Sorry, it's been a busy couple of months! Here are some things that probably each deserved their own blog post, but they'll have to crowd together as I catch up!
Fathers in Namibia - This is something that was on my mind as I was marking exams last term. One of the possible essay topics was, "Mothers are more important than fathers. Do you agree or disagree?" About six of my learners chose that topic and they all agreed that mothers were more important! I thought it was kind of a bad question, like asking parents to say which of their children they love best. But the learners who replied had very strong, very bad opinions about fathers. For example, they said things like, "Mothers will make sure you have something to eat, but fathers will just drink their money." Or, "Mothers are there every day, but sometimes fathers will just abandon you and they don't care." There are a lot of single mothers here, most who became pregnant without being married. It's a shame that these kids have such poor father figures to look up to.
August Holiday - We had two weeks off for the August holiday, during which time we stayed home, relaxed, planned, and played with our dogs/puppies. One exciting thing was that one of my learners, Penehafo, was accepted to go on Diversity Tour - a trip organized by Peace Corps for kids to see more of their own country. Penehafo had never even been to Etosha National Park although she's lived in Tsumeb most of her life (Etosha is only about 90km from here and is a HUGE game park). She was gone for a whole week visiting Etosha, Windhoek, Swakopmund, and Otjiwarongo with other learners from around the country. She was a little homesick by the time she got back, but so excited by all that she had seen! Penehafo came over to our house several times over the holiday to play games with us and to let her puppies play with ours. =)
Grad School - Over the holiday we also worked on our grad school applications, which is good because I can see we won't have much time now that school's started. We are applying to schools in Boston, D.C, and Durham. Dylan wants to get his masters in teaching and I want mine in development.
New books! - One of the highlights of this term so far is that I was able to unveil a whole bunch of new books to the Reading Club. These books were donated and sent through an organization called Darien Book Aid, which collects used books and sends them around the world. We got some good ones that will be used by Reading Club for now and added to our school library when I leave. See picture below!
Fathers in Namibia - This is something that was on my mind as I was marking exams last term. One of the possible essay topics was, "Mothers are more important than fathers. Do you agree or disagree?" About six of my learners chose that topic and they all agreed that mothers were more important! I thought it was kind of a bad question, like asking parents to say which of their children they love best. But the learners who replied had very strong, very bad opinions about fathers. For example, they said things like, "Mothers will make sure you have something to eat, but fathers will just drink their money." Or, "Mothers are there every day, but sometimes fathers will just abandon you and they don't care." There are a lot of single mothers here, most who became pregnant without being married. It's a shame that these kids have such poor father figures to look up to.
August Holiday - We had two weeks off for the August holiday, during which time we stayed home, relaxed, planned, and played with our dogs/puppies. One exciting thing was that one of my learners, Penehafo, was accepted to go on Diversity Tour - a trip organized by Peace Corps for kids to see more of their own country. Penehafo had never even been to Etosha National Park although she's lived in Tsumeb most of her life (Etosha is only about 90km from here and is a HUGE game park). She was gone for a whole week visiting Etosha, Windhoek, Swakopmund, and Otjiwarongo with other learners from around the country. She was a little homesick by the time she got back, but so excited by all that she had seen! Penehafo came over to our house several times over the holiday to play games with us and to let her puppies play with ours. =)
Grad School - Over the holiday we also worked on our grad school applications, which is good because I can see we won't have much time now that school's started. We are applying to schools in Boston, D.C, and Durham. Dylan wants to get his masters in teaching and I want mine in development.
New books! - One of the highlights of this term so far is that I was able to unveil a whole bunch of new books to the Reading Club. These books were donated and sent through an organization called Darien Book Aid, which collects used books and sends them around the world. We got some good ones that will be used by Reading Club for now and added to our school library when I leave. See picture below!
RSS Feed