Time Flies

Although Namibia is not famous for its Halloween celebrations, I still had to bring some of the Halloween spirit to the deserts of northern Namibia. Explaining about the ghosts and witches of Halloween didn’t go over to well with my learners, as most here believe in witchcraft and witch doctors. But, I brought in some candy to my classes to explain the festive nature of the holiday. Anything with candy, is a fun day for the learners. On the Friday of Halloween weekend I hitch hiked to the town 200k from me, Rundu, to meet 5 other volunteers from the region, where we would ultimately travel another 400km to meet up with 20 other volunteers from WorldTeach. While this was part a Halloween celebration it was also our end of service conference to prepare for our arrival back in the USA. The gathering was in Tsumeb, a developed town with malls, restaurants, parks, etc. Friday night we all dressed up in costumes (I was a thug as you can see in the picture- every part was borrowed from my learners), drank, and hung out at the hostel. On Saturday, we had workshops all day, and finished the day off with a nice dinner at a hotel. On Sunday, I was already back in good ol Divundu.

Now that it is the month of November, I am finally realizing that it is the beginning of the end of my time here as I will be leaving village-life on December 9th. In the classroom, we finished the syllabus in all my classes and now we are reviewing for the end of year exams in 2 weeks. After school, I have been working on a few projects with the very generous donations I have received. My first goal was to get a sign for the front of the school for people to know that there is a school here. Even though we are not in the bush, from the tarred road you can’t even see a school. I found a welding company in Rundu, and they made a street sign for us, and it is already placed in front of the school- looking great! My second goal is to fix our library, our lack their of. We have a classroom with 2 shelves of books, in no specific order, thrown all about. I ordered paint, a sofa, and dictionaries and they have all been delivered here at school. Over the next week I will be fixing up the room to make it a more inviting place for the kids to read.

As many of you know, I love current events and the news, even thousands of miles from home. Everyday, I buy The Namibian, the national newspaper for Namibia, to keep myself updated. After I read it, I usually give it to my learners to glance at the pictures or read an article in my class. I always thought it would be great if the school could get the newspaper delivered everyday, but the problem was the expense. After much calling and emailing with the head of marketing at The Namibian, they agreed to find a sponsor who would pay for Divundu Combined School’s subscription to the newspaper everyday. Starting at the end of the month, the school will begin to receive the newspaper, sponsored by OneAfrica TV station. It will be an awesome addition to the library.

The final part of the money I plan to put with school soccer team. Soccer is played everyday afterschool and is a great outlet for the learners not to go to the shebeen (bar). The ball they use now is made out of plastic bags and a deflated ball that is 2 years old. Soccer balls and some uniforms would help them a lot. As much as I love helping out at the school with the donations, it is definitely not an easy task. Due to our location, purchasing books, buying hardware, and renovating a room, becomes 1000 times harder. But, seeing how much progress a simple coat of paint or a dozen new soccer balls does, really makes me want to do more. Thank you everyone for all your.

This weekend I will be traveling to Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, coastal cities that are former colonial cities, so they have a large German influence. They are supposed to be gorgeous. I will be going with another teacher from school who is one of my good friends.

Hope it isn’t too cold in NYC…its about 115 degrees here!

Peace

Scott