Internet Access

Yikes, sorry I am really bad at updating. There are a lot of things that have to go right and work together to result in my getting to this blog…there must be a ride out of the village into town; there must be a recent pause in the rain (not only because the roads are unsafe, but also because I have to walk for a ride and walk once in town); there must be power in town/at the internet cafe; and finally, if the previous requirements have all fallen into place, I must remember my stupid memory stick where I have saved my pictures and e-mails and blog posts I typed. That means I get to the internet about once or twice a month. AND it is super slow. So be patient with my updates, and be patient with my e-mails. I love to hear from you, as long as it’s understood it takes a while for me to get back! :)

Is It Good or Bad to be Different?

Eino's essay on "Is it good or bad to be different?" - the complete, unabridged version:

“Miss for English is have a nice colour. To be different like Miss of English and us. But the colour that have to Miss is good. The word different is good.”

"It looked like a scorpion!" "...plane!" "...monster!"

OH MY GOODNESS! A helicopter came to Onayena today! It was MADNESS! The learners ran screaming outside our classrooms when they heard it coming. Then, as it was approaching and flying quite low in order to land, they shrieked and screamed and ran back in the classrooms. I could not stop laughing.

It passed over the school and everyone – learners, teachers, principal – went tearing after it! The entire population dashed through the little gate to exit our property. Our principal shouted to me “Camera! Camera!” and she gleefully cruised by. The helicopter landed in a field about 250 yards away, and as I joined the rush I saw people POURING into the field from all directions of the village! It was so cute and exciting!

It did not stay for more than a few minutes; I wasn’t even to it yet when the whirr of the propellers intensified for it to take off again. The terror of the noise and the wind whipping sand at them triggered the swarm to reverse, and hundreds of shrieking Namibians scrambled away from this beastly machine back to their respective shelters. I was laughing SO HARD.

The kids who made it up to the helicopter before it took off again said there were four men onboard, and one took pictures of them, which of course was THRILLING. I can’t be sure but I’m guessing it was there because of the flooding: assessing/rescuing/evacuating. It was really cool to witness the excitement.

“It is rumored if it go up it make lots of air that can cause air pollution to make our air dirty and cause disease to us.” - Eva

“It was polluting the because it was black petroleum.” - Shimwe

“Some children were crying because the voice of a helicopter is very scary.” - Matheus

Well...it IS nonviolent...

Grade 7 wrote essays for a national contest about their dreams for human rights in Namibia, ala Martin Luther King Jr. My favorite: the right to not be raped.

“If you want to make sex and you don’t have anyone to make with you sex you must not rape. You must masturbate (playing with you private part) instead of rape. Please people, don’t violate human rights. There’s a way that you can solve this. You must masturbate yourself instead of raping someone. You must touch and rub your private part and that will solve this just from masturbation.”

(You can guess what their HIV/AIDS and safe sex education consists of, right?)

airhead

grrr.... I wrote and saved a blog post but brought the wrong flash drive to load it, so it will have to wait. Know that I am alive and kickin', getting better at managing this country and culture, and of course miss and love you!

In the meantime, here are some pictures:

Grade 6: Elina and Eva

Sunset + storm, it was INCREDIBLE

sunset/storm again. These are my classrooms!

Grade 7 on the left, 6 in the middle, 5 on the right.

Hileni and Selma

Selma and Meke

a bunch of the boys

Quality English Education

In class I had the grade 5 learners write a noun, verb, and adjective for each letter of their first name. For example:

NOUN VERB ADJECTIVE
L – Lion Leap Lovely
I – Igloo Ignite Icy
N – Nerd Nibble New

…and so on. When little Petrus brought his adjectives up for me to check, I laughed so hard and so loud right in the poor kid’s face. He will never understand why:

P – Primary
E – Easy
T – Transvestite
R – Rectal
U – Ultimate
S – Schizophrenic

He obviously used a dictionary, so I calmed down, complimented him on his use of resources, and wiped the tears off my red face.