Where's GranEllen?

Namibia is a land of extremes. The Namib Desert with its extreme dunes runs next to the Atlantic Ocean, Namibia’s western border. The Kalahari Desert runs through much of Namibia’s eastern border. Most of Namibia is arid and dry but there can be extreme flooding when the rains come. Even without flooding, locals say that when the rains come, everything turns green overnight. I have not witnessed the rains and I have not seen the desert dunes yet, but I have witnessed other extremes.

Included are a couple photos of the lush entrance to my school and some trees from my hostel grounds. Juxta-positioned to both are the dry grounds on the side and back of the hostel and the church property across from the school.

Claudia, the German teacher, invited me to help her bake Stollen (German breakfast bread) and gingerbread cookies and to swim in their pool. She graduated from our school and now she is married with a 3yr old daughter and a 5yr old son. It was a fun day with a fellow teacher and the pool felt wonderful!

Claudia’s mother tongue is German, her husband’s is Afrikaans. They both speak to their children in their mother tongue, and in English. Ursula, the 3yr old, has a unique language of her own creation. Her father describes it as the inflection, accent, and pacing of English TV but the words are a mix of German and Afrikaans. I find it amazing!

Another interesting thing I’ve learned is that some blacks know and understand Afrikaans, but they will not speak it. They will speak English. It doesn’t take much sensitivity to understand this. Afrikaans was the national language under South African rule and apartheid. After independence in 1990, English became the national language, but Afrikaans is still spoken throughout the country. Coloreds and Basters don’t seem to have the same aversion to Afrikaans. Surprisingly to me, even though the young nation has come a long way since independence there are racial tensions between the diverse ethnicities, not just between the whites and everyone else.

All for now, with all my love

My first week at school and my home for the next 2 years has been good. My housemates are Ester, her 5-month-old son, Blessing, and her cousin Martha who serves as Blessing’s nanny. Ester teaches Entrepreneurship and Development Studies (a social studies class about how to develop countries) at the same school where I go. Ester and Martha come from the North and their mother tongue is Oshiwambo although they both speak English and Afrikaans very well. Ester’s grandmother sends her home with mahangu, so she makes oshifima/pap regularly, the common porridge that is used to scoop up meat, gravy, stews with your hands. Ester and Martha also use mahangu to make oshikundu almost daily, a fermented drink which can be alcoholic but theirs is not. I am developing a taste for both oshifima and oshikundu, they grow on you.

My school is one of the best government schools in the region and in the country. It was an Afrikaans school prior to independence and still has a heavy Afrikaans and German presence although most learners are black with Herero, Nama/Damara, Oshiwambo, and other ethnicities. The classrooms and grounds are well kept, the learners have textbooks, the teachers are thoughtful and caring but the classrooms are over-crowded, and resources are slim. They seem more skilled than some other schools at fundraising to augment their government funding. People apply from all over to send their children here which is why there is a hostel for both boys and girls. They take learners of all skill levels, not just high-level learners or from wealthier families. I live in the teacher quarters of the girls’ hostel.

One of the white teachers and her husband are both 3rd generation in Namibia with their grandparents migrating from Germany. They own a crocodile ranch which is part export business and part tourism. They sell skins to mostly European countries but there is also a demand in Asia. The ranch has a restaurant, an events venue, and a couple rooms available on air b&b. They invited me to lunch there yesterday to meet a British couple that have made Namibia home for the past 9 years. It was a delightful meal sharing interesting perspectives among old and new citizens/workers in Namibia.

I will start teaching in January when the new school year starts. Currently I am observing as many classes as possible, not just Physical Science and Math which is what I expect to teach, but all kinds of classes. The idea is to familiarize myself with the culture of the school and styles of teaching. I am also learning what resources are available at the school and getting to know the key staff who can help me access the resources – i.e. Admin staff, copy room staff, IT staff, and all those people who do so much behind the scenes. Once my teaching load is finalized, I will start preparing lesson plans.

It looks like my experience will be in a city, at a comparatively great school, and I will have many modern conveniences such as clean water, indoor plumbing, electricity, easy shopping. At the same time, this is a developing country with extremely high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy, domestic violence, gender inequality. Peace Corps has been asked to serve this community and I will serve the best I can.

All for now, with all my love