Bringing the Hammer DOWN!

At the moment of this writing I am ridiculously invigorated, ambitious, and determined. We’ll see how long I can maintain this level of energy…

My first three weeks in Namibia were spent in Windhoek receiving orientation. It was informative and enjoyable, but I couldn’t help from itching to get to my school. Arriving at school was like a punch in the solar plexus, and the remainder of January was spent basically just figuring out how to survive at my site. After learning how to obtain water and food, and how to bathe, among other things, I spent the month of February acclimating myself to my new working environment. Not only had I never been to Namibia before, I had never before been a teacher. Learning a new job is difficult, especially in a different culture half-way around the world. With that said, I kept my head down, my eyes open, and asked a lot of questions. How does this school work? How can I be of use? Then, as we progressed through March, I began implementing some of my ideas, as well as helming some ideas proposed by others.

You have learned about the Oshikunde Photoshop (which unfortunately ran out of ink while still approximately $45 US in the red, but oh well, next time around prices are going up!), and I have also mentioned our weekly Music Night.

After what I thought was a great idea proposed by a colleague was in danger of dying in the middle of a staff meeting, I volunteered to operate the Oshikunde Suggestion Box. It’s just a sealed cardboard box with a slit in the top for learners to drop pieces of paper with compliments, criticisms, and questions. Several colleagues expected it to be neglected or even counterproductive, and admittedly I thought that only a few learners would make use of it. But after I posted my sign (DO YOU THINK YOU CAN IMPROVE OUR SCHOOL? TELL US HOW!) learners immediately gathered around murmuring and gesturing, and after one week my modest, ugly box was full of folded scraps of paper (I even found out later that teachers submitted slips to the box). I now compile a list of the suggestions to present to the school’s management every week, and my only concern is how we will break it to the learners that it is fiscally impossible for us to respond to all of their requests. Two causes that repeatedly come up and I have decided to champion at meetings are treating the Grade 8-10 learners in the same manner as the 11s and 12s (i.e. allowing them to eat in the kitchen and to wear white uniforms as opposed to the blue worn by younger learners) and allowing girls more freedom in how they wear their hair.

This week also saw the first ever printing of Fish Bean New Era, the Oshikunde school paper (Oshikunde means Fish Bean). We might try to produce another edition this year, but considering this was the product of months of work in my Basic Information Science classes (we meet once a week, and things move slooooowly in Namibia), its doubtful. The paper has a logo, comic strip, sports section, articles, pictures with captions, and classifieds all designed by the learners and will be sold at a price that covers the cost of ink, paper, and staples (this is on the schools dime now, not mine like the photo shop).

On last Monday I also supervised Oshikunde’s first career fair. A week ago I took 12 learners to the youth center in town an hour away to hear and take notes on presentations from various institutions such as the Namibian Defense Force, Kayec Trust Vocational Training, and Namibia Breweries on job opportunities. The learners moved from station to station in groups, and after returning to school and working hard on posters and speeches, the learners I took recreated the career fair in our school blocks for the rest of the student body at Oshikunde. I ran around blowing a whistle every ten minutes to signal when the learners should rotate and frantically gesticulating to explain the circular classroom flow to the learners, but it worked out pretty well.

This blog is too long, and there are pictures coming, but the point is that I am beginning to realize that I am a workaholic…….WHAAAAAAAT?!?!? I never knew there were so many hours in a day. I cannot get enough of checking things off my to-do list, and as a result I worked 17 hours yesterday. I am seriously worried that this is all going to catch up to me with a violent whiplash and soon, but at the moment I am pumped.