cold cold cold
on Marika VSO-ing in Namibia (Namibia), 20/Jun/2010 13:28, 34 days ago
This week we had the new Minister of Education visit the region. A Dr shuffled from the Ministry of Fisheries, as many governments seem to be doing nowadays, he has a relatively good reputation and the teachers were pleased to have an opportunity to be heard of their main concerns, followed by a motivational speech, similar to that I had already sat through at the Maths Congress in Swakopmund. In unsurprising Namibian manner, a handful of schools had been told he would be visiting them and so they found another excuse to disrupt the previous two days’ timetables to get the learners cleaning the school, only to be told on the day, he won’t be making it. Only few teachers seemed disappointed though as they then didn’t have to stay at the school through lunch and could ‘knock off’ at the usual time. It seems he cancelled a couple of schools, but for a better cause to go out to rural school, which is probably wise.Wednesday was African Child/Youth Day, but disappointedly no events were organised so most the schools just closed for the day and I spent the morning at the regional office and in the afternoon borrowed John’s bike for an explorative ride Eastwards along the river up to Namwi island, stopping at a lodge and boat house I had heard of but never managed to venture to yet. John R has kindly offered his bike to me which he doesn’t make much use of, but I wonder how much I want it now. I’d gotten quite used to walking everywhere and with it not being too hot these days make it much more leisurely. Also, with the lack of rains the sand is loose allowing for involuntary stops and a bit of entertaining sideward gliding. And then there’s my clothing! Others seem to be encouraging as they heard ofme doing an hour walk to a school slightly out of town twice last week, but what about the other schools?We managed to get Robert, our Education Officer at the regional office and his wife into our house for dinner this weekend which Vivien says has taken her over a year of persuading. Although our cold house put a bit of a damper on the atmosphere it was great seeing him outside the office. Robert is in on the top of the list of nicest Caprivian men I’ve had the fortune to meet and work with. Contrary to many men here, Robert is one of the most honest, sincere, wise yet modest individuals in the regional office. He has been working with VSO for over 10 years and probably has the best understanding of us than anyone else. Anytime we lose sightof the top of the wall of obstacles we are faced with, a visit to his office will always be re-assuring and encouraging, and he is one of the few people who will act immediately within his realm of control to sort out any issues he can. Unfortunately he can often seem like the only one in the system doing this.As the student teachers from the Caprivi College of Education (CCE), recently become part of the University of Namibia (UNAM) now are allocated around at schools for their teaching practice this term, I feel a sense of excitement that this is where I have the opportunity to invest some training into the new teachers coming in to the schools where the fresh ideas can then filter up through the more stagnant members of staff as happens in many schools at home. (The college seems to have actively managed to keep VSO volunteers away from their doors all these years for reasons unbeknown to us so the opportunity seems to be now when they’re at the schools for this term). This optimism though soon dies down as I see some of the female student teachers wondering round the schools hooking arms like teenagers with lollipops hanging out their mouths and the same bored look on their faces as I see in the disinterested teachers I have had the fortune to have met. They were expected to have two weeks observing lessons and then they take over selected classes. Within a week I noticed some were ‘teaching’ classes and the class teacher is no-where to be seen. I have even observed them interacting with the learners in the same disrespectful, disinterested fed-up attitude, often characterised by one-word demands/requests made of learners that drives me up the wall with the current teachers who I wonder why they are in the job. This week, I cringed as one of the Maths students taught a class that the y-axis goes from North toWest, and the x-axis from East to South. To save face, you have to hold back from intervening during the lesson and wait until the end, so sitting through it can be painful to say the least. I have only seen talk and chalk from the student teachers so far which also makes me want to dig deeper into how on earth are they being trained at the college and with what obscure judgement will they be assessed.I’ve found myself watching the odd England or Greece match by hunting down the TV’s found around town at various locations. A bit out of character for me, but proves to be a good opportunity to socialise. The Namibians continue to support ‘any African team’. I also met my first actual born Greek, born in mainland Greece but currently living in Namibia and visiting Katima on business from Tsumeb where he owns a very nice hotel (to consider stopping off there to break up my next trip to Windhoek). He was typically excited to hear I spoke Greek and reacted in the usual friendly manner ofoffering whatever food and drink he was having, but an unusual character to say the least; heightened by him carrying a gun on his waist “for defence” (it seems it’s not unusual for Namibians to have guns).Other than that, a very cold week here at nights, so I’m making the most of my icebreaker which I’m ever grateful I brought, and considering investing in a coat to go along with my recently bought heavy blanket I’ve even been dragging from my bed in the morning and wearing to breakfast. I can only hope the mosquitoes are at least being killed offthis way.