My new home!

After much confusion, my apartment not being ready, and a few days in Opuwo I am finally at my school; my home for the next year. Before I go on to describe my living conditions and my school I will back track a little. So on Thursday, Jan. 17 we were picked up by the Ministry of Education in Windhoek and were to travel to our sites. My school is about 9-10 hours from Windhoek depending on “traffic” and how many people your driver wants to pick up on the side of the road :). When we were about 2 hours from Opuwo, the capital of the Kunene region and the closest “big” town to me, another volunteer, Mailin, and I were informed that our apartments were not ready for us to move in. In order for our living arrangements to be deemed suitable it had to meet a few criteria and our’s were not ready. We waved goodbye to Taylor at her site and were ushered to Opuwo where we were told we would be staying until they finished setting up our places. This Is Africa, so we weren’t sure how long it was going to be. BUT! We stayed at ABBA Guesthouse for a couple of days. The guesthouse is owned and operated by a Christian couple that founded a Primary School at the Guesthouse and holds church on Sundays. This was definitely a God thing and a reminder that everything does work out for the best. This actually gave Mailin and I a chance to explore Opuwo; which is mainly one road full of shops. We started making connections and by the end of the 3rd day of us being there people were starting to know our names. 

Which, on that note, random people knew my name and I had no idea how. Taylor came in shopping so we met her at the ONLY grocery store available to us. We were standing going our lists and this guy came up to me and introduced himself as Stefan. We introduced ourselves and when I said my name he was like OH! I heard you were in town and then proceeded to tell me Happy Birthday. He wasn’t the first person to think it was my birthday either or the first person to come up and address me by name. Apparently, our region had received our information and pictures so everyone knew who we were and I guess my birthday was wrong because at least 5 people told me Happy Birthday. That day I met most all of my coworkers in Opuwo. They go to the city most weekends to get essentials. They threw a party for me which ended up me cooking the sausage and chicken using sticks over a fire because we couldn’t find a griller but it was the best way to meet my colleagues for the next year. A Braai (barbecue) under a clear sky of brilliant stars. Oh yea, Stefan was one of my coworkers. After a lot of back and forth I left Opuwo to head to my school on Saturday, the 19th.

I love my school!! At first, I was in complete shock and those were when the first tears came. I have been very busy/strong this past month and have not shed a tear but when I pulled up to my school; all those tears that I had been holding in began to fall. I can’t figure out if it was shock, happiness, state of fear/unknown but everything hit. So, my school is over 75Km from the nearest “civilization” which is Opuwo. I was told I was only going to be about 35-40K. So this was the first shock. I was trying to be as optimistic as possible but when we turned down the path that led to my school I am pretty sure all the color from my sunburned face drained and I had a “what did I get myself into” feeling. We got out the back of the bakkie and began unloading. They showed me where I was going to be staying and I think my shock outweighed how grateful and blessed I am. My apartment is part of a house and I have 4 rooms. I have one big bedroom that locks. I have a double bed!! That is bigger than any bed I have ever had. I am still waiting on my  dresser/armoire but that isn’t a huge complaint considering what I have. My bedroom is across the hall from a HUGE kitchen space. At the moment it is pretty bare with just a fridge and a stove but I am hoping to change that soon. My bathroom is in the other 2 rooms. One has my shower and a sink and the other has a toilet and a sink. So I have designated one of them as my kitchen sink and the other as my bathroom sink. I have a front door that locks as well. So I am starting to settle in and hang things on my walls. This is my home for the next year, I need to make it my own. With that being said, I have SO MUCH ROOM for visitors. Just bring a sleeping bag and you have a place to stay. The scenery is gorgeous as well. 

I am living at the top of a mountain surrounded by other mountains and vast land. Yes, there are the most snakes in this area and you have to endure a drive on all dirt roads from Opuwo but I am telling you, it is worth it. Who can say that they have played soccer with 20 African children as donkeys run beside you and the sun sets behind the mountains in the background. I truly am so excited about this year. 

It isn’t all rainbows and butterflies though so I will be needing a lot of prayer throughout this year. The language barrier and the frustration of not knowing what is going on is setting in a little bit. Not many of my colleagues speak English very well so they tend to speak what is comfortable to them. We are trading English for Otjiherero lessons. I am also starting to learn how behind my students are in English as well. I was talking to one girl today who is a grade 5 learner and I asked her what she liked to do/ what was her favorite subject to learn and she was unable to comprehend and answer. I still have no idea, as I am writing this, what subjects/grades I am teaching. I was told Science and English but since I have arrived and met everyone I have heard Science, English, Math, and Basic Information Science. I have been playing soccer with the kids everyday so I believe I was just officially made the soccer coach. The kids are impressed at how well a white girl can played. I schooled some of my older learner boys and I think I gained their respect that way. Funny how things work out. 

Some of my fears and worries were settled when I was informed that my principal goes to Opuwo almost every day so if there was ever a reason I needed something I can always hitch a ride with him. Considering I was taken to my site without much food or supplies I will be heading into Opuwo frequently. I need to get more food or else I am going to be skin and bones! 

Here is a link to some of the pictures of my room and site. Life is too short to sit around

Teaching in Omungwelume

For the past 5 days (last week) we have been living and teaching above the Red Line in Omungwelume. The Red Line in Namibia separates North and South Namibia and was used as a disease check point. Below the line is commercial white farming and above it is communal farming/subsistence farming. Cattle from above the line could not be brought to areas below the line in order to prevent the spread of disease and make a definite delineation. In Omungwelume we stayed and taught at a Primary School called Eengedjo PS. Children from around the village and in neighboring areas came and participated in the classes we were teaching. The classes began on Monday and ended Thursday. For me, this was the first realization that I am in Africa. 

The drive up North was an experience in and of it’s own. To us, it was a grueling 10 hour drive in a hot van known as a Combie but to everyone else it was luxury. The Ministry of Education provided two vans (Combies) for WorldTeach to bring us up North. The views that we witnessed as we drove up North were absolutely breathtaking. Considering Long Island is as flat as flat gets, seeing these rolling mountains and rocky terrain was amazing. I had to stop a few times and remind myself that this gorgeous country is my home for the next year.  

Views driving up North. A camera doesn't do the scenery justice!

When we arrived at the village we were greeted by a house that needed a lot of loving touches and a really good cleaning. So we got together as a team and worked on cleaning up the house where 2 of the volunteers will be living for the year. We have broken down cooking dinner into groups. Taylor, Mailin, and I are group one so we were up to cook dinner that night. This turned into our second realization that this is Africa. The electricity wasn’t working and none of us had ever used a gas stove before so we cooked spaghetti by candle light while we prayed that we didn’t blow the house up. Dinner was a success, for the most part. They don’t have spaghetti sauce here and ours didn’t taste the hottest but T.I.A (This is Africa) so you go with the flow.

For the week we lived it the dorms of the students that attend the school. The rooms boasted metal framed bunk beds, and a few storage cubbies built into the walls. The bathrooms weren’t much different. Lined with metal sinks and toilets that seemed like they were going to overflow everytime you flushed; it didn’t appear very welcoming. Not to mention that the shower stalls were curtainless... 

In order to not make this a really long drawn out blog in where I try to fit a weeks worth of teaching and experiences into one post I will try to summarize as much as possible. I love lists so that is what is the easiest for me to organize everything.

Monday was our first day at Omungwelume. For our practicums we taught in pairs and were split based on what grades we will be teaching when we go to our site. We started each morning lesson planning and getting the materials together that would be needed for that day. After planning in the morning we went to meet our learners in the courtyard of the school. They were very timid and reluctant to make conversation; this was to change as the week went on. We bonded over soccer and our lack of playing ability. I hope I can get my act together before I have to start coaching it at my school! For our first lesson we decided to teach them how to form sentences using a ver and subject. I was very nervous going into my first day of teaching but as soon as I stood in front of the class and saw those smiling faces my nerves dissipated. We taught and then had them do a fun activity that made them form their sentences using sentences that were already written out and then torn up. This was our first gauge on the learning level of our students and boy, was it a wide range. We had some that could only copy and then others that were forming sentences and labeling the parts of the sentence. This idea of multilevel classes will be one of our greatest challenges this year. Our lesson was a success and the students seemed to grasp what we were presenting. 

Monday night we walked around the village and got our first bakkie ride in the back of a pick up to the closest town; obviously we survived it :). A few of us decided to continue to walk around the village after we returned from our thrilling ride and for the first time in my life I saw a cow fight. A serious horn to horn fight. Here, like mentioned before, cows are pretty free to roam. Us girls tried walking around them but we couldn’t seem to escape them. I think we provided the village with a little show as these 4 white girls tried to avoid the charging cattle.

Tuesday was a fun lesson to teach and I was very impressed by some of the knowledge the learners brought to the classroom. We decided to introduce them to the idea of the food chain. We had a really fun activity where we had them act out the food chain. They drew animals or plants on paper plates and in order for them to portray eating something they had to hug eachother. By the end of the lesson they were able to go through the food chain independently. This was definitely helpful because I am teaching science this coming year to 5-7 graders. I am super nervous about this and praying that God gives me peace about presenting this material. 

Teaching the Food Chain

So the moment I have been waiting for the entire time I have been here happened. We had our first torrential downpour rainstorm. It was amazing to feel the coolness of the water and the relief it brought from the heat. I think since that day, it has rained almost every day here. I’m not complaining, a light shower in the afternoon is an amazing relief from the heat of the day. 

Wednesday we switched up partners for people who wanted to try to teach different levels. I stayed with the 5-7 graders because those are the only grades I am working with this coming year. We did another grammar lesson introducing adjectives that describe a person. I had a lot of fun with this lesson and we received a huge response from the learners. We had them come up with as many as they could and then added our own. After we had a pretty solid list we put actions to the words and soon had our learners jumping around the room and using motions to portray adjectives. For our closing activity we had the students create acrostic poems using their names. This was a bit challenging for learners on lower levels but was fun to go around and see what some learners were writing. We were all pretty exhausted by Wednesday so we just chilled for the night. During the days after teaching we had meetings that lasted a couple of hours; our days were long.

Thursday was our last day to teach our precious learners. This, by far, was my favorite lesson. With it being the last day we wanted it to be a lot of fun so we decided to teach them how to follow directions... using the Cha Cha Slide :). We played the song through and saw how many of the directions the kids could list. We filled in what they missed. After that we taught them the Cha Cha Slide which turned into a major dance party. One of the learners knew the entire dance to Waka Waka so she taught us how to do that after the kids had learned the Cha Cha slide. This is a lesson I will reuse and never forget. To watch some of these kids dance and the smiles they had on their faces melted my heart.

Our Dance Party!!

Thursday night we had another T.I.A experience. All of the volunteers piled into the Ministry of Education vans and headed to Angelina’s (gf of our Field Director) homestead. A homestead is a group of houses, huts, rooms that are surrounded by some sort of fence or brick wall where one family lives. When children get older they are to build a room or small house that adds to the homestead and this is where they will live when they get married. Here we toured the homestead and saw many of the traditions the African people hold. It is amazing to see how much they embrace their roots and still hold true to their cultures. We were served a traditional drink called Oshikundu. Oshikundu is made of fermented grains that are kept in hollowed out gourds. It tasted somewhat like wet bread. Along with the traditional drink we had the traditional Oshiwambo meal. This consisted of chicken and a thick porridge. The meal was eaten with your fingers by breaking pieces off and dipping it in the sauce that the chicken was made in. The porridge is made out of mahangu that they crush in one of their huts. As the day came to a close we left Angelina’s and headed back to the school to get ready to head “home” to Windhoek the next day.

Emily and I eating the traditional meal at the homestead

This past week was draining but one that I am ever so grateful for. I will never forget the first students I taught in Namibia. It also helped to show me that I will be able to be a teacher to these open hearts, minds and beautiful children. We returned back to the capital on Friday as a group but not the same as we left; we had seen and realized our purpose for being here. 

Some of the volunteers with Learners

UPDATE: So I have received a little more information on my site. I will be living in an apartment by myself with a kitchen and bathroom. I am teaching grades 5-7 English and Science. I won’t have internet at all so communication is going to be very limited after Thursday. I will have to head to Opuwo (capital of the Kunene Region) in order to receive good internet connection. I don’t really have cell service either. Well, I do but I have to walk 3k up a mountain to get it. I am determined to build a hut or string a hammock on the top of this mountain so I can chill and catch up on news back home. I do have an address but I will provide that in my next post.... 2 days till Musaso!

Ena randje owami Ashley!

Translation: My name is Ashley

So! After almost a year of waiting, planning, and talking about it I am finally in Namibia! FIRST POST FROM AFRICA! It was a really long flight that wasn't so pleasant but I survived it and thankfully don't have to do it for another year. There was bad turbulence the entire flight and it was a 15 hour flight. Who likes 15 hour flights?! Thankfully there were good movies to catch up on and a wide variety of music. After landing in Joburg for our layover we had to run, literally run, to catch our connecting flight. Getting through customs and immigration in Namibia was the easiest thing we had to do all day yesterday. From the airport we arrived at our hostel in Windhoek, the capital, where we met up with the rest of our group. We had about 1.5 hours to regroup and then went straight into meetings beginning at 2. It was a huge struggle to stay awake but prevailed and was in bed before midnight even happened. We experienced our first braai last night. A braai is a cookout. We had chicken, sausage, pasta salad and regular salad. It was delicious but so late! I was falling asleep eating haha. Needless to say, I slept like a baby last night. We were up early this morning for more training and meetings on Namibian culture and culture shock. It was interesting but nothing I hadn't gone through when I had orientation in Costa Rica. Although, some of the cultural things are interesting and all the rules they have about elders and how to be respectful. You have to shake their hands and curtsey when you meet them. When you talk to them in a greeting you have to look at the ground. That is only in some cultures. From what I gathered the Himba and Herero are really laid back as well as understanding. They appreciate you trying to attempt their language. I still don't have much information on my school so I am trusting and praying that everything works out. We are guaranteed a bed, dresser and a fridge so at least I know I will be getting those things haha. We had our lessons on hitch hiking and traveling safe. It should be such an experience and I am sure I will have tons of stories to go with it because we have already heard some. We had our first language training session!! I was so excited to start learning my language! It is called otjiherero. Our teacher, Remsey, was very good and organized. I actually learned a lot! I'll show a few words below. There are about 4 of us learning it so it is very personal and one on one. He makes sure we are pronouncing the words correctly and understand what is going on.
Thankfully we have the rest of the day off to chill and catch up on things. We have about 2 more weeks left of training before we go to our sites. We leave to start our teaching practicums on Sunday and tomorrow we head to the stores to set up cell phones. After tomorrow I will be as connected as possible. We can't set up our bank accounts until we get to our towns so there will be a day dedicated to do that.

Otjiherero 101:

Ami mba za ko Amerika ko New York: I come from American from New York

koko: no

Moro: Goodmorning

Metaha: Afternoon

Hwenda: Evening

and since I am posting this as I am going to bed... raree nawa (Sleep well)