Sunday, June 25, 2006

Photos of African Child Day

Here are some photos from the celebration for African Child Day:
A seventh grader reading a poem

Two sixth graders reading a poem


5th graders singing a song


The rest are from a short dramatisation of the Soweto Uprising performed by learners from 2 tenth grade classes. The ones with the sticks on their backs are soldiers, and the rest are teachers and students.
The arrival of the army.
Students telling a teacher they don't want to speak Afrikaans in school any more.


The soldiers firing on the students.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

The Day of the African Child

So last Friday there was a wonderful event at my school celebrating the Day of the African Child. This day commemorates the Soweto Uprising in South Africa, when students protested the teaching of Afrikaans in schools and the terrible education system in general, and were attacked by the Army, who killed many students. It has been turned into a day to celebrate African Children in general, and to remind adults that they should not be mistreated or abused.

I know we have a Children's Day in the states, but no one really takes it seriously, so I wasn't sure what to make of this one. On Wednesday a group of my tenth graders seemed very happy, so I asked them why. The reply was "Because Friday is our day" and I thought, for people who don't have a lot in life it must be really nice to have a whole day devoted to you and for people to take that seriously.

On Friday classes ended at noon, and then we had a big assembly where the principal explained the history of the day (in Oshiwambo, so my introduction is based on just a short translation), and then learners from each class got up and performed a play, or read a poem, or sang a song. The tenth graders dramatised the events of the Soweto uprising, and I thought my normally shy students did a great job of acting it out. The poems were also great- one from a seventh grader asked a lot of pointed questions about why the government was not doing more about child abuse. I was very impressed since my seventh grade classes are usually too shy to talk to me.

It was also a lot of fun to see the lower primary learners (grades 1-4) who I don't usually see because they are at another building about 200 meters away. A lot of them were very excited to see me because they haven't seen many (or any) white people before. The principal brought one girl to see me because she was afraid. I shook her hand, and I think after that all of her classmates thought she was really special. The younger learners were especially enthusiastic and sang their songs very loudly. One class of 3rd graders sang "If You're Happy and You Know It"- overall they could sing in English well, though I don't know if they knew what they were singing.

The principal said at the beginning of the day that on this day his big stick was only for decoration and that he wouldn't touch any learners with it. It's kind of sad that it takes a special day to stop teacher's hitting learners, but corporal punishment is very deeply ingrained here. At another volunteer's school they told the learners that it was their fault they were beaten was because their bad behavior was inviting punishment. Everyone knows it is illegal to beat learners, but at the same time everyone believes it is the only way to control them. Its a sad state of affairs, but at least they have a day where they are talking about treating kids right.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Morning assembly, where we raise the flags, sing the national anthem, and often the principal berates the learners for something or other (or congratulates them, or tells them about money they need to pay for something).


Class debates, Namibian style the kids never make eye contact and only say one or two sentences. I have slowly been able to get them to realize that they need to talk about the other sides arguments instead of their own, but it has been a struggle. But they are trying hard, and its interesting to hear what they have to say. I think I'm doing a lot more class participation than they are used to.

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Wild Beasts




Sunday, June 04, 2006

A visit from the family

Ahhh,

I'm writing this feeling blue because my parents and brother just left after ten wonderful days (my sister and uncle left last Wednesday, but it is all sinking in now) . I had forgotten how nice it is to spend time with my family and now its another 7 months until I see them again. But that is the nature of this year.

We started our time together in Etosha, where we saw many more animals, including mating lions, a family of rhinos, a leopard and an elephant (my family saw 22 elephants on the last day, but Sinead and I left early to go shopping- doh). We also spent some good time looking at the stars, since my Dad had brought me a southern hemisphere star book and was really excited about using his new binoculars to find nebulas and look at Jupiter.

From Etosha we headed back to Outapi, and I got to stay in the luxury Outapi Town Lodge instead of my humble abode. It was really nice to have a toilet and a hot shower every morning. Everyone took turns coming and talking to my classes, which was a huge hit. One class was really upset because they never got a good chance to talk to my family. I had some of my classes prepare questions for them, and although I'm not sure how much the kids learned from it, I think everyone had fun and at the end of most of the classes we took turns singing.

At the end of the week we headed off to the Kunene River Lodge, which is very close to us, but the road is very rough so it took quite a while to get there. The lodge is an idyllic spot, stuck among huge trees on the banks of a pretty big river by Namibian standards. On Saturday we went rafting down the biggest rapids I've ever done- my Dad and I were the only ones without a guide, and we did pretty well despite not really knowing what we were doing. Then today we had to say goodbye and its off to another week of teaching. It will be really good to see them again in December