Life here has gotten a little rough. These past few weeks have been a whirlwind and I have felt very overwhelmed and a little homesick. I know I am only feeling homesick because things have been getting a lot harder. As mentioned before they changed that classes, subjects and grades I am now teaching. Well, as of yesterday that changed again!! I am still teaching Grade 7 English, Science and Math and English 5 but they divided the English classes into 2 so now I am teaching double. There are 40 periods in a week and I teach about 35 of those periods which is a little overwhelming and I have a lot to catch up on. For Namibia their grading system is a little different and I need to make up for lost time with the grades for Science and English 5. Term 1 is almost over and I have to have my grades in in a couple of weeks. With that being said, I can’t believe Term 1 is almost over!! That means I am a third of the way into my time here. With the end of Term 1 comes a visit from my Mom and Krista. I am not too sure they know what they are getting themselves into ;). I am sure I will be posting about their time here. But before they come we do have a few breaks leading up to that. Next week we have Thursday off for Independence Day. Friday is a busy day for me though. I have a grant proposal due and my second teaching submission for my TEFL program. We also have a long break for Easter so we will be heading to Swakopmund to hang out at the beach and relax for a 4 day weekend. But before that happens I need to get a lot done and hopefully find out whether I will be approved for a grant or not. SO.. with that being said.
I have been working very hard to put together a grant application for a program down here that awards money to people to work on community projects. It is called the Ambassador’s Self Help Grant. Awards can be upwards of $20,000 USD. In order to be considered there is a 5 page detailed application involved and you need quotes from vendors that you plan on using. I have been getting into Opuwo on the weekends to receive quotes from builders and people who will help with the garden. I have a contact in USAID, shout out to Mrs. Washington, who has been such a blessing and has agreed to come visit my school in April to asses what needs to be done in order to plant the garden. My learners only receive, at the most, 2 meals a day that consists of just porridge. Many go hungry and are lacking very important nutritious needs. With the creation of this garden we will be able to give the learners at least one nutritional meal a day. If there is an abundance of crops we will be giving those to the local community with a focus on the children who are 5 and under and those who are directly affected by HIV/AIDS. I am praying that this grant gets approved. It would be such a blessing to my school. I will keep you updated on the progress of the application and approval.
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| The view of the school from the garden site |
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| Future site of our garden! |
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| The clinic that is waiting to be opened that will hopefully be supplying water for the garden |
I am currently working on another project as well! A year isn’t that long to get things done so I am hoping to get a jump start on these. I have been working to raise money in order to buy mattresses for the learners at my school. The colder months are coming and I want them to be able to get off the ground when they sleep. There has been an overwhelming response and people have been more than generous. I can’t thank my coworker, Ahna, enough either for putting together an amazing flyer to put in places downtown in Patchogue. It really is amazing how blessed I am to know such amazing people. So far we have raised about $800 towards the mattresses. That is more than I ever was expecting. Thank you all so much for all that you have been doing!! My school is very appreciative of all that people have been doing!
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