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on John and Dinah with VSO in Namibia (Namibia), 14/Nov/2007 11:22, 34 days ago
This is the first weekend we've spent in Mpungu for ages. It's been yet another eventful week and we are happy to spend a bit of quiet time - and quiet is one commodity there's plenty of around here along with stars which we are attempting to study.More public humiliation for the learners at assembly yesterday. Although education here is free and compulsory schools are not given enough money to manage unless they impose charges. These come in 2 forms. There's the hostel fees which are about N$100 a term (£7) and the school developement fund approx. N$50 a term. The latter appears to be compulsory as is the former if they live in the hostel (not essential). As this is not always easy for the families to find. Our Principal, Mr Mendai (who is needing the cash) decided to ask those learners whose families hadn't paid to come up in front of everyone at assembly on Frid. All the while he said it wasn't their fault and not to be embarrassed! I want to take the cash from the teachers who are not here and taking their salaries. The Maths teacher who was denied the promotion he thought he should havehas not been seen for a month. Next week the learners do their exams and if they're borderline their work from the year is meant to be taken into consideration. In the case of this teacher's students, I have not got any records of how they have been doing prior to this last month when I've been teaching them. If they had done well this could save them from having to repeat the whole grade, a very common fate here. In fact many leave if they say fail to pass grade 10 as grade 11 is only for the best (like A levels used to be and still often are). Compulsory ed. ends at grade 7 or at age 15 whichever is sooner ie. if a learner has done no repeats he could be 13.When we stay in Rundu we stay with a pair of Dutch volunteers called Nico and Margareetha. They have semi- adopted a young Namibian aspiring teacher called Matthew who's in his mid 20s. Matthew's hut got burnt down about 8 weeks ago. Nico and Margareetha have been raising funds (mainly from their Dutch friends) to assist with the cost of the new one. Matthew is an orphan and has to care for his brothers and sisters and of course they lost their clothes and other possessions in the fire so Nico and Margareetha have been fantastic in getting them all back on their feet as quickly as possible. They have been incredibly generous with both their time and money.I'm hoping to attach some photos of their new 'traditional' house which John got roped into. Most people in the Kavango region live in these houses and they last about 5 years. The wood they use is resistant to termites and unfortunately this is being used up faster than it can replenish itself. The mud is a mixture of river silt and a bit of concrete. Of course it's very hard to drag mud up from the river to the villages and this is where John and our Bakki came in useful. He helped move 3 car loads of the stuff. Matthew is extremely proud of the hut which is very large as these go. As it's about the same size as our house, (which we have been complaining is small). AS it is for more people to live in, this fact is rather shaming. He is hoping to get electricity and install a TV but there is no running water in the house. They get to use the village tap.Also last weekend we visited Mahango Game reserve with Nico and Margareetha. As Nico is a Biol. teacher and very knowledgable this was a fabulous trip. We saw lots of birds (very colourful) and zebra's, various deer (Kudu, springbok, impala, haartebeast, sable antelope ? etc..), ostrich, buffalo, hippos and most dramatically of all elephants at very close range. Again attempting to attach pics. but these give no adequate impression of the sheer size and feeling of primitive power these have when in close proximity. It was worth going for these alone although it was rather frightening. Another pleasant evening mealin a lodge in Rundu with other VSOs and John resisting the Kudu steak (apparently very delicious). We were very grateful for our lovely new binoculars donated by my parent's and brother and sisters. They were necessary as most of the game was quite far from us (except the elephants!) Hope you will see from photos. Nico was explaining how the zebra come in 2 varieties and these have faint stripes between the stripes. YOu could make them out with the binocs. Not sure if you'll be able to from the photo as I've made it very small to try and get it on the blog for you.We are off to another VSO training day next week in Grootfontein. We are leaving on Wed. for a Thur. workshop as it's about 450 km. We thought we'd visit Etosha after as we are half way there and it's the largest game reserve in the country and is famous for having lions. We are also hoping to see giraffes which I remember being plentiful in South Africa but as yet not seen here by us.John has had one of his life's guiding principles shattered. His Uncle Perc taught him over 40 years ago that there was no such thing as bad beer, only degrees of excellence. However, the locals here make this liquid which we understand is made from maize, water and enormous quantities of brown sugar (fully a third of every local shop's floor space is deep in sugar). This gives it a lethal alcoholic content. From trying John can only assume is very much an acquired taste which he has no intention of acquiring. This only leaves him with the certainty that the Surrey cricket team of the mid 50s was the finest ever (readers will need no reminding of their 7 consecutive championships), oh and of course Dinah.Well progress as you have some photos!! Sorry they are somewhat chaotic. the image of the clothes line is to show that there is NO SHADOW at all at midday on 12th NOV! even telegraph posts have NO Shadow.These are our views and don't reflect on those of VSO.