Hello All! I'm sorry I haven't posted for a couple of weeks, but things have been a little bit crazy around here. Between traveling north and starting our first week of school. I won't keep you waiting any longer so read-on :-)

The first day of school at A.I. Steenkamp was interesting to say the least. When we arrived the staff meeting was just beginning. There was lots of singing, praying, and Amens. There really wasn’t much school business talked about which was a little bit surprising to me as we were all about to embark on a new school year with lots of new students. As we exited the staff lounge and made our way outside, the children were beginning to line up. 1,400 students packed into about a 100 square foot area in the straightest quietest lines I have ever seen. Once they were all lined up they began to sing. Listening to the 1,400 beautiful voices gave me goosebumps. I had never heard anything like it before. After the children finished singing, the principal Mrs. Kamehene invited one of the local pastors to come up to do a scripture reading and pray for the school.

The kids all lined up for opening ceremonies.

It is very interesting how God and prayer are truly at the center of everything at Steenkamp. This is one major difference between schools here and schools back in the United States where we have, by law, separation of Church and State. During the pastor’s talk, he was speaking Damara, which is also something that I would never hear in the United States. It was very interesting to listen to his speech. The teachers were nice enough to translate for us. This is the first time I have ever been in a situation where I haven’t had a clue what was going on because I don’t speak the language.

After the pastor left, for the most part the staff spoke English to the students. At times I wished I hadn’t known what they were saying though. Our principal Mrs. Kamahene brought students up on stage who she didn’t think looked nice enough for school. She made comments in front of all the students and staff about how messy their hair looked and said that they didn’t look clean. The children didn’t seem to show any emotion at all, but my heart was breaking for them. I couldn’t help but think how inappropriate this was. After she was done giving non-examples of dress code and then comparing them to students who looked nice and clean, she sent all the learners off to class.

After the learners headed off to class we were asked to go wait in the staff lounge until we received our placements. We sat, and sat, and sat some more as we watched students moving desks and chairs back and forth across the courtyard. Finally at about 10:00 we got our placements. I was somewhat apprehensive at first because I was concerned that I would only be placed in a science classroom, but that did not turn out to be the case. Right away Mrs. Kandara welcomed me into here grade 7E class. As soon as I walked in the door she introduced me to the learners and then asked me to take over. I ended up teaching the rest of the day and it was absolutely wonderful. I was by myself with the kids for most of the day. At first it was a little bit nerve wracking, but it wasn’t long until the kids and I got to know one another. This situation, me being left in the classroom on day one by myself, is definitely unlikely to happen in the United States. I have dealt with teachers who have a hard time trusting practicum students with their classroom, but Mrs. Kandara trusted me right away. Well I guess maybe trust didn’t have anything to do with it, but it was more the fact that she is in charge of all the grade 7 teachers and she had a lot to get done that day. She was so thankful for everything I did with the kids and said that if I hadn’t been there to teach them, they would have just sat in the classroom unsupervised.

Although there is a lot of hussel and bussel on the first day of school in the U.S. also, it is nothing compared to what goes on at Steenkamp. Teachers don’t come in before school starts to get their classrooms set up. The whole first day was dedicated to moving desks and chairs back and forth between classrooms. Even after all the craziness, we still don’t have enough desks or chairs for all of our kids in our classes. Often, I have two girls sharing one chair and one desk and still have students without desks. At the end of my first day, my teacher handed me a Time Table (my class schedule) and it wasn’t until I got home that I was able to look at it.

Class schedules at Steenkamp are different than anything I have ever experienced in my life. We have nine periods per day, each being thirty-five minutes long. Not only are these extremely short periods to begin with, but they also are not allotted a passing period at all, so by the time I get my students I usually have between twenty and twenty-five minutes of teaching time. We have nine periods a day with about forty students in each class. Which means I have approximately 320 students in and out of my classroom each day. Another thing that has been difficult for me to get used to is having a different schedule everyday. I never have the same group of kids first period or any other period of the day for that matter. School starts at 7:20 (Namibian time), so we usually start about ten minutes late each day depending on how long the staff meeting/devotion lasts. Again, the students just wait in the classrooms unsupervised until the teachers get there. The schools I have been placed at in the United States always start at the same time everyday and if students are not there on time, they are recorded as being tardy. I also have the same group of kids, approximately 24, all day long back home instead of having 320 different kids throughout the day.

Throughout this first week, I have thought a lot about why schools start here the way they do and I have come to the conclusion that there are many factors. One of the biggest factors is money. Although all students here are supposed to receive free public education, they are required to pay school fees in order to attend school. This prevents some students from being able to start school on time. The lack of money also inhibits the ability of some of our students to have school supplies, and unlike the teachers I have been placed with in the U.S., a lot of these teachers don’t have any supplies to even let the students borrow. I had one girl who quit coming to class the first week and I haven’t seen her since. Mrs. Kandara asked the other learners if they knew where she was and they told her that she wasn’t coming to school because she couldn’t afford to buy her books. This is something that would never happen back home. Whether or not students have supplies, they still come to school. In my experiences back home, if there is a student who cannot afford supplies, the classroom teacher or the school figures out some way to get the students things to use. Another reason I feel things are so chaotic around the beginning of school here is because teachers don’t go into their rooms before the start of school to get things organized, unlike back home. Teachers are also not at school early and many of them are out the door as soon as they can be when school is over. For these reasons the first few days of school here are spent getting classrooms set up and getting books passed out.

Although school has been a bit chaotic for me, I have really been enjoying myself. I have been amazed at the simplicity of the school and also at the joy of the children. This is just the beginning of my adventure here in the schools and I cannot wait to see what the next five weeks will hold.

Our First Big Adventure

I know it has been a few days since I last blogged, sorry about that, but it seems like time is just flying by with everything we are doing. It didn't help that the internet was out for 14 hours yesterday due to a large thunder and lightning storm we had. Where to begin, a lot has happened sense I spent my first day at Steenkamp. I will do my best to recall all of the major events.

On Friday, we headed up north a ways to Otjiwarongo to go to the Cheetah Conservation Fund. Along the way we stopped in Okahandja at the market to do some bartering for Namibian made goods. I became quite the barterer and made all sorts of deals with the locals trading bracelets, t-shirts and jerseys that I brought from home. I will not disclose what all I got, because some of the stuff are presents for people who are reading this very blog. After we finished shopping, we piled back into our bus/van thing (pictures to come) and made our way about 2 hours north to Otjiwarongo where we stayed at Out of Africa--kind of an ironic name for a hotel if you ask me. While we were there we met up with Betsy Fox for dinner.

Betsy works for a NGO in Namibia that is working to teach people about Elephants and help them realize that it is possible for Elephants and humans to live in harmony. There are major controversies around Elephants, especially in the more rural areas of Namibia, where a whole village shares one water source. The Elephants come into the village to get water when there is no water anywhere else and often times pull out water pipes, which makes it nearly impossible for the local people to get water. I had never really thought about these issues, mostly because I didn't know they were there. Often times humans are afraid to be around Elephants for fear they will be stomped to death. Out of fear people will bring it upon themselves to take care of what they deem to be a problem and shoot and kill the elephants. The NGO that Betsy works for puts on workshops for people and works with other NGO's to help protect both humans and Elephants. I would love to come back to Namibia and volunteer with Betsy. After the wonderful dinner and conversation, we headed back to our rooms at Out of Africa before trekking on to the Cheetah Conservation Fund which is located about 40 minutes outside of Otjiwarongo.

Spending the night at Out of Africa was nice. We had an opportunity to stay with different people than we are living with at Casa Blanca. Jan and Paula encouraged us to "mix things up" and stay with people we don't normally spend a lot of time with. Alicia, Kristin, and I decided we would room together, which worked out just great. It was fun to get to switch things up a bit.

After a good night's rest we headed onward to the Cheetah Conservation Fund. This experience was my favorite experience thus far. We started out by going out into a cheetah camp with our guide Charles to meet five different cheetahs. They are the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen.

Up close and personal with a cheetah.

Following our adventure in the camp, we got to see a cub walk. CCF rescued 4 orphaned cheetah cubs that are now 17 months old. They brought the cubs out on leashes and let us all take pictures with them. One of them even sat on my foot. It would only be illegal if I touched them--I can't control it if they touch me.


Following the cub walk we got to see a feeding. They only feed the cheetahs who they know they will not be able to return to the wild. The cheetahs who are expected to make it back to the wild are housed in a much bigger camp approximately 25km away from the CCF headquarters.

When they feed the animals, they put about 2kg of horse or donkey meat into a bowl for each cheetah. Watching them eat was very interesting. It was amazing how clean they left the bones; there was no meat left on them. The cubs were my favorite to watch feed. They were jumping on top of one another prior to being let into the feeding pin. Once the gate was opened to the feeding pin, the cheetahs flew to their bowls immediately. It was absolutely fascinating to watch.

After the feeding, Charles took us on a tour of the entire facility. It was really wonderful to hear their philosophy and their attempts to build the cheetah population. Much like Betsy and the Elephants, CCF's main goal is to teach people (farmers in particular) that it is absolutely possible and necessary for humans and cheetahs to live in harmony. Again, I would love to come back and volunteer to work at CCF for a few weeks one summer.

Just to let everyone know, I will not be posting for the next 5 days or so as we are headed up north to visit the tent schools and Etosha National Park. I will post as soon as I get back!

First Day Jitters

Thursday was our first day at school. It was a teacher work day and was the first day back since they had taken their winter holiday. Unlike in the United States, the school year starts here in January and let me tell you there are many more differences than just that. I hope this post gives you a little bit of an idea of what my first experience in the school was like.

While I was eating breakfast before our departure, I could feel my stomach churning with nerves. I had no idea what to expect. I had heard everything from “the teachers are amazing,” to, “Don’t expect people to necessarily approach you.” I got into the van and it was not until we stepped off the van and into the school that the churning stopped.

As soon as we walked into the school, we were welcomed by one of the teachers, Ms. Marenga, who showed us to the principal, Mrs. Kamahene’s, office. Mrs. Kamahene knew exactly who we were as soon as we entered her office, which made me feel calmer. She asked for a “team leader” and I volunteered. She asked me to write down all of our names and what our specialty areas were. Later on during the staff meeting she introduced us. After meeting the principal we joined the rest of the teachers in the staff lounge.

A. I. Steenkamp is a joyous place to be. Watching the teachers greet one another after having their break was a wonderful experience. They were laughing and hugging and telling stories to one another in Afrikans. They all seemed to be so happy. The teachers and principal were all extremely welcoming. The teachers spent about an hour talking with one another (truly running on Namibian time), while we introduced ourselves to a number of the teachers. After the group was brought together, they began singing songs in Afrikans. The music was beautiful. After they sang a few songs in Afrikans, they sang a song in English and a few of us were able to join in.

Once we got into the meat of the meeting, it became clear to me that the staff truly cared about each individual learner. They went through how students did in each subject at each grade level from the previous year and talked about how if they had students that were failing, it didn’t fall on the learners, but it was instead the responsibility of the teacher.

Aside from the staff, the school looked like it was in good shape and was extremely clean. The principal informed us that they had been blessed to be able to paint all the classrooms and staff room the year before. She also told us that the governor had come to visit last year and said that Steenkamp was the cleanest school he had visited. Today we were only able to see the principal’s office and the staff room, but I am extremely excited to see the rest of the school and meet the students.

Everyone seemed extremely grateful to have us there and I felt extremely blessed and grateful to be there. After the meeting, we loaded into the van and headed home. Along the way, I couldn’t help but feel excited in anticipation of our return on Tuesday.

Scavenger Hunts, Hiking, and Game Drives...Oh My!

The day after we went on our tour, Jan and Paula split us into our school groups and let us loose in Windhoek. Our goal was to answer all the questions that they provided us on a piece of paper about different shops, buildings, and parks around town. They wanted us to get our bearings in town and be able to navigate the area ourselves without needing a tour guide.

One of the places we were supposed to go was to the Parliament building--I posted pictures in a previous post. The day before Uuanee had taken us up to there, but I had really wanted to get more pictures. I pulled out my camera and went to turn it on, and of course the battery was dead. My group mates took lots of pictures though so hopefully I will be able to get some from them.

Another one of our jobs while we were in town was to find someplace to eat lunch. We ended up going to Spur's Steak House. The name totally reminded me of being in the U.S.. We sat down and our server came over to our table. He was a native Namibian and his name was Joslyn "the boy not the girl." The food was great! I had chicken Kabobs with Peri-Peri sauce on them. Peri-Peri sauce is a spicy kind of marinade/sauce that they use A LOT in cooking here--I love it!

On Tuesday we had a free day. Melanie, Katie, Kayla, and Rayna planned a hike and invite everyone to go. There were 13 of us who decided to embark on this adventure and I'm so glad I decided to be part of it. I have always felt so comfortable and free when I am in nature and it was amazing to have that experience here. We had read and been told that there was a possibility of seeing baboons and Kudu (a type of antelope), but we saw neither. However we did see TONS of birds, which was one of my favorite parts of the experience.

Looking down toward the water from the top of the hill on our hike.


Roommate picture: Anna (left), Me, Allison (right).

Grasshopper.

Wednesday was our first Game Drive. For those of you who are not familiar with the term "Game Drive" it is a place where you go, like Okapuka (the game farm we went to), to see game. They buy the game and then let it live on the land. This particular game farm has 20,000 acres where their animals get to roam. We saw lots of different animals, but my favorite were the rhinos. I even got to touch one. We also saw crocodiles, giraffes, Springbok, Blessbok, Oriks, Wildebeests, Sables, Warthogs (with babies :-) ), and lots of different birds. This was an amazing experience.

Just hanging out with the giraffes :-)

Wildebeest baby that had just been born and mommy left it. The jackals were about to eat the baby. Hopefully they got back to it before they got it.
Just touching a white rhino...no big deal!

A big male croc. We were seriously only 5 feet away.

And the Adventures Begin

After we got settled in on Sunday, we piled into a bus and headed off with our wonderful tour guide Uuanee (pronounced Wan-ay) to tour the city of Windhoek and the surrounding area of Katatura. We went through downtown Windhoek and up to the Parliament building. It was quite interesting listening to Uuanee's perspectives about the current Namibian government and the control of the SWAPO party. From listening to his stories, the United States is not the only country who has issues with the structure of government.

This is our Tour Guide Uuanee.

This is the Parliament Building in Windhoek.

This is the garden across the street from the Parliament Building.

After exploring the heart of Windhoek, Uuanee took us to Katatura. I was immediately struck by the homes that I saw and was equally struck by the stories that Uuanee told us about how lively the area was. Although the majority of the houses are made from sheet metal and/or cinder blocks, this is the place that all the locals go when they want a good time.


Uuanee also took us to an open-air market where locals sell everything from dried fish and garlic to meat and everything in between.

Dried Catfish, spinach cakes, chili peppers, and garlic.

While we were at the market. I experienced something that I had never experienced before. A man yelled at us from across the market saying that he hates white people. He said that "white Europeans are all communists and we don't need them here." This is the first time, to my knowledge, that I have had someone "hate" me based on my skin color. I cannot imagine living with that discrimination every day like many minorities in America have had to. It was quite an eye opening experience.

Welcome Home

After spending 20 hours in airplanes with a 10 hour layover in Frankfurt, we are finally to Namibia. On our layover in Frankfurt we were able to leave the airport and go exploring. We found a wonderful little cafe where we got traditional German food and beer. It tasted so delicious (and not even because my last two meals had been airplane food).


We got in at about 7am and were checked into our home away from home Casa Blanca by 9am. Casa is absolutely beautiful. It is like our own little paradise. Anna, Allison, and I scored with our room. We have a large bathroom, 3 single beds in our bedroom and our own little living room. Outside there is a pool that is surrounded by palm trees and an outdoor dining area as well. There is also a charming little dog running around and a black cat that often greets us at our door (he likes to lounge in the shade on our patio).