It’s Windy Season Julle!

So I think I have ranted about the wind in Luderitz too many times to count, but I have not yet brought up one of the cool things about this windy little town. Every November thru mid-December there is an international windsurfing/kitesurfing competition here, called the Luderitz Speed Challenge! Since 2007 over 40 world records have been broken here!

The Windsurfing Channel in Second Lagoon

I was lucky enough to get to see a bunch of the windsurfing this year because my neighbor and I drove out there on several occasions. Last year the Challenge introduced a new man-made channel in the Second Lagoon area, and this year was the big year for everyone to come and experience it! I once thought it would be cool to try out windsurfing – but after seeing how very narrow that channel is, I realized that narrow channel + rockscape + extreme wind would probably end badly for me when I inevitably fell over. So we stayed a good distance away and watched from the car. It’s pretty crazy how fast these people are going. Unfortunately windsurfing isn’t much of a spectator sport because of, well, the serious wind, so really very few people from the Luderitz community went out to watch it, at least when I was there. Maybe with time and more sponsors some kind of structure can be built to shield spectators from being blown away. In any case, when we went I got to see lots of windsurfing and one fluke kitesurfer – unfortunately I was out of town by the time kitesurfing officially began, because that looked way more fun and exciting to watch!

more pictures like this here: www.luderitz-speed.com/

Anyway, this year it appears that 2 more world records were broken, in addition to 12 different national records – which is pretty crazy since there were windsurfers from 13 different countries competing! From what I’ve seen, it looks like the windsurfer Sebastien Cattelan had the best run [is that the right term? i know nothing about windsurfing] with the speed of 53.27 knots – which, to convert into non-nautical terms, is him windsurfing at a speed of 61 miles per hour, or just under 100 kilometers/hour, SO FAST!  

If you find anything I’ve said so far about speed windsurfing intriguing, and want to hear more check out this interview with one of the windsurfers. Just a disclaimer I’ve actually not seen this video, because my internet is too slow to load it!!! Hopefully it’s interesting! Interview at the Luderitz Speed Challenge

PS fun fact – one of the world records set prior to this event was in Saintes-Marie-de-la-Mer [one of the most memorable places I had ever been to until Africa] in Provence, France, where I studied abroad. Living in windy places is becoming my thing!

December Holiday: AmericaStyle!

Really there isn’t anything extraordinary to write about my trip to America. It was pretty standard America, which is to say, amazing. Wonderfully cold winter weather, Mexican food, Target, bagels, comfortable couches, driving, cable TV, snow on Christmas Eve, movie theaters, good friends, and my family, what more can you ask for? It was a perfect and much-needed break from Namibia. In the days/couple weeks before my flight home I really reached my limit in terms of African time, customer service [or rather the lack thereof that often exists here], and the exhaustion of traveling without a private car, both public transportation and hiking. Going home was the best thing I could have done to prepare for another [almost] year of service. And, after three weeks, I was really refreshed and totally ready to return. I am re-energized for my upcoming projects, and so excited to start off 2013 at Diaz Primary School. It was great getting back - my principal happened to be at the airport when I got to Luderitz [yay lift home!], and the day after that when I went to the grocery I ran into 5 people I knew, then saw three of my learners in town. I love feeling like a part of this town! And I still say this, even after I went yesterday to get a few pictures printed in town, and the lady helping me laid all of them out for the large group of other customers to see and marvel at!

New Years Eve stateside!

Anyway, this year I am looking forward to continuing the battle of teaching in trying out some new ideas, activities with my girls’ group, facilitating a new and exciting life skills/HIV education program that incorporates soccer, a promising community recycling project, the end of my Peace Corps service, a trip around the world with a some fellow PCVs, and a return home to America just in time for another Christmas. Let’s do this 2013!

December Holiday NamStyle

Mo's host family's homestead

Yikes two months since the last post… oops. Much to update on, but I think I’ll start with the holidays before going even further back in time, since some cool stuff did actually happen in Luderitz in November! Time really is flying by! So at the beginning of December when school let out I decided to use my limited window of time before America to see some more of Namibia. To make the most of our time we moved real fast! I started by visiting my friend Mo, who lives in probably the most remote village around. She met me in the shopping town for most Volunteers in central Namibia, Otjiwarongo, and along with our friend Alex, we made the trek to her site, Okahitua. This involved traveling 30k south on the B1, then getting out and waiting for a lift another 100k to the tiny town Okakarara, then getting out again and waiting for another lift 30k to her village. The last 30k was a journey, as our first lift dropped us on the side of the road after we encountered a really bad accident [he decided to act and take the two seriously injured men to the hospital 10k back in Okakarara, unlike the 3 police cars and officers/various people, who were just standing around the accident scene doing nothing], so then we got another lift to a nearby village, and finally a third lift to Mo’s village, during which the muffler of the car fell off… always an adventure traveling. Mo’s village could not be more different than my site – she lives 5 feet from the gate to the school, her host family, and all the other families really, stay on homesteads scattered around the area, and there are probably (definitely) more goats than people. Plus there are no stores. None. From what I saw her village is the school, homesteads, farming land, and a soccer field. It was really cool to walk around and get a sense of what life is like this isolated from everything – it would definitely be an adjustment living there/having to travel that much every time I wanted any kind of groceries, I fully realize how spoiled I am living in a town. My favorite thing about her site – the complete peaceful silence at night and the sunsets. Thing I enjoyed the least – the thousands of fire-ants that bite your feet almost everywhere, it was a pretty painful experience for Alex and I walking around in sandals. 

The view we got after our mini-hike

Waterberg Plateau!

After a couple of days hiding from the sun in Okahitua it was time to move. We dropped Alex off in Okakarara to go catch her flight in Windhoek, and Mo and I headed to Waterberg National Park, where her staff party was occurring. Oh, forgot to mention – Mo has fewer learners in her school than I had in my Grade 6 class [of 150] this year, so there are 5 teachers [while I will repeat that my school has about 970 learners and 32 teachers]. So with our small group we managed to travel in a single bakkie to our braai. For the next two hours we drank lots of cooldrink and ate the most delicious boerwors I’ve ever had. We also hiked up to a lodge’s pool area in order to get a better view of Waterberg Plateau. After taking some good pictures we walked down the steps and saw an oddly placed bridge into the woods, on which a baboon was perched. Mo, thinking this was a moment that had to be captured [“in America bridges have trolls, but here we have baboons!”] paused to take a picture. Unfortunately, at the same time the unfriendly German tourists up at the pool decided to chase another baboon away from their area, directly towards us. So then we were chased by a baboon for a quick minute. Luckily the baboon got bored of our frantic screams/running and went back to his friends on the bridge, but we had a brisk walk back to her colleagues after that. As the afternoon came around it was time to move again, so with some extreme luck we soon made it back to Otjiwarango, and then up to Tsumeb to stay with our friend Allison for the night. As we rode further and further north the difference in landscape was incredible – so much grass and tons of trees, all of it just so GREEN! A massive contrast from the south, much less the rock/moonscape of Luderitz.

 

Attempting to pound mahangu with Sydney in her village

A few of my citenges... I may have bought 12 more at the market.

Anyway, the next day we made our way up to the Kavango region of Namibia, which is in the northeast of the country, and another area that I had not yet visited. We went to the town Rundu, which is actually the second biggest town in Namibia after Windhoek – we were surprised to learn this, but it made more sense after realizing that it’s really the sole hub for the whole region, which is almost entirely comprised of villages. Many of these villages are within view of the main road, we saw traditional hut after hut on our way into town. My first impression of this area was how blazingly hot it was. Thank God for trees and shady areas. We stayed with our friend Sydney in her village, Mavanze, which is about 20k outside of Rundu and really easy to get to by taxi. She works primarily at an OVC [orphans and vulnerable children] Center, which is a really unique primary project for an Education Volunteer, and that is also where her housing is. My favorite thing about her village/the whole region maybe, was the midday pouring rainstorm. I miss the rain so much! The most unpleasant thing about her village was having to use a latrine, which you had to walk a distance to from her room and then unlock before being able to use. I don’t think I would fare well with using a latrine for two years - again, things we take for granted [toilets!]. Our visit to Kavango was spent having evening dinners and sundowners by the river in surrounding lodges, and a really fun kayaking trip on the Kavango river, organized by another PCV in our group, Gio. The other side of the river is Angola, so we kayaked between two countries! That morning was mostly great, except for when I made the unfortunate discovery that it is possible to get badly sunburned on the tops of my hands… ouch. So much for SPF 70. While we were there we also had dresses made for us at the open market out of citenges, which Sydney told us are actually called Ehekes by people in Mavanze. These are long pieces of brightly colored and printed fabrics that are worn/used by a lot of people in this region. Just over the break alone I used one of my citenges [that someone brought down to me last year] as a pillowcase, sheet, scarf/headwrap, and general cover from the sun - it's uses are endless!

Our time eventually came to a close in Kavango, and we headed back to Windhoek for our upcoming trips. A great sprint of a trip, and just to give another show of how huge Namibia is, Luderitz is about 1545 kilometers from Rundu. The next undiscovered piece of Nam - the Caprivi Strip! Hopefully I will get there in May. To finish up here, a little moment that I wish I'd had my camera for - did you know that goats hate the rain? While in Mo's village we [tried to] help bring the goats into their enclosure for the night. As Mo and Alex waited patiently for me to finish being so amused by the goats [the only animals in Luderitz are street dogs... not as interesting] it began to rain, so we turned to head back to her flat. All of a sudden, all the goats had run out of their enclosure, we thought after us, but to our surprise, they were all running for cover under a tiny porch-type thing. The goats were fleeing the rain! 

No-School-November?!?

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.

Anyway, when it comes to this striking business, we Peace Corps Volunteers are not allowed to get involved, just stay home if they’re marching and don’t teach if the strikes spread to our schools. The situation is complex, and pretty interesting I think, so here are a couple of links to articles you can read if you have any interest in knowing what’s been going on – especially regarding the now strained relationship between Namibian teachers and the main teacher’s union of Namibia, NANTU, and the talks between NANTU and the government/Ministry of Education.

Teachers launch nationwide strike

Teachers threaten to defy interdict

PS fingers crossed that if the negotiations go according to schedule and finish Wednesday that we should be back to teaching on Thursday!

End of the Term SheNAMigans

Ay, it is nearing the end of the school year this side, and these learners are intent on driving me insane officially. How so you may ask? Run-through of what has been happening in my classroom over the past few weeks:

At least one learner shared her nantjies with me!

• I’m not sure if they’re in season now or what, but there is an Owambo fruit called nantjies – hard to describe, but they’re small and round, have shells like peanuts that you have to crack with your teeth, then there’s a tiny bit of fruit, which surrounds a solid size of a seed. I don’t get the appeal of this food because it’s a lot of work for very little actual edible content. Maybe the kids came to a similar realization, but they found another use for the seeds – throwing them at each other in the middle of class! I got hit with one the other day while writing on the chalkboard, and it did not yield a happy reaction. These seed wars cause a great many fights, since often girls get targeted who are actually trying to work, and getting hit in the back of the head doesn’t feel so nice. And then my classroom floor is covered in these strange black seeds. 

• Spitballs. This is the standard go-to. All the pens here can be taken apart, and are taken apart quite often. Who needs to use the plastic part of the pen to grip when you can forgo doing work and spit wads of paper at people’s heads with it instead?! This has died down a little bit because my ears are fine-tuned to spot where the blowing sounds come from, and the learners don’t get their cases back if I catch them. Now they just make the spitballs and throw them… slow progress. 
• Over break time every day a couple teachers and a lot of kids sell sweets/chips. Curses be upon whoever started selling lollipops with sticks that are whistles! Of course all the kids save the whistles, and the boys proceed to start whistling in the middle of class then hide them when I try and find the culprits. After a while I got good enough at catching people and grabbing the sticks from them before they were hidden. So then, naturally, the same kids figured out they could cause me to be equally annoyed if they just whistled normally, no tools necessary.
• The other day three of my naughtiest learners – who I purposefully have sitting far from each other in my classroom – started playing the most bizarre game ever. One of my rules is to ask permission to leave your seat, but obviously for the naughty ones my rules don’t matter, because getting up is a crucial part of this game. From what I understand, whenever one of them spoke in Afrikaans, another one would get up, walk purposefully across the classroom [yes, this is in the middle of class while I’m trying to teach] and, with force, smack the boy in the back of the head. Three times this happened before I marched them out of my classroom. 

2012 DIPLOMA CEREMONY!

learners line up with their diplomas

Last weekend was the end of year ceremony for the learners with the highest marks in their classes. You had to have a 75 or above in one or more of your classes to be able to attend. One of the HODs announced learners in order of their marks, starting with those with 75 and continuing in ascending order to the one with the highest mark in the class. For grades 5-7, this process occurred for each of the subjects that you have to pass in order to move on to the next grade: english, math, natural science, social studies, home ecology [girls], design and technology [boys], and afrikaans. Then at the end the top three learners overall in each grade with their percentage for the year received prizes, and finally the top learner in lower primary, and the top learner in upper primary were announced to a room full of cheers! I was on cake duty for much of this evening, and we cut a massive amount of cake - each learner gets a plate, and so do each of their parents. Either the cake is getting better and better, or I have been in Namibia for a long time now, because last year I don't remember it being very good, but this time it was great!!

probably about 1/3 of the cake we cut.

Anyway, let’s just say that the children are not the only ones looking forward to the end of the term/year. Because after the term ends I’m going back to AMERICA for the December holiday!!!!!!! Unbelievably excited, countdown has begun, 6 weeks to go! 

 

Namibia on CNN!!!

So, I was going through my routine on the days I get to use the internet - facebook, email, and then CNN/BBC news [trying to stay informed here!] and what do I see on the CNN website, but a link that brings me to the discovery that they are doing a spotlight on Namibia this month! They've written some really great articles about the Land of the Brave :) I already linked to the one about Sosussvlei, but they have several other articles that highlight a couple of the tribes in Nam and also discuss an approach to wildlife preservation. This chart they made of key facts is so awesome!

 Produced by Kyle Ellis. Sources: World Bank; UNDP; CIA World Factbook, Reporters Without Borders, Electoral Commission of Namibia; UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Of their articles I think my favorite is the country profile, which does a great job at summarizing many of the current challenges facing Namibia: 50% unemployment, 15% AIDS infection rate, and one of the highest rates of income inequality in the world, in addition to the steps that the country is slowly taking to counter them. It also provides a solid history of the country - beginning with the German colonization, through the South African run apartheid era and Independence. And of course information about Namibia's natural resources is there too.  Check check check it out!!!
Eye On Namibia

And the other articles: Herero Traditional Clothes, Wildlife Conservation, The Himba

Mid-Servicing Group 34

the three people nearest me ran half marathons.#timetogethealthy

     Just two weeks after getting back to school for Term 3, it was time for Peace Corps Namibia Group 34 to all reconvene for the first time since our December Reconnect. But first, conveniently in the weekend leading up to this Mid-Service Conference there was a marathon in Swakopmund! I went along with what seemed like almost all of the Peace Corps Volunteers from the various groups to cheer on everyone running either the 10k, half, or full marathon! Watching everyone finish their runs almost made me want to participate next year… until I remembered my intense hatred of running even a 5k. We had a nice two days with people from all over PCNam, revisited our favorite stomping grounds for dancing and eating, and said goodbye to many group 30/32 volunteers who are leaving in the coming weeks!

      At our Mid-Service we went to a conference center situated in the mountains outside of Windhoek for our first two days. This was one of the most helpful trainings to date, with a lot of sessions, during which we shared our best practices and discussed all our challenges. Aka it was really nice to commiserate with others experiencing similar struggles [classroom management, that’d be you]. We also got a little preview of advice about international jobs we may be interested in pursuing after closing our service. Currently we have only lost 2 of our 38 Volunteers that arrived last August, making us still the biggest group in Namibia right now! After those two days we returned to Windhoek and got medical stuff taken care of to make sure all is still well. And after spending way too much money in Windhoek once again, it was time to get back home where I could live quite sparsely for the next three weeks and hopefully not blow my budget like that ever again.

     Anyway, back in Luderitz, at some point recently I realized I’m really at home here. I walk around town and in the location and see people I know walking or driving past me. People stop for me and give me lifts because they recognize me. It took a long time to get here, but feeling like a real part of the community is awesome. I’ve got about 3 ½ - 4 weeks left of teaching, depending on when classes arbitrarily stop for the exam whatwhatwhat, and then the term will wrap up already! 

Oh, this past week the GUTS [Girls Utilizing Their Strengths] Girls Group visited the mayor! The girls were very shy once they met Her Worship [as she is called, but they didn’t know this so instead addressed her as Ms. Mayor], but I think they really enjoyed seeing Town Council, listening to the Mayor describe what she does, and introducing themselves to her and explaining what we do in girls group. We facilitators are currently organizing a Gala fundraiser at the beginning of December to raise money for our activities next year :)