Progress and Resilience

After a month full of struggles and hardships I'm finally beginning to see the fruits of my labor and the progress in my learners daily lives at school.  If you have been following along with my blog, you may remember me mentioning the extreme amount of violence I saw in my learners when I first started at Steenkamp. I used to come home so discouraged and often pushed to tears because I was so upset.  I had never seen so much violence among children before and felt so utterly helpless.  That's where resilience comes in.  No matter how broken down I felt, I still made it to school the next day.  No matter how nervous I was I still came in with a positive attitude.  No matter how many times I had to do it, I pulled children off of each other and corrected their wrongs.  I asked my children to explain their violence, I asked them to talk about their issues out loud, I asked them to explain their actions and their thinking, and although it was hard to see in the moment, I now see progress.  My learners now try to talk before they hit.  They know that I will never hit them and that I won't tolerate such violence in my room.  I still see them struggle with this issue every day but thats the great part! They are struggling with their violence, they don't automatically beat their neighbors when an issue arises, and I can see them thinking about their options even when they look angry.  My learners are trying to provide a safer learning environment and because of it I'm seeing progress.  My learners are actually learning now! I'm not saying school is perfect.  I still see a lot of violence, and I still see a lot of work that needs to be done on both the learners and the teachers parts, but to actually see progress is more than encouraging.  I have been able to talk about one subject for a whole hour with my students and play games, sing songs and participate in activities, when I first started I couldn't keep their attention for more than three minutes. I now see my students participating and getting excited about their learning and it warms my heart.
My leaving this next Friday is now very bittersweet.  I am so excited to come home and be with my friends and family and my class back home, but I have seen such progress and now I have to say goodbye.  I have to say goodbye to my 200 4th graders who give me hugs and high fives after every period.  I have to say goodbye to all the little girls who write me notes at break that are filled with hearts and "I love you" messages. I have to say goodbye to all the boys who were to cool to hug me on the first day but now seek me out to give me a hug before I leave when school is over.  This trip has taught me so much about love, patience and resilience that I know I am a much better prepared teacher, but I also now know all the hardships that come with your students and with the job itself. I have one more week so I'm sure I'll get at least one more blog post in.  I know that this week is going to be the hardest by far for me but I am so excited. This place has already made such an impression on my heart i'm sure this impression will only continue to grow.

Herero Home Visit

This past Sunday we went on a day trip to a Herero homestead near Okahanja and Otjongombe.  The Herero people are a native people to Namibia that branched off from the Himba people when European influence came to Africa.  The Herero people have adapted to modern culture much more than the Himba people, but they are still striving to keep a large part of their culture in how they run their daily lives, and their place on the farm.  We come to this homestead because we were lucky enough to have a guide who comes from this village,  he showed us around a place that most visitors would never have a chance to see and it was such an amazing experience to feel so welcomed into the home of a family we had never met before.  As we were there the family went along with their daily jobs, but were there to answer our questions if we had any.  While we were there we learned about how the Herero people train their cattle to come home, the process for butchering cattle, and the huge role that these animals have in these peoples lives.  The most interesting part for me was all the ritual process, and routine involved.  For example, the main house on the homestead always sits facing west and is perfectly in line with the Krall. (the holding pen for the cattle, and the place for holy fire ceremonies) Whenever a cow is slaughtered for a birthday or a funeral there are different ceremonies, but the cow always is laid down on it's back, facing west and is always put to death with one blow so that the animal doesn't have to go through any suffering. They told us it all has to do with the position of the sun and that it always rises in the East and sets in the West, which I thought was very interesting.

After we had finished our visit at the farm, we were able to go visit a local primary school and a tutoring center for orphaned and vulnerable children.  This was my favorite part of the trip.  The children we met at the school were so well-mannered and so happy to see us.  They were prideful of their school and showed us around to their rooms because most of the children live in the hostel located on campus.  After all the introductions were finished and we had seen all of their rooms, we took time to just get to know the students, play games, and sing songs.  The joy I saw on all these young people's faces warmed my heart, they all looked so happy and cared for.  When it was time to go none of us wanted to leave and the students didn't want us to go either, but they respectfully watched us get in the van and blew kisses our way.

Just down the road from the school was the tutoring center.  The center was founded by a Dutch woman.  She started the center with only 15 students and the center now serves 57 students! The center provides the children with a place to stay and learn and play in safety, gives the students a warm meal, and also saves work and progress reports for all of it's students! They also have a program where the children with save their money in a can kept by the center, and when the can is full, the center takes the child to the bank and opens up a savings account.  It was so refreshing to see such amazing things happening in this center.  I've seen some heartbreaking things during this journey, but I have also seen some things that warm my heart.  To see a center preparing orphaned children for life with a savings account and an education is just so inspirational and I'm so glad to see some progress when I have seen so much violence.  This trip is truly changing my outlook on education and what it means to care for a student.  I can feel my viewpoints shifting with each new experience I have.  I only have one and a half more weeks but keep your eyes out for another post.  I have so much more to say but for now I'm at peace <3

The Herero people are cattle herders, their main source of income and livelihood comes from these cattle.

This is Edna, the head wife of the homestead we visited.  She is in her traditional Herero dress that she made herself.  The traditional hat she is wearing represents the horns of the cattle she and her family care for.

These are a few traditional containers used in Herero life.  The container on the far left is used for gathering milk from the cow, the container in the middle is used for keeping milk cool for drinking and is usually first presented to the head of the house for drinking, lastly the container on the right is called a Calabash.  The Calabash is used to hold and keep milk fresh.  The milk in the Calabash is mixed with the root from a tree that grows in the area to help preserve the milk and fresh milk is added to the Calabash daily so that the container is always filled with fresh or sour milk depending on the families preference and availability.

Here is a picture of all of us PLU students with Edna during our visit.

On the way back from the homestead we stopped at a rural primary school.  Here are some of the students we got to spend some time with.  I wish we could have stayed longer with them!

Katutura Home Visit

So we had to write a paper to our professors after a home visit with one of our students.  We were asked to go spend some time with these families in their homes.  This is the paper I wrote so you can get an idea of how that went for me :)

When we had a conversation about home visits during one of our group meetings, I was instantly filled with anxiety.  I had become very comfortable with the learners and teachers at my school, but the idea of walking into one of these learners’ homes made me so nervous because I’m still learning the etiquette and cultural norms for the community in which I have been teaching. 

I see so many students every day I didn’t know who I should ask to come visit.  To try and make things easier I thought that I should look for a student who goes to both Steenkamp and the BNC and thought of Lydia.  Lydia is a grade 3 learner at Steenkamp who also attends the BNC and she is one of the sweetest little girls I have met thus far.  There has not been a day where Cleo, Mallory and I all receive at least one hug from this bright little eight-year old.  We all asked Lydia if she would ask her parents permission for us to come visit her at home and then go to the BNC, to which she quickly agreed.

We asked Lydia to talk to her parents on a Thursday after school so when school ended on Monday we were all anxious to know if Lydia had remembered to ask her family and whether or not we would be welcomed into her home.  When we saw her after school she took us by the hands and started to lead us to her home.  All the while, we were asking her to confirm our visit was okay with her family, and that they were expecting our arrival, obviously nervous but excited as well.  We only walked one block before we arrived at the gate to her home and we saw her family sitting inside with the door open. 

I had been so nervous about this home visit, but all of the anxiety went away when I saw the kind smiles sitting inside the home.  We came to the door and asked for permission to enter, which was graciously granted.  Lydia and her family lived in a small, but fairly nice home.  Where I have seen many tin shanty shacks lining the roads of Katutura, this was a brick built home.  They had a lot of furniture crowded into a small space, but the home didn’t seem cluttered, but cozy. 

I hadn’t known before the visit, but Lydia’s home consisted of her mother, father, brother, herself, and two other girls that were staying with the family and also attend the BNC.  All for children in this home attend the BNC, which shows how much this family values their children’s educations.  We asked the family to elaborate on how they felt about their children’s education at Steenkamp, as well as the extra help they all receive from the BNC just a few blocks from their home.  Lydia’s father told us about how he also went to Steenkamp growing up, and that he has seen great improvement in the curriculum being provided to the students there.  He gloated about Lydia’s abilities in mathematics as well as environmental sciences, and I made sure to add to his comments about her positive academic career.  The only complaint I heard was that he wished Lydia would receive help on homework at the BNC, because there is no one at home to help since he is often out working to earn money for the family.  I agreed that I would help Lydia if she would bring her homework to the BNC and we worked on it before classes began, which I believed made her father very happy.

Me with my home visit learners <3

Cleo, Mallory and I with our home visit learners!

When I thought we had finished our discussion I was getting ready to say our goodbyes when Lydia’s mother brought out her wedding album!  We looked at family photos and just chatted about life for the remainder of time, and all the awkwardness I felt before we met this amazing family seemed miles away.  I have never been in a home of a stranger when I felt so genuinely welcomed and appreciated and it warmed my heart to see such generosity and love from a family I had only known for under an hour!  Before we left for the BNC I got a hug from both the mother and the father and a genuine invitation to come back whenever we wanted.  The kindness of the people here in Namibia continues to astound me, as I have never seen such welcoming behavior in The States.  This assignment really pushed me out of my comfort zone, but I am so happy that I was able to have such an experience and hope for more just as profound in the near future.

Student Teaching at A.I. Steenkamp

Student teaching at A.I. Steenkamp primary school has been one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life.  I've been so busy with life here in Namibia that it has made it next to impossible for me to blog about it to all of you back home but I knew I needed to take the time to update my thoughts after my "First Day of School" post.

The two words that describe my time at school the best are 'hectic,' and 'unpredictable.'  There is no supervision of the students before classes start, during break, or after school is let out so learners are constantly running around the school yard and very often beating each other with sticks, plastics, and if nothing better, then their own fists.  I have never seen so much violence in a school atmosphere in my life. The saddest part of this situation is that the only people who ever break up these fights are myself and the two other PLU students I attend Steenkamp with.  I have never seen a teacher stop a fight during these break times.  To add to the violence, fighting often continues into the classroom, and although I've been much more successful at stopping this violence than I was the first day, it still boggles my mind that it happens in the first place!  Every time I break up a fight I take the students involved and I ask them if they like to be hit.  The answer is always "No Miss."  I then ask them to explain to me why then, do they hit each other and that question is always met with silence before I ask them to apologize.  After spending roughly three weeks in the school I'm starting to understand why the students beat each other.

Although corporal punishment is illegal by Namibian law, I see it in the schools every single day.  When I say corporal punishment, I don't mean spanking or a 'tap tap' on the hand.  I mean students getting smacked on the back of the heads with rulers, students being elbowed in the ribs or punched in the stomachs, and students receiving backhands across their faces, only to be ridiculed when they start crying in the classroom.  To make matters worse, these punishments are common for infractions such as forgetting homework, being tardy to class, or answering a question incorrectly.  It's been absolutely heartbreaking to watch, and at the same time even harder to understand.

Namibia is only 20 plus years old.  Most of the teachers who teach at A.I. Steenkamp were taught in segregated  Damara schools under apartheid rule, and were taught in a manner that corporal punishment was allowed and even encouraged as the main form of discipline.  Most of the teachers at Steenkamp have it engrained in their mind that when they were told to listen it was through force, so that's how they must teach their own students.  When I and others have approached the teachers about this form of punishment the response is always the same, "I don't want to hit them, but they don't listen if I don't.  How else am I supposed to get them to be quiet?"  What's even more frustrating is that I know plenty of classroom management techniques that could help but they need a lot of time and consistency that these students have not been given and that I'm not sure the teachers are willing to commit.

On a lighter note I love my students.  I feel like such a mean teacher because I often have to raise my voice during class, but my students always give me hugs on the way out the door and tell me how happy they are to have me and how much they love having me as a teacher.  I've had so many beautiful notes from my students, some that don't even go to my classroom.  I was talking with some of my peers the other day and we are beginning to realize, it's not just about the learning.  We are here to teach and we want each of our students to succeed, but I think we have a larger role here.  So many of these students live with violence and negativity every day.  Being here shows them that somebody loves them, somebody cares for them, and somebody wants to see them succeed.  I can't count the number of hugs I receive each day, and although it can be overwhelming being mobbed by hundreds of little learners, I try to make sure that each one gets some attention and some kind words before I move on.  I'm trying my hardest to make an impact on these students, but if nothing else I hope they know they are cared for, and that someone believes in them.

Sossusvlei - Big Daddy

Hello everyone!!! I'm so sorry I haven't had time or internet to post a new blog in ages so I'm very sorry for those of you who have been following along, today I will post twice :)

Last weekend we all went camping at Sossusvlei. Sossusvlei is a salt and clay pan surrounded by high red dunes, located in the southern part of the Namib Desert, in the Namib-Naukluft National Park of Namibia.  We had to drive seven hours to get from our home in Windhoek to the camping site only 20 min. from the dunes.  We pitched our tents and camped under a huge tree although we often came out to see the most beautiful night skies I have ever seen.  Sossusvlei is so far away from any city with electricity that the stars shone more brightly than I have ever seen and we all laid down in the sand and stared up at the sky, just watching.

The next day we left for the sand dunes.  The Namib Desert is the oldest desert in the world and is home to the worlds tallest sand dunes. The drive over was stunning and when we arrived we decided to not climb Big Mama, as most previous groups have done, but instead Big Daddy which is the tallest sand dune in the world measuring about 325 meters tall or 1066 feet!  Imagine the resistance running in the sand at the beach provides, now add steep climbing elevation.  Climbing Big Daddy was one of the hardest hikes I have ever done, but the view we received after hiking in the sand for an hour and a half was the most stunning I have ever witnessed.

Beneath the sand dunes is a huge salt pan and within the pan are trees that have been petrified for 300 years due to the extreme heat conditions.  The ground is cracked and so it has the look of a natural cobblestone road beneath the towering red sand dunes.

I have had such amazing opportunities to see so many different but equally beautiful places on this trip.  This was our last big group trip so now the real challenge starts.  Full time student teaching!  Hope all is well at home and enjoy the pictures!<3 you all!

We passed through the Tropic of Capricorn.  It was very very hot!

This was a viewpoint on our drive over to Sossusvlei, It was stunning.

The salt pan cobblestone beneath the dunes.

Sossusvlei sand dunes against the salt pan.

All of us walking back after our long hike.

Heres Big Daddy!!! If you notice the straight line down the center of the peak, that's where we all ran down the side of the mountain after reaching the top! So much fun!!!

Etosha State Park

Etosha State Park

This past weekend was spent traveling Etosha State park.  Etosha is a state reserve that covers 220,000 square kilometers of Namibia!  This reserve is home to the big five (lions, elephants, rhinos, buffalos such as wildebeest, and leopards) and many forms of antelope, browsers, and grazers.  It has terrain that ranges from tall and lush trees and bushes to the Etosha Pan, which is completely barren as far as the eye can see.  The drive was long and the road was bumpy but I saw some of the most amazing wildlife, beautiful scenery and amazing sunsets I have seen so far.  I took as many pictures as possible to share with you all but the pictures in no way can do the real image justice.  During our drive across the park we visited AfriCat (A reserve for rehabilitating cheetahs,) REST (The Rare and Endangered Species Trust,) The Mushara Bushman Camp (Where we slept in quazi-tents out in the bush of Africa,) Dolomite Camp (Where we stayed in cabins on top of a ridge that overlooked the countryside,) and many more amazing places.  I got to see a lion only 5 feet away from my car window, an endangered pangolin, (AKA the cutest little artichoke I’ve ever seen <3) watering holes with drinking rhinos, flamingos, and antelope of many kinds, as well as some of the most colorful and beautiful birds I have ever seen!

I could continue talking about the beauty of this place, but instead I’ll just let you look at the pictures and see for yourself.

Missing all of you back home and I hope all is well!  Enjoy the pictures and feel free to ask me questions if any arise! <3

This is the view from the main lodge at AfriCat, the Cheetah Rehabilitation Center and Game Reserve.

A Cheetah at AfriCat!!! They are so beautiful, but surprisingly, very lazy.

This is the view outside my cabin at Dolomite Camp, it was such a beautiful sunset!  Although I couldn't capture it in a picture, there was lightning striking in the clouds on the left only making the view even more surreal.

A Rhino drinking from a watering hole in Etosha!

We saw so many Zebras!  There are two types of Zebras in Namibia; The Plains Zebras and the Mountain Zebras.  These are a group of Plains Zebras, you can tell by the faint grey stripe in the white stripes of their coats.

This is a pangolin.  I had never heard of such a creature before I came to visit REST.  They are endangered because they are hunted for their scales just as the rhino is hunted for it's horn.  I feel so lucky to have seen and been so close to such an amazing, and frankly, adorable animal. <3

Tell me this isn't one of the most beautiful landscapes you have ever seen.  I could have stayed and enjoyed this view for hours.

A roaming Hyena!!!  I heard some while we were staying at camp one night, they may be cool to look at during the day, but they produce quite an eerie sound come nightfall.

This lion was in arms reach... I didn't test this theory but it made quite the pretty picture. :)

I know you have seen giraffes in pictures already but they are just so beautiful and I still can't get over seeing them roaming around everywhere!

The First Day of School - The Learners Are Back

Today was the first day of school at A.I. Steinkamp Primary School and it was the most interesting experience I have had with school this far.  School at Steinkamp starts at 7:20 AM, considering the group of four PLU students who were coming to teach here did not yet know their placements, we all arrived early.  We went looking for the principal with little success so instead we decided to sit in the teachers lounge until she arrived.  The principal arrived only minutes before the opening ceremonies were scheduled to start but she gave us reassurance that after the ceremonies had finished we would be given our placements.  Weary but excited we made our way out to the tiny outdoor pavilion where such functions are to be held.  Somehow what looked to be several hundred if not one thousand students from grade one to grade seven were squeezed into long lines with only inches of elbow space and filled the pavilion that I estimated to be 20 ft. by 20 ft. square of space.

Once all the learners had gathered and the parents congregated around, the students and teachers alike sang songs of praise and prayed for a good school year.  The students raised the school flags and sang the anthems of Namibia, Africa, and their school.  As the banners were raised the parents became restless and they began to speak with each other in such a way that the speaker from the school could no longer be heard, and no matter the speakers pleas for silence the parents talked on.  I was so shocked at how the parents acted at such a function and their indifference for listening while another was talking.  The ceremony lasted from 7:20 until nearly 9:30 and we still had not been given our placements.  Students had rushed off in every which direction to the classroom they attended the year prior, not yet sure if they had passed and would be moving on to the next grade, or repeating that grade for another year.  The four of us PLU students walked back in to the school to await an answer from the very busy principal.

After some more time and some more waiting we were finally put into classrooms around 11:30, only one and a half hours before school would be let out.  I was put into a 4th grade math classroom with an estimated 50 students. I say estimated because I had not received a roster.  I had not been given the chance to start the day in the classroom so there was no time to learn or put in place any form of classroom management.  I had no idea where the students were academically, and I had no idea where to start.  I had planned to start the day with a name game so that I could begin to learn the students names and decided to give it a try anyway.  This proved to hold their attention for awhile, but it was so hot outside that many children had to keep leaving to splash water on their faces or to use the restroom.  The names were much harder than any I have had to learn in the states, but I was feeling a little better after the game was over.

We came back into the classroom and I tried to find the students general mathematical level.  I had no tests prepared so instead I asked the students to solve multiple problems that ranged from addition and subtraction and multiplication to characteristics of geometric shapes and story problems.  I began to realize that a lot of the students in my grade four class had the mathematical knowledge of many 2nd or 3rd graders in the U.S.

I started to pose some problems for the students and the class initially was going well, the students were engaged and excited and then a switch flipped.  The classroom was hot and the children were tired, no matter how many times I would walk around the room and wake students as I went, nearly 5 to 6 students always had their heads down on their desks! As I tried to correct behavior on one side of the room a fight would break out on the other side of the room, and I don't mean a verbal fight, I mean a hair pulling, kicking and punching fight.  I had to restrain several children so that they would stop beating each other!  The students started to lose their calm and their focus so I tried to distract them with songs and games which only partially worked.  The bell rang and I wished them a good day, exhausted.

I have never been in such a hectic environment on not only the students part, but the faculty as well.  Many classrooms were left without teachers during the day, and a lot of the teachers who had decided to come often left their classroom unattended.  As I sit here writing this I am determined to provide my classroom and my students with a quality education.  It is going to take every little bit of patience I can muster, and a lot of hard work on both my part and my students.  Wish me luck, this will probably be one of the hardest tasks I have been asked to complete so far, but I am ready and I'm willing.