Back at it…

Teachers reported to school last Monday, the 13th, and the learners started on Wednesday, the 15th. Similar to last year, there was no real teaching last week. The learners were completing registration, with several hundred parents trying to get their 8th graders enrolled. We are maxed out, but admin staff are working with the regional office to find schools for these learners. We had assemblies where we celebrated our high performance compared to other schools, both government and private schools. We are #2 in the nation for higher levels and #5 overall among government schools.

On Friday we had a 5k FunRun/Walk. Every learner and teacher are assigned to a team – Red, Yellow, or Green teams. Each team received a point for each member that completed the race and the top 3 in various categories received additional points (ie. 1st, 2nd,3rd females). After the run, there was an obstacle course for learner team members to complete. It was a fun morning with lots of team building and camaraderie.
Saturday was the Sotte Day (Fools Day) for the induction of the 8th graders. They spent the morning learning the school anthem and other school traditions. They were then split into groups to rotate thru 10 stations that are led by upper-class students. These stations have more team building activities such as sack races, human knots, tug of war across a water pit, etc. It is great fun for the learners and for those of us watching it all. They cap the day off with a nice lunch and a battle of the prefects (those upper-class student leaders).

I rushed from the Sotte Day to meet a bunch of PCVs who came to town for a Camp GLOW planning meeting. Peace Corps encourages volunteers to team with Namibian counterparts to have camps for teenage learners teaching healthy lifestyles, leadership skills, financial skills, and all sort of topics. Camp GLOW (Girls and Guys Leading Our World) is a leadership camp that the PCVs in the Central Region are offering this April. Depending on the finalized dates, I probably won’t attend but I have committed to the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of the camp. We will prepare pre- and post-surveys for the learners, so we can analyze and report what went well, what objectives were or were not met, and areas of improvement.

Later that evening, the volunteers who stayed in town, shopped and cooked at my place. We had a Mexican feast with guacamole, real tortilla chips (rare find in Theo’s SuperSpar), sautéed chicken, onion, peppers, rice, refried beans. Fortunately, my housemates love when Peace Corps Volunteers come over, especially Ester and boy Blessing. They love trying new food and the lively energy of my fellow PCVs.

All for now with all my love,
Ellen