Netball, Exams, and Sunburns-- Oh My!

Here are some highlights from my life these past few weeks:

Netball Court: The first half of the cement has been poured and it's looking really good! Now the guys are just waiting for the next round of cement to arrive so they can keep going. Here are some pictures of the progress:

Measuring the boundaries and leveling the sand.

The first load of cement/concrete arrives!

A little over half the court covered in cement...now we need
to do the rest!

Also, I made a video to introduce you to some of the players that will be benefiting from the court. Watch the video below to meet them!

We still need your help! Once again, a HUGE thank you to those that have donated, we are so close! If you haven't donated yet, please considering giving even US$10, that will get us one bag of cement closer to our goal! If you don't think you can donate, please share the video with others to spread the word! This is a great cause that will be enjoyed for years to come =) (And just try to say 'no' to those faces...you can't!)


School: Last week we had our last day of classes, and exams are now in full swing. For the last day, I surprised each of my math and science learners with a pen, a pencil, a rubber, a note, a good luck marble (from our points system) to use on their exams. I have never seen kids so excited over office supplies...I took a group photo with each class and many insisted on holding their goodies bags in the picture.

Say 'hello' to 9C! I'm gonna miss those smiles.

Now exams have started which means the school has descended in to a sort of organized chaos (sometimes less organized than others). My math kids wrote their exams yesterday and the results are somehow. I'm trying to keep my head up and count every correct answer as a victory instead of each incorrect answer as a failure. If I stay positive, I think I can emerge from exams relatively unscathed.

Life: With time winding down so fast (less than three weeks, omg!) I'm trying to make the most of every second here. A few weeks ago, I went to a learner's house for the afternoon. She cooked porridge for lunch and then attempted to teach me to do some traditional dances. However, the steps were a little fast for this oshilumbu to pick up, so don't be expecting any dance awards from me anytime soon. I also helped her fetch water and watched in awe as this girl carried a 20 litre jug of water on her head with no hands over uneven terrain. Amazing. I carried 10L on my head with my hands and still managed to spill a bit. Also, my neck really hurt after...


This past weekend we went up to the river with our friends Jan, Johnny, and Otto for one more hike/camping weekend. We had a blast, hiked about 20k, swam in the croc infested river (don't worry, Mom, we were in the fast moving water and totally safe), slept in the sand under the stars, had an AMAZING braai, and got some epic sunburns. (Mine breaks into my top 3, and those that know me know that's saying something...)

View from the top.

This weekend I'm hosting our Namibian Thanksgiving party which should prove to be a great time. Although I'll be seriously missing celebrating Turkey Day with my family (and Auntie Ann's sweet potatoes!), we're doing our best to bring a little taste of home to Namibia.

Oh, and I applied for some jobs, a couple of long-term sub positions around MA, so everyone keep your fingers crossed!

With so little time and so much to do, my mind is constantly in a million places, but I think keeping busy is good-- it keeps me distracted from the plethora of intense and conflicting emotions that are currently swimming around my head. While I'm obviously excited to come home and see everyone (and having a washing machine again will sure be nice), I'm also incredibly sad to leave my colleagues, learners, and friends. I've had such an amazing experience this year, and I'm going to make the most of my last three weeks! See you all soon!

In the meantime, enjoy the adorable piglets that have
taken to hanging out outside my house!

$10 = One Bag of Cement (and other exciting updates)

The project is underway!! We have chosen a contractor who is already hard at work digging the boarders of the court. We enlisted some of the learners today to haul sand to the field to mix in with the cement (no pre-mix bags here!) and after school I went in to town with Paulson and TK to buy the first round of cement! It will be delivered tomorrow morning. =)

The contractor is charging N$2000 (about USD$200) which is a very reasonable rate. However, our original estimates for the amount of cement we would need were too low. We will need over 100 bags of cement for this project, and each bag costs about USD$10, so I've raised my goal amount by $300 to make sure everything is covered. If there is extra money leftover, it will be used to purchase additional equipment for the team.

I would like to extend a HUGE thank you to all of you that have donated already! You have been amazing in the past 10 days. Please continue to help by spreading the page around on facebook, email, twitter, anything! Remember to tell potential donors that even $10 buys one bag of cement-- we can reach this goal one bag at a time!

Check back next week for a video from the team, and in the meantime, check out these pictures of the work in progress!

"I ♥ U Miss Long"

Today I recieved the following card from one of my favorite grade 8 learners.
"I ♥ U Miss Long. I gonna miss you when you go back. I will never 4get you!! You are a good teacher and I don't want you to live I want you to teach us Physical Science in grade 9 but I know you can not you will go back. I love you."
Darn those pesky 'ea's! Got a good laugh out of that but man, I'm going to miss these kids so much.

On another note, I have been told that the link to my fundraising page in my last blog post was broken. I have updated it on my blog page, but for anyone who reads my blog in their email, here is the correct link. Thank you again for your contributions, and remember-- every little bit helps!

Nothing but Net(ball)

My time at Onamutai Secondary School is winding to an end, and I'm realizing I haven't really done much that will leave a lasting impact at the school. Sure I've imparted wisdom and knowledge into my kids that they will remember forever (or more likely until the day after their exam...) but I haven't really left anything tangible for the school to enjoy for years to come. Other volunteers have done some great fundraising projects, from building a kitchen to purchasing school shoes for learners that can't afford them. I wanted to do something in my last month here, so I asked my principal what he thought we needed. His instant reply was a netball court.

You see, our school is an MCA school, meaning it has been resourced by the Millennium Challenge Corporation. We are fairly well equipped when it comes to academic supplies: books, lab equipment, computers, etc., but the sports equipment is severely lacking. Like most American high school students, athletics are the most enjoyable part of school for many of my learners, the only reason they attend in some cases. However, the conditions that these kids play in would be unimaginable for many American students. I have observed (and participated in!) several netball practices and what I see breaks my heart. The courts are just lines in the sand, the hoops are missing nets, the girls play in their uniforms, barefoot, on hot sand that is riddled with broken glass, rocks, and three inch long thorns. The balls are deflating and the hoops are being held up with rocks. They often fall over in the middle of practice and it is only due to sheer luck that no one has been injured yet.

The school is trying to give the girls a real court to play on. We have selected a spot near the soccer field, and holes have been dug for the poles. All that is needed now is funds to purchase cement. I am hoping that you, my loyal readers, can help me with this. My goal is to raise about $1000 to cover the cost of cement, labor, and hopefully nets and a few new balls. Even a small donation will go a long way to reaching this goal. If you don't think you are able to donate, perhaps you can spread the word to others who might be able to. I am confident that together we can give these girls the court of their dreams.

A proper netball court will go a long way in improving the safety and happiness of these players, and future players in years to come. The girls, myself, their coaches, and the entire Onamutai community would be forever grateful for your assistance.

To donate to this great cause, please visit the YouCaring site here. YouCaring is a free fundraising platform that allows 100%  of the donations to go to the cause.

Thank you in advance!
Jamie

Chain of Fools

My middle school math teacher was Mrs. Long (no relation) and it is from her that my passion for teaching math springs. There are countless things that I learned in her classes that I still recall today, but perhaps none more vividly than "Same, Change, Change". Like many concepts in Mrs. Long's math class, this clever mnemonic, used to assist in the addition and subtraction of negative numbers, is to be sung to the tune of some (previously) well known song. We had Paula Abdul's "Straight Up" for dividing with decimals, MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" for prime factorization, and for Same, Change, Change, "Chain of Fools" by the one and only Aretha Franklin. Now this song has become so synonymous with negative numbers in my head that I still sing it to this day when it comes to adding and subtracting negatives, even though four years of being a math major has left me with more than enough conceptual understanding to not actually need it. Anyway, the point is that Chain of Fools has become part of my mathiness.

Enter Onamutai. Here I am, trying for the umpteenth time to get my kids to understand basic integer operations, and on a whim I decide, "what the hell, might as well teach it to them. " I had been though Same Change Change with them before but without the song, and it hadn't stuck. So I told them the story of the first Ms. Long and sang the three notes for them while they all laughed. I told them I knew they didn't know the song (as most grade 9s in America probably don't know it at this point) but if anyone wanted to come up with a new song to sing it to that they all know, they could earn a bonus point or two. This did not garner as much reaction as I had hoped, and I began to doubt that this would stick either. However, I kept it up throughout class and lo and behold, a few scattered people were singing the Chain of Fools version, even if they weren't actually using it at the time. By the end of class, almost everyone was belting out "Same Change Change", albeit slightly off tune (yes, these are the same kids that can do perfect 4 part harmonies every morning. I'm going to say that I was the one who was off key and they were just matching pitch). 

They loved it so much that they continue to sing it at random points throughout class, and throughout the day. I also played them the actual song so they could here more of what it was that they were singing to. They ate it up. So much, in fact, that a few of the boys have requested I give the song to them on a USB. 18 year old Namibian boy wants to jam to some Aretha Franklin in his spare time? I would be happy to enable him.

Village Life

On Friday I was showing my ICT kids some software that allows me to monitor their computer screens from mine, and also let's them send me messages and "raise their hand" when they need help. I was letting them message me anything they wanted just to try it out and was getting a lot of "I luv u mis long"s and "heelo"s when I saw someone said "I want you to come visit me in my village". I had been wanting to see a learner's house for a while now, so I quickly looked at who it was, hoping it was someone whose name I knew, and sure enough, it was Sarafina (whose name I only remember because a friend from college lives at Sarafina Way...) As they were leaving class, I told her I would love to visit her house one day though I couldn't that day, but she should let me know a day the following week and I would be glad to go.

Today she showed up at my door when the bell rang and asked me if we could go. I asked her about how long it was, since I had some things to do, and she said "not far, only 15 minutes". I should have known better. After dropping my bag at my house and filling up my water bottle, I offered to carry the backpack that her and her sister share, and after triple checking that I was serious, they gladly handed it off to me. I slung the backpack on my shoulders and the three of us headed off. The sun was beating down on us as we walked the sandy path toward the gravel road. Thirty minutes into the walk and I was sweating and tired. Though the girls offered to take the bag back, I insisted on carrying it the whole way. My learners do this walk twice a day without complaining a bit and I was determined to get the full experience, sore shoulders and all. An hour later, we came to their house where I met their siblings, one of whom was another one of my learners. They showed me around the homestead-- their rooms, the kitchen, where they pound mahangu, where the store it, where the chickens sleep, and curiously, the area where they sit outside and listen to the music that comes from "that room". I tried to get more information about this magical, musical room, but none was given. After the tour, it was time to head home. I told them they only needed to take me as far as the gravel road and I could make it back from there, but they wanted to come the whole way.

The third learner, Naemi, accompanied us as well, and along the way we ran into two others who were out collecting firewood. The girls also showed me what they called a "lake, or maybe a pond." To me it was very reminiscent of a query, but instead of rock, it was sand. Although the water level was extremely low due to the drought, and it was very murky, to me it looked like a great place for swimming- complete with a little beach and everything- but they told me that only the boys sometimes go in it, as most of them can't swim. (Makes sense when you've spent your entire life in the desert). The walk back was much more pleasant due the sun setting and lack of backpack. It was nice to chat more candidly with the girls, though they were still pretty quiet. They asked me to teach them a gospel song, but the only gospel song I know is "This Little Light of Mine", and I only know the chorus. I sang a few others for them too, but they couldn't really pick them up since the English was fast and my tone was off due to my slightly laborious breathing. I give these kids so much credit for doing this walk (and longer ones) twice a day all year and thinking nothing of it. If kids at home had to do this to go to school, classrooms would be empty.

We finally reached home and I said goodbye to the girls. I went inside to get more water only to discover that it was off. It had been off the night before, but on a little bit this morning. However now the taps were bone dry again. Luckily the ladies next door have water, so we're just filling up jugs over there till we can figure out what's going on. I also discovered that the water in their shower is actually pretty warm...it's probably a good thing I only discovered this now, otherwise I would have been over there quite a bit this year!

Not having water for this brief time has also given me another tiny bit of insight into how many of my learners live. The majority of them do not have running water in their house, and for those that do, it comes from a single tap in the middle of the homstead, not from sinks, showers, toilets, etc. We live near the public tap, and every day I get to see ton of people (mostly kids) rolling huge water containers or carrying them on their head to and from the tap. "Fetching water" is the most common chore for my kids, and they have to do it often as water goes quickly (as I've recently discovered), even when you're doing everything you can to conserve it.  I give my kids so much credit for how hard they work just to do basic things that we all take for granted, like washing dishes. It makes me sad though to think that a lot of them can't imagine life any other way. I hope that I am able to remember these short periods of inconvenience when I return to America and begin to appreciate things like constant electricity and running water (plus HOT water!), but if I forget, and I start to take advantage, I hope I will remember my learners and the process they must go through just get a bit of water to drink.

Trials and (Tiny) Triumphs

Today is October 3rd. Can we talk about this for a minute? When did this happen? Since when I have been in Namibia for 10 months? Nobutreally...

This week I came to the realization that although I have been officially teaching for more than a year, I have not completed a full year of teaching. This means that this is my first experience with the serious condition known as end-of-the-year-itis, and this wretched disease is wearing me down. Let me paint a picture for you. It's hot. Over 100 degrees hot, every day. Sun beating down so hard I can feel my skin burning just walking between classes. Even the breeze is hot. The kids are a bizarre mix of drowsy and full of energy. No one can pay any attention to a thing I am saying, but they have an extreme fascination with the group of students standing outside across the schoolyard. The are tired of learning and I'm tired of trying to get them to learn. The following conversation I had with a learner upon entering my last period math class pretty much sums up this time of year:

Me: "Afternoon everyone! How are you?"
Learner: "Miss can we watch a movie today?"
Me: "No. Ok take out your notebooks!"
Learner: "Why not?"
Me: "Do you want to pass your exam?"
Learner: "Yeah."

Me: "Then we need to learn math."

I'm not sure what gave him the idea that I would ever possibly say yes, especially since I've been reminding them daily that they have to keep working hard for these last few weeks so they can be prepared for the exams, but there it is. 

The end of the year also means an increased level of chaos around the school. The grade 10 and 12s have already started exams, which means that learners are now stationed in their rooms while teachers rotate, many classes have had to move rooms to accommodate for testing rooms and camping rooms (the 10 and 12s live at the school during exams) and the timetable has been interrupted. All this combined with a collective need on the part of teachers to fit in every spare minute with learners means that no one ever knows where they should be at any given time. Lovely. 

However, the end of the year has not come without its share of successes. When I can manage to get my learners to pay attention, it seems that they are really learning some things. My grade 9s (many of whom started the year at around a grade 6 level, at best) are starting to improve a little. I have begun doing Mad Minutes (remember those from elementary school?) with them and they are slowly but surely losing their dependence on calculators for basic calculations. Not only that, but they actually enjoy doing it because they can see the improvement too! And ending the year with a geometry unit means that all my extremely visual/concrete learners can experience an increased level of understanding and success right before exam times when a confidence boost is crucial. 

In science we have been working on physics and my personal love for the subject is shining through. I've added lots of activities and topics to the syllabus simply because I just think they're so cool! (Who doesn't love a good Free Falling Bodies experiment?) The kids are getting so much better at doing hands on activities and and learning to predict and use their critical thinking skills. It's pretty cool. Also, I've officially got them hooked on the Magic School Bus to the point where they attempt to sing the theme song any time they see me. (Wait, does this mean I've become Miss Frizzle?! Dream. Realized.)

In the computer lab, we've finally started getting some of the equipment sorted out and functioning properly, including the Classroom Management software for the laptops. This means I can monitor them all from my computer at the front, control their computer if they need help, and disable all the computers momentarily with a click of a button when I need their attention. Of course, I could have used this ten months ago, but better late then never right?

And the last thing that's been boosting my spirits a little is the success of Girls Club, which has been officially renamed Women's Health and Education Project. (WHEP might not be quite as catchy as WHEN, but they picked it themselves!) Each week, about 20 girls gather in my room for a discussion on whatever topic I've decided to talk about that week (they are free to suggest things, but so far no one has...) We've had some interesting discussions on teenage pregnancy, women' rights, and what it means to be a woman. Although they're still extremely shy so the discussion usually turns in to me talking, it's been so interesting to hear about these issues from their point of view. It's been an interesting challenge to try to open their minds to new thoughts and ideas without disrespecting their traditions and culture. Their worldviews are so limited that a lot of what I have been talking about is brand new to them. They are still so afraid to speak their mind which can be frustrating, but also helps to remind me of why I started the club in the first place. I'm excited to see what progress I can make in the next couple of months. My only regret is that I wasn't able to start this Term 1.

Well hopefully this has been a satisfying update for you all. It's hard to believe that my experience is drawing to a close and I'll be home in just over two short months, but there it is. I'm hoping that I'll be posting a bit more often this term with end-of-the-year happenings and just general thoughts, feelings, and emotions so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, I'd LOVE if people in the education community can keep your ears open for any potential long-term sub openings for when I return. It'd be great to have a steady income again...

Love and miss you all!