Orientation Over and First week in Omungwelume

Sunday 1/24

Hello all! It's been about 2 weeks since the last post and so much has happened. Last week we finished Orientation on the 15the with final sessions on a past volunteers perspective on the classroom, teaching speaking, basic language instruction on the tribal languages of our region (mine is Oshikwaynama, oshi-qwan-yama, a dialect of Oshivambo), our syllabuses, continuous assessment, a security brief from the U.S. Embassy, testing/grading/assessment, health and safety, hand-washing clothes tutorial, our Emergency Action Plan if we have to evacuate, challenging situations, first day tips, fears/expectations/hopes, logistics/evaluations, and an amazing dinner at a local restaurant called Fusion (the food was modern takes on traditional African dishes and was one of the best meals I've had anywhere). Overall, it was great to be done with Orientation. Although it was very informative and a great few weeks getting to know the staff, their husbands, and the other volunteers, I had been ready to get to my placement, unpack/settle in, and start at the my school.


 

WorldTeach had arranged for Ministry of Education drivers from our different regions to pick us up so on Sunday morning we all loaded different vehicles and set off toward our new homes. My roommate Bernie and I were picked up in a small size, double cab bakkie (pick-up truck). I had expected the drive to take 11 hours or so, but because our driver drove 160 kilometers per hour (kph) or about 100mph. We made it in about 8 and could have made it faster if he had not been tired and decided to pull over for a quick nap about halfway threw. On the way up, not being familiar with kph I didn't really realize how fast we were going so I wasn't too concerned until later when I did the conversion, but I did buckle up and stay vigilant for potential animals on the road. To get to my town (Omungwelume, ohm-gwah-lum-ay) we took the main road in Namibia, the B1, from Windhoek to Oshakati, and then went about 30km north to Omungwelume. The B1, although the most major road in Namibia, is a two lane paved road with no shoulder. It is nice and smooth, just not wide. The top speed is supposed to be 120kmh, but, like I said, they drive much faster. Large trucks are regulated to 80kph so a lot of passing is going on which I found very nerve-wracking at times, but we made it safe.

Oshakati is a pretty large town. I drove through it on the way up and have made it back there 3 times this week to get groceries and meet up with some other volunteers who are also near Oshakati. To get there we can hitchhike or grab a taxi for N$15 (about $2). The taxi's from Omungwelume will sometimes start without being full but pickup other passengers on the way and then from Oshakati will not move until full. On the way back the different drivers pretty much physically put you in their cab. The first time, not expecting that to happen, it was disconcerting and I didn't do a good job forcing distance between the driver and myself. Since then I have gotten better at being more assertive with myself and belongings. They act this way with all the passengers, but being white stands out and they are a bit more aggressive. Anyway, Oshakati is one long strip (a few miles long) of both small and large stores and open markets/roadside stands. To my surprise, we have found most everything we have needed. The grocery stores have all the basics, butcher counters, and some fresh produce. You cannot find a wide variety of different cultures' foods, but we are cooking every night and eating well.

Omungwelume is also a long strip of shops, but only ½ mile if not less. There are a few small markets, a few China shops (they are literally called this and carry anything from clothes to electronics, all cheap in both quality and price), and many shebeens (bars). Off the main road, which is paved, are many seemingly random side roads that are not paved, grated or maintained. The soil here is strictly sand. Once you are off the main road and on the side roads it is all small concrete block houses with tin roofs. We live at the edge of the town about 500 yards from the main road inside the secondary school campus in a small house that is probably 25'x60'. It has 4 bedrooms, but we have shut off one side of the house because one room is full of old books just randomly tossed in there and the other has broken copy machines. The house has a large front room and a small kitchen. There is running water, but no hot water. I don't know if I will truly ever get used to the cold showers, but I have been told I just need to suck it up and stay under the water and to take showers at night when the ground is still warm. At this moment I just wished the water worked. We had been warned it would go off from time to time, but never thought just how inconvenient this would actually be. Since this morning we have been unable to shower, wash dishes, do our laundry, or flush the toilet. We hope it will come by tomorrow so we can get cleaned up for school, but we'll see.

Monday.

This morning, water! After school today I did my first round of hand-washing clothes. Not as hard as I expected, just time consuming. Anyway, back to the update. We arrived a week ago Sunday and, I have to say it was quite overwhelming. We had been spoiled in Windhoek and, although somewhat expected, our town seemed like the middle of nowhere with nothing in it. Since then I have become quite comfortable and got to know the town and it's few shops, but the first day was rough. We were driven right to our house and upon entering were also a bit overwhelmed. Unfortunately the previous volunteer had left the place a disaster. It was absolutely filthy so we spent the whole afternoon and evening cleaning. After cleaning the place from top to bottom, literally, it is really nice and I have settled in well. Because we pretty much live on a beach minus the ocean, it is a daily battle to try and not track in tons of sand, but we are getting more used to living here. I was nervous at first to have a roommate but we get along great and have many of the same priorities such as immersing ourselves as much as possible and keeping the house in decent shape. Although I have hardly had anytime to relax, it's nice to eat together and have someone around through the evening when there is not much to do.

So, to the school week. We were warned it could be a little crazy but I had no idea. The school staff literally locks up on the last day of school and opens back up the first day. There was nothing prepared including class lists and allocation of subjects to teachers. The first day the students hung out all day while the experienced teachers put them into different class groups and assigned them a home room (for reference the classes are 8A-E, 9A-C, 10A-C and 11A-C, each class has 30-40 students). This pretty much took the whole day and I felt extremely overwhelmed not knowing where to go or what to do. A few other new teachers (Namibians) and I decided to just walk around, enter different classes, and talk with them for their benefit, but mostly for ours. I was pretty much the class topic and we opened up the floor to any questions the kids had about me. At different times I lectured on myself, where I came from, climate of the US, geography of the US, government structure of the US, and culture to name a few.

Tuesday was much of the same except there were some tasks to get done. Unfortunately no one really told us what these were so after an hour of sitting in the staff room I decided I had to do something and went and helped pass out notebooks. The Namibian government provides “exercise books” to all the learners for each of their classes, sometimes they get more than one per class. These books are pretty much bound lined paper the students use for taking notes, doing homework, and writing in. We also began passing out textbooks as well. To my surprise the textbooks are very nice and were purchased within the last 2 years. By the end of the day I had been given a list of what I will be teaching, 8A English, 9A-C English, 10A-C Life Skills, 10A-C Basic Information Science, and 10A-C Physical Education, but, to my surprise, they had not figured out the timetable/schedule of classes. Typically they do this manually and it takes 2-3 weeks. I don't have any idea on what they do during those three weeks besides walk around see if one of your classes is free and teach something. Insane, but thats how they do it. This year though they decided to let me take care of the time table because they have a computer program that will do it, but they don't know how to use it. I think this is a double edge sword. We will have a timetable sooner than later (still not done because I didn't know what I was doing, how they wanted it to be and they keep changing things), but I have been working on the timetable everyday for as long as I can stand. Each time I think it's done they change something which throws the whole thing off because when you change one thing many other things automatically switch and require going over the whole thing looking for errors...Anyway, it has taken up all my time and patience to not freak out and at times I have wanted to give up but I have to keep going or I may never have a schedule which would be a disaster. At the moment, I am giving myself til Wednesday to finish it. We had a staff meeting today which threw the whole thing off and I didn't even bring it home. For now we are using a past draft that will change but does allow us all to visit our classes in a timely manner.

Anyway last week continued in that fashion; not knowing what to do, finding something to do and then having it switched up. It has been great visiting the classes and I have started lessons although not in the way I envisioned because I haven't had much free time to do lesson plans and never had a very clear and defined beginning of class. I hope it doesn't feel like I'm complaining because it was truly a great week, just a bit crazy.

My learners are quite a mixed bag. In all my classes there are kids that love to be there and are great at speaking English and some that are repeating the grade for various reasons. As the week has passed they have become more comfortable with me and a little less shy, but it will be a struggle to get everyone on the same page in both the long term and even daily giving instructions. Regardless, I know that over time they will continue to understand me more and I will get better at reaching them. It's already happening and I'm excited to really dig into teaching.

One incredible aspect of my week that relates to school but occurred out of school was the time I have spent with my principal and beginning to form a relationship with him. I have been surprised it has been so good because after we first met I was nervous he would be very hands off and leave me alone, but this has been anything but the case. On Monday I had to go to Oshakati to fill out some paperwork for the government. He was going there as well to bring our copy machine to a repair shop so, he gave me a ride. He dropped me off, but as I was walking to grab a taxi I saw his truck outside a computer store on the way. I decided to stop by to catch a ride with him and ended up running errands with him for the next 5 hours. We went to a cobbler, grocery store, gas station, back to the computer store, and then out quite a ways to a catholic mission associated with his church. Over this time I got to know about his career, his hopes and wants for what I could help the school accomplish, and his frustrations about our school. We also talked about some ideas I have had and my interest in farming after working at my friends farm in Philadelphia last summer. I also found out his family has a homestead near Omungwelume and offered to go out there if they need help or just to learn how they farm here.

On Friday he took me up on this offer! After school I met him later in the afternoon at the small shebeen he owns in town. One of his boys was there as well as 4 of his nephews/nieces. We loaded up into his bakkie and headed out. After winding around on some desolate, dirt roads for about 20 min we reached his family homestead where he grew up as a child. It consists of a field, a pen for the goats and cows, and a compound of small, round mud huts with thatched, grass roofs surrounded by a handmade fence of sticks. His mom and dad still live there with a few small children and I think a few members of his family. His parents are older so the kids all help with the farming. So far the field has been plowed and planted. Our job was to hand weed the whole field, this is a continuous process which could never be accomplished quickly. They use hand made hoes to scrape the sandy ground around the plants (corn, beans, sorghum, and wheat) which easily uproots the weeds. We worked for a few hours, only covering a small portion of the field, until the sun set and he drove me back into town. The kids spend the weekend out there helping the grandparents. One other job I saw them do was hand pound some grain which later gets crushed at the mill.

Going out to the homestead was a surreal experience. I knew the people here were subsistence farmers, but seeing exactly how they live was amazing. I hope to continue to go out there and learn more about their lives. Although I do appreciate and like the comforts we typically have, part of me is drawn to their lifestyle as well. With their land and animals they pretty much house and provide for their families. Although they are not rich, there is something about how they live I am convinced is extremely valuable. I'm very glad for my principal and look forward to working with him both in and out of school.

This weekend I met some other volunteers is Oshakati and they came to our place for dinner. I also got to explore my town a bit but there really isn't much going on. I have yet to go to a shebeen besides my principal's, but hope to make it in soon. They are pretty lively places.

I'm going to go ahead and post. I know this is a lot of information and I have even more, but for now this is enough. Please ask questions in the comment section if something is unclear or you would like more information about something. As soon as the timetable is done I will write another post. Until then, hope all is well and wish me luck.