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.