The last couple weekends we've been busy at different events with our learners. A week ago we attended the confirmation ceremony for several of our learners, although we were particularly invited by Elizabeth, the girl in the photo. Confirmation is a big deal here - girls get fancy white dresses, boys get expensive suits, the family all gathers in town, and there's a party! Most of the service was in a mixture of Afrikaans and Damara, so we didn't understand a lot, but we sang a few songs, the kids recited the Apostle's Creed and answered some questions, the preacher preached, and then the kids got their individual certificates. Afterwards we went to Elizabeth's house for her party (she is my learner and her twin brother is one of Dylan's). We took lots of photos and had a meal (meat and various pasta/potato salads). Elizabeth wasn't allowed to change out of her dress until bed time!
This past Saturday was the regional SpellQuiz Bee, which Dylan has been involved in ever since our first month at site! It's a competition consisting of a spelling bee (pictured left) and a team quiz. The winners of the regional meet go on to the finals in Windhoek at the end of October. Dylan's learners performed well, especially in the quiz. Because Opawa only had a junior team (grade 8-10), they don't qualify for the finals (which are only for grade 11-12), but they did win in the regional competition between the four junior teams. Otjikoto learners performed very well; the senior quiz team made it to the finals and one grade 10 learner will be going to the spelling bee finals. It was fun to watch! (Sorry the pictures are pretty blurry..