (ha not very different from a night at BU). However, once I travel to my village, the experience will be much different, as the electricity is sparing, the tap water is unsafe to drink, and the area is not developed.

Right now, I am currently writing this from my blackberry (crazy right?)

K, off to start another day of orientation.

Scott