Turns out that keeping a blog is more difficult than it seemed – somehow over a month has passed since my last update! I think its something to do with spending the whole day in an office in front of a computer typing that makes writing a blog in my spare time a bit of a chore. Or perhaps the novelty has worn off or I’m just lazy! There is also the fact that the last 6 weeks or so haven’t been all that noteworthy! November in particular has been an unremarkable month. Like at home its just a month to get through on the approach to Christmas. Not unpleasant or even particularly boring, just unremarkable.
Work-wise I’ve been continuing to plod away at NIED. Even though I’m working up to 2 hours longer each day it hard to judge if I’m making any progress. Maybe its because teaching is so hands-on and everything here can seem insubstantial, long term and its hard to see results. Mostly I’ve continued to wrestle with ‘the bloody manual’ (as I’ve come to think of it) which is slow and mostly unrewarding work, since I’m still not convinced of its actual necessity.
One of the more interesting aspects of my recent work was a workshop I organised for local teachers. It was what at home would be called a course or a lecture (on some language games, some strategies for teaching reading and how to use ‘the daily news’ effectively) Nothing too challenging - fairly basic stuff really but the local teachers of grade one and two seemed to really appreciate it. They don’t get much by way of in-service training and their initial training is often poor. They have tons of challenges; the language issue, the class size, lack of training and resources to name but a few, but pretty much every teacher that was invited turned up (some were even turned away) so there is an enthusiasm to learn.
I also showed the how to use a Big Book but I also had to show them how to make one as they aren’t really available (it was pretty basic since I had to keeping in mind the resources available to the teachers) but they seemed impressed and keen to make their own. Can you imagine the reaction of Irish teachers if it was suggested at a course they make their own resources?! My Mam thinks it’s hilarious the same as when she left Mary I in ... well I won’t say but it was a while ago!
Teachers here generally have a reputation for being unmotivated and disinterested - teaching isn’t so much as career choice as a last resort for many. I’m told there is a particular disinterest in the lower primary teachers as they are seen as the bottom of the barrel since they are considered the least skillful and the worst trained! Considering the pay and conditions I suppose it’s not that surprising. I haven’t seen it personally but teacher motivation is apparently a big challenge for teacher trainers.
Last week it was finally time to present the work so far on the manual to the Lower Primary Advisory Teachers. There is at least one for each region and it their job to advise, train and support the primary teachers in their region. They were a very mixed bunch – some seemed very coped on and ‘with it’, others seemed kinda clueless! It’s their job to advise on the direction and content of the manual and eventually train the teachers on using it (and persuade them to ‘plan in an integrated manner’) It was interesting to hear their reactions which were mostly very positive although they tended to get caught up on little, fundamentally irrelevant details (for example the use of the word ‘soil’ or ‘clay’ in a list of building materials) rather than looking at the big picture (the progression of the maths scheme from week to week). In fact in some ways I’m not sure they saw the difference. I also shared the literacy presentation that I did with local teachers so that they could (possibly) do that ‘workshop’ with local teachers in their regions.
Socially things have been good. I’ve headed into Windhoek most weekend (all bar one in fact) where I’ve met up with other volunteers to eat out, go for dinks, have a braai and generally hang out. One weekend I hired a car and we got to see a bit more of Windhoek (which is quite spread out) and even drive into the ‘country side’ 20 minutes from the city centre and you’re in the middle of the Veld (scrub land) with baboons on the road!
We also had a ‘Global Education Weekend’ which was where VSO very kindly helped fund an educational camping trip to the Waterberg Plateau National Park (for about 35 of us) We had some lectures but also went hiking and did lots more eating/drinking/hanging out (except this time in tents) There were 2 large storms while we were there, I left my tent open during the first (but everything dried within 2 hours once it was over) and the other was at sunset which was amazing to watch. Because the land around was so flat we could see the storm approach as the sky changed from blue to black going through a hundred shades of red, orange and pink in between. There was cool lightning and even a full moon to top it off. Unfortunately my photos don’t even begin to capture it - you just had to be there!
We also had a birthday party for Katy last weekend. The theme was ‘debauchery’ but even though we played drinking games, ended up with lipstick all over us (well some of us!) and underwear on our heads (well clean lingerie) it was actually pretty innocent (although the neighbours weren’t happy with noise and there were some hangovers the next day!)
We’re starting the run up to Christmas now, and the same as at home, it kind of a wind down at work (but since I’m in an office there are no hyper kids or Christmas concerts!!) Its not my first Christmas in a hot climate but it so hard to get used to the ‘festive season’ in 35 degrees. I quite like that there isn’t same hype here – less decorations and carols blasting from everywhere. Its calmer somehow as its more of a religious and family celebration with people travel home to their villages or heading for the coast (where its cooler) I suppose people don’t have money to spend on ‘the trimmings’!
Sometimes I can't believe I've been here 3 months already, and sometimes Wexford, Ireland, Scoil Mhuire, Bridge Drama and all the rest of it seems like years ago!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Friday, November 6, 2009
Going Mental Down in Mariental (aka ICT2) 26 OCt
The week long training session (called ICT2 or In Country Training, part 2) began on Saturday 17th when I was picked up by the Canadian family plus Jelda on their way from Rundu/Etosha to Windhoek. We met up lots of other volunteers (some newly arrived and Mignon after a 10 hour combi journey) for supper at Alan and Jo’s (yummy baked potatos, roast veg and beer/wine/crisps.) After lots of catching up ad stories of ‘life up north’ we camped out on all available floor space.
On Sunday we had breakfast, we did some shopping, sorting and had a quick lunch before heading off to meet at VSO for a 2pm leaving time. We left VSO just after 3pm (TIA after all!) and after a 3 ½ hour drive south we arrived at Lapa Lange Lodge 35km outside of the small provincial town of Mariental in the Haardap region. The lodge was on a large farm (part game reserve and part actual farm.) Our tents were all set around a lawn with a large pond (with a pagoda in the middle) and 100m away there was a water hole where eland, giraffe, orynx, ostrich and springbok came to drink. There was also a large bar/restaurant area under a pretty thatched roof and a small conference room. My only complaint about the place was that there was only one shower for all 10 girls, although it somehow sorted itself out with no major queues or traffic jams!
Breakfast was at 7.30am every morning and the sessions ran for most of the day (usually until 5pm) so despite our luxurious surroundings and the holiday like atmosphere we worked hard. The week included reviews of our placements and guest speakers on issues like history, politics, business and agriculture. I learned quite a bit about land reform policies, a little about history but not enough about the culture, language and customs of some of the regional tribes.
We also worked on group presentations on various local issues. My group’s presentation was on local politics - so we interviewed the regional coordinator of SWKOP. It wasn't as interesting as I’d have expected but I guess politics can’t be too exciting when there is really only one party - they got 2/3 of the vote last time. Still with elections next month, things could change...
The presentations were entertaining and surprisingly creative. We had role plays and reports, a trading game and the Coq Time* Quiz Show (with condoms as prizes!) Our presentaion involved a pass-the-parcel political quiz , with a SWAPO t-shirt as the prize!
We also visited Mariental to hear a presentation on AIDS (which was very tedious, mainly because of the heat) and hear an informal performance from the Haardap Youth Choir – who sang amazing songs with beautiful harmonies – I’d love to get my hands on some of them to produce a musical! Performance seems to come so naturally to Namibians, they all seem to have rhythm and be able to sing in harmony. No one seems to be the least bit shy about singing or dancing either.
We also had a presentation about the dangers connected with spiders, snakes and scorpions! It was kind of freaky in a ‘aggahhh we’re all going to die horrible painful deaths’ kind of way until I really thought about it and realized these creature are not the most dangerous in Africa. Nope it’s not the hippo or damned mozzie either – it’s humans. I’m far more likely to be attacked or murdered by a human than a snake lurking in my loo and far more likely to hit by car/bus than bitten by a poisonous spider hiding in my footwear. So I’ll be careful but not paranoid!
The training and seminars were interesting, useful and well presented but the social side of things was, for me, the high-light of the week. We’ve played football and frisbee (with some violence) lots of cards (Asshole, Shithead, and Cheat– with lots of violence, spilled beer and philosophical arguments on the limits of cheating allowed in cheat) and drank rather a bit! We went on a game drive (didn’t see much but it was nice to get out) ‘played’ in the pool (very small and a bit dusty but nice in the hot weather) invented games (‘Bugger’ by Steve and ‘Pool Runnings’ by Katy and Steve) and generally enjoyed ourselves!
The food was good all week, especially pizza night; although the early pizza were burned and a bit experimental and the later ones had a limited choice of toppings, mine was fantastic!! ON the final night we had a farewell party (also to celebrate Jo and Mignon’s birthdays) with a braai (Brian killed and help prepare the lamb) and cake! And lots of dancing to Coq Time*!
*The Coq Time phenononem began the first night when the owner played an Afrikaans pop tune called ‘Captain’ – I think its about a the sea or a ship – but with the accent it sound like he was saying ‘cock time’. Steve was captivated by this and made an effort to work it into all conversations until the week became ‘International Coq Time’ instead of ‘In Country Training’ The bloody tune is kind of stuck in my head too!
The week was rounded off with another chilled weekend in Windhoek. We got back on Saturday afternoon, in time to have lunch in Paul’s Café and later headed out to celebrate Mignon’s 30th bday some more. It was also Louise’s last night so it was a great excuse to party. Went to El Cubano – a Afro-cuban bar/night club that played everything from hip hop and salsa to Jive Bunny and Boy George!
On Sunday afternoon we headed to Katutura Municipal Pool for a birthday picnic (part 3 of Mignon’s 30th bday celebrations) We were the only white people there so we attracted a lot of attention (that and we had quite a bit of food with us) we ate, swam (or splashed about) and played some more cards (Uno this time – one of the local boys watching us remarked it looked like a great game as the idea of it seemed to be “keep insulting each other as much as possible”) We – Jelda and I – spent the evening at Kat and Steve’s (more eating, more card playing) before Cam and Yvonne picked us up for the trip back to Okahandja. They stayed the night before their long trip back to Rundu/Mpungu, which meant another late night of beer and movie/photo swaping.
This volunteering thing is a tough life , but now back to reality!
On Sunday we had breakfast, we did some shopping, sorting and had a quick lunch before heading off to meet at VSO for a 2pm leaving time. We left VSO just after 3pm (TIA after all!) and after a 3 ½ hour drive south we arrived at Lapa Lange Lodge 35km outside of the small provincial town of Mariental in the Haardap region. The lodge was on a large farm (part game reserve and part actual farm.) Our tents were all set around a lawn with a large pond (with a pagoda in the middle) and 100m away there was a water hole where eland, giraffe, orynx, ostrich and springbok came to drink. There was also a large bar/restaurant area under a pretty thatched roof and a small conference room. My only complaint about the place was that there was only one shower for all 10 girls, although it somehow sorted itself out with no major queues or traffic jams!
Breakfast was at 7.30am every morning and the sessions ran for most of the day (usually until 5pm) so despite our luxurious surroundings and the holiday like atmosphere we worked hard. The week included reviews of our placements and guest speakers on issues like history, politics, business and agriculture. I learned quite a bit about land reform policies, a little about history but not enough about the culture, language and customs of some of the regional tribes.
We also worked on group presentations on various local issues. My group’s presentation was on local politics - so we interviewed the regional coordinator of SWKOP. It wasn't as interesting as I’d have expected but I guess politics can’t be too exciting when there is really only one party - they got 2/3 of the vote last time. Still with elections next month, things could change...
The presentations were entertaining and surprisingly creative. We had role plays and reports, a trading game and the Coq Time* Quiz Show (with condoms as prizes!) Our presentaion involved a pass-the-parcel political quiz , with a SWAPO t-shirt as the prize!
We also visited Mariental to hear a presentation on AIDS (which was very tedious, mainly because of the heat) and hear an informal performance from the Haardap Youth Choir – who sang amazing songs with beautiful harmonies – I’d love to get my hands on some of them to produce a musical! Performance seems to come so naturally to Namibians, they all seem to have rhythm and be able to sing in harmony. No one seems to be the least bit shy about singing or dancing either.
We also had a presentation about the dangers connected with spiders, snakes and scorpions! It was kind of freaky in a ‘aggahhh we’re all going to die horrible painful deaths’ kind of way until I really thought about it and realized these creature are not the most dangerous in Africa. Nope it’s not the hippo or damned mozzie either – it’s humans. I’m far more likely to be attacked or murdered by a human than a snake lurking in my loo and far more likely to hit by car/bus than bitten by a poisonous spider hiding in my footwear. So I’ll be careful but not paranoid!
The training and seminars were interesting, useful and well presented but the social side of things was, for me, the high-light of the week. We’ve played football and frisbee (with some violence) lots of cards (Asshole, Shithead, and Cheat– with lots of violence, spilled beer and philosophical arguments on the limits of cheating allowed in cheat) and drank rather a bit! We went on a game drive (didn’t see much but it was nice to get out) ‘played’ in the pool (very small and a bit dusty but nice in the hot weather) invented games (‘Bugger’ by Steve and ‘Pool Runnings’ by Katy and Steve) and generally enjoyed ourselves!
The food was good all week, especially pizza night; although the early pizza were burned and a bit experimental and the later ones had a limited choice of toppings, mine was fantastic!! ON the final night we had a farewell party (also to celebrate Jo and Mignon’s birthdays) with a braai (Brian killed and help prepare the lamb) and cake! And lots of dancing to Coq Time*!
*The Coq Time phenononem began the first night when the owner played an Afrikaans pop tune called ‘Captain’ – I think its about a the sea or a ship – but with the accent it sound like he was saying ‘cock time’. Steve was captivated by this and made an effort to work it into all conversations until the week became ‘International Coq Time’ instead of ‘In Country Training’ The bloody tune is kind of stuck in my head too!
The week was rounded off with another chilled weekend in Windhoek. We got back on Saturday afternoon, in time to have lunch in Paul’s Café and later headed out to celebrate Mignon’s 30th bday some more. It was also Louise’s last night so it was a great excuse to party. Went to El Cubano – a Afro-cuban bar/night club that played everything from hip hop and salsa to Jive Bunny and Boy George!
On Sunday afternoon we headed to Katutura Municipal Pool for a birthday picnic (part 3 of Mignon’s 30th bday celebrations) We were the only white people there so we attracted a lot of attention (that and we had quite a bit of food with us) we ate, swam (or splashed about) and played some more cards (Uno this time – one of the local boys watching us remarked it looked like a great game as the idea of it seemed to be “keep insulting each other as much as possible”) We – Jelda and I – spent the evening at Kat and Steve’s (more eating, more card playing) before Cam and Yvonne picked us up for the trip back to Okahandja. They stayed the night before their long trip back to Rundu/Mpungu, which meant another late night of beer and movie/photo swaping.
This volunteering thing is a tough life , but now back to reality!
Friday, October 9, 2009
Sand Dunes and Swakopmund (Monday 5th October 2009)
Just back from a fab weekend in Swakopmund! Emails have been flying back and forth for almost 2 weeks to plan a weekend trip to the costal town of Swakopmund; cars to be hired, accommodation to be sorted and places to be confirmed. In the end, there were 12 of us in 3 cars (Jo, Alan and their kids in their own car/tank and the rest of us - Kat &Steve, Katie & Kev, Louise and her boyfriend Will and Sanne - hired 2 (tiny) cars.) We borrowed tents from VSO, hit the road – well everyone else did - and on Friday night 11 Windhoek Volunteers arrived in Okahnadja.
We went next door to the Reit Club for dinner. There was only steak and burgers on the menu - but they were out of burgers so we all had steak, probably a whole cow between us judging by the size of the pieces of meat. Rare meant blue and 300g steak meant the size of a dinner plate! After that we had a drink in the bar while the owner did his own country karaoke /one-man-band thing – the likes of which you’d only see in the outback of Australia, mid west USA or the Porter House on a Wednesday night! The local Afrikaans farmers were very keen to get us up dancing and bought us shots of cherry vodka, but they were ultimately disappointed cos we all went home by midnight and even with all my beds there were still people on the floor of my living room.
We hit the road at 7.30am for the 3 ½ hour drive across the desert to Swakop. After a stop for coffee in Usakos we arrived in the town at 11am. We set up our tents (dodgy camp ground but it only cost N$20/2 euro per person) and I was glad of my previous African camping experience which made putting up the VSO tents (brand new versions of what I was used to) very easy. After lunch we headed down to the beach and looked at the Atlantic (too rough and cold to even consider swimming – plus it turned cool and almost misty on Saturday afternoon) and strolled around town.
Later in the afternoon we headed off towards Walvis Bay to find dune 7 – the biggest/steepest/tallest(?) sand dune in Namibia/Africa/the world(?)! After acting like 6 years old when we got on the sand first (jumping and running around) we faced the challenge of climbing the infamous dune. I struggled up - 1 step up ¾ of a step back – out of breath and taking lots of breaks. The view from the top (in fact throughout the desert) was amazing and well worth the climb. We walked along the ridge, took a million photos and watched the sun set from the top of the dune, before running down for a glass of wine from the eskie.
We then headed back to Swakop for dinner in the lighthouse restaurant (I had oryx schnitzel and Katie had the biggest burger I’ve ever seen.) After a quick drink in the Swakop Lodge (where I stayed when I was here over 3 years ago) we headed back to our camp site for more wine and some seriously needed sleep.
We got up at 8.00 (since its pretty impossible to lie-in in a tent once the sun is up) had breakfast (but no showers since they were gross – and it wasn’t worth our while anyway!) and packed up. We were then picked up to go sandboarding – which basically holding on to a thin piece of hard board as you shoot headfirst down a sand dune. There was also duneboarding which was snowboarding in the sand (more difficult and less fun, I think!) The going down was fun but the climbing back up was a bitch! I only did 3 runs for this reason but really enjoyed myself because hanging out in the picturesque dunes was no hardship! Then they gave us a sandwiches and beer before they dropped us back to the car. The journey home felt long and I was aching all over (still am – too much exercise in 24 hours for my lazy bones!) but luckily I wasn’t driving and I slept most of the way.
It wasn’t an expensive weekend by home standards (it only cost about €150 for everything including car hire, petrol, camping, food, drink, sand-boarding and bit of shopping) but that’s nearly 2 weeks wages here! Still that’s what my savings are for (ie FUN!) I hope there’ll be lots more!
We went next door to the Reit Club for dinner. There was only steak and burgers on the menu - but they were out of burgers so we all had steak, probably a whole cow between us judging by the size of the pieces of meat. Rare meant blue and 300g steak meant the size of a dinner plate! After that we had a drink in the bar while the owner did his own country karaoke /one-man-band thing – the likes of which you’d only see in the outback of Australia, mid west USA or the Porter House on a Wednesday night! The local Afrikaans farmers were very keen to get us up dancing and bought us shots of cherry vodka, but they were ultimately disappointed cos we all went home by midnight and even with all my beds there were still people on the floor of my living room.
We hit the road at 7.30am for the 3 ½ hour drive across the desert to Swakop. After a stop for coffee in Usakos we arrived in the town at 11am. We set up our tents (dodgy camp ground but it only cost N$20/2 euro per person) and I was glad of my previous African camping experience which made putting up the VSO tents (brand new versions of what I was used to) very easy. After lunch we headed down to the beach and looked at the Atlantic (too rough and cold to even consider swimming – plus it turned cool and almost misty on Saturday afternoon) and strolled around town.
Later in the afternoon we headed off towards Walvis Bay to find dune 7 – the biggest/steepest/tallest(?) sand dune in Namibia/Africa/the world(?)! After acting like 6 years old when we got on the sand first (jumping and running around) we faced the challenge of climbing the infamous dune. I struggled up - 1 step up ¾ of a step back – out of breath and taking lots of breaks. The view from the top (in fact throughout the desert) was amazing and well worth the climb. We walked along the ridge, took a million photos and watched the sun set from the top of the dune, before running down for a glass of wine from the eskie.
We then headed back to Swakop for dinner in the lighthouse restaurant (I had oryx schnitzel and Katie had the biggest burger I’ve ever seen.) After a quick drink in the Swakop Lodge (where I stayed when I was here over 3 years ago) we headed back to our camp site for more wine and some seriously needed sleep.
We got up at 8.00 (since its pretty impossible to lie-in in a tent once the sun is up) had breakfast (but no showers since they were gross – and it wasn’t worth our while anyway!) and packed up. We were then picked up to go sandboarding – which basically holding on to a thin piece of hard board as you shoot headfirst down a sand dune. There was also duneboarding which was snowboarding in the sand (more difficult and less fun, I think!) The going down was fun but the climbing back up was a bitch! I only did 3 runs for this reason but really enjoyed myself because hanging out in the picturesque dunes was no hardship! Then they gave us a sandwiches and beer before they dropped us back to the car. The journey home felt long and I was aching all over (still am – too much exercise in 24 hours for my lazy bones!) but luckily I wasn’t driving and I slept most of the way.
It wasn’t an expensive weekend by home standards (it only cost about €150 for everything including car hire, petrol, camping, food, drink, sand-boarding and bit of shopping) but that’s nearly 2 weeks wages here! Still that’s what my savings are for (ie FUN!) I hope there’ll be lots more!
Schools in Namibia (5th Oct 2009)
I spent two mornings last week visiting some local primary schools, which was a very useful exercise. It gave me a much better idea of the realities/practicalities instead of just the theory, and a better feel for the problems/issues faced by lower primary teachers. Although I only visited 4 classes in 2 school in a certain area, I’m told they would be fairly typical as an example of an average school (in the middle of the spectrum that has a tiny rural village school ‘up north’ on one end and a private well funded Windhoek school on the other)
Children start school when they are about 7 years old (grade 1) but unfortunately these lower primary classes are probably the most crowed and have the poorest trained teachers (if a teacher shows ability they are ‘promoted’ up the school!) Very few children have the chance to attend pre-school or any kind of formal education before they are 7 (although the Ministry for Education has recently realised the value of early education and are trying to improve this – which is partly the reason the likes of me are here!)
School stars between 7am and 8am (depending on the area) and finishes about midday. Teachers are expected to stay much later, in fact many live in the school grounds. Most children can, and do, attend school as it is more or less affordable and there are schools available (there is even accommodation/boarding schools for those who live to far away from a school to travel daily) However the drop-out rate is high and the standard of real literacy is poor.
The problem with schools/education here is more the quality of education rather than access. This is probably due to a lack of training, poor support/curriculum/policies, teacher attitude/apathy/ability and management problems (most likely a combination of all of these plus a few I don’t know about yet!).
Even though no one at home would consider me any kind of an expert in lower primary, during my visits, I could easily spot some very basic inadequacies in the teaching – mostly in their fundamental approach, technique, classroom management.
Things like, always getting the whole class to chorus the answers and not checking who understands and who doesn’t. There was lots of asking them to count/recite/repeat but very little asking them think/explain/answer individually. A lot of time was wasted in copying things down from the board (in a 40 minute maths lesson they got through 4 written problems, 2 as a class, 2 on their own and where most of the class were not able to complete the task) A lot of effort goes into teaching handwriting (which was admittedly very neat) but not into the content/understanding of what they are copying/writing. There seemed to be little or no organisation, aims or focus to the lessons and there didn’t seem to be any real understanding of the children’s capabilities or level. There were very poor strategies for informal assessment and for identifying/dealing those not getting it. In an English grammar lesson the teacher walked around for 20 min, then corrected the work, in almost all cases it was completely wrong but then instead of allowing the children to do corrections or re-explaining (the task was way too hard anyway) they just sat there for a further 10 minutes while everyone else finished off.
That might sound pretty negative and there was some good teaching going on. One of the 4 teachers I saw asked individual questions, one tried to have a learning support group and three genuinely tried to help those having difficulties. They were all lacking in confidence but most of them seem to genuinely want help and ways to improve.
Another serious problem is language. There are 13 national Languages and English is the official language (although almost no one speaks it as their first language) In schools, the ideal situation would allow children to complete the first 3 years of their educational development in their mother tongue, while learning English as a second language and then, by the end of grade 4 they are all supposed to be proficient enough in English to continue with it as the medium instruction for the rest of their education. It’s kind of complicated but it would be like if we –in Ireland – started school in English and then tried to get everyone up to standard to continue their education as Gaeilge from 2nd class on. The big problem, of course, is the teacher’s standard and ability in these languages (before we even get to their ability to teach!) Also many children cannot access education in their mother tongue so are being educated in another African language, or worse English! (Imagine a Gaelscoil in a DEIS band 1 area with classes of 40+ and poorly trained teachers who don’t really speak much Irish!)
There are also the physical factors; a class size of 40 to 45 is the norm with no learning support teachers and pretty basic resources. The children were obviously not well off – only some had school bags, other had plastic bags. Pencils, rubbers and toppers were in short supply, and guarded jealously! They did have some class sets of text books (although not to write in) and they all had a set of copies (carefully covered in newspaper/brown paper and kept in a neat stack on the edge of their desks) Extra resources, like jigsaws, crayons, toys and library books were not in evidence. There were some wall poster but almost none of the children’s art was displayed, leaving the classroom looking quite drab as well as crowded.
So where can I help? I’m not really in a position to do anything about the language or resource issue but hopefully I’ll be able to do something to help with training teachers, even if it’s only something small (I’m planning a workshop to develop teaching literacy skills for local teachers). Working with NIED I might be able influence things nationally too (aggh the pressure!!) although there isn’t much I can achieve in a year, since national policies and workshops/training take a long time to develop and implement (especially here!) Hopefully I can motivate my colleagues or help them be more efficient and effective - even to get them to move a bit faster on things and be more practical in their support. I can also help promote the importance of Lower Primary Education (its very under valued and staffed, even here at NIED) How am I going to that? Well I’m still working on that, but at least I’ve a better idea of the problems!
Children start school when they are about 7 years old (grade 1) but unfortunately these lower primary classes are probably the most crowed and have the poorest trained teachers (if a teacher shows ability they are ‘promoted’ up the school!) Very few children have the chance to attend pre-school or any kind of formal education before they are 7 (although the Ministry for Education has recently realised the value of early education and are trying to improve this – which is partly the reason the likes of me are here!)
School stars between 7am and 8am (depending on the area) and finishes about midday. Teachers are expected to stay much later, in fact many live in the school grounds. Most children can, and do, attend school as it is more or less affordable and there are schools available (there is even accommodation/boarding schools for those who live to far away from a school to travel daily) However the drop-out rate is high and the standard of real literacy is poor.
The problem with schools/education here is more the quality of education rather than access. This is probably due to a lack of training, poor support/curriculum/policies, teacher attitude/apathy/ability and management problems (most likely a combination of all of these plus a few I don’t know about yet!).
Even though no one at home would consider me any kind of an expert in lower primary, during my visits, I could easily spot some very basic inadequacies in the teaching – mostly in their fundamental approach, technique, classroom management.
Things like, always getting the whole class to chorus the answers and not checking who understands and who doesn’t. There was lots of asking them to count/recite/repeat but very little asking them think/explain/answer individually. A lot of time was wasted in copying things down from the board (in a 40 minute maths lesson they got through 4 written problems, 2 as a class, 2 on their own and where most of the class were not able to complete the task) A lot of effort goes into teaching handwriting (which was admittedly very neat) but not into the content/understanding of what they are copying/writing. There seemed to be little or no organisation, aims or focus to the lessons and there didn’t seem to be any real understanding of the children’s capabilities or level. There were very poor strategies for informal assessment and for identifying/dealing those not getting it. In an English grammar lesson the teacher walked around for 20 min, then corrected the work, in almost all cases it was completely wrong but then instead of allowing the children to do corrections or re-explaining (the task was way too hard anyway) they just sat there for a further 10 minutes while everyone else finished off.
That might sound pretty negative and there was some good teaching going on. One of the 4 teachers I saw asked individual questions, one tried to have a learning support group and three genuinely tried to help those having difficulties. They were all lacking in confidence but most of them seem to genuinely want help and ways to improve.
Another serious problem is language. There are 13 national Languages and English is the official language (although almost no one speaks it as their first language) In schools, the ideal situation would allow children to complete the first 3 years of their educational development in their mother tongue, while learning English as a second language and then, by the end of grade 4 they are all supposed to be proficient enough in English to continue with it as the medium instruction for the rest of their education. It’s kind of complicated but it would be like if we –in Ireland – started school in English and then tried to get everyone up to standard to continue their education as Gaeilge from 2nd class on. The big problem, of course, is the teacher’s standard and ability in these languages (before we even get to their ability to teach!) Also many children cannot access education in their mother tongue so are being educated in another African language, or worse English! (Imagine a Gaelscoil in a DEIS band 1 area with classes of 40+ and poorly trained teachers who don’t really speak much Irish!)
There are also the physical factors; a class size of 40 to 45 is the norm with no learning support teachers and pretty basic resources. The children were obviously not well off – only some had school bags, other had plastic bags. Pencils, rubbers and toppers were in short supply, and guarded jealously! They did have some class sets of text books (although not to write in) and they all had a set of copies (carefully covered in newspaper/brown paper and kept in a neat stack on the edge of their desks) Extra resources, like jigsaws, crayons, toys and library books were not in evidence. There were some wall poster but almost none of the children’s art was displayed, leaving the classroom looking quite drab as well as crowded.
So where can I help? I’m not really in a position to do anything about the language or resource issue but hopefully I’ll be able to do something to help with training teachers, even if it’s only something small (I’m planning a workshop to develop teaching literacy skills for local teachers). Working with NIED I might be able influence things nationally too (aggh the pressure!!) although there isn’t much I can achieve in a year, since national policies and workshops/training take a long time to develop and implement (especially here!) Hopefully I can motivate my colleagues or help them be more efficient and effective - even to get them to move a bit faster on things and be more practical in their support. I can also help promote the importance of Lower Primary Education (its very under valued and staffed, even here at NIED) How am I going to that? Well I’m still working on that, but at least I’ve a better idea of the problems!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
A Weekend in Windhoek: Taxis, Beer and a Penduka Braai (Sunday 20th Sept 2009)
Just back from Windhoek, where I had a great weekend. I set off early on Saturday morning, not knowing how long it would take me to get there. I had some numbers of taxi drivers but they didn’t work out so the gate guard sent me to the far side of town where the taxis to the city leave from and sure enough as soon as they spotted me, I had no problem securing a taxi! I was a bit worried as we sped along toward the city (paranoid visions of being robbed or murdered and left on the side of the road) and I vowed I was going to have to buy a car but then we arrived safely in Windhoek so I started to rethink that! Its not like driving my own car here would mean I’d be perfectly safe – although the roads are good and straight all of the drivers aren’t!
I spent a pleasant morning shopping (I got a dongle – 3G device that allows you get internet over the mobile phone network, and that you top up like a prepay mobile - and it works! yay) The city centre is similar to any big city, but with an African flavor and had lots of shops. However they are only open till one on a saturday (which is a good thing cos I can't afford to shopping on my current wages!) Then I met Lousie, another volunteer, and we spent a nice chilled afternoon and evening sipping beer in shady cafes and bars around the city. Everything is outside and the weather at the moment is pretty perfect! IN the evening we met up with some of the other volunteers in a wine bar overlooking the city, It was lovely but very quite and still considering it was a city on a Saturday night!
I stayed with Louise on Saturday night, as Brian, another one of the volunteers, had invited everyone to a braai on Sunday at his place in Penduka (a sort of craft centre/restaurant/accommodation run by a community group north of Katatura, where his placement is) We got a tour of the centre and a very enjoyable afternoon of hanging out, eating, drinking and catching up.
The centre is really nice, right on the edge of a dam and Brian is actually living in a mud hut! Although it’s a super delux model mud hut! Its made of clay and recycled coloured glass bottles, it quite big and it even has an upstairs and hot and cold water and electricity – I’m almost jealous!
At 3,30 I finally headed off to find my way home – I got a taxi from Penduka to a taxi car park (a scrubby desert area off the high way) where I squashed into another tiny taxi with 2 men, a woman, her 2 children and the driver and our bags. There were no seat belts, the petrol gauge flashed the whole way and the car seemed seriously strained! But again, despite my worries -,this time dying in a horrible wreck or conking out in the middle of the desert - we made it safely to Okahandja. I guess I’ll just have to get used to the taxi system here!
I spent a pleasant morning shopping (I got a dongle – 3G device that allows you get internet over the mobile phone network, and that you top up like a prepay mobile - and it works! yay) The city centre is similar to any big city, but with an African flavor and had lots of shops. However they are only open till one on a saturday (which is a good thing cos I can't afford to shopping on my current wages!) Then I met Lousie, another volunteer, and we spent a nice chilled afternoon and evening sipping beer in shady cafes and bars around the city. Everything is outside and the weather at the moment is pretty perfect! IN the evening we met up with some of the other volunteers in a wine bar overlooking the city, It was lovely but very quite and still considering it was a city on a Saturday night!
I stayed with Louise on Saturday night, as Brian, another one of the volunteers, had invited everyone to a braai on Sunday at his place in Penduka (a sort of craft centre/restaurant/accommodation run by a community group north of Katatura, where his placement is) We got a tour of the centre and a very enjoyable afternoon of hanging out, eating, drinking and catching up.
The centre is really nice, right on the edge of a dam and Brian is actually living in a mud hut! Although it’s a super delux model mud hut! Its made of clay and recycled coloured glass bottles, it quite big and it even has an upstairs and hot and cold water and electricity – I’m almost jealous!
At 3,30 I finally headed off to find my way home – I got a taxi from Penduka to a taxi car park (a scrubby desert area off the high way) where I squashed into another tiny taxi with 2 men, a woman, her 2 children and the driver and our bags. There were no seat belts, the petrol gauge flashed the whole way and the car seemed seriously strained! But again, despite my worries -,this time dying in a horrible wreck or conking out in the middle of the desert - we made it safely to Okahandja. I guess I’ll just have to get used to the taxi system here!
End of Week Two: Living and Working in Okahandja (Friday 18th Sept 2009)
Last Friday afternoon I left Windhoek for my new home. We headed north, passing through the industrial area on the edge of the city (power station, brewery, maize factory among others) but within a few minutes we were driving (on a nice tar road) across the dry scrub land that surrounds the city. The soil seems to be just stones and sand although it’s covered in dry brown grasses, with some thorny bushes and the odd tree. There were very few houses or settlements until we reached Okahandja.
I was brought straight to the NIED campus on the edge of town where I will work and live for next 12 months or so. After a brief visit to the offices, a meeting with my new boss, I was brought to my house (House One) just inside the main gate.
The house is far beyond anything I would have expected – for starters its huge! There are 5 bedrooms (one ensuite – now mine – and one I’ve ‘converted’ into an office!) a decent sized kitchen attached to a large dining\sitting room. It has everything from a washing machine and dryer to microwave and toaster (although it missing some essentials like a kettle and a iron) It also has a garden (although its just dry earth and few trees) and a garage!
NIED is on the outskirts of town of Okahandja, on the main road to Otjiwarango. Its opposite the railway tracks, with a riding club/stables, a few guest houses and homes separating it from the town itself. It takes 10/15 minutes from my house to the edge of the town (a petrol station and some traditional woodcarving markets), a further 5 or 10 minutes brings me to the nearest supermarkets (Pick and Pay and U$ave) and onto the main street which has banks, municipal buildings and a variety of shops (selling everything from furniture and clothes to hardware and books) Another 5 minutes or so brings me to far side of town (where the ‘best’ supermarket is – Spar) There are a few coffee shops and bars (also called Gambling Houses) but look pretty rough
I spent most of the evening unpacking and arranging everything to my satisfaction (which all took about 2 hours!) and spent a lazy weekend, pottering about, reading, watching DVDs and generally enjoying the peace and quiet of my new home.
Work started on Monday and it was a really strange morning where I spent about 3 hours being introduced to people and then promptly forgetting their names and what they do. Everyone is very friendly and keep telling me how great it is to have me here and that they can't wait to work with me! Expectations are high soI hope I have the expertise they're looking for!
Tuesday to Thursday were pretty quiet as my immediate bosses were away so I spent the time reading the NIED handbook and the Lower Primary Namibian Curriculum, but a lot of time surfing the web (very slowly – cos either the computer or internet connection are very slow) It’s nice to have a settling in period, I suppose, and it’s probably just bad timing that my arrival coincided with them both being away, but I actually like having something constructive to do, rather than trying to look busy.
On Tuesday I also open a bank account – which was an experience. I went to the bank on Monday to get the forms needed (they gave me a letter to type up on NIED headed paper) and returned first thing on Tuesday, I was there for almost 2 hours! It wasn’t that there was any hassle, or they were slow or particularly long queues, it’s just everything took so long. The first lady had to photocopy everything 3 times and fill in lots of forms (which I had to sign) and fill in lots of stuff on the computer – she also had to ask for help and confirmation a lot – but finally after about 40 mins, I had opened a bank account. Then I wanted to lodge some travelers cheques into my account (who knows when I’ll be paid!) This took another 40 min, I really think the guy had never done this before or they have the most complicated computer system ever!!! Then, after queuing up to get my card, I had to wait another 20 mins for the driver to come back. I was in no rush so I didn’t really mind but it gives a good indication of why business matters take so long – bureaucracy, antiquated systems, poorly trained staff to name but a few – and why I am definitely going to learn patience here!
On Firday my boss/colleague Alina was back and we had a meeting to discuss my job description and talk about what I’ll be doing. I’m still not completely sure what exactly I’ll be doing but I’m starting to get an idea – basically anything and everything to help the lower primary and broad curriculum department. So what do they do? A far as I can figure, they seem to work with teacher trainers (called inspectors and advisory teachers ) in how best to deliver the curriculum and also advise/ train the teachers in their areas how to do this. They are also involved in constantly reviewing the curriculum and text books/programmes, researching and improving the standard of teaching in Namibia and writing manuals for pre- and in-service teacher training. The closest thing we have would be the PCSP. How exactly I fit into this I don’t know but I’m starting to get an idea.
Today Alina showed me a syllabus manual they are putting together (it will be divided grade and will replace one that is divided by subject) We had a chat about it and at this stage my involvement seems to be to help simplify long winded explanations, make it more user friendly (for teachers to use) both in language and layout/organisation!
After work it’s pretty quite around here. Alot of the staff live in Windhoek and get a bus back straight after work. I spend the evenings doing domestic stuff (trying to cook or clean) but mostly reading or watching movies (I have about 400 gigs of movies with me on an external harddrive!) It’s actually a bit of a novelty to have absolutely nothing to do. At home there is always something I should or could be doing so it nice to have nothing – no project, no planning, no organising, no work! I’m sure I’d get bored of this quickly and I’m equally sure it won’t last once I start work in earnest. Till then.... bliss!
I was brought straight to the NIED campus on the edge of town where I will work and live for next 12 months or so. After a brief visit to the offices, a meeting with my new boss, I was brought to my house (House One) just inside the main gate.
The house is far beyond anything I would have expected – for starters its huge! There are 5 bedrooms (one ensuite – now mine – and one I’ve ‘converted’ into an office!) a decent sized kitchen attached to a large dining\sitting room. It has everything from a washing machine and dryer to microwave and toaster (although it missing some essentials like a kettle and a iron) It also has a garden (although its just dry earth and few trees) and a garage!
NIED is on the outskirts of town of Okahandja, on the main road to Otjiwarango. Its opposite the railway tracks, with a riding club/stables, a few guest houses and homes separating it from the town itself. It takes 10/15 minutes from my house to the edge of the town (a petrol station and some traditional woodcarving markets), a further 5 or 10 minutes brings me to the nearest supermarkets (Pick and Pay and U$ave) and onto the main street which has banks, municipal buildings and a variety of shops (selling everything from furniture and clothes to hardware and books) Another 5 minutes or so brings me to far side of town (where the ‘best’ supermarket is – Spar) There are a few coffee shops and bars (also called Gambling Houses) but look pretty rough
I spent most of the evening unpacking and arranging everything to my satisfaction (which all took about 2 hours!) and spent a lazy weekend, pottering about, reading, watching DVDs and generally enjoying the peace and quiet of my new home.
Work started on Monday and it was a really strange morning where I spent about 3 hours being introduced to people and then promptly forgetting their names and what they do. Everyone is very friendly and keep telling me how great it is to have me here and that they can't wait to work with me! Expectations are high soI hope I have the expertise they're looking for!
Tuesday to Thursday were pretty quiet as my immediate bosses were away so I spent the time reading the NIED handbook and the Lower Primary Namibian Curriculum, but a lot of time surfing the web (very slowly – cos either the computer or internet connection are very slow) It’s nice to have a settling in period, I suppose, and it’s probably just bad timing that my arrival coincided with them both being away, but I actually like having something constructive to do, rather than trying to look busy.
On Tuesday I also open a bank account – which was an experience. I went to the bank on Monday to get the forms needed (they gave me a letter to type up on NIED headed paper) and returned first thing on Tuesday, I was there for almost 2 hours! It wasn’t that there was any hassle, or they were slow or particularly long queues, it’s just everything took so long. The first lady had to photocopy everything 3 times and fill in lots of forms (which I had to sign) and fill in lots of stuff on the computer – she also had to ask for help and confirmation a lot – but finally after about 40 mins, I had opened a bank account. Then I wanted to lodge some travelers cheques into my account (who knows when I’ll be paid!) This took another 40 min, I really think the guy had never done this before or they have the most complicated computer system ever!!! Then, after queuing up to get my card, I had to wait another 20 mins for the driver to come back. I was in no rush so I didn’t really mind but it gives a good indication of why business matters take so long – bureaucracy, antiquated systems, poorly trained staff to name but a few – and why I am definitely going to learn patience here!
On Firday my boss/colleague Alina was back and we had a meeting to discuss my job description and talk about what I’ll be doing. I’m still not completely sure what exactly I’ll be doing but I’m starting to get an idea – basically anything and everything to help the lower primary and broad curriculum department. So what do they do? A far as I can figure, they seem to work with teacher trainers (called inspectors and advisory teachers ) in how best to deliver the curriculum and also advise/ train the teachers in their areas how to do this. They are also involved in constantly reviewing the curriculum and text books/programmes, researching and improving the standard of teaching in Namibia and writing manuals for pre- and in-service teacher training. The closest thing we have would be the PCSP. How exactly I fit into this I don’t know but I’m starting to get an idea.
Today Alina showed me a syllabus manual they are putting together (it will be divided grade and will replace one that is divided by subject) We had a chat about it and at this stage my involvement seems to be to help simplify long winded explanations, make it more user friendly (for teachers to use) both in language and layout/organisation!
After work it’s pretty quite around here. Alot of the staff live in Windhoek and get a bus back straight after work. I spend the evenings doing domestic stuff (trying to cook or clean) but mostly reading or watching movies (I have about 400 gigs of movies with me on an external harddrive!) It’s actually a bit of a novelty to have absolutely nothing to do. At home there is always something I should or could be doing so it nice to have nothing – no project, no planning, no organising, no work! I’m sure I’d get bored of this quickly and I’m equally sure it won’t last once I start work in earnest. Till then.... bliss!
End of Week One: ICT and VSO (Thurs 10th Sept 2009)
I arrived in Windhoek (via London and Jo’burg) last Sunday afternoon, after over 24 hours of travelling but thankfully with all my baggage. It’s a smallish city seemingly slap bang in the middle of a semi arid desert of bushes, scrub and sandy coloured dry grass. We were brought to temporary accommodation (which is very nice; a flat shared with three Dutch girls but I’ve my own room) where we will stay during the next few days of ICT (that’s In-Country Training: VSO love their acronyms!) There are 17 of us ‘new volunteers’ - us 4 girls, 2 guys and 5 couples (3 with children)
The training has been good (especially in that it gives us a chance to acclimatise, meet other volunteers and get some basic information about living and working in Namibia) but sometimes boring (some of the sessions were not great or badly organised – especially the language training)
We did one particularly good exercise in which we were dropped off in Katutura (a very poor, predominately black suburb, north west of the city) with a list of 3 community groups to visit and find out about. Until this point, we could have been forgiven for thinking that we were in a first world city, let alone a second world / developing one. The area where our accommodation and the VSO offices are, are nice, clean, well developed suburbs. In Katutura we were quickly reminded that although Namibia is quite high on the list of developing countries (according to GNP type scales) there is a huge amount of abject poverty. Although there some rich and quite a few people who are very comfortable the majority of people are very, very disadvantaged. In fact we were later told that Namibia is one of the world’s most unequal countries in the world, where 5% of the population own 95% of the wealth.
We also had a chance to socialize during the week too; dinner at Joe’s Beer House on Sunday night (I ate some zebra, kudu, ostrich and springbok )a pizza lunch with other Windhoek based Volunteers on Monday, dinner in a Cameroon Restaurant on Wednesday night and an afternoon braai (bbq) to finish off today. It was also nice to cook dinner (well i ate and washed up) hang out and watch a movie with my flatmates on the other nights.
The training has been good (especially in that it gives us a chance to acclimatise, meet other volunteers and get some basic information about living and working in Namibia) but sometimes boring (some of the sessions were not great or badly organised – especially the language training)
We did one particularly good exercise in which we were dropped off in Katutura (a very poor, predominately black suburb, north west of the city) with a list of 3 community groups to visit and find out about. Until this point, we could have been forgiven for thinking that we were in a first world city, let alone a second world / developing one. The area where our accommodation and the VSO offices are, are nice, clean, well developed suburbs. In Katutura we were quickly reminded that although Namibia is quite high on the list of developing countries (according to GNP type scales) there is a huge amount of abject poverty. Although there some rich and quite a few people who are very comfortable the majority of people are very, very disadvantaged. In fact we were later told that Namibia is one of the world’s most unequal countries in the world, where 5% of the population own 95% of the wealth.
We also had a chance to socialize during the week too; dinner at Joe’s Beer House on Sunday night (I ate some zebra, kudu, ostrich and springbok )a pizza lunch with other Windhoek based Volunteers on Monday, dinner in a Cameroon Restaurant on Wednesday night and an afternoon braai (bbq) to finish off today. It was also nice to cook dinner (well i ate and washed up) hang out and watch a movie with my flatmates on the other nights.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
ICT Namibia
Just finishing up my 'in-country training' in Windhoek. It's been 4 days of information, discussion, training and tasks to get us ready for working in Namibia. Its a bit like being in Limbo - I'm in Namibia and finding out lots about the country but in a very sheltered way. It has been a great way to get to know the VSO staff, meet the other Volunteers and start getting aclimitised. Tomorrow I'm heading to Okhandja and the real world....
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
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