So I figured some people might actually be interested in
what is happening in Namibia rather than always reading about my ramblings,
thought processes, etc. Therefore,
I’m dedicating a WHOLE post to things that are happening in Odibo.
Currently, we are in the process of taking exams. Students take one to two exams each
day, which means they are finished with the school day around 10 or 1. Since some days are finished early, you
would think that teachers would continue to meet with the students, but so far,
students have been free to leave if they want to. Most days a handful of the students stick around and
socialize. For those that are
there, I usually show a movie on my laptop to entertain them. Others have been helping me in the
library. Speaking of the library,
I am finally getting somewhere on this project. Last week I was able to get all of the desks and cleaning
supplies removed, and since then, I’ve swept and sorted the books that were
already there. A lot of the books
are really old/falling a part or are for a younger reading age. This is great for the lower primary
students, but does not really benefit the older students that need as much
exposure to English as possible.
That is where the money I have raised will come into play. Amanda and my mom have started scoping
out Half Price Books and making purchases through Amazon. The plan is for Amanda and Mark to
bring as many books as possible with them in September and to then have the
rest shipped with some of the money I have fundraised. I am eager to see how the kids respond
to their new supply of books and also to see the final outcome of the library.
As of right now, there are a couple shelves in our
library/old janitor’s closet. The
shelf closest to the door will be for bags. We don’t want any of our books to disappear, so students
will be required to leave all items at the door. From there, there will be 5 seats within the library. This will most likely become my office
for term 3, so one chair will be mine, but the other four will be for students
to come do homework, read books, get help on their English. Past the desks will be the shelves of
books. In the past, the school
sorted the books by the year they were published, which seemed odd to me, so I
will be changing that and putting the books into Fiction, Nonfiction, Resource
books, Oshikwanyama books, Miscellaneous items (songs, poems, plays), and
Newspapers/Magazines. I will also be
putting posters on the walls to explain the difference between Fiction and
Nonfiction books, and then there will be some motivational quotes to inspire
the kids to keep pushing forward.
The last process will be to get books registered and ready
to check out. One of our teachers
is technically the librarian, but the books have not been available to check
out for a little more than two years.
I am hoping to get her help on understanding the system of how things
should work. Fingers crossed this
goes smoothly and is not incredibly demanding.
In other news, I will be going on August Holiday at the end
of the month. On the 21st,
teachers are done and have about 10 days to relax and prepare for term 3. Of course us volunteers do this by
driving all over the country to see as much as possible. I will be traveling with 3 other
volunteers. We are renting a car,
which is incredibly scary because Namibians drive on the other side of the road
and car. We will pick the car up
in Windhoek and head south, hitting major tourist attractions like Sossussvlei,
Luderitz, and Fish River Canyon.
Along the way, we will stop at smaller sites to do some site seeing and
hiking. I am seriously counting
down the days until our holiday starts.
Although this term has flown by and has been great, we did not have any
3-day weekends, so we are all ready for a break from teacher talk.
Welp, that’s what is happening in my neck of the woods. Students finish exams on the 12th
and are then done with school.
Pray for my sanity as I sit on my buttocks and mark test after test for
the next couple weeks. Also pray that the
students do well on exams and that the library continues to get rolling and
that some of the other teachers jump on the bandwagon. TEAM LIBRARY!!
P.S. On Friday, I will be picking up my traditional Ovambo
dress that I had custom made.
Pictures will definitely be headed to the blogger world soon. In addition, here are some super cool
Namibian goodies I picked up last week. All proceeds go to the maker of the item and their villages.
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