Lutaka Musipili Philimom, grade 7
Dear Americans
Hallo how are you there in USA? I am doing fine here in Namibia to Kabbe.
My name is Philimom I am a boy of 14 year Our teacher is Mrs brown Emilly She teach us English and maths. I think I will get an A in maths.
I wish you Good Luck to meet me other years coming. I like to be a piote [pilot] One time I will meet you in USA.
Yours faithfully
Philimom Musipili Lutaka
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Learner Guest Post!!
So I gave some learners the option of writing a letter to America to post here. Here are some letters I got back. Enjoy!
Letter 1: Thikukutu Given, grade 7
Hello. How are you? I'm awesome here in Namibia. My name is Thikukutu Given. I'm a friend of Miss Emily Brown. I am in grade 7, Miss Emily teaches us English and Maths and I am a clever boy because I always participate in English and Maths.
One day miss Emily was sick and I went to visit her there I met her friend Kait and I even did some Maths work there. I enjoyed staying with Miss Emily and Miss Kait. I even watched some movies with Miss Emily.
Greating to you all and your family. Even Mr. Skip and Miss Brown too the parents of Miss Emily.
Letter 2: Lutaka Mutwamezi Philosophy, grade 7
Hellow!!! My name is philosophy my surname is Lutaka the use to call me my culture name Mutwamezi I live in Kabbe Area in Linyandelo village means we suffered alot
I wish you to pray for me to pass
Best wishes!!!!
Letter 1: Thikukutu Given, grade 7
Hello. How are you? I'm awesome here in Namibia. My name is Thikukutu Given. I'm a friend of Miss Emily Brown. I am in grade 7, Miss Emily teaches us English and Maths and I am a clever boy because I always participate in English and Maths.
One day miss Emily was sick and I went to visit her there I met her friend Kait and I even did some Maths work there. I enjoyed staying with Miss Emily and Miss Kait. I even watched some movies with Miss Emily.
Greating to you all and your family. Even Mr. Skip and Miss Brown too the parents of Miss Emily.
Letter 2: Lutaka Mutwamezi Philosophy, grade 7
Hellow!!! My name is philosophy my surname is Lutaka the use to call me my culture name Mutwamezi I live in Kabbe Area in Linyandelo village means we suffered alot
I wish you to pray for me to pass
Best wishes!!!!
Marathon!
Okay, so this post is about a month overdue but first of all I want to thank all of my family and friends who donated money so that I could take learners to the Lucky Star Marathon! You all are wonderful, wonderful people who made twelve Caprivian learners from Kabbe very very very very very happy. I've posted pictures on facebook already but now that I have internet at my school again (for now, until someone breaks it again) I'll recount the story titled "the time I decided to transport twelve learners from the village 3000 kilometers in 3 days so that they could run in a marathon."
Each year Etosha Fisheries hosts a marathon in Swakopmund. For those of you who don't have a map of Namibia handy, Swakopmund is on the coast about 300 k West of Windhoek. It's also the most magical place in Namibia, because not only does it have TWO of the three movie theaters in the country, but it also has a Thai restaurant. So anyway, each year there is a marathon which runs from Walvis Bay, about 40 k south of Swakop, up to Swakop. Part of what makes this marathon important for this story is that they also have a learner relay, so teams of 4 learners each run about 10.55 kilometers and together finish the length of one marathon.
When I first heard about the marathon I thought, hmm I like Swakop, it has thai food, I should go there. Then I remembered that I'm an education volunteer and work with children and that every time I go for my daily 5 k run learners run next to me shouting "Miss Emily! Miss Emily! Miss Emily! Miss Emily! We can walk as fast as you're running!" And run in crazy circles around me until the annoyance of trying to run in 35 degree Celcius heat with small boys pointing out my pathetic running ability forces me to say "Good for you. Now let's see how fast you can run to thaaaaaaat tree way over there." So, I thought to myself, these kids like running, they've never been and might never get a chance to go to Swakopmund, and this is the first time in their lives they'll be exposed to the idea that if they work hard and train for things good things might happen, I should train learners and take them to this marathon.
So, at the beginning of this term I made an announcement during morning assembly that anyone who wanted to train for a marathon should meet at the big tree after afternoon study. I didn't tell the learners where it was right away, because I didn't want them to train for the marathon just because they wanted to go to Swakop, which somehow made them all think I was taking them to America. Whoops. But anyway, I paired down the 40 learners who showed up to train to the 12 best runners who came the most consistently, and preemptively put in my request for regional transport about 5 weeks before the actual event.
To give you an idea of what it's like to try to organize events in Namibia, I'm going to now recount to you the story within this story titled "How I got transport for the marathon."
Now, in America, I'm pretty sure when you put in a request for something like transport, they file that request, tell you whether there's transport available for the event, and, if there is, on the day you have requested transport for you can show up, get in a bus with your twelve learners and be driven to and from the place you have requested to be driven to and from. Not so in Namibia.
I put in the request for transport, was told I would be given two GRN bakkies (pick up trucks) with two drivers who would drive me to Swakop 2 days before the marathon, and then back the day after. Ok great. My friend and fellow PCV in town checked several times for me, and every time I went to town thereafter I checked in to make sure everything was all right with the transport and was told each time that there was no problem. On Monday of the week of the marathon, I called the transport office to quadruple check that it was available. The conversation went something like this, "Hi Mr Tawana, this is Emily Brown." "What? Who?" "Emily Brown. The teacher in Kabbe." "Who?" "The Peace Corps Volunteer." "???" "I'm the one who is trying to take those twelve learners to Swakopmund this week for the marathon." "Okay. You are the one taking two bakkies to Rundu." "Right. Two bakkies and two drivers to drive us the Swakopmund and then back." "No, I'm afraid that won't be possible. All of our drivers are in Windhoek for a workshop." "?!?!?!?!?!?! Um, sorry?" "All of our drivers are in Windhoek for a workshop." "?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!" "Do you have any teachers who can drive?" "Um. No. Let me check." After frantically asking my principal, I found one teacher at my school with a drivers' licence, which didn't really solve the problem since I had two bakkies now with one driver. Peace Corps Volunteers aren't allowed to drive, and on top of that I don't know how to drive a stick shift on the wrong side of the road and didn't really want to try with 6 kids' lives in my hands.
I called Mr Tawana again and asked if we could have a combi instead. He said no. I called the coordinator of the marathon to see if Ethosha Fisheries was providing regional transport, which I heard might happen. I was told by the woman in charge that they would find transport and not to worry, and she would call me back later that day. I breathed a sigh of relief. When I hadn't heard from her by the next morning, I got a little worried so I called again. She informed me that the bus providing transport from Katima was full, and asked if I could find my own transport. I explained that I called her because my own transport had fallen through. Atata.
I asked around and found out that last year a Caprivi volunteer paid a Combi driver to drive him and his learners to the marathon and then was reimbursed by the circuit office. The next day I went to the see the circuit inspector to see if they could do this for me. The circuit inspector was out, so instead I talked to the acting circuit inspector. I explained the problem and he said, "so the problem is that you have two bakkies but only one driver? So if we find another driver will that solve the problem?" I said yes, and he promised to find a second driver. I thanked him profusely, and headed off to the transport office to check on my bakkies. When I arrived at the transport office I was told to go to another section of the ministry because the transport officer was in Windhoek. When I got to the other office I asked the man sitting behind the desk about the bakkies. He replied, "We are having a problem of bakkies. I don't feel well. I'm going home." Translation: There are no bakkies. "!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!" "Let me make a phone call." After calling the acting transport officer he sent me back through the winding corridors back to the transport office, where I explained my problem and the acting transport officer said that there were no bakkies at the moment, but he would make a few calls and try to pull them from the field. Close to extreme exasperation I sat down to wait, while the other man in the office talked to me about the bible for 45 minutes. While I was waiting I got a call from my HOD saying someone from the ministry of youth (a separate ministry altogether from the ministry of education) had called because he had a bus on which he was transporting learners from other schools to the marathon, and that I should go to see him to see if there was room.
I walked all the way across town (in above 40 degree Celcius humid Katima weather) and went to see the ministry of youth guy. After waiting for about 30 minutes he showed up, and explained that the Marathon people had given him N$10 000 for a bus, but a 22 person bus cost N$14 000, they had a donation from another sector of N$1500 and the schools were going to cover the rest. I said okay, and asked how much, and was told that each team would pay 625, but since I had 3 teams and we wouldn't all fit, I had to pay close to 3000. I asked why, and he said it was because we would need to get a bigger bus. I asked how much more a bigger bus would cost and he said he didn't want to call to get a quotation because then they might charge more than 14 000. "?!?!?!?!?!?!?!" So, to clarify, I was expected to give him a random extra N$2000 without getting a quotation? Yes. But, he said he heard I had one driver and one bakkie, so we could fit one of my teams in the bakkie and one of my teams in the bakkie and the other 8 could go in the bus and then I would just pay the 1250 for my two other teams. Resisting the urge to bang my head against his desk I explained that I actually didn't have that bakkie anymore, so really I needed to get all of my learners on this bus. As we were negotiating, the guy from the ministry of education called and said he had gotten one bakkie. Then the acting inspector called to say he hadn't found another driver. Fine. I agreed to put 4 of my learners in the bakkie and the other 8 on the bus and to pay the difference of N1250 (thank you again to all of my wonderful family and friends who donated!!!!!). MOY guy then informed me that they were just happening to give us the 27 seater for the same price as the 22 seater so we could just put the luggage in the bakkie. Wanting to scream at him for trying to rip me off but feeling relieved that my learners were going to Swakop I said fine.
The next day we loaded the learners onto the bus, along with MOY guy and his family, because even though there wouldn't have been space to fit all of my learners on the smaller bus, there was room for him to bring his family on a free vacation. Ahhh corruption. But anyway.
After overnighting in Rundu, we arrived in Swakopmund at around 2:00 the next day. After we unloaded the bus at the coast the learners all rushed toward the ocean. This was the first time any of the Caprivi kids had ever been to the ocean. For some it was the first time they were out of their region. Their excitement and wonder was worth every exasperated second of getting them to Swakop. After taking countless pictures of my learners playing in the ocean, and after collecting seawater to bring back to the village to keep ghosts out of their houses, we went to register the kids to run.
The next day we woke up early to get the kids ready and got the starting point just as they were about to start. After they started running I went from checkpoint to checkpoint to see each runner in each of the 3 teams cross the checkpoint. Although my runners weren't the fastest, the look on each of their faces as they crossed the finish line was priceless. I was so proud of all of them for completing the race that it obliterated all of my feelings of stress and exhaustion. After the marathon was completed we had an awards ceremony. Each of the runners received a T-shirt and a medal which they proudly put on, and my school won a raffled box of running shoes! Each of my runners won a pair of sneakers, with some left over to be distributed to other learners at the school.
After the awards ceremony we took the learners back to the beach, where they ran in and out of the water under my supervision. While they were swimming I looked over to see them pulling something huge out of the water. I ran over to see what they were doing, only to discover that it was a dead seal that had washed up on the shore. Atata.
After explaining how to use the beach showers and imploring them to keep their clothes ON while showering, they got dressed and we walked to the small museum. We went inside to look at displays and they asked me questions such as whether the taxidermied animals were still alive. Afterwards I bought each of them an ice cream cone (they all chose chocolate except for one brave learner who asked for "pink") and we boarded the bus to start the 19 hour journey home. Although exhausted, sunburned, dirty and smelly, the trip was absolutely amazing. I will certainly be bringing learners again next year.
Each year Etosha Fisheries hosts a marathon in Swakopmund. For those of you who don't have a map of Namibia handy, Swakopmund is on the coast about 300 k West of Windhoek. It's also the most magical place in Namibia, because not only does it have TWO of the three movie theaters in the country, but it also has a Thai restaurant. So anyway, each year there is a marathon which runs from Walvis Bay, about 40 k south of Swakop, up to Swakop. Part of what makes this marathon important for this story is that they also have a learner relay, so teams of 4 learners each run about 10.55 kilometers and together finish the length of one marathon.
When I first heard about the marathon I thought, hmm I like Swakop, it has thai food, I should go there. Then I remembered that I'm an education volunteer and work with children and that every time I go for my daily 5 k run learners run next to me shouting "Miss Emily! Miss Emily! Miss Emily! Miss Emily! We can walk as fast as you're running!" And run in crazy circles around me until the annoyance of trying to run in 35 degree Celcius heat with small boys pointing out my pathetic running ability forces me to say "Good for you. Now let's see how fast you can run to thaaaaaaat tree way over there." So, I thought to myself, these kids like running, they've never been and might never get a chance to go to Swakopmund, and this is the first time in their lives they'll be exposed to the idea that if they work hard and train for things good things might happen, I should train learners and take them to this marathon.
So, at the beginning of this term I made an announcement during morning assembly that anyone who wanted to train for a marathon should meet at the big tree after afternoon study. I didn't tell the learners where it was right away, because I didn't want them to train for the marathon just because they wanted to go to Swakop, which somehow made them all think I was taking them to America. Whoops. But anyway, I paired down the 40 learners who showed up to train to the 12 best runners who came the most consistently, and preemptively put in my request for regional transport about 5 weeks before the actual event.
To give you an idea of what it's like to try to organize events in Namibia, I'm going to now recount to you the story within this story titled "How I got transport for the marathon."
Now, in America, I'm pretty sure when you put in a request for something like transport, they file that request, tell you whether there's transport available for the event, and, if there is, on the day you have requested transport for you can show up, get in a bus with your twelve learners and be driven to and from the place you have requested to be driven to and from. Not so in Namibia.
I put in the request for transport, was told I would be given two GRN bakkies (pick up trucks) with two drivers who would drive me to Swakop 2 days before the marathon, and then back the day after. Ok great. My friend and fellow PCV in town checked several times for me, and every time I went to town thereafter I checked in to make sure everything was all right with the transport and was told each time that there was no problem. On Monday of the week of the marathon, I called the transport office to quadruple check that it was available. The conversation went something like this, "Hi Mr Tawana, this is Emily Brown." "What? Who?" "Emily Brown. The teacher in Kabbe." "Who?" "The Peace Corps Volunteer." "???" "I'm the one who is trying to take those twelve learners to Swakopmund this week for the marathon." "Okay. You are the one taking two bakkies to Rundu." "Right. Two bakkies and two drivers to drive us the Swakopmund and then back." "No, I'm afraid that won't be possible. All of our drivers are in Windhoek for a workshop." "?!?!?!?!?!?! Um, sorry?" "All of our drivers are in Windhoek for a workshop." "?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!" "Do you have any teachers who can drive?" "Um. No. Let me check." After frantically asking my principal, I found one teacher at my school with a drivers' licence, which didn't really solve the problem since I had two bakkies now with one driver. Peace Corps Volunteers aren't allowed to drive, and on top of that I don't know how to drive a stick shift on the wrong side of the road and didn't really want to try with 6 kids' lives in my hands.
I called Mr Tawana again and asked if we could have a combi instead. He said no. I called the coordinator of the marathon to see if Ethosha Fisheries was providing regional transport, which I heard might happen. I was told by the woman in charge that they would find transport and not to worry, and she would call me back later that day. I breathed a sigh of relief. When I hadn't heard from her by the next morning, I got a little worried so I called again. She informed me that the bus providing transport from Katima was full, and asked if I could find my own transport. I explained that I called her because my own transport had fallen through. Atata.
I asked around and found out that last year a Caprivi volunteer paid a Combi driver to drive him and his learners to the marathon and then was reimbursed by the circuit office. The next day I went to the see the circuit inspector to see if they could do this for me. The circuit inspector was out, so instead I talked to the acting circuit inspector. I explained the problem and he said, "so the problem is that you have two bakkies but only one driver? So if we find another driver will that solve the problem?" I said yes, and he promised to find a second driver. I thanked him profusely, and headed off to the transport office to check on my bakkies. When I arrived at the transport office I was told to go to another section of the ministry because the transport officer was in Windhoek. When I got to the other office I asked the man sitting behind the desk about the bakkies. He replied, "We are having a problem of bakkies. I don't feel well. I'm going home." Translation: There are no bakkies. "!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!" "Let me make a phone call." After calling the acting transport officer he sent me back through the winding corridors back to the transport office, where I explained my problem and the acting transport officer said that there were no bakkies at the moment, but he would make a few calls and try to pull them from the field. Close to extreme exasperation I sat down to wait, while the other man in the office talked to me about the bible for 45 minutes. While I was waiting I got a call from my HOD saying someone from the ministry of youth (a separate ministry altogether from the ministry of education) had called because he had a bus on which he was transporting learners from other schools to the marathon, and that I should go to see him to see if there was room.
I walked all the way across town (in above 40 degree Celcius humid Katima weather) and went to see the ministry of youth guy. After waiting for about 30 minutes he showed up, and explained that the Marathon people had given him N$10 000 for a bus, but a 22 person bus cost N$14 000, they had a donation from another sector of N$1500 and the schools were going to cover the rest. I said okay, and asked how much, and was told that each team would pay 625, but since I had 3 teams and we wouldn't all fit, I had to pay close to 3000. I asked why, and he said it was because we would need to get a bigger bus. I asked how much more a bigger bus would cost and he said he didn't want to call to get a quotation because then they might charge more than 14 000. "?!?!?!?!?!?!?!" So, to clarify, I was expected to give him a random extra N$2000 without getting a quotation? Yes. But, he said he heard I had one driver and one bakkie, so we could fit one of my teams in the bakkie and one of my teams in the bakkie and the other 8 could go in the bus and then I would just pay the 1250 for my two other teams. Resisting the urge to bang my head against his desk I explained that I actually didn't have that bakkie anymore, so really I needed to get all of my learners on this bus. As we were negotiating, the guy from the ministry of education called and said he had gotten one bakkie. Then the acting inspector called to say he hadn't found another driver. Fine. I agreed to put 4 of my learners in the bakkie and the other 8 on the bus and to pay the difference of N1250 (thank you again to all of my wonderful family and friends who donated!!!!!). MOY guy then informed me that they were just happening to give us the 27 seater for the same price as the 22 seater so we could just put the luggage in the bakkie. Wanting to scream at him for trying to rip me off but feeling relieved that my learners were going to Swakop I said fine.
The next day we loaded the learners onto the bus, along with MOY guy and his family, because even though there wouldn't have been space to fit all of my learners on the smaller bus, there was room for him to bring his family on a free vacation. Ahhh corruption. But anyway.
After overnighting in Rundu, we arrived in Swakopmund at around 2:00 the next day. After we unloaded the bus at the coast the learners all rushed toward the ocean. This was the first time any of the Caprivi kids had ever been to the ocean. For some it was the first time they were out of their region. Their excitement and wonder was worth every exasperated second of getting them to Swakop. After taking countless pictures of my learners playing in the ocean, and after collecting seawater to bring back to the village to keep ghosts out of their houses, we went to register the kids to run.
The next day we woke up early to get the kids ready and got the starting point just as they were about to start. After they started running I went from checkpoint to checkpoint to see each runner in each of the 3 teams cross the checkpoint. Although my runners weren't the fastest, the look on each of their faces as they crossed the finish line was priceless. I was so proud of all of them for completing the race that it obliterated all of my feelings of stress and exhaustion. After the marathon was completed we had an awards ceremony. Each of the runners received a T-shirt and a medal which they proudly put on, and my school won a raffled box of running shoes! Each of my runners won a pair of sneakers, with some left over to be distributed to other learners at the school.
After the awards ceremony we took the learners back to the beach, where they ran in and out of the water under my supervision. While they were swimming I looked over to see them pulling something huge out of the water. I ran over to see what they were doing, only to discover that it was a dead seal that had washed up on the shore. Atata.
After explaining how to use the beach showers and imploring them to keep their clothes ON while showering, they got dressed and we walked to the small museum. We went inside to look at displays and they asked me questions such as whether the taxidermied animals were still alive. Afterwards I bought each of them an ice cream cone (they all chose chocolate except for one brave learner who asked for "pink") and we boarded the bus to start the 19 hour journey home. Although exhausted, sunburned, dirty and smelly, the trip was absolutely amazing. I will certainly be bringing learners again next year.
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