Big things have been happening in Nam this past week! Recently I started to hear my colleagues talking about going on strike, for lack of
a salary increase, in addition to benefits and several other things like
transportation and housing allowances. Teachers have been unhappy with the way that the teachers' union was negotiating with the government for them. I didn’t think that anything would
spread all the way down to Luderitz – my school has a lot of teachers, and
though I love them, they are mostly apathetic about things/mobilizing 30
teachers is a big task for anyone.
People had been talking here and there about strikes but I definitely
did not think anything would come of it. Well guess who was wrong?! Last
Tuesday during our staff meeting I saw a very
energized group of people ready to join the striking cause. The rest of the
teachers in Luderitz were called and, from what I was told about the meeting,
they decided it was time to join the other regions that were striking. And so
the Luderitz schools went on strike starting last Wednesday. Kind of bummed that I didn’t
get to give my kids Halloween candy, but ah well. Thursday they marched around
town, going to the Mayor’s office and then outside town to the Regional
Councilor’s office. By the end of last week the strikes seemed to have spread to most of the country. We were supposed to have two weeks left before exams,
and I am not done with my marks, so I’m getting pretty anxious about that!
Also, if this continues any longer I’m going to be legitimately quite bored. I
have exhausted all my external hard drive’s media, and also planning for my
world tour after COS for the moment, so I really need to find a hobby, and
asap.
PS fingers crossed that if the negotiations go according to schedule and finish Wednesday that we should be back to teaching on Thursday!
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