Matrone

I live in the teacher quarters of the girls’ hostel for the secondary school. The hostel has a superintendent, but the day-to-day operations are handled by the matrone, Helena (not her real name). From the first day, I knew she was someone to have on your side because she offered meals to me until I got settled in and was able to go food shopping. She also said to just let her know any time I needed a meal, if I was sick or indisposed or any reason, and I could take my meals with the girls. Helena lives in a stand-alone house on the property with her 5year-old girl and her 7month old daughter.

The hostel can accommodate 80 girls. Most of the girls come from villages that are too far away for a daily commute. A few of the girls are orphaned and the hostel serves as their foster home. The buildings are about 80 years old with limited funds for upkeep. I think they do an amazing job of keeping it comfortable and functional. It looks very institutional and rather intimidating, but I think it is a pretty happy place. I wake up to girls singing in the shower, several come by regularly to play with Blessing, and I never hear harsh words of reprimand.

Helena loves gardening and makes sure the grounds are well tended. She often works alongside the men. She also likes baking and asked me for a cake recipe for her daughter’s birthday party at school. She had never made one from scratch, only a box mix from the store. I sent her the link to one I found on the internet similar to what I would make. It turned out well and then she made a sponge cake from the same site. She is now hooked on getting recipes from the internet!

I like visiting Helena and we are slowly getting to know each other’s story. Most recently I learned that she has a 20-year-old daughter in Windhoek, that her 5-year-old daughter is adopted, and that the baby is a late-in-life, surprise baby. I know she grew up in this town, but she was gone for many years and came back when she took this job about 3 years ago.

On another note, the weird cylinder structure, in the photo, is a shared ‘watering hole’ on the hostel property. These are at all the schools I have visited and some other public places. Some work and some don’t. They were needed when there was no or limited indoor plumbing. Inside the metal mesh are rocks and maybe other special materials to filter the water. There are multiple spigots at the bottom of the mesh structure. You can see 2 of the spigots in the photo. This one works but I have not seen anyone use it.