Oscar and Me

A little delayed...but here is the picture of my warthog friend, Oscar, and I.

Home Visit

Today I had the great opportunity of going to the house of a student in my class and I decided to go to Dikuua’s house.  He is a very quiet yet very bright student in my classroom.  He is always sure to respect himself and others as well as answer any and every question I ask the class—everyday.  Needless to say, Dikuua is a student that I trust to help me help the class during individual work time during school. 

I walked home with Dikuua today right after school from St. Barnabas to his house.  It was a very short walk (probably about four blocks) and is right in between St. Barnabas and the BNC (the after school tutoring program I have been volunteering at).  It also worked out great because I was able to walk with Dikuua to the BNC from his house after chatting with his family members for about an hour.  When I got to his house, it was very similar to every other house in Katutura—it had a barbed wire fence with a little front yard that was well loved by children playing in it.   The house itself was made of concrete with a tin roof and was probably about as big as the room I have been staying in at the Wadadee House—about 20 ft x 15 ft.  Inside, there was a living room, a kitchen and two bedrooms.  The living room had two small couches in it with a TV, a coffee table with numerous plaques, trophies, prayers and pictures of children plastered all over the walls.  I could tell right away that it was a very supportive household where academics, as well as athletics, were definitely encouraged.  I did not ask to see the kitchen but what I could see from it, there were a sink and a small refrigerator.  I also did not go in to the two bedrooms but the one bedroom door that was open had two beds in it that took up the majority of the room. 

I was hoping to meet with Junita, Dikuua’s mom, but when I arrived, she was still out so I had the opportunity to talk with Eben, who is Dikuua’s cousin.  Eben is nineteen years old and in Grade 11 at the Secondary School very close to A.I. Steenkamp Primary School.  He speaks Afrikaans, Damara, Otjiherero and English and loves playing rugby.  He loves it so much he has been training and coaching Dikuua and his cousin Brandon to start playing.  He was curious about my life as well as the school systems in America and how it all compared to the schools in Namibia.  Eben began by telling me about the people who lived in the house with Dikuua.  He lives with his mother, two of his aunts, seven cousins (all between Grades 1, 2, 3, 4 and 11), his uncle and himself.  Yes, that is correct, there are twelve people living in that house.  Eben told me that Dikuua’s father lives in Windhoek and owns his own house there and that is where Dikuua spends his weekends.  He also spends his holiday breaks with his father in Northern Namibia at their farm.  Dikuua has a brother who does not live at the house with him, but lives in Rehoboth with other family members. 

As I have gotten to know families since my time in Namibia, I have found that this is family structure in a home is quite normal.  Many of the families have cousins and aunts that live with them while their other siblings live with their biological parents just because that was the best option at the time they were born or just because that is where there is the most room in a house or farm.  The children treat all the elders in their house as their parents or aunts and uncles and they treat the other children just like their siblings. 

The longer I stayed there, the more Eben told me about the history of his family moving to Katutura to live.  Before Namibia’s independence in 1990, they were living at The Town in Pioneers Park but the South African government decided that the land in Pioneers Park was too rich for certain tribes; it was only good enough for whites.  So, the government relocated Eben and Dikuua’s family to Katutura where it was established as an Otjiherero community in Windhoek and was only for blacks.  Eben said that he likes the location of their house in Katutura because they are close to friends, school and other family members but acknowledges that it is an extremely dangerous community for the children, especially on the weekends.  Eben said he tries to keep the children inside on Friday and Saturday nights as many drunks start wandering and fighting in the streets.  It was truly amazing to hear all the fatherly, responsible roles Eben takes on as a nineteen year old and eldest man in the house of twelve people. 

Numerous times throughout our conversation, Eben talked about how much he stressed the importance of reading and studying at the house as well as interacting with older children so that you know which path is the right one to go down as you decide what you want to do with your future.  One of the best community resources near Dikuua’s house is the BNC, where Dikuua and three of his cousins go everyday after school for extra tutoring classes in mathematics and reading.  It is such a fun environment where students get to interact with each other after school until 2:30 where they have math for an hour then reading at 3:30 for an hour, or vice versa.  The BNC provides endless opportunities to the students who are enrolled in that after school program.  They are allowed to check out one book everyday after tutoring and Eben said this is what he stresses the most after the children finish their homework—reading, reading, and reading!  Dikuua told me that in Grade 1, he received four different certificates at the BNC because of his outstanding grades in school at St. Barnabas.  He received certificates in Mathematics, Environmental Studies and Reading. 

Dikuua, Eben and I talked about Dikuua’s love for mathematics, drawing, reading and playing.  As I mentioned before, Dikuua’s love for academics is so apparent in my classroom because he always goes above and beyond what is expected of him, and often times, I have to come up with a whole different task for him because he is so much further along than most of the class.  We also talked a lot about his interest in playing rugby.  Since Eben has been working with Dikuua and his cousin, Brandon, they will be joining a team in Khomasdal at the beginning of the second term of the school year.  They are going to Khomasdal because St. Barnabas Primary School does not have a rugby team of its own.  Eben was boasting about Dikuua’s skill for the game and about Brandon’s speed.  Once again, the love, support and encouragement this nineteen-year-old cousin had for his two younger cousins shone through as bright as the Namibian sun. 

Along with Dikuua’s passions for academics, rugby and soccer, he told me he dreamed of becoming a businessman one day because that is what his father does.  Dikuua told me that school is important to him because he will learn the things he needs to know to become successful and go to a university after secondary school. 

Going to Dikuua’s house after school today has become one of the highlights of my trip so far.  It deepened my relationship with Dikuua as a student in my classroom, as well as allowed me to further understand the home life and culture of Namibia.  It was amazing to meet his insanely mature nineteen-year-old cousin, Eben, as well as his other six cousins, who were running around the front yard playing rugby, and his aunt who chatted in passing.  Dikuua, as well as his family, now holds such a special place in my heart because they opened their doors to me and allowed me to ask any and all questions I wondered about their family and Namibia.  It was a day I definitely will not forget.  

School Life at St. Barnabas

Last Week at St. Barnabas

Last week at St. Barnabas, I have been working on my learners in Grade 3 on addition.  We have been doing anything and everything from simple addition problems up to triple digit addition with and without carrying.  I have been trying to stress mastering their simple addition skills because almost all of my students were still drawing pictures on their papers and count on their fingers when I would ask them simple addition problems.  Then, they began to run in to problems where the sums (or even numbers) were bigger than 10 and they would become frustrated.  So, I've been incorporating mental math and simple addition problems in to my math routine every day as well as throughout the day with other smaller transitions and tasks. 

It is amazing to see the wide variety of abilities and levels of my learners now that I have been in the classroom for a couple weeks.  I have gotten to know them really well and have some great relationships with them.  As a matter of fact, I have an escort of about 20 kids going to and from my car to the classroom and back every morning and afternoon.  I've never been given more hugs, high fives, kisses and secret handshakes in the span of 6 hours.  Anyways…It is amazing to see the wide variety of ability levels in my classroom and I feel as though I am becoming so experienced with differentiation, learning how to pace my lessons and what should come next, etc.   There are some students in my classroom that still struggle with 2+0 and some who will finish their math independent work as I am writing the problems on the chalkboard.  I have learned to have back up challenge questions to entertain those students and as of recent, it is still not a challenge for them. 

As we have been getting in to more difficult math problems, I quickly realized that the students did not have any concept of place value, so I have had to do a couple intervention lessons on place value.  Since my learners now have a conceptual understanding of units (ones), tens and hundreds place values, introducing them to double and triple digit addition, with and without carrying, has been much easier. 

Aside from Math, I have been doing a lot of "impromptu" lessons.  I have been doing a read aloud almost once a day, sometimes even twice.  The students are so engaged and love to discuss the stories.  I'm sure it is something so different and new for them, as my classroom at St. Barnabas is not stocked with any books.  However, at the end of the week, we did get about 20 copies of a book that I will start doing shared reading with the beginning of next week.  The books are on bullies and I think it will a really great topic to discuss with my little friends. 

That book brings me to the next topic I have been stressing a lot in my classroom--respect!  It is almost second nature for students here to just start fighting and beating (as they call it).  They are quick to jump down another students' throat and will jump at any opportunity to prove they're the stronger one.  Therefore, I have been repeatedly going over the classroom expectations we set up the first day of school.  They are:

1.  Respect yourself

2.  Respect your classroom

3.  Be safe

4.  Be honest

5.  Try your best

Intertwined with these classroom expectations, I have made numerous "Look and See" anchor charts that show and say what it should look like and what it should sound like to be respectful to yourself, the class, the teacher, your pencil, your textbook, etc. as well as what it looks like and sounds like to be safe in our classroom and to try our best.  A lot of the students here are so dependent on the teacher to tell them what is right and what is wrong and I have been trying to encourage them to try their best and worry about only themselves, even if it is not perfect.  Needless to say, the constant reminder of how to be safe, respectful and try your best is something that many learners are not used to so I have had to stop many lessons numerous times for "mini lessons" on how "learners in Grade 3 act in our classroom." 

I have also started a behavior incentive in the classroom, which is also something very foreign to my students.  Throughout the day, I really focus on the positive behaviors that are happening.  And for every, single, little, minuscule, positive thing I see, I will put a smiley face up on the corner of the chalkboard.  However, if I have to countdown from 5 more than once or if students are beating each other or not talking respectfully, I will put a little frowny face up on the corner.  At the end of the day, we count up how many we have of each smiley face and turn them in to number sentences, often grouping by 10s or using strategies on how to find out how many more smiley faces they have than frowny faces.  Then, if the students collectively have at least 5 more smiley faces than frowny faces, they earn a class star.  Once they earn ten class stars, they will receive a "Secret Surprise" from yours truly.  They are so excited they can hardly handle themselves.  The surprise will most likely be an eraser or bookmark or even an extra five minutes at break time.  So far, they have been doing a great job and have only had one school day where they did not reach their goal. 

I mentioned earlier the lack of confidence many of my students have as well as being extremely dependent on their teacher.  I have been trying to do many things to change this and one of them is their morning greeting to me.  When I first arrived at St. Barnabas, the morning greeting would go as follows:

"Good morning, class!"

"Good morning, teacha."

"How are you this morning?"

"Fine, Miss.  How are you?"

"I'm great! Thanks for asking.  You may take a seat!"

Since noticing their lack of confidence, etc. I have changed that message and incorporated something from the book The Help.  Now, our message is as follows:

"Good morning, boys and girls!"

"Good morning, teacha!"

"How are you?"

"I am kind.  I am smart. I am important."

As I introduced this to them, we talked about what it means to be kind, smart and important and how important they were to me, how smart I thought they were and how kind I know they can be because I've seen them be so loving, helpful and kind.  Since then, they caught on right away to making that quote their morning routine and they absolutely love it.  And I love it.  It is a constant reminder to them that they matter in this world and that one day, they will grow up to be the future teachers, doctors, police officers and nurses of Namibia.  (Those are the occupations I most frequently get when they tell me they want to be every day.) 

These 37 little children are the lights of my life and will forever remember how deeply they have impacted my life not only as a teacher but as a person in general.  I know I am the one teaching them everyday but, my oh my, I am learning so much from these little balls of energy and I will be forever thankful for each and every single one of them.

Thursday, 01.31.13

Tonight was Jan and Paula's last night in Namibia, so we spent it out on the town!  We met up with Jan, Paula and her husband Steve at a restaurant called Andy's for some pizza.  The pizza was so delicious!  We ordered six pizzas that came out one at a time and I think we finished each of them as they were put on the table.  It was great to debrief our past month with Jan, Paula and Steve and talk about all the amazing, life changing experiences we shared altogether.  I can't believe January has flown by so fast and we are already halfway through this program!  Thinking about leaving this country, the people I've met, and most of all my little students, makes me choke up already!

After a delicious dinner of pizza, we took Jan and Paula out to karaoke at Dylan's.  Our group has gone to Dylan's the past couple weeks for a relaxing, fun night after a week of teaching.  We had so much fun going out with them and I hope they had just as much fun.  Paula and Steve sang "Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5 and we all sang "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus.  After that song, we vowed that at least one song we sang at Dylan's every week had to have America or USA in it!  And last but not least, we definitely witnessed Jan dance to Gangnam Style!  I had only seen videos of it from her daughter, Lindsey, and now that I have a video of my own, I will have to send it to her! :)

Jan and I at Andy's!

The group before dinner by our pool! :)

The group at Andy's with Tickey! 

Mck and I before dinner

Paula and I after dinner!

The four of us! Kelli and I are Jan and Paula in 30 years ;)

My girlfriend and I, again

Friday, 02.01.13

Today we got up early and went on a hike at Dann Viljoen.  It is a game park right outside Windhoek where we hiked for 3 km and took in the beautiful scenery and kept our eyes open for wildlife.  We saw plenty of birds, kudus, red hartebeests, zebras and warthogs.  The park had its own warthog there named Oscar who was an orphan raised by dogs.  We were even able to go up and touch it--they are definitely not attractive animals!

Later on in the day, it was the time we were all dreading--Jan, Paula and Steve's trip to the airport.  Around 5, we sent them on their way with their very own snack packs and a little thank you note to let them know how important they are to us.  It was a little bit of a teary goodbye but I am looking forward to my last month here and I can't even fathom how much I will learn and grow in the next few weeks.

Saturday, 02.02.13

Today was our first day all alone in Namibia and the rest of the group spent the afternoon at the Maerua Mall shopping for dresses, skirts and teaching supplies.  Me? I spent the whole afternoon next to the pool reading a book all by myself :) I felt like I was on a vacation but it was really great to get that reflection time in.  Around 4:30, Scobie and I picked up the gang from the mall and we came home to get ready for the braai (Namibian BBQ) we were hosting.  It was the first time everyone in the house had spent time together and it was really good for all of us!  There were all the staff members (Shaun, Scobie, Tickey and Willy), all 12-13 Norwegians and the remaining 8 Americans (us).  Later on, some of our new Namibian friends came over as well as a group from America and another group from Norway and we danced around the pool and in the patio area of our house before heading to Vibe, a dance club in Windhoek.  It was really fun to listen to some new Namibian music, however, I think our group took the place by storm.  Between us and all the norwegians, I think we quadrupled the amount of people there.

On the other hand, today the Minister of Education in Namibia passed away, Abraham Iyambo.  The Namibian stated that he died of a stroke while on a business trip in London while it is rumored that he may have passed away due to complications with HIV/AIDS.  He was appointed the Minister of Education by Hifikepunye Pohamba (Namibia's 2nd and current President) in 2010 and prior to that, he was appointed the Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources in 1997 by Sam Nujoma (Namibia's 1st President).  It is such an untimely death because of the recent change in Namibia's education system.   It will be interesting to be in Namibia, not only during the first year of free primary education for all students at public schools, but to be here as the nation copes with his death.  It will also be interesting to see how the government attempts to continue the education reforms that he had just put in place.  Abraham Iyambo was beginning to make great strides for the children and education in Namibia. 

Tomorrow, we just plan on preparing and organizing for another week of school!

Monday 02.04.13-Thursday 02.07.13

This week, we finished up with double and triple digit addition with carrying and I began working on simple subtraction  Like working on simple addition, I am really focusing on having my children master these skills.  If these skills are not mastered, they will never be able to easily do more complicated math.  I began with brainstorming different strategies you can use when trying to solve a subtraction problem.  I thought this was very important because I wanted my students to know that there wasn't one specific way to solve a problem and if you cannot solve it one way, there are multiple other strategies you can try.  This is also another way I have been trying to build self confidence and independence in my classroom. 

In my Arts lessons, I have been focusing on the five senses.  I found a great "Senses Song" on YouTube (lifesaver) and recorded it on to my phone.  The first day, I introduced the five senses and introduced the lyrics and actions to the song.  The kids absolutely loved it and I told him the following day I would bring in the actual recording of the song.  When I did, they were so engaged and were quiet enough to listen to it four times in a row!  In addition to the song, I have been playing a game with one of the five senses everyday.  On Monday, I played "I Spy" which dealt with sight.  Tuesday, I played a game with my "Magic Bag" that dealt with touch and Wednesday I played a tasting game.  Thursday the game focused on smell and next Monday I am trying to think of a game to deal with hearing. 

On Monday, we went to the computer lab!  I was excited to see what that was going to be like and was pleasantly surprised when we walked in to a classroom with 40 desktop computers--enough for each of my students to sit at their own computer.  However, as Mr. Mbai and I began the lesson, we quickly realized that probably only 15 of the computers worked so we ended up having 2 to 3 kids at a computer.  They spent the period playing either reading or math games and it was a great break for them to get out of the classroom.

I also had the opportunity to sit in on Mr. Mbai's Otjiherero lesson with my learners.  I could not understand a single word of what was said but I like to think I was starting to learn how to count in herero! ;)  Herero is one of the native tongues in Namibia and is taught in the primary schools here.  Many Himba and Herero people speak this language as their native language in Namibia, which English, Afrikaans, German or Oshiwambo being their second, third, fourth or fifth languages.

After school, I had to wait about 30 minutes for the van to pick me up but that was definitely okay.  I have mentioned before how much of an emphasis the schools in Namibia put on after school athletics.  They practice almost everyday after school for the big competition against other schools and the St. Barnabas athletics competition is next Tuesday so the learners have been getting really excited.  There are three teams--the Cheetahs, Elands and Zebras.  I have the great fortune of being on the Cheetahs team next Tuesday and I listened to the Cheetahs and Zebras yell their chants back and forth to each other.  It got me excited for the main event next week and I'm not even the one participating!  

Sand, Heat and More Sand...Everywhere!

Friday, 01.25.13

Today, I did not go to St. Barnabas to teach.  Instead, we woke up early to leave for Sossusvlei. (pronounced sauce-us-flay).  Sossusvlei is located in the southern part of the Namib Desert, in the Namib-Naukluft Park.  It is a famous salt pan surrounded by the highest and oldest red sand dunes in the world.  Sossusvlei comes from Nama and Afrikaans.  Sossus comes from Nama and means “dead end” and vlei is the Afrikaans word for “marsh.”  Therefore, Sossusvlei literally means “dead end marsh.”

On our way, we stopped in a small town outside Windhoek called Rehoboth, which was originally a “basters” town for colored people.  Colored people are a mix between black Namibians and white Afrikaaners.  Therefore, they are much lighter than black Namibians but much darker than whites.
After our stop in Rehoboth, we continued on for almost 5 hours on a dirt road toward Sossusvlei.  Halfway there, we stopped for a picnic in Spreetshoogte (pronounced spreets-wachter).  The Spreetshoogte mountain pass is the steepest in Namibia and descends about 1000 feet every  2 ½ miles.  It is so steep that the road was made of bricks instead of being tarred with asphalt or being left as gravel.  It was quite the adventure to drive down as we could smell our tires burning and we were burning ourselves as the air conditioning had to be shut off for this part of the drive.

In the late afternoon, we finally arrived outside Sossusvlei and set up camp at the Sesriem Campground.  Luckily, it was actually a little bit overcast so we could quickly set up our tents under the acacia trees and jump in to the pool for a swim before our evening hike on our first “little” sand dune.
As we pulled up to Elim Dune, I was so blown away with the beauty of the scenery.  The red dunes seemed to pop up out of nowhere in the middle of the African savanna or pan.  The sand on the sand dunes is a rich, burnt orange or red color due to the high iron content in it.  We found that when you drop a magnet in the sand, it will pull the iron filings out of the dune.  It was pretty amazing.  The red sand comes from the Orange River, which border South Africa and Namibia, and as time passes, the iron oxidizes (or rusts) and turns the sand an orange/red color.  Tickey (our guide for Sossusvlei) also told us that you can tell how old a sand dune is by the color of it—the darker red the sand is, the older the dune is.

We climbed Elim Dune for about a half hour and watched the sun set as we sat on the top of the dune (trying to catch our breath.)  I was in complete awe of the beauty, seeing the pink and orange fire sky set above the red and orange sand dune with the African savanna below us.  It was also so great to talk with Tickey because he is so knowledgeable about the Namib Desert and the vegetation, plants and animals in that area.

Waiting for the sun to set on Elim Dune!

Group shot waiting for the sunset

Scobie, me and Tickey

Someone was trying to fight!

Yoga on the dunes

After the sun set, we headed back to our campsite to cook up some dinner before we fell asleep.  I don’t think it ever got below 80 degrees Fahrenheit that night and it was absolutely miserable to fall asleep.  Kelli, Tasha and I shared a tent in minimal clothing with minimal sleep.  I never even touched my sleeping bag or pillow for the whole night.  Way.  Too. Hot.


Fun Facts:  

• This January has been the hottest January in Namibia since 1962.  This makes me feel a little better about being a hot, sweaty mess all the time.

• The Namib Desert sometimes has a light dusting of snow in the winter.

• Sociable Weavers (the bird with the large nest pictured in my last post) share their nests with wasps.  The wasps benefit from the shelter of the birds’ nests and in return, the wasps sting the eyes of snakes that try to sneak in to the nests in search of bird eggs.  

 Sociable Weaver's nests can hold hundreds of birds.

Saturday 01.28.13

Today, we woke up well before the sun to get started on our hike to Sossusvlei.  We woke up at 4:30 am and headed further in to the Namib Desert.  The Namib Desert is the oldest desert in the world and is estimated to be between 80-130 million years old.

We began our day with a car ride to the outskirts of Sossusvlei where we jumped in to a 4x4 vehicle to bring us to the base of the dunes.  There is no way you could ever reach the dunes without a 4x4 vehicle because the road we drove on was literally sand that surrounded us from the dunes.  It was so soft and even with 4-wheel drive, I thought we were going to get stuck a couple times.  The 4x4 dropped us off outside Deadvlei, which was the first hike we were going on.  It was about a 3 km hike and once we reached Deadvlei, I was in awe.  Deadvlei is a white clay pan where the ground is a very dry, cracked, light gray color.  The clay pan was formed after rainfall, when the Tsauchab River flooded and it created temporary shallow pools where trees could grow.  When the drought hit the area, sand dunes surrounded the area and blocked it off from the river.  Therefore, the trees died and the trees in Deadvlei were basically remaining skeletons.  They had minimal branches and were torched black from the hot African sun.  These dead acacia trees are estimated to be anywhere from 400-900 years old and the wood does not decompose because it is so dry.

 Deadvlei and the Acacia Trees

Group Photo

While standing in Deadvlei, we could see “Big Daddy” surrounding us.  “Big Daddy” is 325 meters above ground and is the biggest sand dune in Sossusvlei, arguable the biggest dune in Namibia.

After our hike to Deadvlei, we began hiking “Big Mama” which is the second biggest dune after “Big Daddy.”  It is 280 meters above the ground.  Our hike to the top of the dune gave us a breath-taking view of Sossusvlei, the famous saltpan in the Namib Desert.  At this point in our hike, it was still extremely early in the morning (around 8 or 9 am) and the sun was beginning to pick up.  On our hike to the top, we saw animals such as ostriches, oryx, and the short-snouted lizard.  It was amazing to see these animals survive in what looked like hundreds of mountains of sand with little plants and water.  After we took in the view for a while, we took our tennis shoes off and ran down the front side of “Big Mama.”  It was so much fun and felt as if we were jumping on the moon because our strides were almost 5-6 feet apart.  It took us about 45 seconds to run down and well over an hour to hike up.

Our hike on the way up

Chatting with Paula

Hiking Big Mama (I'm in the third group from the top with Suzy)

We made it to the top!

My lady and I getting ready to run down Big Mama

Running!...

and Running!

After our second hike of the day, it was about 10 am and we were ready to head back to camp.  The heat of the day was already well over 100 degrees and we had been up for hours already!  On our way back we stopped at Dune 45, which is the most photographed dune in the world because of the unique way it is shaped.  It is about 80 meters tall and when we got there, we decided to hike up it.  Why not?  We had already done two and this one looked “little.”

Me at the base of Dune 45

Beautiful Acacia Tree

Don't mind me, just taking a break and playing in the sand with moths

Well before noon we were back at our campsite and we were trying to do everything we could to keep out of the direct sunlight.  We went swimming at our campsite and after a tour of the Sesriem Canyon, we joined our professors at their luxurious lodge to take a dip in their pool.  Sesriem translates in to “six belts” in Afrikaans and was named by the settlers who were returning from the Dorsland Trek and attached six belts of oryx hide to the top of the canyon in order to reach down and collect the water from the river.  Sesriem is 1 km long and about 30 meters deep.  It was a beautifully natural canyon that was carved by the Tsauchab River but is now dry.  The canyon fills up with water during flash floods and serves as homes to birds and baboons.  The temperature during our hike down the canyon was between 44-47 degrees Celsius, or 112-122 degrees Fahrenheit.  It is probably the hottest weather I have ever experienced, and if you know me well, you know I am not a happy camper in extreme heat.  So, by the end of the canyon hike, I was more than ready for a dip in the pool.



After Tickey and Scobie picked us up for dinner at our campsite, we were so ready to eat and head to bed.  Days are long when you start them at 4:30 in the morning in 120-degree heat, so falling asleep was a little bit easier.  Yet, I don’t think it was any cooler than the night before.

Sunset our last night there

Fun Facts:

• There are three types of dunes and the Namib Desert has two of them—the Transverse Dunes and the Star Dunes.  Transverse Dunes have an arc-shaped sand ridge and are generally wider than they are long.  They are formed by winds that blow in the same direction all the time.  Transverse dunes have vegetation growing all the way to the top of the dune.  Elim Dune, the first dune we hiked, was a Transverse Dune.  Star Dunes are symmetrical and when they are seen from above, have many “arms” that make the sand pattern look like a star.  They accumulate in areas with wind coming from multiple directions and they tend to grow upwards.  Vegetation on the star dunes ends at the crest of the dune.  “Big Mama” was a Star Dune.  

• It floods about every 5-7 years in parts of the Namib Desert.  This time last year, the Sossusvlei area was flooded from rain and when the PLU group came to hike Sossusvlei, it was extremely muddy.  We didn’t have that problem.

• The Namib Desert gets between 7-45 millimeters of rain each year.

• Oryx can withstand temperatures up to 57 degrees Celsius, or 134.5 degrees Fahrenheit.

• The Sossusvlei area spans 3,200 square kilometers or 1,900 square miles.  

• Winds in the Namib Desert can reach between 80-100 kilometers per hour or 50-62 mph.  

• Ostriches can run at speeds up to 43 mph.

• Ostriches lay their eggs in sharp grasses to prevent other animals from finding them and eating them.  Their egg is ten times heavier than a chicken egg and weighs about 3 pounds.

Kelli modeling with Ostrich Eggs

Sunday 01.27.13

Today, we woke up with the sun again and packed up camp to head home towards Windhoek.  It’s amazing how much like home this city feels like.  I actually have a sense of where I’m going and driving on the left side of the road is beginning to feel normal.  That will be dangerous when we get back to the States!

When we got home, we went over to Edwin and Emmy Tjiramba’s house for a pool party and dinner.  (Edwin is the person whose farm we went to in the first couple weeks in Namibia)  There we celebrated Edwin’s birthday and played with his 5 kids and nieces and nephews in the pool.  Jan and Paula made a delicious dinner with cheeseburgers, macaroni and cheese and a Greek salad.  I love the Tjiramba family too much to say goodbye that night so we promised we would be coming back to his house for an American/Namibian dance party and to play with his adorable, hyper, loving children at least one more time.

My little Ms. Attitude, Dolly.

"Washing Machine!"

Edwin blowing out the candles on his disheveled birthday cake

Teaching Reflection

Now that I have been teaching “Math” in grade three at St. Barnabas for a couple weeks, I am starting to get in to the swing of routines and lessons.  I have actually ended up teaching Math, Religion, Arts and English almost every day and therefore, have learned to have numerous back up lessons in place for each content area because I never know what Mr. Mbai will or will not have prepared the following day.  This has been an excellent opportunity for me to grow in my teaching—with classroom management, behavior management, transitions, differentiation of learners, and planning consecutive lessons on specific concepts.  I am very fortunate to have the opportunity of starting my student teaching on the first day of school in Katutura because I was able to create signals, seating charts and expectations with my students right from the very beginning.

The beginning of the school year at St. Barnabas is quite different from the beginning of the school year at Wildwood Elementary in Federal Way.  Here, the teachers had their first staff meeting two days before the first day of school and it only lasted about a half hour.  The only topics that were discussed were the change of school fees and government supplying the basic resources as well as the need to actually do lesson plans.  This shocked me because in Washington, there are many hours put in to staff meetings throughout the summer for professional development and organizing the first day of school.

As mentioned before, teachers started meeting for staff meetings only a few days before the first day of school and that is a huge difference compared to the beginning of school in Washington.  On top of professional development days and teacher training, teachers will spend the summer planning and organizing their classroom to prepare it for the first day of school.  In Namibia, many of the classroom walls are blank, the cupboards are empty and it feels very different than the colorful and welcoming bulletin boards I prepared this summer for my first graders in Washington.

Another great difference I have noticed between the start up of school in Namibia versus the start of school in America is that teachers in Namibia will show up ten minutes before the start of the school day and will leave five minutes after the bell rings at the end of the day.  This has been extremely difficult for me to get used to because I am used to being at school an hour early and staying well after the bell at the end of the day to plan, reflect and discuss the school day with my cooperating teacher.  Here, it is difficult to communicate what you have planned and what resources you need because you do not have the morning to plan before school starts.

After being immersed in the culture of Namibia for a month, I think there are a few reasons why Namibian schools start the way they do.  First, I have learned that going to the family farm during holiday break is something that everybody does.  Almost every Namibian I have met and had conversations with, have told me about their time at the farm in the past couple months and it is just expected that that is where you spend your holiday break.  Therefore, since Namibians all go out to the farm for a couple months, the city is slower and quieter and time is not spent preparing classrooms or schools for the first day.  Secondly, I think the government has a large role in how the start up of school goes.  This year is the first year that primary students are not paying school fees to go to school and it is the first year they do not have to buy their own textbooks, stationary and pencils as the government has decided they will cover those expenses.  However, the system is not completely worked out yet and none of those resources were delivered to the classrooms before the first day of school.  As a matter of fact, my learners in grade three still have not received any school supplies and that makes it very difficult to assess 40 students during a lesson. 

I have mentioned a couple of the differences between how school starts in Namibia versus how it starts in America and I have also noticed similarities and differences within the classrooms at my schools.  I have noticed that the staff members in both Namibia and America truly care about their profession.  They are passionate about the children and care about them.  The first thing Mr. Mbai said to the students on the first day of school was, “We’re all best friends now.” and shook the hand of each student that walked in his classroom.  Similarly, in Washington, I give each student either a hug or high five when they come in my classroom in the morning and when they leave at the end of the day.  I also have the same group of students all day, everyday and I am expected to teach Reading, Math, Art and other content areas every day.  Through teaching these content areas, I have been reminded yet again that all learners learn differently and I make the conscious effort to reach all types of learners in my classroom, whether they learn best visually, kinesthetically or orally.  Lastly, there is an emphasis on after school activities.  In Namibia, the after school activity that almost every student participates in is athletics.  In Washington, many of my students are on the track and field team but many also participate in after school tutoring, games or other hobbies.  Encouraging the students to participate in the after school activities establishes a sense of pride with them and allows the students to be proud of where they come from. 

While I have noticed a few similarities in two completely different environments and cultures, I have noticed a lot of differences—some I expected and some I did not.  The biggest difference from public schools in America and Namibia is a difference I did not expect and that is the integration of religion, God and prayer.  Every morning before school, the teachers sing, pray and say a devotional and the students pray before break and have religious studies lessons multiple times a week.  In America, none of those subjects are touched on and chances are they are never even brought up because of the strict, thin line of separation of church and state.  Along with religion being taught in school in Katutura, students also learn English as well as another African language.  At St. Barnabas, the students receive Otjiherero lessons in addition to English every day.  However, one of the biggest differences and hardest challenge I have noticed is the lack of resources in the classroom here.  There are not any books stocked in the classroom for students to go read, there is not the technology to access online games or educational videos and most importantly, there is not even a supply of paper, scissors, art supplies, etc. in my classroom.  Almost everything we have used in my lessons are supplies that I have brought in since coming to Namibia. 

Learners are also not used to being completely engaged and excited in lessons throughout the school day.  Often times, students are told to copy down pages of a textbook and read it at home for homework.  Therefore, majority of the school day is spent just copying down information that they may not even completely comprehend.  With that being said, many of my students were not very comfortable about working in groups for activities or role-playing when I started teaching.  However, I have been teaching and re-teaching what it looks like to turn and talk to your neighbor and what it looks like to work in a group and the students are getting more comfortable with that style of teaching.  They are beginning to want to share more and are less shy when speaking out to the class.  Classroom size and number of students is also a difference between Namibia and America.  My classroom at St. Barnabas has about forty students in it and is about half the size of my classroom at Wildwood.  This makes it extremely difficult to do group activities and limits the movement of the students. 

Overall, I have learned so much from my first couple weeks teaching at St. Barnabas Primary School.  I have learned to be flexible and patient and I have already learned so much more about the culture in Namibia by building relationships with my students and other staff members at the school.  I can only imagine how much more I will learn and use to grow as a classroom teacher in the next month.  It has been amazing to see how school starts in Namibia, experience and learn about the factors that contribute to the way things work and constantly compare and contrast school in Katutura, Windhoek, Namibia to school in Federal Way, Washington.

Still Alive and Well In Namibia

So so sorry my blog has been falling behind!  Fortunately, or unfortunately, I have an excuse for it…my laptop has completely broken on me!  We came back from Sossusvlei on Sunday night and when I went to update my blog, my laptop screen was completely gray and I cannot access anything on it!  Thankfully I should have most of my documents backed up and the girls on the trip have been gracious enough to let me use their laptops when I need to!

Now—where to start?!  It has been so long…Two weekends ago, we took our trip up to Northern Namibia for six days.  There, we experienced the Cheetah Conservation Fund in Otjiwarongo, Etosha National Park, an introduction to Desert Dwelling Elephants with Dr. Betsy Fox in Otjiwarongo, the Ondao Mobile Schools, Uanee’s school and farm on the outskirts of Opuwo and so much more!  To make this massive post more manageable, I’ll divide them up in to events! 

The Journey North with Cheetahs and Elephants

We left Windhoek to travel a few hours to Otjiwarongo where we stayed the night at the Out of Africa Bed & Breakfast.  The B&B had these hotel rooms where each room was an individual “hut.”  It was a very beautiful campus with a pool, amazing landscaping and scenery.  However, McKenzie and me’s room had a bit of an ant problem.  That night, I was just thankful we did not have a spider problem!

That night after dinner, we met with Dr. Betsy Fox who works for the Elephant-Human Relations Aid (EHRA) and it was so fascinating to learn about the relationship between the Himba and Herero people and the elephants in Namibia.  Many of the people on farms in Northern Namibia believe it is back luck to come across an elephant so they often end up killing it and that is a major problem here because their numbers are so low already.  Not to mention a Desert Dwelling Elephant’s gestation period is 22 months and then a mama elephant can nurse her calf for up to two years!  Thank God we aren’t elephants!  Many mother elephants also wait about four years between calves and even when they do have a calf, the mortality rate is around 50% because they often times cannot keep up with the rest of the herd when running or they get trampled in a stampede.  After learning all that fascinating knowledge, it was easy to see why Dr. Betsy Fox was so passionate about educating Namibians to conserve the Desert Dwelling Elephant.

Another reason why EHRA is so amazing in educating Himbas and Hereros about elephants is because they show them how to “elephant-proof” their farms.  Many people are scared of elephants because they will come through and completely destroy farms in search of food or water, as it is scarce here.  So, EHRA will help communities and farms build stonewalls around their windmills, watering holes and gardens so the elephants cannot trample through them and destroy a community’s access to food and water.  However, the stonewalls still allow the elephants to access the water from watering holes and EHRA helps the people realize that it is okay if the elephants take some of their water, as they have earned it because they have found it.  As Dr. Betsy Fox said, the water in the watering holes is no more the human’s water than it is the elephant’s water.

Dr. Betsy Fox also showed us some of the characteristics and body language of elephants and what to do if you come across them, which actually came out handy when we went on our game drive through Etosha National Park!  (Now you’ll have to keep reading!)

Fun Elephant Facts:

·         Elephants can be left or right tusked, just as humans are left and right handed.  You can tell this because that one tusk is often more worn.

·         An elephant’s gestation period is 22 months.

·         An elephant calf nurses from its mother for up to two years and can eat solid foods at 5 months.  

·         EHRA has found that when you clap softly and say “hoova, hoova, hoova” the elephant will go away quietly and quickly without disturbing the farms or communities.  This is another strategy they teach the Himba and Herero people.

·         Elephants live 60-70 years.

·         Elephants continue to grow throughout their entire life.

·         Elephants’ tusks continue to grow throughout their entire life as well.

·         They can hold 12-15 liters of water in their trunk.

·         They have six sets of teeth throughout their life but the last set starts to wear out in their 40s or 50s, so sadly, many elephants die of starvation because they cannot chew and digest their food when their teeth wear out. 

·         Elephants digest 40% of their food.  Many other animals live on their dung.

·         When mating, males have temporal lobes that are prominent because they’re filled with liquid and dribble urine down their back legs to look for females.  Female elephants have smaller heads and secrete liquids from their temporal lobes to communicate their moods.

·         Elephants are known to climb hills and rocky places.

·         The older elephants have hourglass shaped heads.

·         An elephant’s footprint is unique just like our fingerprints are unique.

·         Myths of elephants are that they kill you, eat you, are vengeful and if you come across them mating, they will kill you.  These myths contribute to reasons why Hereros are scared of elephants and often end up killing them. 

The next morning, we woke up early to visit the Cheetah Conservation Fund outside of Otjiwarongo where we took safari vehicles through their parks and observed the two different groups of cheetahs.  They were absolutely fascinating and I was amazed at how tall and lean they were.

 

Visiting the Mobile School

After the cheetahs, we continued driving north, through Outjo where we all bought beautifully carved Makalani nuts and ate at a delicious bakery before hopping back in our van.  Hours later we reached Opuwo, where we stayed at the Okahane Lodge and had dinner with Mr. Kapi who was the principal of the Ondao Mobile Schools project.  He told us about how the schools got started and how many of the children who attend these schools live in rural farms and will travel over 20 km, or 12.5 miles, to go to school everyday!  The next morning, we drove down a very gravel, very unpaved, very bumpy, very unreliable road for about an hour and finally reached the Okarukoro Mobile School where there was one tent of lower primary children and one make shift building of upper primary children.  We donated some pencils, books, stickers, chalk, pencil sharpeners, papers, colored pencils, flour and maize to the school because the tent had literally nothing but a few tables and a mobile chalkboard.  After seeing that school, it made St. Barnabas look like it had resources!  The children were so beautiful and so thankful to be at school.  Some children were dressed in traditional Himba clothes and some were dressed in more “western” or modern clothes.  They were so excited to be stocked up with school supplies and they sang us some beautiful traditional songs.  As I’ve found at St. Barnabas and at the mobile school, all the students have their own part in a song and will sing harmonies with the melodies so listening to the children sing an amazing song gave me goose bumps and I found my throat swelling shut and I was fighting back tears—absolutely beautiful!  Unfortunately, our lack of music skills followed while we sang “Blessed Be Your Name” and “The National Anthem” to the children. 

 Our van getting stuck on the "road" to the school.

 The tent mobile school and one of the tables.

Village homestead on the way to the school.

Traditionally dressed Himba children.

The tent school.

Himba children

Passing out supplies

Paula and a little friend donating supplies.

After we spent the first half of the morning at the Okarukoro Mobile School, our guide Uanee took us to the community he grew up in where we saw his farm and the school he went to.  When we arrived, the children were not in school, but as 13 white people piled out of the van, school quickly got in to session and we distributed more school supplies to the children and, yet again, they sang us beautiful songs.  This time, we were more prepared so we were able to sound more musically gifted while singing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,” “The National Anthem” and “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” in rounds.  After we interacted with the children, we spent a couple hours outside interacting with the adults in the community and it was absolutely amazing!  There were traditionally dressed Himba women with their children as well as traditionally dressed Herero women all hanging out under a large tree, waiting for the Emergency Food bags to be dropped off to the community. 

Himba women

Herero woman in the green and a himba woman in the back

Traditional himba woman

Their hair is and skin is a reddish color because it is covered in red paste and animal fat to protect them from the sun as well as portray their beauty.

Singing Head Shoulders Knees and Toes with the children.

Lions and Rhinos and Elephants, Oh My!

The next day, we entered Etosha National Park through the western gate, which is pretty special because you need a guide to enter in that way and this time of year, it is your best chance of seeing elephants as they have all migrated to the western side of the park.  When we entered Etosha, we drove to Dolomite Camp, where we were staying for the night and it was absolutely breath taking.  It is a lodge/resort that has only been open for two years.  It is located on the side of a mountain in the park, so that meant two things—a lot of hiking to and from our room to the infinity pool and that there could be wild animals around us at any given time.  Sure enough, in the hour we were there, there was an elephant roaming around the outskirts of camp walking to and from the watering hole! 

After we had a few hours to relax, sit in the pool while enjoying the amazing view of the African savanna and watch the elephant, we got in the car for our first game drive in Etosha with our guide, Uanee.  We set out on the adventure (and I was lucky enough to sit shotgun with Uanee) with our hopes sent on seeing elephants and lions.  Uanee informed us that it was not the right time of day for lions to be walking around in the hot sun and the chances of us seeing elephants were slim, as the last two years PLU students have driven in Etosha, they have not seen a single elephant. 

Then, about an hour in to our drive, we came around a turn in the road and immediately to the left of me, was an enormous mama elephant!  I tried to contain my excitement as I motioned to Uanee we had just hit the jackpot!  We stopped briefly and watched her until we realized that further up the road was another family of elephants—five more!  We quietly and slowly inched our van up to the elephants and watched them graze on the trees, watched a baby elephant hide in the shade of her mama and watched them watch us watching them.  The longer we sat there, the more of the herd we saw.  In the silent forty-five minutes we spent completely taking in the elephants, we saw over 20 elephants!  They were anywhere from 10 to 15 feet from our van and it was so exhilarating to watch these massive, majestic and powerful animals stand so close to us.  For anyone who has heard my Minke Whale story from my journey to Antarctica, this experience was very similar.  Once again, I felt so small and insignificant in life.  Often times at home, in the city, at PLU or teaching in the classroom, it is so easy to feel as if you are the authority figure and the world revolves around us at humans, yet this time I spent watching these beautiful animals put me back in my place.  I could not help but think that, if the elephants wanted to, they could easily ram our van and send us tumbling down the opposite side of the road, kicking us like a piece of scrap metal, much like the whales could have done to our small, inflatable zodiac in the middle of the Southern Ocean.  It would have taken one of the 20+ elephants to completely demolish us, yet they trusted us to leave them alone and watched us watch them in complete peace.  For the umpteenth time on this trip, I found myself speechless with goose bumps on my arms and tears beginning to well up in my eyes.  Needless to say, our first game drive was more than successful, so we headed back to Dolomite and had a fabulous dinner with Jan, Paula, Steve, Uanee and the rest of the students in our program.  After dinner, Nataly and I spent time completely soaking in our room—it was something straight off The Bachelor where they go to a random destination in the world with the most beautiful views and rooms.  Nataly and I felt as if we were on our own honeymoon and I can only hope to have my real honeymoon there one day.  A girl can dream, right?!  We sat out on the balcony of our hotel “hut” and star gazed before I took a shower in a bathroom surrounded by windows.  It was as if I was standing in the middle of the savanna with a 270-degree view. 

The next morning we continued driving on to Okaukuejo Camp and spent the day by the pool before we embarked on our second game drive during the afternoon.  This time, we spotted and followed a wild cheetah through the savanna.  When we first saw it, it was walking towards a group of wildebeests and I thought we would definitely see the cheetah attack one of the babies.  However, the male wildebeest stood in front of its herd as big as it could and the cheetah passed through the herd and went to the watering hole.  We intently watched the cheetah drink for 25 minutes before it continued on its journey into the sunset as it walked right next to our van, about 20 feet away from us.  Being this close to such a large, fast and strong animal was so exhilarating because it was wild.  We were so close to the cheetah that the sunset reflected in its eyes and it just looked different than the cheetahs at the conservation fund—it just looked and walked like a wild animal. 

That night after dinner, I sat by the watering hold at Okaukuejo Camp and watched two black rhinos and a giraffe come drink.  This was yet another experience that I completely took in and could not even put it in to words. 

We were on a mission during our last morning game drive in Etosha.  We had already seen hundreds of giraffes, zebras, oryx, kudus, springbok along with dozens of elephants, a couple rhinos and a cheetah.  The only other “stereotypical” African animal we were missing was a lion.  So, we got up before the sunrise to see if we could catch a pride of lions roaming around the savanna before the sun got too hot.  So, we started driving around the National Park and…sure enough!  Shortly after the sun rose, we spotted a lion, two lionesses and two lion cubs in the grass off in the distance.  We watched them roam around for a while before turning around to drive back to Okaukuejo for breakfast but on our way back we spotted another lion with three lionesses!  This time they were way closer to our van and soon enough we watched them cross the road right in front of us.  It was so amazing to watch another massive wild animal so close to us and there was a mutual trust between the animal and us not to hurt each other.  This pride of lions was so amazing because it was clear they had just killed their breakfast, as there was blood all over their faces and front arms.

I felt so blessed to experience the animals we experienced during our three days in Etosha because we were able to come close, observe and soak in everything about beautiful wild African animals.  The PLU groups in the past have not been lucky enough to see animals such as elephants; cheetahs; lions or rhinos and we were lucky enough to see all of them throughout the three days we were there! 

Fun Facts:

·         Oryx are the national Namibian animal and is absolutely amazing!  They have horns that are attached to their skulls with bones in the middle of them and once one of them breaks off, it cannot grow back.  Oryx can retain over 90% of the water they take in and can go up to 7 days without drinking water.  They can also survive off one Nara melon for up to a week.  Needless to say, they are definitely adapted to the Namib Desert. 

·         Black rhinos are gray in color and have a hooked lip.  They also have two horns on their nose where the first one, closest to its face, is much bigger than the second one.  They are grazers where they eat shoots and leaves off plants and bushes in the savanna and live solitarily.  Black rhinos also have very poor eyesight but have great hearing and a great sense of smell.

I know I still have about two weeks of blogging to catch up on—about a week and a half of teaching and a weekend at the sand dunes and I promise that will be updated before next week!

More pictures to come!