Life in Namibia

2007-07-09T14:35:00.000+02:00

Last Days

2007-07-05T11:42:00.000+02:00

Pictures: I tried to upload a bunch of learners and whatnot, not really working, so I got this one up. This is me on our first day of the Nauclauft Hike. Stay tuned over the next week for many, many more pictures.

It has been quite a ride but it seems it is time for me to leave Namibia. I made the choice about 8 days ago and much has happened since then.

I decided to leave last Monday. This was the most difficult decision I have ever made in my life, and I spent many hours pouring over every aspect of the decision. There have been many things that haven’t really been described on this blog. If you are yet unaware, I have kept this blog pretty positive on purpose. I try to reflect my overall feeling about my service on this blog, and the numerous small negatives can sometime portray the wrong image. However, now that my service is over, I will now elaborate on some of the things that have been a bit troubling this term. For one, I have not had running water in my house since the beginning of the term in late May. For a while I viewed this as normal; many of my learners live on homesteads with no running water, so why should I complain about my lack of water. There was ample water available from my roommate’s brothers’ house. A house with plumbing, however, should have water running through those pipes. My house started to smell pretty rank after a few days. Buckets baths in a shower stall just don’t have the same feeling as they do out in the open on the homestead. The responsibility falls on the school to keep the water running, and it never really materialized.

In addition to the water, my living situation wasn’t quite ideal. I lived with a roommate who I will miss very much. Two of his daughters stayed with us, both of which I saw every day in class. I was game to give this a try, though it turned out that I was often their only male role model. In the end it was simply too much interaction with learners.

I also had a lot of problems with the actual teaching. I vow to not let this experience effect how I view teaching in the states, however I worry that the same problems I encountered here may not disappear with teaching in the states. I couldn’t do the job, be it planning or marking. I don’t attribute these problems to the lack of achievement among learners. The daily requirements of a teacher are perhaps what I disliked the most about the experience. A bit scary, since I am a trained teacher.

A little aside about being a trained educator coming here as an education volunteer. Many here as surprised when they hear I studied education and am leaving because of the teaching (partly). I have considered this and to some extent feel as though you are at a disadvantage being a trained teacher. As a teacher, I feel I have a mindset that I can coach up everybody, or should be able to. That mindset in this environment is dangerous. Those that have never taught before at least can fall back on the idea that they have never done this before. Maybe a copout?

Combine those major problems with a feeling of lack of productivity, intense homesickness and a general lack of happiness, I started to consider this choice. My entire second term has not been great, and it finally built up enough to get me to start looking this way. Also my parents were beginning the planning of a trip here in December and I couldn’t guarantee I could make it that far, which to me was a flag of problems. If I have been in country for 8 months (exactly when I fly out) and cannot say that I will definitely be here in December, there is something wrong.

I concluded that there were two big reasons keeping me here. In addition to all the smaller reason (the other pcvs(actually not small at all), living in Africa, representing peace corps well, representing Americans well), the two big reasons were A)to prove it to myself that I could do it and B)for the learners, teachers, and Namibians. First things first

I suppose we can all think of a time when you have done something that you didn’t like just because you said you would do it. Well, I could have pushed through my time here, wait for the weekends, wait for the holidays, and finish. Though I would have completed my service, I wouldn’t have been happy and thus my work would have suffered. Now, perhaps things would have turned around, though I simply can't look at the What Ifs of this decision. I decided it was not healthy and wrote if off.

I announced my decision to the learners in one big school assembly. Everyone was crowded around me and my colleague, who was helping translate to Oshindonga. Needless to say they were very sad. Some began crying. It was rough. I would say among learners, teachers, and Namibians in general, the two emotions I felt the most were disappointment and surprise. The learners came to study after I informed them and many were crying. Some came up to my window and would cry, make eye contact with me, then look down and begin crying. For the most part, though, I believe the tears were genuine.

Earlier that day, I announced to the teachers that I would be leaving. They were confused on various levels. They don’t understand that Peace Corps is ok with this. Peace Corps certainly are not happy and they always do everything they can to keep the volunteer in country, but they also understand that sometimes things just can’t be worked out. I also think that teachers sometimes forget that we are volunteers. By many I was viewed as simply a fill in teacher, which can be frustrating when you are trying to do bigger projects and get bogged down in teaching. There are plans to lessen the teaching loads of volunteer teachers during their second year so the volunteer can focus on secondary projects. This is a great option for those feeling burnout. Many teachers commented that they were disappointed; they felt they learned a lot in the time I was there and were excited to learn more. All were surprised. I didn’t let out that I had been thinking about this just incase my feelings changed, so therefore most had no idea. It was difficult, especially looking at two of the teachers I had gotten pretty close with. Until that moment I didn’t fully realize the bond I formed with them in such a short time. In the end, the teachers were mostly supportive and forcing themselves to smile and wish me luck.

I headed into town on Wednesday to print some pictures from a small photo project I did. I got robbed at my hike (hitch) point. The moment I went to move my bag to the trailer, a guy went in my pocket and grabbed my hike money. It could have been much worse and I was most angry with myself.

Thursday was a great day, or at least as good as it could have been. I promised myself that I would be happy. I couldn’t have a day like Tuesday and let them remember me with sadness. I think I got this idea from my parents; when I last saw them and said goodbye, they surprised me and quickly hugged me and got in the car. It was exactly what I needed. I didn’t need a long, drawn out, sad goodbye, and this was the same view I took of this parting. I spent the day handing out pictures, taking pictures, giving away prizes (a momma goodwoman idea), distributing my home address, and smiling. I tricked them into being happy about me leaving. It was nice. After school the staff through together a small brai under the big tree on the school grounds. It was a nice way to go out. I evenly distributed all my teaching materials and stationary. I also printed some pictures for them and distributed them. Some had small gifts for me, which is nice considering it was two days after I informed them I was leaving. It was a relaxing time with the teachers and definitely something I needed.

I packed my life up on Thursday then got scooped on Friday. Headed into town for Friday and Saturday, and then hiked to the capital on Sunday. Saying goodbye to Oshifo was not as bad as I thought it would have been, which is a good thing. Leaving the north wasn’t even that bad. The most difficult thing was leaving the other volunteers in the north. Similar to the trail, we had been through so much together that the bond is strong, so leaving was tough.

I have spent the last two days running around Windhoek. Flight leaves Friday, which means, to the day, I will have spent 8 months in Africa. It’s natural to look back at my experience and see what I learned, enjoyed, and now question.

I learned much about myself. Peace Corps challenges you in ways I never thought possible. I had just hiked much of the AT and felt pretty good about challenges. PC calls upon your confidence, skill, adaptability, sense of self and self motivation. I learned that I need people. I was relatively isolated and hence missed interaction with fellow Americans. I had internet at my school but that didn’t seem to fulfill this need. I learned a whole new culture, one of this is extremely interesting and complex. The remnants of apartheid are difficult to describe and understand if you haven’t lived it. Racism is something that will trouble this country for many generations to come. It still causes issues in the US. I'd like to think that I did something to help this whole situation, albeit miniscule.

I enjoyed much of this experience, and though I am leaving, still encourage anyone to join PC. I have never been around such a likeminded group of people. Its refreshing, especially in this time we are living (I didn’t like the last year of college when nobody could say hello to each other on campus because they were listening to the newest PodCast or something[bad example, there are more ipods here than…well there’s a lot] ….but that’s another post). I saw Africa. Though it was a very small chunk of this amazing continent, I saw it, and it was beautiful. The learners made me smile every day, even on the worst day. I enjoyed them so much.

Dark Star Safari is a great book, I highly recommend it, though if you are getting ready to do any major service work, I might recommend waiting to read it till after you are done that service. I, however, didn’t receive this advice and made it the first book I read once in country. The book is written by a RPCV(returned Peace Corps Volunteer, PC loves acronyms) who travels overland from Cape Town to Cairo. It’s well written, exciting and really gets one excited to travel. However, there is an underlying theme of service and development. He describes returning to the country in which he served and observing that not much has changed since he was there, and in some cases, things have gotten worse. He makes an argument calling for all relief to be removed from Africa, making Africa develop on their own and hence forming a strong, self sufficient Africa. You can see how this book might twist the mind of a young, ambitious PCV. I see some valid points in his argument. Are we not building a culture of reliance? Why must I force my American culture on them and push my way of doing things (either knowingly or unknowingly). I don’t like that the child, with barely enough money for food and proper clothing, wants nothing more in the world then to buy the newest 50 Cent t-shirt. Peace Corps preaches about sustainability, but as much as the PCV strives for this, I feel it’s a lost battle with the way the system is set up. Don’t get me wrong, Peace Corps is doing great things here. People are setting up clubs, teaching classes and building bridges. But wouldn’t this be better if it were all Namibians doing this? Some say the skills are not here to make this happen. From my experience, this is false. Most of the things I was asked or suggested to do could be done by one or more of my colleagues. It’s all dangerous thinking as a PCV, though I feel it is important to evaluate while one is serving here.

So I finally let my true feelings start to show though on this last blog post and get everything out about some of the negatives things I have experienced. So let me finish with the things that I will miss dearly when I fly out on Friday.

-The kids. When children that I have seen daily for the last 6 months still come up and say to me “How are you!?!?!?” and I say “Fine, How are you?!” and they scream “IM FINE!!!” and run off and laugh and continue playing in the sand, it make me smile. To be able to constantly bring someone that kind of happiness with such little effort makes one happy.
-The fires. Every night around dusk thousands of fire spark up all over Africa, and I will think of that for the rest of my life; the three rock formation to hold a pot that’s charcoal black from years of use.
-Kwaito: the music of choice for many Namibians. It has grown on me and whenever I hear it will immediately take me back to this time.
-The National Anthem. Every Monday and Friday at morning assembly, the learners and staff sing the national anthem then have morning prayer. During the anthem, the flag is raised and timed perfectly to reach the top just as the anthem ends. At the very last moment, a cord is pulled that lets the flag unfurl. Kind of over dramatic but nice.
-Everybody I have met. The learners, teachers, fellow PCVs, PC staff, everybody. The relationships I have formed here will be something I cherish very much.
-Speaking Oshiwambo. The tiny bit I learned will quickly fade away as there ain't too many Oshindonga speaking Americans. It’s a complex and difficult language and I will miss listening to it.

It was a good run. It is a run I hope to finish one day. I am very excited for whatever is to come next in my life, be it teaching or not. Leah and I have both independently chosen to ET within 1 week of each other, rather story book. I am excited to see friends and family and try to get my life rolling again. I am excited to have some money, assuming I get a job. I am excited to eat my mothers’ food, I am excited to drive a car. I know that many of these superficial things will fade quickly, though right now they look pretty good. This was a difficult decision, and one that I made without the luxury of knowing what is to come. For me its right, now now.

I came across a quote that I think is pretty fitting.

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again….who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly…”
-Theodore Roosevelt

I’d like to think I was in the arena, even if it was for a short time.

Keith

Ps, for those future peace corps volunteers coming to Namibia that are possibly reading this. Please get in contact with me (comment with email or something). I can try to answer any questions you may have getting ready for your training in November. They are already starting to get ready for your arrival in country…I hope you are excited!

Some big news...

2007-06-28T10:21:00.000+02:00

I have decided to Early Terminate (et) my service. There is nothing wrong with my physical health or safety, I have just decided this is not the right place or job for me currently. It was a difficult and very draining decision, though now that I am going through with it, I am realizing it is the right choice for me. I will be arriving in the capital this weekend, where I will work on much paper work while doctors do what they need to do to me. Time is kinda short here at school so I will post a very detailed and profound (probably not) entry when I am in the capital. Stay tuned...and for those in the states....Ill see you soon.

Keith

Poem

2007-06-24T12:13:00.002+02:00

This was written by a grade 9 learner and read at our morning assembly on the Friday of AIDS Awareness week.

My name is HIV

My name is HIV
My real name is AIDS
I don't care whether you are black or white
Rich or poor, young and old. I infect all

So be careful I don't care
what u are
who u are
I kill

I'm waiting 4 u 2 open
I'm knocking on your door

You can choose to be my friend but
surely it
wont last because I'll kill you
you slowly bu t surely will die and
your death will be history in your community

so stay away from sex if you don't
want to be my friend.
so ABC which means Abstain, Be
Faithful and Condomise.

Poem

2007-06-24T12:13:00.001+02:00

This was written by a grade 9 learner and read at our morning assembly on the Friday of AIDS Awareness week

My name is HIV

My name is HIV
My real name is AIDS
I don't care whether you are black or white
Rich or poor, young and old. I infect all

So be careful I don't care
what u are
who u are
I kill

I'm waiting 4 u 2 open
I'm knocking on your door

You can choose to be my friend but
surely it
wont last because I'll kill you
you slowly bu t surely will die and
your death will be history in your community

so stay away from sex if you don't
want to be my friend.
so ABC which means Abstain, Be
Faithful and Condomise.

HIV/AIDS Awareness Week

2007-06-22T18:41:00.001+02:00

It has been an interesting week. I hit my all time low recently. Things weren't going well and I was just not in a good place. Things have taken a turn though, culminating in today's celebrations of National HIV/AIDS Awareness Week. Very rewarding participating in something like this. I was unaware that the awareness week was this week until last Sunday, so I didn't have really much time to put something together. The week before I had been working to revive the HIV/AIDS club here at school. It turned out to be perfect timing. We ended up have our first meeting yesterday after school. It was like pulling teeth but once they got going it was great. About 15 learners were at the meeting and they decided on numerous ideas for what we could do to celebrate the week. We made posters and practices a 'drama' (role play). I have noticed the dramas are definitely something they really enjoy and get into. They put a funny drama on where one learner chose to hang out at the bar while the other chose to do homework and stay home, quite an applicable subject seeing as I see many of my learners at the local bar in town on a Friday night. Both the learners end up getting sugar daddies and finally getting HIV and falling pregnant, as they say here. It was scary how well the two small boys could play a good sugar daddy. The drama was complete with a condom demonstration, though rushed and not totally accurate, it got the point across. It is funny to listen to both the learners and teachers snicker at the wooden penis. A learner wrote a poem from the viewpoint of being HIV. Overall it was great. The learners really enjoyed doing it too. I have had many requests to join the club so I think I have finally found something I can devote some time to. After feeling pretty good about myself, I went over to the local primary school. Well, I didn't feel so good about myself then. The learners had a half day and they were all nicely seated and listening to songs, poetry readings, and watching performances. It was great. After the assembly was done, they then took the posters they had made and paraded around the town. They stopped in the centre of the town to do more singing and dancing. It was an awesome day to say the least.

I am also getting involved in another project. At the ultimate low of the week, Tuesday night, I was headed out for my first run (training for a marathon in October, at least that is the plan) to let off some steam and think a bit. Well, this person showed up like an angel. She said that she was a volunteer that has been living in the town since September and has really been looking to get involved. She came to me with a plan, kinda, and some decent motivation. I have met with her every night so far, and are planning the first meeting of Youth 2 Youth tomorrow morning. She has brought in a colleague from Rundu, in a far away land, and we are both pretty anxious for it to get going. If it sounds like I am being a bit vague, its because I don't really know what exactly is going on. I am assured that I will understand a bit more about what the club is supposed to do after tomorrows meeting.

I am moving into another house. I am pretty excited about this. My living situation hasn't been horrible, it just hasn't been the best. I am living with two female learners, both of which I teach. This wouldn't be a huge problem except that the tate, which is my roomate, is never really there, hence I am viewed more of a father figure than he is. I figured I would give it a go, but it just wasn't working out. I am hoping to move into a new place as of next week sometime. I think this different living situation will really help elevate some of the problems I have been dealing with lately.

Other than that I am good, I am planning on the next month or so to fly by. Two weekends from now Peace Corps Namibia is welcoming a new director. I don't know much about her, but I am excited to get some new blood, I think it will benefit us as a whole. Then the following weekend is the Northern Girls Conference, then, two weeks from that I am in Windhoek for my MID-Service med check up! Crazy. It is a bit early but wild to be writing already about it. Then two weeks of the term and the second term is over....wild!

Hope everyone is well and enjoying a balmy east coast summer. The days are already starting to warm up here. One year ago yesterday, I was hiking through the mountains on hike naked day with some guy in a bandanna, ha.

Keith

hmmmmmm

2007-06-19T10:29:00.000+02:00

An interesting read....

http://mattnamibia.blogspot.com/2007/06/this-development-thing.html

Its back...

2007-06-05T17:36:00.000+02:00

The electricity bill somehow got paid at my school so hence we have the computer lab up and running again. I am gonna try not to get so addicted to blogging/chatting/emailing and the like this term, though it is great to be back, ha. On that note....here are some pictures, pre and post shave.

2007-06-01T16:21:00.000+02:00

Trying to put some pictures up, we shall see....

Many of my learners are applying

2007-06-01T16:05:00.000+02:00

The Peace Corps Diversity Committee Needs Your Help!!

Namibia is truly one of the most unique places you could ever hope to visit. As a guest in this country, the number of indigenous tribes along with the shear variation of languages spoken here is overwhelming. The goals of the Peace Corps Diversity Committee are to share Namibian culture with Americans as well as American culture with Namibians. Along with this, the Diversity Committee works to educate Namibians about various cultures that exist in their own country.
One of the biggest and most rewarding projects that the Peace Corps Diversity Committee is responsible for is the Annual National Educational Tour. This tour is open to Namibian Students in grades 8-12. Each year the students are presented with a theme and encouraged to enter the Cultural Expression contest. This is an opportunity for the students to reflect on their own cultural practices and to share their creativity and cultural with both Namibians and Americans.
The theme for this year’s Educational Tour is “Diversity within Namibia’s Environment.” The Namibian youth must express their own understanding of the environment they identify with through art such as writing a poem/story, composing a song, or drawing/painting a picture. The idea behind this prompt and this year’s National Diversity Tour is that if you can recognize something positive and stable in your life to live for than you will be more apt to make constructive and healthy choices about your own future and those people, plants, and animals around you.

The Peace Corps Diversity Committee is requesting your help in making this year’s tour a possibility. We are currently seeking funds to allow us to proceed with the project. The committee hopes to invite 30 students to attend the Educational Tour that will include topics focusing on Namibian cultural diversity, environmental education, and HIV and AIDS. If you are interested in sponsoring a child to attend the tour, we are requesting a $30 donation. Checks can be made to the following:

John Phillips
6302 15th Ave NE
Seattle WA 98115 USA
Attn: Diversity Committee

Donations will be accepted until August 1st. Every person that donates the suggested $30 will receive a card from one of the Namibian students that attends the tour along with a copy of one of the winning contest entries. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Beth Phillips; chair person for the committee at the following email address: bethinnamibia@yahoo.com. Thank you for your time and support to help this year’s Educational Tour a success!

Face and Projects and other misc.

2007-06-01T15:58:00.000+02:00

My beard is gone. Yes, school has begun and many ups and more downs have happened, but I feel this is my big new: I ditched a huge part of me just a short week ago. I was with some friends and the last beard trimmer I knew I would see for a while so I took advantage. It was odd, to say the least, to run my fingers over my chin and not have them disappear. Being beardless also bring to attention how ridiculous my hair has gotten. These days I am posting at a computer lab at the teacher resource center at the ‘town’ next to my school, so I don’t know if I will be able to get pictures up but if I do, you all will see how wild it is. I decided not to go to the razor with my whole face for the fear of looking like a woman, and am glad I did. I nearly got to 200 days of beard growth….wild. I still got some good days going on the hair though, haven’t had a proper hair cut since two Christmas’s ago, ha. K, down to some serious, you know, volunteer issues. School started this week, finally. This is considered the most serious trimester of them all so I am anxious to see how it goes. The schedule is set, and we actually switched classes the first day which I considered a minor miracle. I have spent the better part of the week reasserting myself, since I kinda got a little lax toward the end. I had 12 learners going around the school grounds picking up trash for minor infractions of my newly installed discipline plan. I think it will work, and I vow not to use pointless punishment like hole digging. A major focus of my plan is to have learners explain, in English, what they did and why it is wrong. We shall see. I am planning on not worrying to much about the success of my students and focusing more on my secondary projects, one of which I will kick off tomorrow. People are obsessed with pictures here, not unlike we are in the states, its just they don’t really have access to any here. With this project, I will take their pictures, collect slightly inflated printing costs, get them printed on one of my many trips to town, and put the proceeds toward school supplies. Hopefully, after a successful round with the learners, I will open it up to the community. I am also starting a remedial math ‘club’. This is in response from my principal who is looking to improve the basic math skills of those performing low in math. I will basically focus on fun math activities that teach them something at the same time. Suduko, 24, and other generic games will basically be all we do. Those two things, in addition to trying to start up a running club will be most of my time this term. There is also an Education Diversity Tour happening during the August break, focused on showing learners the wide range of environments Namibia has to offer. They go to the coast, Etosha (the awesome game viewing park), and a Cheetah Reservation. 30 learners get picked, and I think it’s all paid for….somehow. All learners have to do is answer a writing prompt and send in the application. I am hoping to mail many of those next week. I am also involved in something called the Northern Girls Conference, designed to bring 80 girls from the four O regions in the north together to focus on women’s empowerment, goal setting and HIV/AIDS awareness. Its basically two workshops, one to train the Namibians that will run the actual workshop a month later, which we also help with, sustainability….eyang. I and another guy are basically the token dudes, with us throwing our two cents in every now and again. Ha, no I am actually very happy to be involved. Sounds like a lot going on, but you have to keep in mind that there isn’t really much to do here most of the time, so I am still pretty relaxed. The weather is cool, in fact this week I pulled out the fleece I thought I would never wear. It’s actually cold at night. I am not the new guy in school anymore; we finally picked up the three teachers we were missing all last term. The learners are happy they finally have something to do. The goodwoman is not enjoying her time in the DR, from the last email I received. The harassment combined with a poor working environment (an understatement) is really pushing her. It’s a very difficult time for both of us right now; we haven’t spoken for more than a total of 4 or 5 minutes since she has been in country (Feb 15). In the future, we will laugh and smile talking of these crazy days we are living, but right now it’s difficult. On that high, I am gonna write some more emails. I hear some are sending packages. I cannot overstate how great those are; I really look forward to getting them. Letters are also so great to receive, and to the card pumping family: Thank you Goodfellows. Here is a new wish list if you are interested (cause I cant really update the blog properly via internet café).

Updated Wish List:
Food (any, cause I prob aint got it here)
Mac and Cheese Packets
Coffee
Fun things for the kids (stickers, pencils, erasers, anything really)
Any school supplies (they are here, but I am poor J)
Did I say food?
New Pictures
New Music (college dudes, get on it)
A news paper, pref sports page and front page, pref Washington post (but it would all be news to me)
Can you send beer?....if yes, then good beer. Don’t really remember what it tastes like.

For sending details, check previous posts. I think the blog is misbehaving (there’s some Namlish for ya) and you have to click on a post to get the side bar. If not, I dunno.

Cheers till next time.

Old Post

2007-05-13T16:33:00.000+02:00

Written roughly 10 days ago...

Reconnect

Hello all, sorry it’s been such a long time since I last updated. Things have been moving pretty quickly and I haven’t really had access to internet so allow me to fill you in on the events of the last week and a half. Reconnect was held at a place called Greiters, located about ten minutes outside of the capital. I cannot begin to describe how great the location was. The conference center was literally built at the top of a mountain (hill) and overlooked the city. We had a great view of the sunset every night and after that show was over, we could watch the city lights shimmer. It was great. It was also forced bonding and budgeting, with the city being fairly difficult to get into. It was exactly what we all needed…and it didn’t hurt that the place had two pools. It was a bit cool though for the pool. Which brings me to the weather; I can honestly say that it is legitimately cold at night. I was skeptical at first, but after sleeping outside a few nights I can say it does get cold. The staff at Greiters is great, they can accommodate at least 100, maybe more. They fed us great food, dessert with every meal. It was nice. Sessions began on Monday. We spent most of the first two days talking about teaching, and what has worked and what has not. There were a good amount of 25er’s there so they led some sessions on how to be a bit more effective as a teacher. It was also nice to hear their perspective on what we have to look forward too in the second term. They say that the first term is the most difficult and goes the slowest, and if this is true, I am in for a quite an experience. I felt as though the first term flew, I felt good bout what was happeneing at the school, so if it gets better, that is great. The only thing I was a bit worried about this past term was secondary projects, and the last three days were pretty much devoted to implementation and processes. Learned about a 25er’s project in which he A)founded a NGO, B)raised enough funds to send 4 Namibian students to a summer camp in the states, and C)has everything in place for it to be sustainable after he leaves. Amazing, especially since that’s all I hear from some of my students….’how can I get to america’. And I never know how to answer this question. This PCV took it on himself to just make it happen. Great. There were other really great projects, and with the initial setteling in time coming to a close, we are all very excited to get back and get some projects up and running. My most probable projects to get going are A)a running club with the goal of sending members to the marathon in Swakop, B)a school newspaper displayed on the computer lab, C)make the school bizarre that happened last year bit and more lucrative. They are smaller scale projects, but I feel they are things I could get motivated about, which I feel is a huge factor to the success of the project. Thursday afternoon we traveled to a place call The Habitat, a development facility devoted to re-useable energy. It was really interesting. The whole structure is made of trash or recycled products: some walls made of sands, Styrofoam, bottles, some roofs of old oil drums, solar panels all over the place, traditionally thatched roofs. It was really great. Their major product is selling solar ovens; they are place in the sun in roughly 5 hours, you have cook just about everything. We had chicken(very good), rice, and veggies. I think it’s a great idea, however I worry that Namibians would have a hard time adjusting to something different. The director echoed this concern, explaining that the biggest problem has been marketing of their product. He encouraged us all to purchase one ($N800) but for me it’s a bit out of my budget, and those that I work with/for. And I think on of the best part, they brought An Inconvenient Truth to the conference center Friday night and we all viewed that. Most hadn’t seen it so it was a really nice way to spend the night. Again, great movie if you have yet to see it.

Some really productive sessions, some of the most productive I have been to yet as a PCV, and some really great bonding time with some that I haven’t seen in a few months made reconnect great. Traveling now begins. Just from our group we have members going to the states, Paris, Turkey, among other places in southern Africa. Needless to say, its exciting to be around so many people that love traveling as much as I do. For all of you that are thinking about coming, there are currently two friends of volunteers that are here and its great to meet them….so…..visit. Just know that ill be poor.

Hope everybody is well, I may be offline for a while until I reach site. Have a good may. When May 6th comes around, ill have been in Africa for 6 months….wild

cheers

quick update

2007-04-28T15:57:00.000+02:00

Just a quick update because I am in the PC lounge and others are waiting for the cpu. We are now in windhoek, my first time being here since before we were sworn in, kinda weird. The reconnect workshop was great, it was held at a place called Greiters Conference center and the location was beautiful, in the mountains. The workshops and sessions were really great, some of the best I have had yet in PC, which also made the whole week great. I am looking forward to some more exploring of the country and overall just relaxing a bit before 2nd term begins...should be nice, and much needed. Must get going but hope everybody is well in the states........

keith

ps I am locked out of my sim card on my phone until I get back ( I tried the wrong pin code numberous times and it finally just locked me out), so if you need to get a hold of me and I dont answer....thats why....

Small animals, small people, and small victories.

2007-04-12T19:20:00.000+02:00

These guys took stuff from our campsite, they were cool to watch though. Wonder if they are saying the same thing on their blog about me?

This is my garden....the maize is no longer there.

They call me Jesus round here....thats alotta wine

Can I just be this guy?

Its 4:23 and I am just eating lunch. That can mean one of two things, either I had a really good day where I just forgot to eat, or I had such a bad day I didn’t have time to eat. Well, luckily, today was a good day. It started off by an email from the goodwoman. She’s acquired a kitten, who would have guessed that would have happened? She returns from CBT on Saturday and is very excited. Her language is leaps and bounds ahead of mine, she tells stories of thinking in Spanish and getting stumped when it comes to English. Quite a good start to the day. Then I began the quite daunting task of trying to get my end of term test printed. I had it typed, it was just a matter of printing and copying, which isn’t such a small deal when I have 160 “plus minus” (namlish) learners taking my math exam. After some exchanging of printers and many times where I didn’t think it would actually happen, I walked out of the village counselors office with a copy of my exam. Our school has yet to see value in purchasing a printer and/or copy machine. They are both hefty purchases, though ones that I feel could actually happen soon. Anyway. Copying was the next task. The primary school that feeds to ours has a copy machine that we use. I am just finding this out….yes I have been here for a full 1/3 of the school year. It was great to see this different school. And let me say, the goodwoman says she has some cute Dominican kids….well I don’t think she has anything that compares to how cute the little Namibians are. Standing outside of the principals office, there was a game going on between the kids about who could walk closest to me, or who could look me in the eyes for the longest before they looked away, laughed, and ran. It was also very exhilarating for them to practice their newly acquired English skills. “Hello, how are you?!?!?!?”….”IM FINE”. It was awesome. Got my prints done there, 160 copies, 2 pages each. That’s a large amount of printing by Namibian standards. It made me realize just how much we take for granted our resources in the states, where we have rooms built just to hold the bricks of paper we can’t live without. The principal of the school told me this paper was from 2004, when their brother school (a UK school that donates and flies teachers to the UK to visit and vice versa) brought them a bunch of stuff, probably where this copy machine comes from. I don’t know if I am doing this justice, but it is a minor miracle that tomorrow my learners will “write”(namlish) my exam on two stapled, typed, printed sheets of paper that they will then hand in, that I will then use to write them encouraging messages, their “symbols” (namlish for grades), and any missing work. Crazy. Then, after school, I had scheduled a meeting/workshop for some members of the school and community. Well the highlight is that, even though it started 30 minutes late (Africa-time), people came! We had 11, enough for two good sized groups. An aside about workshops in Africa. From what I have seen, they are not quite workshops, they are more like meetings held by one person. So when I asked the group to write stories about times when the school community was working well and things were being accomplished, they were a little put off. They did it though, and both groups wrote about a bizarre that happened here last September. As soon as they were done sharing about the bizarre, I explained that even if nothing more happened with this meeting, it was beneficial for me, cause this bizarre sounds awesome. They had members of the community donate items to the school and then sell them. They had music, traditional food and drink, a braii, and local businesses were involved. I mean….sounds definitely like something I am gonna try to make huge. Then we spoke about the external and internal factors that contributed to the success. Well, I didn’t even have to guide them to think all about the internal factors; they listed way more internal factors than external. Almost like my job is done, huh. I sometimes think that, but then most of the time don’t….so yeah. Had each group write their dream statement for the school community and then we were done. All in all, people came, they talked and wrote, and I did see a smile and hear at least one laugh…so it was a total success in my eyes. I write when I am happy, if you have not noticed, and I am very happy right now, hence the length of this update. It does present a very skewed version of the country however I think it does provide an accurate depiction of my overall experience. On the emotional roller coaster that is Peace Corps Namibia, I am at the top of a hill…I am gonna ride it, cause I know that it will come down soon. Hope everyone is well. I am gonna go read a book, watch my garden (the goats ate my maize over the weekend), listen to the kids yell and scream in some language that I don’t understand, and think about being in Africa.

Killed a Goat....

2007-04-01T17:46:00.000+02:00

Picture 1:The whole crew. Some of work with, though it turned into quite the get together, so some of which I hardly knew. They liked the whole timed flash thing.
Picture 2: It was a beautiful day, like many here (see my new perspective of nice weather below). I am, however, beginning to feel winter coming on. It is still by no means cool during the day, but I do notice some cooler temps rolling in, especially at night.
Picture 3: Kachele, Philip, and me. Philip is half of the reason for the party, he is leaving for the big city life in Oshikati for another job.
Picture 4: Salvado Shiminengenni and his wife. He was the first one to take me to Ruacana Falls, pretty much the first person I knew in Oshifo. He was the other half of the reason we were having the party, he is accepting a promotion in another circuit....bummer, cause is he is really good teacher. They both had mixed feeling about leaving Ombuumbuu.
Picture 5: Colleagues...they are awesome.
Picture 6: Namutanya, she is so cute, comes up to me, greets me, and then just points to things and says "....and this one?" and waits for me to say the english word for it, then she repeats it. The kids here are pretty much the definition of cute.

Killed a Goat…

That’s right, I killed a goat yesterday. It was wild but definitely not as hard as I was expecting. The two killings I had seen before this were done with a fairly dull knife so when I was handed a machete (pangar) to slit the throat I was kind of relieved a bit, since the rest of the work, after I was done, was completed with a pretty dull knife no bigger than a regular table knife….crazy. I had some help from my principal and a fellow teacher; they were holding the goat as I slit the throat…and you don’t just slit the throat, its more akin to cutting off the whole head….wild. I am definitely not regretting doing it at all, but at the time I was a little weirded out. However, I think I earned much respect from my colleagues, so that alone for me makes it worth it. After I killed the goat, we hung it up in a tree and began the cleaning process. Again, it is amazing to see how skilled Namibians are when it comes to butchering. My job was just to hold hooves from time to time to make carving easy. I also helped with cutting most of the meat into bite size pieces. The goat was great tasting of course, and a good time was had by all.

So yeah, I guess I never explained why exactly I was slaughtering a goat. We had a party for two teachers that are leaving for jobs at other schools. We went to the river side, down stream from the falls. It was great, even took a dip in the possibly crocodile and schistosomysis infested river. I was assured by the Namibians that the crocodiles aren’t around at this time of year (I dunno) and the water was moving to quickly for me to get schisto I think/hope. I swam out to a little island/sand bar type thing, and everybody was going crazy that I was going out to far. If they only knew my river swimming experience. It was a really great day. I have a great staff at my school, and I really feel like I am starting to fit in there. It’s tough to see two of our teachers go, both of which are talented and devoted teachers.

Here are some cultural items that I feel I have gotten so accustomed to that I have failed to mention….

-men usually always drive if its an option, in fact walking around town we saw the bread delivery truck and my buddy commented that the only reason a woman was driving was because the truck was carrying food. Otherwise, it’s usually men driving.

-I have had many questions inquiring about my religious beliefs. I have yet to be to church here in Oshifo and I feel like it is a huge problem with the community. I am going to try to go to Easter service next weekend but may be out of town for the holiday.

-I bring a 1.5L bottle of water to school everyday and a few weeks ago I was asked by a colleague if I have a lot of those bottles at home…do I just store them up. I said ‘no, I just fill it up every night, why do you ask’. ‘Oh I didn’t know if you would drink the same water as us’………..and this is one of my fellow teachers, so just imagine what the community must think of me. And that is just one example of how a) everything I do is documented by the community talk and b) every one of my actions can (and often is) be misperceived.

-Culturally it is relatively accepted for men to have more than one woman. I was told I need to get an African girlfriend by one of my teachers, I responded with I am a one woman man, which was then laughed at.

-‘In Africa we share’. I have heard this many times referring to many different items; money, food, resources (teaching), woman (see previous). In fact if you have a high paying job, you are pretty much expected to support your family, which in most cases are at least 6. This causes a huge problem where nobody is really saving much money. I have had a constant battle with how to deal with this. Even my colleague talks about how it’s hard to do the tough love thing for your family, but that if one is always relying on others for food/money they become dependant. Don’t even let me get in to the constant battles I have had with myself debating about if really all these NGO’s in Africa are the best for the continent.

-Wealth is measured in cattle and goats. The Himba people are apparently pretty wealthy because of their livestock.

-‘Nice weather’ is when it’s overcast and cool and maybe or maybe not raining. When I first got here, I was constantly commenting on how nice the weather was (when it was sunny and slightly breezy). I now love when it’s not sunny…

-Oshifima porridge is eaten by most people in Namibia at least 4 or 5 times a week. It is pretty much like baking flour cooked in boiled water till it turns in to a kind of paste. This is usually dipped in some sort of sauce that may or may not be made with meat. I have been asked numerous times what the American ‘staple’ food is. I usually answer some sort of pasta product.

…and I could keep going. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t learn something about me/Oshifo/Namibia/Africa/language/culture/teaching. I journal everyday and it still doesn’t even come close to documented all the crazy little things that happen here. It’s that constant reminder of where I am and what I am doing that I love. This is Africa and I am loving it. Hope all is well on the other side of the pond.

Keith

p.s. We had daylight savings today, so we are now 5 hours ahead of the east coast…for all those calling me, hahah.

Packages, Falls, Party!

2007-03-29T10:12:00.000+02:00

A quick update....

I have received two packages from home. So great; books, a new cds (country, which I have found I cannot listen to over here cause it makes me miss home), koolaid mix, Gatorade mix, skittles, gobbstoppers, some of that old school popcorn you cook over the stove or fire (gonna be over the fire), an AT calender, magazines, gold fish, Pringles (which exploded all over, but were good). It was like Christmas. Thanks for thinking of me...it is amazing how such little things like knowing the amount of calories are in items, instead of joules, can remind you of home.

The schedule coming up is pretty exciting. We have this full week of school, which is now pretty much over, then a four day week next week. We have Good Friday off as well as the Monday following Easter. That Tuesday, end of term exams start. I feel I have been going much slower than many of the teachers, so I was happy to hear that for this exam I get to make my own test. For the end of term exams for term 2 and 3, they are set by the circuit office....which I am not looking forward to. We have school/marking till the 20th, then from there I head down to Windhoek for RECONNECT, which you may realize I am kinda excited for. It will be amazing to be able to talk to other volunteers and confirm some of the crazy thoughts that go through your head as a volunteer. Overall, I think a huge part of talking with volunteers is just boosting your confidence and realizing that this is a tough job and you are not alone. In addition, though I have been seeing people a fair amount, maybe once every two weeks, there are many that I haven't seen since January when we swore in. It will be great to see everybody.

I realize that many of you may not know the details of Ruacana Falls. Here they are:

-Its about 25k from me, and maybe a 10 dollar hike (hitch-hike) for me to get there.
-Its beautiful. You can hike to the very bottom of the falls and enjoy the mist (which is like rain at the bottom) and swim looking directly up at the huge waterfall in front of you. It is amazing.
-the Hippo Pools camp site is down stream from the falls. It is within walking distance (a relative term) to the falls. There are many sites right on the river. Apparently you can see hippos from the camp sites. In addition, swimming is at your own risk because of crocodiles.......
-the waterfalls are dam controlled so it soon will stop falling. The hydroelectric plant there is the biggest producer of electricity in Namibia, hence I have electricity.
-about 50k on a bad dirt road and you get to Kunene River Lodge, and Epupa Falls, both supposed to be even more amazing than Ruacana. That is next on the list hopefully.

Spoke with the goodwoman yesterday for the first time since she has been in country. She sounds good. I practiced my Spanish....kinda (yo necesito hablar Leah) and it worked. A N$20 phone card bought me about 3 minutes from here to the DR. Amazing though that I can call that far and talk without a delay. She is having one of her lessons observed by the training director on Thursday so that is the big event going on for her now, in addition to..oh yeah, living in the DR.....

We have a farewell party this weekend for two of the teachers here. They are accepting promotions in other school districts. It is kind of discouraging because teaching here is viewed as a transitional career, people basically put in their time and move on. It is not too common to find teachers teaching because they enjoy teaching....however, we do have 2 of those kind of teachers at my school....so maybe it is common...I dunno. Anyway, two teachers are leaving. The staff is also taking this chance to officially welcome me. So it will be a big party. Goat, beer, cool drinks (soft drinks/pop/soda/cola), potato salad; all the ingredients for a good time. I may even be the one to slaughter the goat, who knows. Bout all for now, its hot, and I hear the 'rainy' season is just bout over....what rainy season??? All you over there making the globe a hotter place, just think of the Africans who are hot enough already....enjoy the week....

Oshili nawa

Ruacana Falls

2007-03-24T15:38:00.000+02:00

This is my backyard.

Independence Day Weekend

2007-03-19T13:49:00.000+02:00

Happy Independence Day! Wednesday is the big day. Our school lets out early tomorrow so that everyone can travel safely and be home by Wednesday. For this particular holiday, most everybody heads back to their family; homestead, town, where ever they are. I will be staying in Oshifo/Ruacana with plans to visit Ruacana Falls. Travelling is prohibited by the Peace Corps and with travelling during this holiday being quite dangerous, I chose to stick around town. School is going well, I am very much ready for this break in teaching. It is such an exhausting job and I will appreciate some rest and break from the routine. I have been giving a bit more group work as of late and have been really happy at the results. Asking questions is a huge problem here, so with group work the learners feel free to ask and investigate. Physically it is a bit easier as well, rather than lecturing for 4 or 5 periods a day. Had some interesting discussions about corporal punishment with my colleagues over the last couple of days. They all pretty much agree with the idea that if it was done to me and I am fine, then what is the problem with it. Also, it is very difficult to argue (which I am horrible at anyway) when most are against you. The conclusion I came to was that even just suggesting other means of punishment/management goes along way, and, as Peace Corps told us, we may not see results until we are long gone, if ever. Planting the seed is the important thing I suppose. Life is good otherwise, my garden is coming along nicely. I am a little worried about the fence. It seems I possibly made it tall enough to keep out animals, but not quite tall enough to keep out small boys. Small boys, by the way, is a term for basically anybody (usually boys) smaller than you, ha. Small boys are everything from couriers of messages and parcel to scapegoats. Example, when I want to buy some fat cakes (like funnel cake in ball form) from the local memes who sell them though the fence during out break to the kids, I send a small boy. And I know it sounds bad, but it really is the culture. I tried to get my own cakes a couple of times at the beginning of the year and basically got laughed at. I do give the small boy I choose for this errand some of my cakes, however. Currently, the 'upper management' of the school, basically the principal, secretary, head of department(vice principal) and half of the teachers are currently interviewing canidates for two teaching vaccancies. We have had an absent Agriculture teacher since the beginning of the year and also have another teacher leaving in April. It has been interesting to watch the hiriing process. Basically the school put in an ad in the paper, we have had the applicaitons rolling in ever since. It will be nice for the learners to finally have all their teachers present so they dont have to just sit around during their free periods.

If you cannot tell, my verbal and overall language skills are becoming extremely poor, so I appologize for this scattered and typo-filled update. I hope everybody is well. This will hopefully be accompanied with pictures...who knows.....

keif

2007-03-16T12:32:00.000+02:00

Marula Festival

2007-03-11T13:09:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was spent at the annual Marula Festival. This is a huge festival aimed to honor and support the culture of the Ovambo; Kadafi, my roommate, told me 5000 people would be there and my neighbor said at least 40 cattle were slaughtered so yeah, a big event. Arrived at about 10:30, just in time to hear some opening remarks and sing the national anthem, everything of any importance begins with a prayer and the national anthem, even school. Welcoming remarks continued for a while, this is when I received my latest sunburn on my face, the worst by far since I have been in Africa; 'my face is paining' as I would say here. Once the speeches were over, it was time to eat. I again got the VIP treatment and headed into the headman's homestead to enjoy the best goat I have had so far and some fresh liver. After mingling a bit, we decided to head out. As we were leaving, there were many people waiting at the exit of the homestead for something so we decided to join. After about 30 minutes, the former president, Sam Nujoma, walked right out with his posse, joined in some singing and dancing a Tate kulu (grandfather) was doing to honor him, and hopped in his Land Rover and headed out. It was great. I was roughly 10 feet from the first president of Namibia. The current president was supposed to be at the event as well, but some recent flooding in the Caprivi Strip caused his absence. Shortly after Mr. Nujoma left, the King of Oshindonga, one of the seven tribes that make up the Oshiwambo tribe, walked out and hopped in his Land Rover. Pretty cool. Ill try to get some pictures up soon. I realize that I don't give many details...I guess things are starting to become normal to me and thus not worth reporting. Ill try to work on that...haha. Taking down the flipbook, didn't like it. Peace

Camp GLOW

2007-03-07T12:00:00.000+02:00

Meant to do this a long time ago. I had a request from a fellow volunteer to post this. I highly recommend doing this. From what I hear the camp is really a great week and enjoyed immensely by all those involved. thanks
rb/gt/kdk

What is Camp GLOW?

All over the country of Namibia there are bright potential leaders waiting for the opportunity to grow to their full capabilities. The Gender Awareness in Namibia (GAIN) committee of Peace Corps Volunteers is ready to give them that opportunity with “Girls and Guys Leading Our World (GLOW).” Camp GLOW is a week-long leadership development camp offered to eighty students, ages 13 to 16, from around Namibia. These learners will come together in the capital city in May 2006 to learn about gender awareness, promote self-confidence, explore future career choices, fight the AIDS epidemic, and develop leadership skills. Most of the campers will never have another chance to work with Namibians from the other cultures within their own country, visit the capital city and historic landmarks of their nation, or interact with successful Namibian professionals on a one-on-one basis.

This is the opportunity of a lifetime for them!

What can you do to help?

The cost of the camp for each student is US$ 50.00. We are asking for your help in sponsoring these children to attend Camp GLOW. For US$ 50, a child will gain a lifetime of experience and growth. If you do decide to sponsor one or more students, each child will send you a picture and letter from camp, telling you about his/her experiences during the week.

How do I donate?

Please send your money (cash or check) to Peace Corps Volunteer, Beth Phillips, through her family at:

Beth Phillips

6302 15^th Avenue NE

Seattle WA 98115

The money will be deposited into the Camp GLOW account upon receipt. With the money, please send your name and address so that we can send you a picture and letter in the mail. If you would like a receipt for your donation, please let us know and we will send that with the letter. (Remember, the camp does not take place until May of next year, 2007, so you will not receive your letters until after that time.)

Thank you for your generous support and contributions! We look forward to hearing from you!

If you have any questions, please contact Beth Phillips at bethinnamibia@yahoo.com

Lastly, one of my favorite things about Camp Glow is that us Peace Corps volunteers serve only as organizers and the sessions are actually facilitated by other Namibians who are out of work and in their 20s.

And obviously if you have any other questions and dont want to email Beth feel free to shoot me an email.

Just call me Johnny Friggen Appleseed

2007-03-06T19:18:00.000+02:00

I have broken ground on a garden! After my recent goat slaughtering experience, observing the life science classes plant their gardens, and the strong urge to have fresh food, I have begun my own garden. I say my own, but I have had much help from the local kids and my learners. Yesterday I dug a trench and placed my chicken wire in it, along with 7 posts. Filled in the trench gradually as we pulled the wire taught. That was enough work for yesterday, considering we did it twice because the first time is wasnn't quite tight enough. I had the learners bring in manour from their homes today and that provided me enough to fertilize my soil. I spent today turning the ground over, mixing in the manour in all of my five beds. I have sowed maize, lettuce and sunflower (which I hope will do really well here....considering). In my other two beds I plan to plant tomatoes (risky with the cold season sometimes getting to the freezing point over night, but I am giving it a go) and carrots, both of which I planted in small seed beds I made out of an empty jar of applesauce and tomato paste, ironically enough. There is an ongoing battle with myself that the fence is not high enough; many are telling me that the goats can jump over and the cows will lean over and eat my crops. I am gonna let is ride for now. I figure there are enough kids running around the keep the animals out....who knows.

RedBeardtheGreenThumb

Goat Slaughter, Read at own Risk (Not too many details)

2007-03-05T09:39:00.000+02:00

Goat Slaughter, Read at own Risk (Not too many details) Great weekend! Among other things, witnessed (and heavily documented [email/comment with your email, if you would like pics/video (YouTube???)]) my first goat slaughter. It was very interesting to watch. They slit the goats’ throat so it’s not most the cleanliness thing to watch. It was very interesting to see how exactly they did it. The guys who did it were very skilled, I asked one how many he thought he had done in his life, “Oh not too many, maybe 50.” Based on his skills with a fairly dull knife and a machete, I am guessing 50 was a very rough and underestimated figure. Another volunteer took the fur, pelt?, and is hoping to dry and tan it for a rug, ha. This is the same volunteer, Jeremy, who wanted a sand floor for his corrugated tin kitchen, who took it upon himself to experiment with cooking frogs during the seasonal harvest and who I plan to spend many hikes with. Africans let nothing go to waste, nothing. I am not totally sure that the intestines were cooked, but I have a strong feeling they were. I also saw small pieces of raw stomach being eaten. Wild. I did not partake; I have tried it, cooked, and it’s a bit too tough and chewy, though it is considered very nice among Namibians. Fired it on the braii and feasted. Goat is an acquired taste and I can say that after a few interesting experiences with it, my taste for goat is coming. It’s not the regular, but many PCVs have purchased a goat, N$300-500, had it slaughtered, and had meat on hand for the next month. I am not quite at that stage but who knows, it’s early in my service. Hope this kicks off your Monday nicely!

Some new pics on the Flipbook

Flipbook

2007-03-02T13:41:00.000+02:00

Flipbook added recently, new posts will alert you to new pictures...ok, enjoy the weekend!

Taste the Rainbow

2007-03-01T18:31:00.000+02:00

(Yes, I think I would kill for some Skittles)

Hello all, nothing too new to report, life is pretty good. A few highlights are as follows:

---Visit from my APCD (associate peace corps director) and other PC people. They were doing their first site visits. They met me at school, right after my computer class had let out. We spoke of how things are going, if I feel comfortable and safe here, and what type of work/projects I am currently working on or have in the pipeline. Then we made a visit to my house for them to see that everything was OK. It is, though my APCD jokingly said she was going to tell our health director that I didn't have my mosquito net up. Malaria here I come (I do have a screen on my window, don't worry mom).

---I attended a wedding last Saturday and a birthday party this past Tuesday. Both were very interesting and fun. The wedding, as with most, was an all day process. Church for 1.5 hours, then the brides' homestead for 4 hours then the grooms for roughly 2. A long day. I got the VIP treatment; eating and toasting with the bridal party. Pretty traditional party food; potato salad, goat, beef, cool drinks. The birthday party was one of the most formal I have ever been, complete with a program, master of ceremonies, opening remarks and prayer, hymns, and a speech. The party was for a former colleague at Ombuumbuu so all the staff went. We stayed out late, 10:30 on a school night, but it was a good time. The ride home was easily the highlight. Riding with 11 Africans in the back of a backie (see the Namlish Guide recently added in the Links Section) under partly cloudy skies with the moon reflecting off of the trees; it was beautiful. I usually have a few of those moments a week/day/hour that remind me of exactly how unique and amazing this experience is.

---Rain....got some

---Learners coming around on the idea of negative numbers and the operations associated with them.

---hearing from the Goodwoman. She is great, loving life in the hot and humid DR. She even went to the beach! Needless to say, quite a different life than I currently lead.

There are others, I am sure. Hope all is well, enjoy the rest of the week and weekend!

Keith

Positively not Negative/ Karate / Beard me?

2007-02-22T14:49:00.001+02:00

A quick post after an interesting day of teaching. After now nearly a week of teaching how to add and subtract negative numbers, I had a learner ask me...”Sir, which is bigger, a negative or a positive number?” Needless to say that didn't make me feel like Namibia's most valuable teacher (I considered writing MVT, but decided not to). It's very difficult because while there are those that don't know that a negative number is always less than a positive one, there are others who are bored sick of the topic, and understand it! I am wrestling with that right now. I have brought the idea to group the classes by ability, which I know is not always the right thing to do, but I really think it would help all involved in the education process. The range of levels in each class is just too big, and their would still be various levels in an ability grouped class (The argument against is that the students learn the best when they get it from their peers). I have the support of most of the staff, it is just going to be a logistical nightmare to reshuffle the classes, the likes of which I will not bore you with here.

Otherwise, I am ok. I have been running a fair amount now. I actually had a kid come up to me and said he saw me running; “Sir, are you training for Kung Fu or Karate?” I said neither, just to relax. ha. “Making exercise,” as they call it here, is an activity I am thoroughly enjoying.

We had some good rain last night, and overcast weather today so maybe more rain is coming. I have a new found meaning for the words that I sang for many a year....”I bless the rains down in Africa.” I hear them every time it rains, and it definitely is true.

Been eating decent. Had some fried green tomatoes to kick off the week, and feasted on french toast last night. My neighbor also gave me some guavas that I am excited to try tonight. The kids are definitely interested to see how I cook. Don't know if it is because I am a male or American, but most likely a combination of both.

News of site visits and reconnect is starting to emerge from PC Namibia which is exciting. Crazy that the date for reconnect is already set (April 23-29).

Have heard from Leah's madre, she is well, enjoying life in the Dominican Republic. I am anxiously awaiting the first contact from her, but also have confidence that she is having a great time.

Pretty relaxing weekend coming of nothing but soccer, planning, reading and sleeping. Looking forward to it. Enjoy your Thursday and Friday.

p.s. Thinking about trying to raise money for my school through something I can do...really well. Would anybody out there be interested in pledging money for every day I grow my beard???? You could pledge by the day, week, month, or in a lump some. All the money would benefit my school or any number of worthy causes I am working with over here. If you pledge by the day, please keep in mind I could grow a beard for a long time. I would post a picture of myself every week, so you could keep track of how it looks. I could maybe get others PCVs involved as well. For my fellow beard grower out there, “it'll evolve.” Just comment or email me, if you know my email, if you would be interested in this. Thanks.

Mail Rules!

2007-02-16T14:19:00.001+02:00

ail Rules

So strolling to the post office today after school, not feeling the greatest. School could be going better I think. I deliver some outgoing mail and check my box. Two letters and a package! The Kohr G-rents, thank you so much for the vacuumed sealed tuna and fish. It is going to be great tonight for dinner after my run.

Running, by the way, is my new favorite activity. I have run only twice so far, but both have been great. I hit a gravel road and am quickly out of my little town. I quickly transition into rural Africa. Traditional homesteads, blue sky for as long as you can see and cattle. I get similar looks from the cattle as I do the people. They both just stare and me and wonder what I am doing. The kids run to the fence of their homestead and scream “Oshilumbo” until I give them a wave. I have yet to have kids come up next to me and join in on my run but I am sure/hoping that will soon happen. Its great. I run with the sun at my back then turn around and end my run under an African sunset.

Hope all is well.

Keith

Untitled (text)

2007-02-11T16:51:00.001+02:00

I have had a call for more posts, so for those, here goes. I guess I will first describe my setting, right now (Saturday night) I sit in front of my laptop typing, while outside the sky is so clear you can quite clearly see the Milky Way. I spent some of my day at school, trying to download good templates for grade books for the teachers here to use. Our computer lab runs in Linux so it’s difficult to find templates that work on OpenOffice and not Excel. I was not alone at school; there is a teacher who holds class every Saturday for the Grade 10 learners. I think today he also held class for a grade 8 class that has been falling behind. He only teaches Business Management, is Windhoek educated, and is very, very motivated. My most interesting and revealing conversations about education in Namibia and Namibian culture in general have been with this teacher. He has also taken over a computer class that he teaches directly after my class. I teach it from 1:30 to 3, when he takes over and runs his class from 3-6! As I said, he is very motivated. I still have yet to ask him directly why he runs the longer computer class and holds class on Saturdays, but I have a feeling his answer would be that he just feels it is needed. As you can imagine, this is quite a pleasant surprise for me that I am still getting used to. Coming into Peace Corps I was told to be ready to set the bar high and don’t expect to be shown any gratitude. Well things are totally different for me; I sometimes find myself saying why am I not working as hard as he is? It’s a good problem. And though the entire staff doesn’t share this level of enthusiasm, they are all pretty dedicated. We still are two teachers short, one is out on sick leave and the other has yet to show up, but in general the staff is pretty decent. To be honest, sometimes I feel this school doesn’t necessarily need a PCV, but then something will happen that reminds me they do.

I spent the other part of my day with soccer. We have a local team in my town, the Epupa All Star 11 FC (football club). This was the second game I have seen, and it’s great. They play on a gravel field, which is a little crazy. But it is very fast paced, I have learned (if I was a Namibian textbook writer I would say learnt….its written all over all the text books...”today you learnt that…”) that the African style of soccer is much different than the European version. Much less focus on passing and finesse; here it is get the ball toward the goal as fast a possible. Thus, we were on the winning side of a 6-1 game. More football at the place with the DSTV. More conversations with my colleague. Overall a good day.

The week consisted of the ups and downs that are becoming normal for me. Thursday was a low point; my day at school didn’t go well at all which causes the rest of the day to kind of go downhill as well. Friday was the total opposite; learners were answering questions and making connections. I have noticed really how much my mood effects how well the class goes. My educators out there know.

I am feeling a bit more part of the community. I start to see people I know; my town is only an estimated 2000-3000 people. My neighbor gave me a huge butternut squash that I ate over 3 days, and we played cards for a while last Sunday so I hope that continues (for my recent college grads….I taught her “President”).

I hope everybody is well, I hear it’s wicked cold in the states so enjoy that, cause it’s wicked hot here. Heard NY got dumped on with snow. I tried to explain 2 meters of snow to my neighbor; it’s definitely a hard thing to describe when the closest thing they can identify with is hail. Nangala po nawa.

Keith

Untitled

2007-02-11T13:24:00.000+02:00

February Already?

2007-02-05T09:52:00.000+02:00

February Already I guess so, crazy. The month of January flew by, with adjusting to our permanent sites, getting into as much of a rhythm as we can at school, and determining where exactly we are and understanding our surroundings, I think I speak for most PCVs when I say that we all are surprised by the arrival of February. Things have been great at school, finally getting used to the students and vice versa. I teach 5-6, 40 minute periods a day, and thoroughly enjoy all of them. I am really looking forward to getting my life skills classes up and running. I only see them once a week, but I really feel like I could have a big impact on those classes. So far the only topic we have covered is WHO should be responsible for teaching learners about HIV/AIDS? We had some interesting issues brought up, in fact, one of my classes didn’t even mention parents when asked who they thought should teach HIV/AIDS awareness. I let it go and continued the debate about who they thought should teach it, among the choices provided were teachers, organizations, and doctors. After our debate concluded, I pointed their attention the fact that not one of the 35 or so learners suggested parents should be responsible for educating their children. We didn’t have time to hash this issue out further, but it was very interesting to me, and some of the learners as well, I think/hope.

On Friday I also concluded my first week long computer class. My plan is to take 15 learners, 3/computer, and run a week long crash course to the computer. I spend no time on structure of the computer or hardware of the computer; I go right into an online tutorial on how to click and double click. I first typed the directions about how to go to this website, though directing them to open this file caused the first problem. Handouts with clear directions was a big thing my ‘test class’ suggested, though I don’t know how much of a possibility that is without a printer/copier. I’ll figure something out. Just another challenge. I have also noticed that the learners here don’t have that innate video game intuition that young American students have. I feel that young American students view the computer as a more complex video game, and it’s just another thing for them to figure out. Here, with the lack of access to video games, the learners do not have that same confidence. Therefore, it takes much encouragement and assurance to give them the confidence to begin to explore. Also, to be able to explore, you must know how to close windows, switch from various windows, click, double click. They reached the “exploring stage” by Thursday and from there on, I was basically there to answer questions. I gave them a way to vague task, so I think this week I will give them a sort of internet treasure hunt. And for those that care…you know who you are…Guinness, they are Goggling and using firefox and I hope to teach some advanced learners tabs. Maybe even the alt-tab combo to switch windows (try it, hold alt then press tab with it….nice right?). It’s really crazy to teach how to click and double click, and with the language barrier it’s really interesting, ha. Also really wild to see what they search, I had to stop two google searches for Sadam execution, no joke. They are obsessed with him here. I actually got referred to as Sadam by a passerby on a bike in my shopping town last week. I asked my teachers here, they said it was because of my beard, which, for those of you that care….you know who you are…..is getting back in trail form. Also, at the end of the last class of the day, had a learner ask me “What color was Jesus?” I was of course caught off guard (these kids never ask questions so getting this loaded one was…..well, yeah). I said “Well I do not [I try to teach all day without using conjunction. Try talking for a whole day without conjunctions, its tough] know. Why do you ask?” And it eventually came out that I look like Jesus, ha. In case you don’t know, this is not the first I have gotten this. I got it in model school, along with another PCV, Tall Paul (he is in a picture on this site I think, that’s the Jesus picture). Even some other PCVs brought this to my attention when, during model school, I had a good 10 learners, all pretty small, surround me in one big circle as we walked to school. It was funny.

I found out last week that I am member of the VAC, the volunteer action committee….I think? Guess I should really make sure that is what it is. Ha. I have my first meeting in less than two weeks, so I am interested to learn what exactly I will be doing. From what I have heard, it is a volunteer run committee designed to be the voice of your regions’ PCVs to PC Namibia. Living conditions, secondary project problems/questions, scheduling issues, basically anything that effects my region in general. I am not sure this is exactly the right spot for me but I am going to give it a try. The director of all of Peace Corps will also be at this meeting, so I may get a chance to meet him, which is cool.

Tonight is the super bowl, I tried to get the bar with the DSTV to stay open so I could wake up and watch it, but its not going to happen.

Leah is great, she is now nearly one week from the beginning of staging, so she is getting very excited. Her training is going to be a bit different than mine. Hers will be 3 months instead of 2, and will begin with immediately moving in with host families, something that is very common in most Peace Corps training programs. I have hopefully been a good resource for her, but if I have noticed one thing, its that the experience one has in Peace Corps varies greatly from person to person, let alone country to country. I will be very excited to hear how her experience differs from mine.

I am going to try to post some pictures of my place soon….so stay tuned.

Hope all is well, life in Namibia is good.

Keith

ps, elise’s mom, she says hello…

2007-01-28T09:42:00.000+02:00

Some Pictures

2007-01-28T09:28:00.000+02:00

Hello all, and happy weekend. I realized that I hadn't yet put any pictures up, so, they are coming. They span from pre-departure in DC to pictures withing the last 2 weeks or so, also include a random picture of me and Leah and beard. Hope you enjoy.

Teaching Success, Food, Rain!

2007-01-24T11:58:00.000+02:00

School on Tuesday was the best day I have had being a teacher here. I even had an Ah-ha moment for all my educators out there. I really wish this moment would have come earlier but oh well; it’s the small victories of which I appreciate these days. Like another highlight of my day, making my first real meal at my place. Up till Tuesday night, I had been living on cereal, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, tuna, and pasta. I found frozen chicken, potatoes, and even scored the last batch of bananas not yet ripe at my local stores. I am pumped. I made a half decent chicken, potatoes, and canned green bean stew, complete with a packet of spices titled “stew” so it all fit. I definitely forgot how good chicken was…..it’s good, try it. Had some good rain last night and with the lighting all around tonight, looks like we could get more. Things are very dry here, even for the local standard, so we will all be very happy if more rain falls over the coming nights. Morale is great and hope to make it an even better rest of the week. Hope all is well in the states. Enjoy the cold.

Typed that last night. Right now there is a cold light rain falling. It is great, the learners and teachers are quite bundeled up. They are loving it as am I. I also had my first full night of sleep last night, so I am feelin pretty good. Looking forward to a relaxing afternoon.

Keith

First REAL Post

2007-01-21T15:14:00.000+02:00

<span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">oday</span> is Sunday, it is bright, sunny, and warm here in <span onclick="BLOG_clickHandler(this)" class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Oshifo</span> N

Today is Sunday, it is bright, sunny, and warm here in Oshifo Namibia and I happy to say this is the first real update on my blog. First and foremost, I am happy. Officially, this is the beginning of week 3 and the past two weeks have flown by. My living area is getting more and more set up by the day and I am getting more comfortable with my surroundings. Let me catch all of you up on my site placement.

I am working in Ombuumbuu Junior Secondary school (grades 8-10). The school has roughly 350 learners, divided into 10 classes. The schedule works a bit differently here than in American school, instead of having a specific schedule for each learner (student), learners are divided into classes and then a schedule is made for that specific class. Therefore, the learners in a given class, say 8A, are together all day, for all classes, for all terms (of which there are 3) of the year. I cannot imagine being together with the same students all day, all year. I am anxious to see how this plays out, I am expecting students getting fed up with each other and thus misbehaving, though I am also hoping the cohesiveness of the class will be formed much quicker since they are always together. A great thing about my school that is I have my own classroom. This may not sound like a big deal, but in most school here, the teacher moves and the class remains in the same classroom all day. I cannot imagine being a student, sitting in the same room all day, watching the teachers change. So I am happy I get my own classroom, also helps for planning purposes. I am teaching all the grade 8’s, five sections, in math, then am also teaching all the grade 9s, three sections, life skills. I am happy about this work load, teaching about 27, forty minute periods a week. The biggest obstacle I have hit thus far has been the language barrier between myself and the 8^th grades learners. Their English skills are the lowest of all the grades, understandably, but combined with me accent they struggle to understand me. I am told that with time they will begin to understand more, and I believe that, but it is just tough right now.

The first week of school was interesting to say the least. Chaos would be a good word to describe the school. The time table is totally different for each class, teacher, and EACH DAY. Also, the schedule is written only one sheet of paper in the office and not displayed really to the learners, so you can imagine the confusion. I cannot even begin to tell you how difficult and complicated the schedule making process is, but lets just say its not efficient at all. Because of this confusion, I didn’t see on of my 8^th grade classes until Friday, when the first day of school was Wednesday. I just chalked it up to another learning experience.

My school has electricity, one bathroom building at each side of the main courtyard, both with flush toilets in each of the mens and womens bathrooms. We have a semi stocked library, a science lab, and the kicker, a Schoolnet Lab. I wont bore you to death (may be too late) but SchoolNet is a Namibian based nonprofit company aimed at computer education in Namibian schools. They provide a main computer that can serve 5 shell computers that comes loaded with all kinds of educational software. Math, English, science as well as basic computers skills are touched on in this software. Its really great. It comes loaded with Wikipedia so that learners can surf Wikipedia without being on the Internet. Comes loaded with over 1000 books, all in .txt form, basically all the books one would ever read in schools along with a bunch of Namibian texts. I haven't fully explored all the programs but from the surface, they look great and I am very anxious to get kids in the lab and start really teaching. And what’s best, they all have a huge drive to learn computers. I don’t know exactly what the drive is, but the interest even in the whole community, is huge on computers. I am thinking that something computer based will be my secondary project.

The staff is very supportive and very happy I am there. When I finally got the lab up and running, they were very excited. Its great to have a supportive staff.

I touched on it a bit, but I must reiterate how driven to learn the students are here. They deal with many challenges, possibly to many to list here, and yet they come to school eager to learn. It is so refreshing to be in a country where the students appreciate the education they are receiving, even if its not the best. And I know its early and maybe I may see a fall in this drive, but hopefully I will be able to keep their interest and build upon it.

That’s bout it on the school. My living situation is great. I am living in a two bedroom house with one other Namibian roommate, Joseph (African name is Kadafi). I have my own bedroom, a bed, an armoire(sp?), a table and two chairs. I also indulged in a fan, cause it is wicked hot here. If I am sleeping, its on. I lucked out with my situation because the kitchen was already fully stocked when I arrived so I didn’t have to pay for that kind of stuff. I have a decent size fridge, about double a big college fridge, a two burner hotplate, and a tap of drinkable water in my kitchen. By our (PCVs) standards, its nice enough. I have been pretty much living on pasta, cereal, and tuna but am hopefully going to start branching out with the cooking. There is a sitting room, his bedroom, and a bathroom consisting of a cold shower and flush toilet. Again, pretty sweet. Joseph works on a farm most days and is usually gone until nine or ten so lately I haven't been seeing much of him. Just this past week we had two new arrivals at our place, his daughter, Reiley, and another girl, cant really figure out her relationship to….anybody…, Wilka. I am their teacher for math so it is a little weird when I my learners see me shirtless and whatnot, but, what can you do. They are very quiet and we haven't really talked much however we have had some tooth and nail battles in Uno when they first arrived.

My closest real shopping town is Outapi, where I can find most items, including apples, oranges, potatoes and onions. Fresh things other than that are hard to come by. If I want to go to a food place that more resembles an American grocery store, I must go 2 hours by public transport, and $N80 round trip to Oshakati, where I can find, basically anything. In my town I can get bread sometimes, pasta, rice, butter, shampoo, soap, dish soap, biscuits(crackers), chicken that I have yet to trust, some canned veggies, and, at the “fresh market” (basically a chopped up cow hanging on a hook from a tree) I can get beef. I have yet to try this….fresh market, but I know it will be a great cultural exchange when I do. My town has a post office, which I use frequently, and…..the school, haha. That’s bout it, no bank. But Internet, so who needs a bank, haha.

Getting to integrate into the community has been a little rough thus far. I keep telling myself that its early but I also am anxious to belong. The language barrier is my biggest set back in this thus far. I know not nearly enough language to be able to even begin to hold a conversation with the locals, so I have yet to really try to and socialize. I hope to soon get a language tutor to teach me whatever language would be most appropriate here, I think Oshikwambi, so hopefully that will help. Another problem is that just as I am shy of the locals, the locals are shy of me. I try to stay outside when I am reading and be available, but I think I need to be the one making the moves.

Just got back from a night stay in Opuwo. It was great. I was able to see two other PCV from our group and also met a VSO from the Netherlands. I cannot begin to explain how great it is to see other PCVs and here their stories and reassure yourself that everybody is going through the same things you are. Its also very interesting to see others’ sites, and how they compare to yours. One theme I have definitely understood as of late, ALL experiences differ greatly from PCV to PCV. Living setting, amenities, cultural issues (Opuwo is home to the Himba people, some of the most traditional people in Namibia, Google them). It was a great visit and I am recharged and ready for a full week of teaching, hopefully, content to the kids.

So I really apologize for the length of this, I am sure by now some that have opened the page have gone off to another much more interesting page but for those of you still tuned in thanks. There has just been much happening that I feel only those super close to me have known about. Expect, shorter, more frequent updates to follow.

I am happy, the homesickness comes and goes, the mood fluctuates, but overall I am good. Plan for the day is to upload this, plan the week of school and start my next book. By the way, already read Dark Star Safari, The Long Walk, Choke, Shutterbabe, and am about to start reading Cryptonomicon. Its got 1100 pages so I think Ill be good for a while with the books. Hope everybody is well, I have been keeping up with US news so I know that nothing too crazy is going on over there. The Skins are out so…Go Pats! I won my fantasy league, I know, wild. My hair and beard are really long, I have been called Jesus on numerous occasions. Out for now…..

Keith

p.s. I hope to get going on the blog a list of items that you can send if you are looking to send stuff….just let me know if you send something and I will take it off the list and put other items up. I have been told that if you put religious symbols and/or words on the package, it is more likely to arrive in a timely and safe manner. Also, I have been advised to always, yes always, put Used School Supplies or Used Clothing or anything Used, on the customs forms. This again to make sure whatever you send actually gets to me. Also look into M-Bags, the cheapest and most effective way to send a lot of stuff. Takes a lot of time (3 months on the boat) but apparently gets here. The address to send things is as follows.

Mr. Keith Kohr
PO BOX 45
Ruacana
Namibia
Africa

If M-Bag : PO Box 6862
Ausspannplatz
Windhoek, Namibia
Africa

p.p.s I know its expensive to send packages, so just know that letters are just as awesome to get. K, done.

First Post

2007-01-19T16:39:00.000+02:00

Hello everyone, this is my new site for future posts. Bookmark it and stay tuned for more lengthy updates. Hope all is well with everyone!