Erongo Athletics in Swakopmond 03.03.12

I was fortunate enough to be given the chance to spend a weekend, along the coast with some of the gifted athletics students at the school, attempting to qualify for the Country finals next month. The regions greatest, took part in order to decide the best that will represent us at Windhoek against all of the other regions.
I helped supervise on the journey there and back, also in the hostel by which we were accommodated and finally at the event; making sure each child was at their event at the right time.
We were very lucky to have 6/10 of the children qualify, although 3 were also disqualified which was disappointing for them.
It was a fun filled day with many laughs and some tears also, which took part from 7am-7pm. Tiring!
We also spent some time at the beach and eating ice-creams which were lovely, then travelled home the same evening, returning at midnight. What a long day it was.

The Swedish people visit 27.02.12

Omaruru Primary School is currently on a programme where they have a partnership school in Sweden that sponsors certain school things, vulnerable children and also visit every year to monitor the progress of the school.
In the week leading up, everybody had been busy preparing decorations and welcome presentations in aid of the Swedish arriving. On the day, the school choir and teacher choir put on a performance in assembly and the visitors were welcomed with a special song from the whole school. Tea, biscuits and cakes were served at break times where the teachers and visitors got together to share culture and experience and the visitors enjoyed spending the evenings in the hostel with the learners. They left a week later by which the evening before we spent having a nice meal with them and all of the staff.

Tour de Omaruru 26.02.12

Every year Spar and other local companies partner up to hold the famous Omaruru cycle race. A race that has been going for now a couple of decades; sees people travelling from all over Namibia to take part.
Professional, as well as amateur cyclists’ takes part, entering themselves into 1 of 3 races: 100km, 60km or 25km. Top prize money this year was N$40,000 and there was also a wide range of runner up prizes too.
The weather was great to see the cyclists set off and to also follow their progress along the road in the back of a friend’s bakkie. Finally, after battling it out in the wind and burning sun, all cyclists were back by 1o’clock and attending the prize-giving ceremony at the Rest Camp.

Omaruru Primary school modelling competition 11.02.12

The Grade 7 girls at O.P.S hostel decided to organise a modelling competition within the hostel on a Saturday night. They made posters and sold tickets to children and parents for N$ 2 and used the money to buy prizes such as crowns and sweets. The show went very well despite being arranged to start at 7 but finally starting at 9pm in the end (that’s Africa time for you!). Both girls and boys modelled and there were a number of categories such as evening wear, beach wear, swim wear, casual, swim and underwear. All of the models looked beautiful; however it was somewhat inappropriate to have Grade 1’s (6-8years) modelling underwear. But they definitely didn’t see what the problem was with it.
The girls were very happy with how it went, after they prepared most of it themselves within a week and only allowed us to help with making the tickets and taking them to town to display the posters.

Omaruru Primary Athletics 10.02.12

A fun filled day of some head-to-head competition between the 4 main schools in Omaruru: Omaruru Primary School, Paheye, Ubasen and Walfriden. Students took part in many of the main athletic sports such as short and long distance running, discuss, javelin, shot-put, high and long jump and not forgetting relays.
Ubasen took an early lead; but it was quite clear from the beginning that there was a strong rivalry between Ubasen and O.PS. You could practically smell it in the air!
But the rivalry wasn’t just on the sports field; it was also in the stands. The children from each school spent the whole day sporting banners and screaming victory chats at the others. I’m sure a few times I saw small fights break out and children being dragged away from each other.
Ubasen excelled in the long distance; however O.P.S. gained on them quickly when the field and short distance items arrived. With the change of circumstances, the Ubasen teachers decided to take matters into their own hands and when found to be cheating there were some stand-offs between the male and even female teachers in front of all of the children (can you believe it!)
Finally, after arriving at 7am, the day finished and the winners were announced at 2pm.

Omaruru Prison college cultural event 28.01.12

Omaruru is also home to an excellent prison college, where hundreds of students come from all over the country to professionally train to work in a prison. Every year they prepare a cultural evening celebrating the many different cultural groups/tribal people that study at the college.
The groups performed traditional dance, songs, displayed their foods and also acted out special elements of their culture. Traditional dress was worn by all and the show was truly spectacular!

Omaruru River flows! 21.01.12

Raining season is here and finally the Omaruru River runs after being dry since last year. Myself and my partner Tyche took a trip there with some friends that we have made in town and spent the afternoon braai’ing Boerewors and swimming in the very dirty looking water. Very weird to see when one is used to the rivers of England that aren’t exactly clean either!
It was very fun to float along upstream and enjoy something such as a river flowing here; which is very much celebrated when it doesn’t happen very often.

Death of the Herero chief and burial 16.01.12

December the 26th saw the death of the Herero chief Wilhelm Zeraua. The week commencing 16th January, his burial ceremony finally began in Omaruru. From the 16th – 20th his body was constantly driven back and forth from the mortuary, around town with the Herero men and women in precession. In the evenings, the body would be taken to a specialist church where the casket was opened and people could come and pay their respects (meaning they were free to dramatically cry over his body and declare the love for their dead chief).
Hereros also spent evenings eating humungous feasts in memory of him. These feasts may accommodate up to 50 people in one house and many donkey or goats would be slaughtered and eaten. Finally, the chief was buried on the Sunday afternoon (22nd) after being dead for 27 days.

Back to School

School re-opened for teachers on the 12th and for learners on the 16th of January. We were informed by Riette straight away that we would be needed for a lot of teaching this year and when we were finally presented with our full timetables it was a relief to know that we would be busy all year. I especially was every excited about the lessons I would be teaching. However, teaching did not commence properly until 2nd of February due to the handing out of books and covering them. Very frustrating to endure when you want to begin with all of you classes but that’s African time and that’s how it works!
I am now teaching 4 subjects: Agriculture, English, P.E and Religious studies to grades 5-7. I barely have any time to myself now with the entire lesson planning and running around after the children. But I am definitely enjoying it so much more.
I and my partner are still managing the school library, taking in a lot of book donations and also turning it into a small media centre, now including a music system and television to watch educational films.

Christmas and New Year

After our trip to the North, we arrived back in Omaruru for a few days to prepare for Cape-town., although our dreams were soon crushed when we were told by project trust that our visas had been rejected and we could not leave the country. Brilliant!

Furthermore, we spent Christmas at a friend’s farm, feeding kudu, riding quad bikes and swimming. We also enjoyed a Christmas meal but there was no Turkey unfortunately.
I remained in Omaruru through New Year whereas Tyche went back to Luderitz with all of the other volunteers. Omaruru was very nice and I celebrated with the majority of my friends in town attending a party that was held at the Rest Camp.