Returning home.

Hofni svinging the axe.

My house!

Ongeipi! (Dialect of “ongini”)

Work in school has started and it’s fantastic! There are some challenges though;

• We have 45 minutes (which always becomes less because they have no brake between classes) per class in a 7 day period.
• There is no changing room and no showers or facilities to wash (no toilet).
• The kids play in their school uniform, some in their black leather shoes and some barefoot.
• Some classes are 60 kids.
• All of our balls (which are very few) get flat in no time because of all the thorns and glass lying around.
• The youngest learners don’t know English (and I’m not that good (yet) in Oshiwambo and Damara (Etanga = ball)).
• The women teachers wear blouse, skirt and high heels in the sand!
  It’s 100°C, and the sun is always shining. (This is spring, I can’t wait until summer!)
• There is no evaluation of the students in P.E.
• The teachers actually don’t want to teach P.E. (or they wish I could just take the kids and leave them alone (not doing that though :))

Despite all of the above:

• We are having so much fun!
• The kids love me and I love them!
• The teachers love me (and hit on me) and I love them!
• I, the kids and the teachers learn a lot!

I have also a program in school where some of the older learners (grade 7-10) teach the younger learners (grade 1-4) P.E. It is working very well and they are very professional in their work.

The art exhibition on Namutoni Lodge was a success! Many of the children sold paintings for 300-500 N$ each! They also went for a game drive in the park. Many children continue making paintings to sell at the lodge. Some of the money will go to the school and some to the painter.

Today is “pay day” so many of the teachers jumped up in the back of Barney’s car and went to Tsumeb to burn some money. The teachers here have a quite high salary, around 4800 N$/month.

Kaliipo nawa! (Goodbye, see you later)

My friend John (right)

Art workshop under the tree at the school.

View from the hostel.

Well deserved brake.

The men i charge; Vumisa and Raymond.

Groupwork at 01.00.

NAM-VIP, art workshop and Cape Town

Ongeipi!

I am right now in Cape Town at Western Cape University studying for a week together with six of the other Norwegians. It is so good to see them again and to hear how their life is in South Africa and Zambia.

Two weeks ago we had a workshop in Windhoek together with the other Namibian SCORE volunteers and community volunteers from around Namibia. It was an intense workshop with late working hours – but also a lot of fun!

Beatrice has led the art workshop and when I was leaving them Thursday morning a lot of good work had been done. When I am writing this the exhibition at the Namotoni Lodge in Etosha is already over. I hope it went well!

I have so much I want to tell you but not enough time!

Here some facts (kind of):

The most common car manufacture by far is Toyota (everybody I have spoken to is very satisfied with their Toyota and means it is a very reliable car made for this harsh conditions), pickup model so the can load equipment and people – they always stop for hitchhikers and the hitchhikers always pay (this is actually making it possible for people to afford a car when petrol is a very big expense in Namibia because of the great distances between cities). Average speed on the straight roads is 120 km/h with a crappy car and 160-170 km/h with a good car.

In Oshivelo there are very few cars, not including the police and the army maybe only 3.

Pap - porridge from maize- or omahangumeal is THE food in Namibia (as in many other African countries). Most people eat it with meat (Namibia is known to be a country with a lot of good meat) but some who can’t afford meat eat only Pap (can be eaten with milk as well). Everybody eats with their hands. My fiend John is of the Hai║om (║ is a click sound) people who are counted as a part of the San community (The San people are the indigenous people of Namibia). They have been driven from their land and discriminated for a long time, now receiving compensation from the government. The Hai║om people in Oshivelo live in huts and shacks without electricity or running water. When I saw John sharing a bowl of food with his friend I asked him if it was macaroni and he replied: - Ha, ha, we only eat that on Christmas!

Tomorrow I am going back to Namibia, looking forward to it!

Take care!