Tuesday 17th April
We were back at Onamutai today. I worked on the stakeholder's presentation and made posters to motivate the students. We were given the corner of a room to make into a first aid area which Amy made posters for. Then Joyce was called away to invigilate. We worked really hard today on trying to improve things for Onamutai and trying to get involved. The staff were friendlier today and seemed to include us more readily. We then observed an English grammar lesson taught to part time learners who had failed last year. It was a website based on South African English (not ideal when you're trying to teach English English as there are differences between the two)! It was based on lots of questions with multiple choice answers. You could really hear the Namibian voice in the incorrect one as this is how lots of Namibians phrase things. It's no wonder the students kept making mistakes. In some cases even the 'correct' one wasn't how we would say things in England.
We came back to our accommodation after school and had a power cut so went to look for the Spur restaurant we'd seen advertised. It said it was opposite Bennie's but all that was there was a construction site. It turns out that is the restaurant but it hasn't been built yet! They really are on African time!
Wednesday 18th April
Today we went straight to Eluwa School. We feel so much more at home there and the staff and students are always so excited to see us. Joyce gave a presentation about Milestone school and we tried to learn their Namibia sign to communicate with the deaf children about the photographs of Milestone's students. The children were all so excited they kept signing 'again, again'!
We took lots of resources with us and presented the school with a special framed board with pictures of Milestone children saying 'hello' to the special needs children at Eluwa school. They were so excited to see students like themselves...and particularly excited to see the black children at Milestone as they could identify with them and were surprised to learn that England has people from all over the world. In Namibia they think that all British people are white and rich! The children were all so excited by something so simple and were all climbing to have a closer look. We took lots of arts and crafts materials with us today and the students at Eluwa drew some special pictures about themselves and us working with them for Milestone students to see. It really was a lovely exercise and the results were beautiful.
The students went on their tea break after this and Julia took us to their dining hall. All the students live in the hostels and they get breakfast in the morning, followed by tea at 11am, followed by lunch at 2pm and dinner at 5pm. It makes such a difference to see the children well fed and happy. Their performance is enhanced as a result. At Onamutai, the children are often staying with non-family members and don't have any food. As a result they often beg us for food. Onamutai is a failing school and the lack of food for the students is definitely one reason for that. The dining room at Eluwa is huge. All the children come in past two dinner ladies handing out jam sandwiches to every child. They then queue up at the serving hatch and get a cup full of tea served from a huge vat. The children were all so keen to sign hello to us and hold our hands. On the way back to class we had about 3 children on each arm, one clinging on in front and one behind! It was so sweet if not a little hard to walk!
After break the children came back to class. I'd brought some balloons with me from England which cost about £2 for around 30 balloons. You have never seen joy and happiness like it. The children thought all their birthdays and Christmases had come at once! They played with each other and with us for ages developing their spacial awareness skills and sharing. There was one child who couldn't walk properly and sadly found it really difficult to join in when other children were running around. We think he was autistic too as he didn't acknowledge the other children and couldn't share or join in the game aspect. He was much happier sitting down playing just with me in a corner and got very upset when other children came near him or tried to get involved or take his balloon.
Unfortunately, even at special schools in Namibia there is no real diagnosis or support for children with additional needs. Eluwa is specifically for children who are blind or deaf. We saw lots of children with physical and mental difficulties and major communication needs though and unfortunately the school is not resourced well enough to best support these students. They just make allowances for them 'being slow' or having 'mental difficulties' in what they expect from them. A huge majority of the children and most likely the staff have HIV and yet despite this and a lack of resources the children all seem so happy. One child has some physical abnormalities in his hands, dribbles permanently so has to wear a bib and has HIV but he was constantly laughing and being cheeky. He clearly has developmental difficulties as his work is at a much lower level than the other students but he really was loving his life. The other children kept signing that he was 'naughty'! He is such a boisterous child-he is always running, jumping and climbing and trying to play with everyone else's balloon (while stashing one for himself in his pocket)! After the balloons had all popped we took some special pictures of us with Julia and of us with the whole class that we got printed for them. It was home time before we knew it and the children all went back to their hostels.
Thursday 19th April
We were glad to be back at Eluwa again today. We brought the beads with us that we bought in Swakopmund. We went to buy more resources before work and chose some big bouncy balls and more balloons and frames for the pictures we'd had printed. The children were even more excited to see us today and kept asking if we'd be back tomorrow! Sadly, today was our last day at the special school. We did some lovely drawing and then got to work beading bracelets which really helped their hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Some of the more advanced children worked on patterns and numbers with the beads too. Some children finished quickly and started a second bracelet but the cheeky chap I mentioned yesterday really struggled due to the deformity in his hands. He tried his best though and really enjoyed it. When it was nearly time to finish the activity, another more able student helped him by finishing the bracelet off so he didn't miss out. It was really sweet to watch. The children went for their tea break reluctantly because they all wanted to stay and learn from us and join in our activities! Everywhere we went the children from all the other classes kept signing for bracelets, balls and balloons.
Unfortunately in such a large school it just wasn't possible to give something to every child so we focused in Julia's class. We took balls for a couple of other classes too and Joyce went to set up another class on bracelet making. After their tea break, the children were banging on the door to be let back into class as they were so eager to continue working with us. We then did some sports activities with the children using the ball, followed by some more exercise and sharing skills with the balloons. It's nearly the end of term here and from about a week before the school closes the school puts out messages on the radio for parents to come and collect their children. Today, one girl got called out of class as her dad was at the school to take her home. She just slipped out and we wondered why she'd gone so early and with no one drawing attention to her or saying goodbye. Julia told us that they have to give parents a long window of opportunity to come and collect their children or many don't come. The girl slipped out without a fuss because many children won't be picked up by their families so they don't like to upset these children.
It was one child's birthday in class today so we bought a cake and sweets for the class. The children were so happy! We were all singing and signing happy birthday in Namibia Sign and dishing out the cake. The children got sweets too but without exception all saved them for later as they don't get many treats. The child we were signing for didn't even know it was his birthday. Students don't live with family and their understanding is sometimes impaired, so he didn't know it was his birthday until Julia told him. First of all he was shaking his head when Julia said it was his birthday but when he saw the cake he soon caught on! The day flew by in the blink of an eye. We were really sad to say goodbye. We went and saw the headteacher and gave her the board about Milestone school and the resources we'd bought for them. She was delighted and so grateful to us for their help. It really goes to show, it's not all about money here, they are delighted by a little time, attention and support from outside.
Friday 20th April
Today was our last day at Onamutai. I finalised the stakeholder's presentation and showed Mr Tangeni who was thrilled. He just kept saying 'wow, wow, wow! I very much love it!' I was pleased with the response as putting 20 years worth of pictures, results and challenges together and writing solutions for everyone to take responsibility was a lot of work. Hopefully it will make a difference and the teachers, students and parents will all start working together for the good of the school instead of against each other.
One of the major issues in the school is that learners are late to school and to class, show no respect, don't study for their exams and have no aspiration yet nothing is done about it. The students carry on like this because the staff let them. No one is taking any action to fix the situation. I produced several documents to help them improve these issues. Firstly I produced the GROW Model which is a goal setting exercise. It can be used to improve lateness, behaviour and channel aspirations etc. It works with the student to address the problems and find solutions. I also produced some aspiration raising worksheets that students can all do to look at their dreams and ambitions, realistic goals and how make things happen. Once I'd done this I tackled the issue of reports. Currently they have no way of monitoring poor attendance because registers are hardly taken and there is no method of tracking or monitoring punctuality or poor behaviour. I produced two reports, one to tackle punctuality and attendance and one to tackle behaviour. This will hopefully motivate the students to be more responsible and encourage the teachers to monitor this issue. They can then record and praise improvement and deal with recurring issues. The behaviour report works similarly in that the particular student carries it with them and each lesson the teacher comments on which of their 3 targets have been met that lesson. It can also help to identify particular subjects where issues are common. The head teacher was delighted with this support and was very keen to receive any help we could offer. While I was busy with this, Joyce and Amy were busy developing a first aid and health area. We bought a sick bucket and a blanket and some resources on the body. Joyce went to the clinic to get the latest health advice for the students and to when they should visit the clinic. Joyce and Amy then made some posters with all the signs and symptoms of common illnesses such as HIV and TB so that students would be encouraged to visit the clinic before it was too late.
We finished all this work just in time for the cultural display the students had prepared for us. There was a big programme of events from readings and poems to giving us handmade thank you cards, to singing and dancing. It was a really special event and we felt really honoured to be receiving such thanks. Anna, one of the student council members led the event with such grace and authority. The readings and cards were so precious and the singing was beautiful. We were eagerly awaiting the cultural dancers and they were worth the wait. They dressed in bright pink traditional outfits and dyed their hands and feet pink too! They had bare feet with bells round their ankles. One student drummed the beat and all the dancers sang a tune while pairs of dancers in turn did their dance in the centre of the circle. It was a real treat! We have some great videos to show you when we get back!
Then we all had to get up and give speeches to the whole school. Joyce presented them with the first aid area and posters and talked them through the health advice. When we said we don't have a major problem with HIV and AIDS in the UK they were shocked-even the teachers couldn't believe it! I think this made them take notice of what Joyce was saying! Then Amy spoke and presented them with tea towels and presented the board of our learners. I gave them the educational CD roms, the stakeholder's presentation and the resources to help them improve in school. I pleaded with them to listen to their teachers and make use of the resources to improve their educational opportunities. I then presented them with laptops and webcams. When I said we could skype and the students in Milestone and the students at Onamutai would be able to see each other, we got a huge cheer! The students were so excited. It was really lovely to have such a great send off.
Saturday 21st April
We got up early to go to Ruacana waterfall with Romeo and Thomas in the back of his pick up truck. There's a mattress in the back but no seats or seat belts so we were bouncing around all over the place! It took about 2 hours to arrive at the waterfall as it's a long way North West from here. When we arrived we took lots of beautiful photos and videos. Luckily we came just after the rainy season so there was plenty of water flowing. If you go in the dry season, there's no water at all. The waterfall is fed by the Kunene river that flows from Angloa to Namibia. There was one shorter gushing fall on the right, next to many streams of falling water in the main section. Then further to the left there was a smaller more delicate fall. All the water landed in big pools at the bottom which then moved like rapids through the rocks. We were told you could swim at the falls but after climbing down nearly 500 steps and over loads of rocks to the base, we realised that the water was too fast and dangerous to swim in. We just paddled our feet in the smaller rock pools. We kept getting grabbed for pictures by a big group of family and friends from Namibia. They wanted their pictures taken with us white people to show off to their friends. Every time we tried to get up we got stopped by another group wanted pictures with us. One teenage boy even sat on my lap for pictures and another was cuddling Amy so tight she could hardly breathe! Apparently, because Namibians all assume white people are rich it's akin to having your photo taken with a celebrity! We had a lovely time once we'd escaped the masses. Joyce and Amy decided they were ready to climb up. Then due to rushing to catch up I fell down about 4 rocks and got my foot stuck. Luckily Thomas helped me climb out. It was so hard! Amy could hardly breathe when she got to the top but she made it first, followed by Joyce and finally by me! My legs haven't been the same since. My calf muscles are so sore!
Once we'd recovered, we went to the other side of the falls. They are used for hydroelectric power so when the siren sounds you have to leave the water because the dam is being opened and the water level will rise really quickly. We heard the siren sound once we were at the top so drove down to the bottom on the other side of the falls to see the water gushing. Romeo's friends were there already having a braii (a BBQ). The meat wasn't refrigerated and was cut with dirty hands and put in a dirty cardboard box then boiled on the BBQ. I was really glad we made our excuses to leave rather than join them. I don't think our stomachs could have taken it! We made the journey back laying down on the mattresses. We took Romeo and Thomas to dinner at Oshakati Country Hotel to say thank you.
Sunday 22nd April
We went hunting for books as we'd all read everything we'd brought. Game is closed on Sundays so we had a quick look in the fashion stores before going to the supermarket where I picked up a magazine as there were no books. Then we came back to the accommodation and had some lunch before going to Bennie's to meet Romeo. He arrived around 1pm but spent most of his time in the bar watching the football. After lots of swimming, we went for dinner at Hotel Destiny. The food there is excellent in comparison to Bennie's! We all thoroughly enjoyed our meal then came back and spoke to our families.
Monday 23rd April
Romeo told us there was a bookshop in Oshakati so we went looking again. Sadly we still didn't find one. When I asked in the supermarket they said they didn't know of a bookshop anywhere in Oshakati - it seems Namibians don't like to read for pleasure! I bought another magazine and we headed for Bennie's. We had a drink at Bennie's and when Joyce ordered a coffee they told her it would take 20 minutes! It often takes that long here. Service is so slow-everyone is on African time! We went back out in the sun and enjoyed the rest of the day. Then we came home and made some dinner.
At 6pm we met with Doris to have an African drumming lesson. Doris is such an amazing woman. She lives off really meagre money but does such amazing work with street children, teaching them drumming, dancing and singing to improve their communication skills, cultural understanding and confidence. She's quite famous out here and there are press clippings about her and her work all around her home. Doris is so resourceful, her small garden in so full of character yet she hasn't paid a penny for it. She found some wild sunflowers and replanted them in her garden, animal horns found at the side of the road decorate her satellite dish and a dog's skull rests in front of the dog's kennel! There's a toy car that she found in someone's garbage and planted flowers in and lots of rocks and broken pots filled with cacti! The garden is like an insight into Doris' nature: Quirky, resourceful and a little bit mad! Her house is decorated similarly with shells as ornaments and hessian sheets to hold her many colourful earrings! We all loved her home, she kept saying how small it is but it is so bursting with character that it feels like it belongs to Doris the moment you walk in the door!
She spent about 2 hours with us teaching us to drum several songs and making loud tribal noises to call spirit! At times we really struggled to copy the complicated drumming moves as Doris does it so quickly and we couldn't help laughing at ourselves.
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