O.P.S. Parents day 05.04.12

Friday all of the parents of the learners were invited to visit the school and talk to teachers about their children's educations. Myself and Tyche were therefore put in charge of keeping the children occupied whilst this happened. I took all of the boys Grade4-7 in the school and Tyche took the girls.

For the boys I arranged lots of different sport activities for them to take part in. I set up volleyball, football, basketball, rugby and high jump. The system was that they could do what ever they wanted but had to spread themselves evenly. Luckily I had a couple of parents helping me with this so we were able to supervise each activity effectively.

Tyche did painting and dancing with the girls. This all occurred up until 12 when school was out and everybody went to enjoy their Easter holiday.

Luderitz 05.04.12

The school takes a long weekend for Easter every year, so we thought, why not travel 1000km down to Luderitz for it.

We set off on the Thursday around 12 as soon as school closed and began the long hike south. As soon as we arrived at the hitch-hike point we were automatically picked up by a man travelling to Windhoek. We got there at about half past 2 and then we had a long struggle trying to find the ideal spot to go to to hike further along.

After around half an hour a man stopped his car for us and said that he had a friend travelling in our direction and contacted him to find out whether he could give us a lift.

Luckily his friend was leaving straight away and we were well on our way again to Luderitz.

The man we was travelling had traveled well and we enjoyed the stories that he told us about what he had seen and done, all the way to Mariental.

We reached Mariental by dark and decided to try for another lift to Keetmanshoop before calling it a night. This way we would only have to travel the road to Luderitz the next day.

Our final lift was with 2 young guys on their way to Cape Town for a party weekend. They agreed to give us a lift to Keetmans because it was on their way and we spent that part of the journey getting in the party mood. It was also nice to find out that one of them had schooled with some of our friends in Omaruru and when we finally got to Keetmanshoop they brought us a meal at wimpy before heading off.

Now we had to find a place to stay for the night, so we asked at wimpy whether we could stay there and were turned down; and Tyche didn't mind pitching our tent at the side of the road, but I insisted that we stay at a close by lodge, remembering stories that we have been told of the B1 Butcher. A notorious serial killer that dismembers hikers.

The next morning we woke early and were at the top of the road to Luderitz by 6am. We got a lift just before 7 with a family and their friends riding in 2 cars. At half past 7, they stopped on the road. The driver asked whether we drank, and stupidly Tyche said yes. We had our first drink at half 7. 15 ciders later we arrived in Luderitz. Pissed. At noon. Every 50km or so, the family stopped the car to top up drinks and have a chat. They even stopped to Braai, so we also got a nice breakfast of boerewors.

I was hungover by 3 and feeling very sick.

When we arrived in Luderitz, we were greeted by Alex. The ever so loveable Scottish lass. Taken to Diaz coffee shop, we met everyone else. Including Simone, Tyches fellow Dutch company. It was the opening day of the coffee shop, so I can now proudly say that I tried one of their very first milkshakes and bacon and banana toasties.

Later on everyone made a move to the beach and we spent the rest of the evening there drinking and braai'ing.

Saturday we woke early and dressed to go and enjoy the delights of the yearly Luderitz cray fish festival. There was lots going on down at the water front. Lots of drinking, many different stalls selling cray fish, or you could attempt to catch some yourself. Down at the Nest Hotel there was a fun day with volley ball, a bouncy castle and food so we sunbathed there for a while and then went for a brief afternoon nap.

The night was lively, spent in Barrels a cosy bar that Alex and her boyfriend work at. There was also a short trip to the beach to watch the sun go down. We ended up running into the family that had given us a lift there and was stuck with them buying us drink after drink after shot for the rest of the night.

Sunday was our last day spent in Luderitz. All morning we enjoyed a drink with the girls and enjoyed the views of the sea at the yacht club. Another trip to Diaz coffee shop for lunch then the evening at a friends flat where we all did some baking and watched films.

On Monday morning, it was agreed that we would be at the hitch-hike point by 5am. We got there and spent 2 hours singing and dancing, failing to get a lift. Finally, a woman stopped her car and informed us that she would be leaving in an hours time and we could get a lift with her. She said that she would take us back to the flat and pick us up from there when she was leaving. We wanted to stay at the point to see if we could get an earlier lift but she insisted.

At 8o'clock she picked us up and demanded that if we were to ride with her then she wanted money. When told by us that we didn't have any money, she moved on to say that she would go to the hitch-hike point and if there was anybody willing to pay then we had to get out. We were furious. 2 extra people were squeezed into the car and we were allowed to stay. But not that we wanted to in the end. The woman drove 65km per hour along the road out of Luderitz. We needed to get back to Omaruru that day. If we stayed in the car with her then we wouldn't even reach Windhoek. An hour and a half later she stopped at Aus (100ish km from Luderitz), to fill up on petrol. We got out of the car and just walked off.

After an hour of waiting we jumped in the back of a backkie somewhere along the road and were finally on our way again. It was not long until we passed the woman still going at 65km in her car. We were glad to be out of there.

By 12o'clock we had reached Keetmanshoop and stayed in the back up till Mariental at around 2o'clock. The rest of the journey we hopped for car-to-car and were home in Omaruru by 9pm. It was an enjoyable weekend. The journey there and back though was a killer.

What I love about Namibia so far:

Beginning off here in September was really tough for me and all I wanted to do was go home to my family; however I wouldn’t change this experience if ever given the chance. There is too much I love about the place that I now feel as if I have an attachment to it.
There is so much to admire. The school times, how the work day is over at 1pm and you have the whole afternoon free to do as you please. The friendliness of everyone whether you know them or not. Nobody fails to greet you in a day. The way the children are. Just like Europeans kids when it comes to learning, and I was expecting Africa to be grateful. The fabulous array of languages and cultures. Bakkie’s and how powerful you feel driving one. When the river runs. The way it smells when rain is coming. The freak thunder and lightening that makes you want to curl up and hide somewhere. Braai’s. Savannah dry cider. Sand everywhere. How half of the country is majorly westernised and the other half, close to poverty. Animals. Plakkies. Weird insects. Sundowners. Teaching. The feeling of doing something worthwhile.
I already can’t wait to come back. ♥

Easter Egg Colouring competition 04.04.12

Towards the end of March, Myself and Tyche arrange an Easter Egg colouring competition for the children. We handed out sheets containing an Easter egg template and they simply had to colour or designing it however they wanted to try and win some prizes.

The prize categories were as follows:

1. Under 15 1st and 2nd prizes
2. Under 12 1st and 2nd prizes
3. Under 9 1st and 2nd prizes
4. The eggiest egg award
5. The most colourful egg award
6. The most Easter like egg award

Prizes consisted of coloured pencils, bouncy balls, chocolate and Easter eggs.

We had the prize ceremony during the morning school assembly and you could see the children crossing their fingers and listening carefully hoping to win.

It was something that they all enjoyed and experienced for the first time. Before myself and Tyche arrived, the previous volunteers had not done anything like this with the children and before for any volunteers, nobody thought about arranging such a simple competition to get everyone into the Easter spirit.

Omaruru Bike Rally 30.03.12

Every year, the Omaruru Rest Camp hold the famous bike rally. People from all over Namibia travel great distances to take part in the fun.

The weekend saw the whole of the Rest Camp transformed. A huge tent was erected to hold around 300 people. The bar was extended. Live music was constantly going and entertainment acts such as a fire-eater.

The majority of the people that turned up were white Afrikaaners in their leathers, with their Harley Davidson's etc. These people are ridiculously heavy drinkers and they know how to party hard. Something I witnessed over the whole weekend. The bar was open from 6 in the morning and I was surprised that it was not empty at that time. There were loads of burn outs; a display around town on the bikes and then some serious partying in the night, complete with copious amounts of fire-crackers.

It was nice to be there, even if it was a bit loud. The sounds of wheel spins constantly through the night.

Grade 2 computer lessons 30.03.12

So a new time passer that I have now arranged at school on a Friday between 2 and 4 is computer lessons for the Grade 2's.

The children from Grade 4 on wards are given the chance to take computer lessons at the library in town, so I thought that I would give some simple lessons to the younger children so that when they finally reach the age to go and take them at the library, they will already have some basic skills.

I have been teaching them how to turn a computer on and off. How to click, type and navigate around the screen with the mouse; and so far how to open Microsoft Office and type words. It is very enjoyable, especially to see how their little faces light up when they manage to do something.

Project Trust Desk Officer visit 24.03.12

March was the month arranged to have our project trust visit, to check that all things are running as smoothly as they hope down here. So on Saturday evening we were presented with John as company for a wee few days.

Treated to a slap up meal at our favorite restaurant Kashana, myself and Tyche enjoyed hearing all of the stories of the other volunteers around the world. Who's been naughty, who's had to go home etc ;) haha, and then the tricky topic of VISAS. Yes at this point.. we still didn't have them.

After much talk, John reassured us that the problem does not lie with project trust, it is simply home affairs and the incompetence to simply stamp 6 passports. We had the visas, just not the stamps. Luckily he had meetings with people toward the end of the week so all would presumably be sorted.

On Sunday we sped off up north for a couple of days to visit the two volunteers Chelcie and Ottile in Otjikondo. We were allowed to have a look at them at work and were very surprised how they pretty much have everything. The school that they volunteer at is a semi-private school and it was opened some years ago by a budding British woman, Gilly, who traveled to Namibia back when she was a student and fell in love with a monk. She went home, and kept coming back until finally he was given the right to marry and they built the school together and the small village, Otjikondo, around it. What a fascinating story.

The organisation at the school and withing the school hostel is exceptional. There is a specific programme set up that the volunteers run every year where kids have the opportunity to take part in many of the school theater productions, have music, arts, and sports lessons/training. There is a wonderful library with very recent books that the children can enjoy everyday and much help and guidance with study. It actually made me quite jealous I must say, considering in our hostel, there is very little space and near to no materials for arts, very little sports equipment and definitely no musical instruments.

Seeing this though has definitely given me the motivation to try and change this at O.P.S. Even if me and Tyche can make a small change like appealing for sport donations, setting up clubs, whatever it takes, then the next volunteers will be able to carry on this development after us.

After visiting Otjikondo, we drove 20km down the road to St Micheal's where a new volunteer, Sam, since January is now staying. He is on the project trust participate program, so he only spends 8 months here instead of 12. The school that he is teaching at is very much like the Otjikondo one as they are partner schools.

After our visit, John agreed to treat myself, Tyche and Sam to a quite day trip to Etosha. Unfortunately Chelcie and Ottilie were unable to come because of there busy timetables.

Six hours in Etosha, we didn't see a lot due to the heavy rainfall this year. But the day was still enjoyable and after dropping Sam back, we drove back to Omaruru.

Greeted by Riette we went out for another slap up meal. This time now at the Rest Camp and spoke about how we are doing here and John also met my partner here, Gary.

The next day John observed a few of our lessons, had private chats about how we are doing out here and then rushed back off to Windhoek for his visa meetings.

Visa outcome.

So our passports have no finally been stamped, 7 months after we arrived here. But now there is another glitch. They are only stamped until June th. Meaning now that project trust are trying to arrange an extension for us. But worst case scenario, we'll be going home in June. More stress!!