01.13.13
This past weekend we had the opportunity to get out of
Windhoek and go to the Tjiramba farm, which is the farm of Edwin’s family. Since before the PLU program to Namibia, one
of my professors, Paula, has become very good friends with Edwin and his wife
Emmy. As a matter of fact, Edwin and
Emmy have both graduated from PLU! Talk about a small world!
Anyway, we drove 5 ½
hours or so to eastern Namibia where we met Edwin on a dirt road in the middle
of nowhere. That’s when all of us piled
in the back of his pick up and continued on to the farm the way Namibians
do. It is very common here for there to
be 2-15 extra passengers in the back of a pick up in Namibia—needless to say
there are not very many laws here!
After this weekend, I have found that farms in Namibia are
extremely important to families and play a big part of the culture here. Since we are on the Southern Hemisphere and
opposite side of the world, it is summer here and families were just ending
their holiday breaks and “the farm” is where entire extended families go to
spend their break. The Tjirambas arrived
at their farm the day holiday break began, were there through Christmas and the
New Year and came back to “the city” with us (Windhoek) the day before school
started. I thought the farm was so
amazing because there were multiple buildings—a large, main house with a
kitchen that Edwin’s mother lives in when she’s there (Namibia is a matriarchal
society and therefore, Edwin’s mother is the “queen bee” and what she says
definitely goes around there) along with a building for each of her children
and their spouses. There were a couple
extra buildings used for guests as well as a very small toilet building. Aside from the close-knit farm that shows how
important family is in their culture, there are plenty of cattle, donkeys,
goats and large moths, centipedes and dung beetles.
When we first arrived to the Tjiramba farm, they all greeted
us with “Welcome Home!” and I was able to get an idea of how proud they were of
their farm and how excited and welcoming they were to have us at their
home. There were swarms of children all
around waiting for us to jump out of the pick up. Once our car finally came to a stop, we were
greeted with huge smiles and attacking hugs from children decked out in their
own PLU gear. We spent the rest of that
day playing soccer, Frisbee and football with the children in Edwin’s
family. Finally we ate dinner and was
spoiled with sausage they had made themselves, that day, (we actually saw remnants
of that animal hanging and drying in the tree when we arrived—you know that’s
fresh!) along with buns to make our own “hot dogs” out of. Well after dinner was finished, Edwin brought
out a plate of potjie kos, or lamb, and it was absolutely delicious! It was so tender and fresh and confirmed
again how great Namibian meat is.
The second day we got up early and went on an hour walk that
landed us at the border of Botswana and Namibia! Unfortunately, we did not have our passports
along so we could not get the official stamp but we were able to suck in our guts and squeeze through the fence between
a building and the fence! This put us in
to the strip of land bordering the countries called No Man’s Land before we
reached the soil of Botswana. We were
able to touch it, pick some flowers and look at the landscape as the sun beat
down on us before we made the trek back to the Tjiramba farm.
Later on that day, we were all tied up playing with the
Tjiramba children on the farm. All the
children had one “BFF” PLU student that they attached to, but it was great to
get some kid time in again before teaching started. Again, for dinner, we were loaded up with
chicken and lamb along with carrot salad and potato salad. Along side the tender lamb, the favorite food
I had all weekend was Emmy’s homemade Herero bread. I think I could eat a whole loaf!
That afternoon, we rode in the back of Edwin’s pick up to
another farm about 45 minutes away from his farm where he had hundred of
cattle. Edwin wanted to dedicate a cow
to Paula as a gift, and this little excursion was for Paula to pick out her
cow, named Tiffers. Once she spotted her
special cow, we were all able to milk a cow! It was my first time ever and I
was successful!
Passing a family with a donkey cart on the way to the Tjiramba Farm.
All of us in the back of the pick up!
Paula, Emmy and Jan
In No Man's Land between Namibia and Botswana.
Touching Botswana!
Meeting Tiffers, Paula's cow.
Hard work pays off! Our milk.
A few of the buildings on the farm.
More of the buildings on the farm--our tents are in the middle!
The children anxiously awaiting our arrival!
Driving down the road to the Tjiramba Farm.
We were finally able to shower after a weekend at the farm!
My little trouble maker boy, Equa, and me
My precious BFF Dolly and me
01.14.13
Today, I woke up early and went in to the school I will be
teaching at, St. Barnabas, as there were teacher meetings. Mckenzie, Josh and I walked in at 7:45 and
there still was not a principal to lead the meeting. (Namibians are very laid back and do not worry about time and schedules like
Americans do.) Nonetheless, we walked in
to the staffroom and felt so very welcome and as 8:00 rolled around, the
principal came in and started talking about the new, free education in grades
0-7 in Namibia, what to expect for the first day of school and about the
different committees the school has. We
were told the meetings would go from 8 to 12 and Paula would pick us up at
noon, however, everything the principal had to say was done and over with by
8:25. I had a mini panic attack because
I was not sure what to do, as I had no way of contacting Jan and Paula. However, as Mckenzie, Josh and I sat in the
staff room and listened to the sports committee meeting, I noticed one of the
head of department’s office was open and went in to have a discussion with her
about which classrooms we would be put in.
After a few minutes, she led me out to Mr. Bob Mbai’s classroom. He teaches grade 3 and he told me his
classroom was now my classroom as well and that I would be teaching Mathematics
and The Arts (which includes singing, acting, dancing and art) while he teaches
Language 1 and 2, which are English and Otjiherero (a native African
language).
Bob is a very young teacher that has been teaching at St.
Barnabas for three years and graduated from the University of Namibia
(UNAM). I hung out with him in his
classroom for the remainder of the evening and he told me he was from Northern
Namibia, was one of nine siblings, had two brothers living in Connecticut and
two in the UK (as they had all married women from there) and already had around
40 to 45 nieces and nephews. He also
told me there would be about 39 students in our classroom but only about half
of the students would be there for the first day, as some of them were still at
their farms on holiday break.
It was so great to bond with the teacher whose classroom I am
going to be teaching in for the whole morning and I was anxiously awaiting to
see how the first day of school was going to go.
Can't wait to hear about your first real day at school!!! The pictures of you with the kids are adorable. You're going to be such an awesome teacher, girl! :)
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