Adventures in Namibia: Starting a Week of 'Lasts'

     Monday was the last start of a week of school here in Namibia. We all had dreaded going to bed the night before and getting up that morning as we knew it was our last Monday. However, once you get to the school and see all their smiling faces, its nearly impossible not to just focus on the here and now. That being said, I had a great first day to our last week of school.

     It was drizzling rain that morning, so we had our morning assembly inside our homeroom classes instead of as a whole school. Mrs. Kamahene asked us to go over at least one school rule with the groups to start the week off right and then we could do what we wanted for the 40 minute time block. That being said, I took this opportunity to get some nice video footage of my 6A class singing their songs (I love my flip camera!) and then moved on to school rules. We discussed some key rules, such as no fighting. But as the other student teachers here and I have discussed, its not that they don't know the rules, its that they don't know WHY they are important. That being said, we talked about why there is no fighting at Steenkamp and why fighting is bad. It ended up being a great discussion, and when Mrs. Kamahene popped in they loved showing off to her and telling her the importance of not fighting and straight lines.

     I got to keep my fabulous 6A class for the next period, and also had them later that day. That being said, I gave them the opportunity to share thier books with each other for the entire period, rotating pairs. My bubble map learners stayed together and shared with me and the rest of their group their part. It was awesome. They all loved it and they were all excited to get their pictures the next day. Later that day we began our rough drafts to my learners back home. They are awesome...a lot of spelling errors, but they are all so excited to write letters to them.

     The teacher was still gone in 7B, so I read them Wheedle on the Needle. They, too, like every other class, loved the story and the pictures. They did the same 4 square activity for an assignment and they loved that they got to draw in my class. They did awesome and we had a great time. They also are getting quite good at sign language and were all fingerspelling various words to me across the room to check spelling (an advantage I had never thought of, but it was awesome). We did run into one hiccup however...sort of a big one. I had one huge fight break out between one of my female learners and a boy prefect. Out of no where there was a huge bang and it was one of the worst fights I have seen yet. I had to literally pull the prefect off of her, and they were both hurt pretty bad. Come to find out, the reason for the fight: He only wanted to use the color yellow and she thought that was weird. Awesome. A couple letters home, a long chat with me, and apology letters to each other, and the day continued.

     I then filled in for a teacher who had a doctors appointment for 2 periods and ended up getting the one grade 5 class I had never had. However, they were great and so eager to have me read to them, as this was an English class. I just re-used Wheedle on the Needle, then let them ask me questions about my home. The next class was for KKG. Awesome. KKG is the one of the tribe languages that has clicks in it. Instead, I taught them some sign language, we talked about America and they taught me some about their various cultures. Not KKG, but a great period anyways.

     5D...where do I begin? I think I will just discuss both Monday and Tuesday in this one blurb and move on, as looking back on it now I have a different perspective than before. Last week ended up going so great, but they I was gone for Thursday and Friday. When I asked what they did, they literally did nothing. Apparently they were too loud, so the teacher just left them both days to run around the class and do as they pleased. Already, I was not going into a great situation. Monday was rough and we barely got through 3 math problems. Barely. Today was a little better, but it was a double period and they lost it the last 10-15 minutes. Later as I thought about what it was that was wrong, it came to me: I'm being punished for leaving. This revelation came to me thanks to the 43 learners who bombarded me in the center of the schoolyard during break. All of them came up to apologize to me and beg me to still learn them. Many had goodbye letters and several began to cry. Although it is not a justification for their behavior, and I don't think it is the only reason behind it all, there is no way I am holding a grudge and ruining our last week together. So bring on Wednesday.

     After school, Veronica and I went to one of her learner's homes (Kerly's). Kerly is the headgirl at the school. Her house is in the Nama location and her family of 5 lives in a house with a kitchen and one bedroom. Her older brother, sister, and herself sleep on the kitchen floor at night, and they all share one bathroom with the other 3 houses in the same yard. Being that her house was in the Nama location, I also saw Thomas' house, as he was their neighbor, and Hazel's, who was just one house away. It was great to see my learners at home and yet have another hour or two seeing what our learners do after school is out. Tasks such as washing clothes, cooking and homework are tasks that take much more time and a lot more effort that I realized.

     Our last Tuesday brought a lot of letters from our learners, and another full day of teaching. All of my classes went great today and we are all now working on letters for me to take home with me (other than my math class that is). In my free periods, I went with Janelle for some PT. The first class was grade 7 learners, and they refuse to have boys and girls play together. That being said, we had 2 games of soccer going. The next period we had grade 4, and for the first time since Janelle has been here the boys accepted the girls with open arms. I lead a third of the class with jump ropes and frisbees and got the started, while Janelle set up a soccer game with 3 teams that rotated turns playing. It was awesome. We had a blast!
     Today, I also gained two new gifts: pipes. Yes, pipes. One is black and one is white. These lovely objects are used as threatening tools in classrooms by teachers (and, sadly, are also sometimes used). That being said, when I found them next to desks today, I kindly snatched them and took them to a new location: our room garbage can in Casa. Kari has done this in the past, and although stealing is not the example I want to set to my learners, here or back home, I also feel like the pipes are in a better place now.

     After school today I had my last offical afternoon at the orphanage. Elsie was pretty excited that I had learned to count to 10 in KKG (my learners taught me after school today), so we practiced some while the kids rested. I also read Conrad some Harry Potter. Cynthia then lead a few of us in a photo shoot, which was fun until my camera died. Cynthia reminds me a lot of myself as a kid and we have grown pretty close over the course of this trip. About 30 minutes before we left, she asked me to bring her the beads next week so that we could practice math with them again. I told her I would bring them Thursday instead. Then she remembered: it was my last week. She was at my side the rest of the time (not that she wasn't before, though), and I read her some stories. When I went to leave, I had a 9 year old body attached around my neck; head buried in my neck and sobbing. I tried to hold it together and kept telling her I'd see her Thursday, but that didn't last for long.

     I will always cherish the time I have spent with Cynthia and the other children at Dolam's children home. They are each so precious and have so much to offer their community and this world. We all will be going to Dolam's after school Thursday, which is our last day at school, to say goodbye for the last time. Being that I couldn't even hold it together today, I am guessing that Thursday after an emotional day of farewells at Steenkamp, I will be ten times worse. However, the relationships we have all made here are ones that we will remember and cherish forever, and many of them are strong enough to continue a few continents and an ocean away.