Into the Desert

Since my last post concerned what I consider the mundane aspects of my day-to-day life, I’ll shed some light on some more exceptional experiences I’ve had lately.

Awhile back, my principal had mentioned to me about going to something called “nadeet”. Later, I told my Peace Corps boss Waldo about this and he said that I would love going to this so-called “nadeet”. Another teacher told me it involved going into the desert and sleeping outside and generally roughing it. Not until perhaps a week before I departed did I learn more about the unclearly defined trip I was to take. “NaDEET” stands for Namib Desert Environmental Education Trust and is an educational organization located on a private nature reserve called NamibRand on the fringes of the Namib Desert. Even those details I only learned upon our arrival.

To get to NaDEET from Rehoboth we went south on the B1, which is the main highway that runs north to south and forms the spine of Namibia. Split between our recently acquired school bus and a hired combi (think big-ass van), we piled in 40 Grade 7 learners and the two chaperone teachers of whom I was one. The drive was about three and a half hours and could’ve been shorter had we not stopped at every major stopping point along the way - of which there aren’t more than three or four but still. We turned off the B1 onto a westerly highway that was entirely unremarkable in scenery until eventually we hit a gravel road where we kicked up copious amounts of dust. This unpaved road eventually descended into a valley/canyon of sorts, surrounding us with Table Mountain-esque plateau formations. It was quite beautiful as the cliffs and valleys are plastered with green vegetation from the rainy season. This landscape petered out into grassland savanna with the plateau-type formations at our back. Before I have us arrive at NaDEET, I should mention I was riding in the combi with 15 or so boys who I had to consistently yell at to stop throwing things at each other and/or generally annoying the hired driver. I will say they are great at sharing: all I had to do is ask for a certain type of snack (chips, sweets, etc.) and it would materialize. As we rolled finally into NaDEET property, we saw several groups of both springbok and oryx –both of which are antelope species, springbok being small and deer-like while oryx are larger and have like black spears for horns. The road with the wildlife on each sides dead-ended into rising red sand dunes reminiscent of both Tatooine and Arrakis (on my nerd grind).

We came to these dunes and were welcomed by NaDEET’s staff, which actually consists of a PCV named Karley and two Namibians named Vilho (aka Uncle V to the kids) and Maria. We parked our vehicles, Karley instructed us to load up their bakkie with our bags, and we hiked over the dunes into the “valley” where we would be staying for the next five days. Staff gave us water bottles (unnecessary for a PCV with a Nalgene aka “Sam Jr.” like myself – we’re actually known around the country for being the white people that always walk around with water bottles), we settled into our accommodations (all A-frame type wooden structures on stilts, some with tin roofs and some with non-waterproof netting), and began to do this whole living in the desert thing. Karley gave us an introduction to all our amenities: basically the long drop toilet and bucket showering (surprisingly awesome – they have this deal set up for getting water pretty damn hot through solar energy).

To switch into fast-forward, the gist of NaDEET is sustainability – living with the limited resources (water and electricity specifically) that Namibia has. Our kids learned about using solar energy firsthand by using solar cookers to prepare our food. We also measured water and electricity usage everyday so that the kids could see their “carbon footprint”. It was nice to see this term used in a way that wasn’t an offer to pay like $30 bucks when you fly Delta. Everyday the learners spent some time in the classroom learning about sustainability, the desert environment and wildlife, and other things I don’t remember. Over the course of the week, the learners did various activities outside of the classroom including the aforementioned measuring of energy and water. But we also went on a dune walk to see the wildlife and vegetation firsthand, set traps to catch insects and small animals overnight, and went dune boarding on the last day. For most of this, the other teacher and I hung on the sidelines as our only responsibility was to keep the kids in line and make sure they go to bed and wake up at the proper times. The whole putting the kids to bed deal made me glad I am not at a hostel school (a school where the learners live at school during the term - so like a boarding school with a lot less money). I had to stand out in the middle of the valley yelling at the kids to go to bed and make sure girls weren’t going to boys houses and vice versa. One night, I couldn’t help but laugh when two boys were outside of their house hiding from me and making “meow” noises (now whenever these boys see me at school, they obviously meow). Overall, I believe NaDEET was a great experience for the kids but I’m not sure if we will go back next year as a grant from the European Union to NaDEET paid for most of our education costs this time. I didn’t know many of the Grade 7’s before but I think now I’m a big hit with them if maybe a little too buddy-buddy. Luckily, I don’t teach any of them. One of their favorite things besides meowing was asking me if I eat Namibian foods like “pap and vleis” (meat and porridge) and proceeding to giggle when I answered in the affirmative.

That’s all I’ve got for my NaDEET trip. Next blogpost (coming soon, hopefully) will most likely detail my experience so far playing rugby in Rehoboth.

Teaching, etc.

Three weeks into the reality of Peace Corps service and I’ve again been cajoled into writing another blogpost. I apologize for the alleged deficiency of information but it is hard for me to believe that anyone is all that interested in my daily life at this point. But if that’s what the people want, who am I to deny the masses?

5:00 – 6:30 AM: I wake up to an alarm from my perfectly adequate cell phone – which was recently referred to mockingly as a “Tamagachi” (spelling?) by a learner. I roll out of bed and connect to the internet via Telecom’s “Happy Hour” promotion wherein for N$ 10 a week, you get free internet connection from 12 AM to 6 AM. I make real coffee with a French press given to me by my PCV buddy Neil (note: never in my life have I been so addicted to coffee – I had a brutal headache the other day from one day without), eat some cereal, and browse the internets for a few precious moments. Coming out of the room, I see Wicket yawning and wagging his tail expectedly for breakfast and a walk in the predawn outside. I take care of all the dog business and get dressed. Once ready for school, I head down the street and wait for another male teacher from my school to give me a lift in his bakkie.

6:40 – 7:00ish AM: We usually arrive as the morning staff meeting is beginning as my carpool driver is known notoriously for being a few minutes late. If there’s a devotion that day (prayers), we walk in during an Afrikaans hymn or an English one if I’m lucky. My principal addresses the teachers on any relevant issues of the day. Lately, its been regarding our school purchasing a minibus for various events requiring transportation. It’s a complete gamble as to whether the meeting will be completely in Afrikaans or more of a mixture of English and Afrikaans. Usually, my principal will be addressing us in Afrikaans and then catch my eye and say “oh sorry Sam” and say something in Afrikaans at which everyone will chuckle. Sometimes the meeting will end with enough time to get to the first class, sometimes not. Either way, I roll with it and go to my first class (if I have one, some days I have a planning period to start the day).

7:00ish – 12:50 PM: I engage in my Peace Corps service by teaching Namibia’s little darlings. There’s eight 40-minute periods in a day (7 on Fridays) and I never have a full day of classes (part of the PC’s policy for Education Volunteers – we’re supposed to teach about 60% of a full load so that we have time to work on other projects). I don’t have my own classroom so I roam around and teach my classes in open rooms. This is one of the biggest challenges I have; everyday they are literally in a different classroom for my lessons thus making it near impossible to have a set seating arrangement.  At first I had them sit boy-girl-boy-girl but I found this wastes time as they still bicker over who sits where. All of them are like little informants: “Sir, this one is eating in the class”, “Mr. Kelly, he is beating me”, “Sir these boys are talking”, etc. When I get a particularly trite complaint, I tell them I don’t care and I’m not their mom. Probably not the best classroom management method but I don’t have time to teach if I’m resolving the tiniest conflicts in class. Based on the recommendation of another PCV, I’ve divided my two English classes into teams – the Yellow Jackets (the reference is clear), Red Dogs (in honor of the Terriers and the division of the Atlanta Police force of the same name – not that school in Athens you were thinking of), Blue Eagles (I thought War Eagles would provoke undesirable behavior in the classroom), and Purple Elephants (Elephants live in Africa, right? I had nothing for this one). Whichever team has the most points earned from doing homework and good behavior will get a reward at the end of the week. Several teams are in negative points already.

1:00 onwards: I get a ride home, take Wicket out, and make myself lunch. At this point in the year, I am helping with “athletics”, known to us as track and field. Pretty much every school in Namibia is doing this as well. I know pretty much nothing about any of this stuff but often supervise javelin. Some girl asks me “Mr. Kelly, if you don’t know the technique, why are you at the javelin with us?” Great question, little girl, great question. We have a field across the road from the school that we scraped all the weeds off of and have flattened to make a viable athletics field. It’s still strewn with broken glass and is just sand – not grass. It’s actually pretty amazing how it looks compared to before the work was done. Let it also be known that most of this work is done during the school day by the schoolboys. The other day, almost all the boys were working on the field while the girls were just sitting in classrooms. This made for a hectic and confusing day where I had to keep the girls busy without letting the boys fall too far behind.

At this point in my service, if I have an afternoon free I catch up on planning lessons and general schoolwork, read, or watch shows on my external hard drive. This whole athletics business has pretty much dominated extracurricular life at this point so there’s no point in trying to implement any secondary projects. After athletics is over, another teacher and I are planning on starting some sort of club – either an Environmental Club (shout-out to Kelly Mandy) or a Debate Club – for the learners who aren’t that into sports.

That’s all I got for now. I’m trying to keep track of any other tidbits or anecdotes worthy of repetition. Here’s the most adorable thing to happen recently: as Valentine’s Day approaches, the kids are starting to discuss who is whose Valentine. In one of these Grade 6 classes with all girls, a boy ran by the window and shouted at a girl in my class “ADRIANA I LOVE YOU” causing the girls to all giggle and Adriana to blush despite her complexion. It was all mildly funny until the kid came around the building and brought her flowers, causing Adriana to put her head down and cry in embarrassment. I didn’t think she would want be comforted by a male teacher who, I’ll admit, had literally no idea what to say so I went and asked my host mom to save the day again and talk to her. I can’t imagine what will happen when it’s actually Valentine’s Day.

Holiday in Namibia

So after several phone calls that amounted to what can only be called “mom pressure”, I'm going to recount for all you out there my holiday travels and tribulations.

Back in early December, we wrapped up “Phase 2” of training. For me, the last two weeks of that consisted mainly of “invigilating”, which is an ostensibly made-up word for proctoring exams. All in all, it was pretty boring so I'll spare y'all too many details about that. But, its worth mentioning a few things. The little nuggets are not always taking exams, rather sometimes they are supposed to be just studying. Obviously, a bunch of 10-13 year olds just love being forced to sit with pretty much nothing to do since they've never been instructed how to properly study. On one special day, a boy slammed another kid's face into a desk, causing his nose to bleed profusely all over his desk. Like a lot of freaking blood. But my favorite moment occurred when I had a particularly unruly class and I went to get another teacher to help me calm them down. My host mom, a teacher at my school, happened to intervene before the other teacher did. When I got back to the room, she was speaking to them in stern Afrikaans through the window. After she finished, they were dead silent. “What'd you tell them?” I asked. “I told them that everyday they can go home to their parents but Mr. Kelly left his family in America to come teach them but they are making you want to go home.”

After Phase 2, we headed to a conference center outside Windhoek for “Reconnect Training”, a week long catch-all, wrap-up of Pre-Service Training. We discussed our issues at site, ideas for the future, etc. Also, there were some non-sanctioned social events such as a “doppelganger party” and a toga party. I was fortunate enough to draw one of my good friends, Kirby, for the doppelganger party. Unlike some people who had tougher draws, I had all the ammunition I needed. Long story short, I so brutalized some his frequent sayings that he can no longer say “that's fair” without sighing or cursing afterwards. Also, props to Alex for successfully pulling of a Sam Kelly impression. I'm told she had ample help from a couple of my loyal friends on such arts as my now established signature “walk”, dancing, dip-snapping, table-topping people, and wearing V-neck undershirts (note: I never, NEVER, wore those until I came to Namibia). All in all, touche Alex Levy. Other highlights of Reconnect include the humongous millipedes that were everywhere, the Group 34 superlatives (I was dubbed “Most Likely to be Adopted by Waldo”, who is the APCD for the south - pretty much my Peace Corps boss), playing Dungeons and Dragons with Mike Jones, and helping to facilitate a session on racism and apartheid.

After Reconnect, almost our entire Group headed to the coastal town of Swakopmund. I should mention now to those of you who are not aware, the mode of transportation for PCVs in Namibia is hitchhiking, or free-hiking or simply “hiking”. The hike to Swakop was uneventful other than the fact that you drive through Tatooine several kilometers outside of the town. Plants disappear and you're surrounded by rock formations and sand. I think there was also a uranium mine? Then, you see a reddish-orange haze over to the left and eventually a huge desert of sand dunes appears to the south of town. As far as accommodations, we crammed 37 people into two bungalows meant for probably 6-8 people. Not surprisingly, our numbers thinned everyday as some people got fed up with the close quarters and left. For the week we were there, we mostly cruised around the town and admired its German architecture and general neatness and order, ate at restaurants that served pizza, Mexican, Chinese, and other “American cuisines”, hung out on the beach (when it was warm, every other day was cloudy, windy and cold), and toured the local bar scene. Some of us also went sandboarding on the aforementioned dunes. It was surprisingly similar to snowboarding, minus the ski-lifts replaced with exhausting hikes back up the dune. Other highlights from Swakop include a karaoke night with nearly all of our Group, the follow-up night at the same bar where six of us stopped the live band with a rendition of Garth Brooks “Friends in Low Places”, White Elephant Christmas present exchange, a certain contraption Neil and I made to facilitate the consumption of beverages, double table-topping Chelsea and Jess, and last but not least – losing a bet with Chelsea wherein she gave me a lovely haircut, Marist Football Camp style. For kicks, I threw in a handlebar mustache.

After an expensive, exhausting, but generally awesome stay in Swakopmund, I headed back to Okahandja for a night. From there, Kirby and I headed north to the town Ondangawa – a shopping town for a good amount of volunteers – to meet up with our friends up there. That hike was a little more interesting. We waited for almost two hours for a ride out of Okahandja until we finally got a lift in an open bakkie (pick-up truck). It was a gorgeous day and I managed my first nap in the back of an open bakkie. I fell asleep for the two hour ride to Otjiwarongo with one arm over my eyes and my shirt flapping up in the wind a little. Do I really need to say what happened? Suffice to say, I now have a charming tan on the lower part of my belly and one underarm. From Otjiwarango, we got a hike in an air conditioned Mercedes-Benz with a dude whose name was, wait for it, Jason Owen. He wasn't nearly as excited as I was that he had the first two thirds of my brother's name.

So my first experience in the north of Namibia showed how diverse this country really is. The towns are laid out completely differently from the south. Whereas my town of Rehoboth has a center with shops and one traffic light, the northern towns are laid out like the beachfront strip of Panama City Beach. The “town” is a several miles long stretch of shops and stores with people everywhere. Also, in the south they are definitely more accustomed to seeing white people. When we were in Ondangawa, after about the sixth time someone honked and waved at us, the girls told us that this was completely normal. After a night in Ondangawa, four of us hiked north to the village of Ruacana to see Ruacana Falls. We camped at a hotel lodge but it was quite far from the actual Falls. It was going to cost us each N$80 to get a ride from the lodge, but we decided to try our luck and get a taxi at the petrol station. We ended up getting a ride with a local teacher for $150 for all of us. It couldn't have worked out better since he showed us views of the waterfall we definitely would not have found on our own. On the way back, the guy told us it was his birthday and he had been bored and looking for something to do. Obviously, the girls cooed, asked why he didn't tell us, and proceeded to launch into “Happy Birthday”. I prevented disaster by stopping the singing and asking the gentleman to remind us of his name. Crisis averted. The Falls were incredibly impressive (at full strength Ruacana Falls supposedly rivals Victoria Falls) and definitely worth the journey from Ondangawa and a rainy night in the tent.

Since I returned to Rehoboth, I hosted a late Christmas celebration and New Years Eve. We cooked some pretty damn good food: chicken parm, Texas chili (which I ate Hard Times style with spaghetti, shout out to Wynne Kelly and Charlie), potato wedges, omelettes, crepes, cheesecake, and the list goes on. We also made “Springbok shots” - which are a Namibia/South African specialty shot with Amarula (liqueur similar to Kahlua) and mint schnapps – for New Years. “Deyicious,” as my nephews would say.

I'm settling in very well to my flat. The week after my friends left was a little lonely but luckily I had Wicket to keep me company. If you don't know about Wicket, he is my roommate Rob and I's puppy. He's a “pavement special” - an amazing Namibia euphemism for a street mutt – but absolutely adorable. The girls say he belongs in a commercial. He chews the shit out of most everything but all in all is a pretty good dog and is almost completely house-trained. On the subject of my flat, I've used cards and pictures people have sent me to decorate the walls: shout-outs to my nephews Owen, William, and Henry, cousin Catharine, Kalene, Annie, Sydney (for the poem about my death), Debby, and oddly enough, Mike Curtin (my mom sent me a postcard from Eastern Standard). 

Ten Nam Dollars Worth of Fun

Even though I’ve read and heard previously that European league soccer, especially the English Premier League, trumps local soccer in Africa, I’ve come to find that in Rehoboth there exists a balance: you have your Premier League team (usually one of the “Big 3,” and the majority claim Manchester United) and you have your local team. In the time I’ve been in Rehoboth, my family has exposed me to the Riverside United Tournament, which is a local, amateur soccer league with a unique format of 18 teams and 20 weekend tournaments with a cash purse for the winning team. Each game draws 50 fans at the most. The team my host family supports – and that I subsequently “am” (for any sort of team you are a fan of, people say “I am Manchester,” “I am Bokke,” “I am All Blacks,” etc.) is Hellenic FC. One of the many charming things about the league is the diversity in team names e.g. Happy Hearts, Spiders, Flamingos, and Dream Team. My host dad played for Hellenic back in the 90’s and my host mom’s brother now plays for the “Greek Gods” as well.

I’ve been to half a dozen games now but a particular one bears mentioning. Two of my Peace Corps friends were in town for the weekend and I thought I’d expose them to some Rehoboth soccer. After we paid for our tickets, we walked around to the usual friendly (and sometimes not so friendly) jeers of “boere!” and “Mr. White Man!” along with a little boy who walked by, touched each of our heads and said “beautiful hair” in Afrikaans. We watched a little bit of one game before my host dad rolled up in his bakkie and told us that Hellenic was playing in a few minutes on the other field. We walked over and I introduced my friends Neil and Kirby to the other Hellenic supporters I had met previously. We settled in behind the goal on tailgates and foldable chairs – there are no spectator stands.

In terms of the game itself, the opposition, Happy Hearts, took the lead with a laser of a shot after about 20 minutes of even play – I can’t be definitely sure of the time because is no scoreboard. But, it was tied going into halftime when Hellenic found the back of the net after a medley of shots in the penalty area. After the half, Happy Hearts regained the lead with a pretty impressive header off a corner kick. The non-existent clock winded down and it felt quite late in the game when Hellenic rattled a shot off the crossbar that bounced straight down. The team and the fans went wild. The official and linesman indicated a goal, much to the protest of the red-clad Happy Hearts. With the score at 2-2, it looked as if we would be heading straight to penalty kicks in a few minutes. Eventually though, the goal was overturned, leaving the score 2-1 with very little time left. Hellenic players swarmed the referee, yelling and pointing, some even going so far as to shove him. Meanwhile, Hellenic fans ran up to the fence and were similarly yelling and cursing the ref – who eventually escaped the players and blew the whistle to continue the game. In the chaos, Happy Hearts took possession and dribbled down the field while the Hellenic players rushed to their goal and tore it down, ostensibly to protest the decision as much as keep them from scoring.

Following that segment of confusion and the official conclusion of the game, a fan from Happy Hearts and the coach of Hellenic somehow got into an altercation where the latter angrily chased the former around for a few minutes. When the fan stumbled and fell, the coach stood over him, told him to get up and fight like a man and when he wouldn’t, he simply walked away. Seconds later we saw the same fan, who had newly found courage, doing the universal “hold-me-back” dance with his friends. Obviously, the commotion attracted quite a crowd that consisted of people previously just loitering around and fans watching another game on the next field. The Hellenic players, to show their disapproval for the officiating, remained on the field, sitting, to prevent the next game from taking place. Apparently, this very same form of activism happened the week before when Hellenic’s opponent scored the winning goal after a neglected offside call. We left remarking how that was certainly N$10 worth of fun while the players continued their sit-in.

Later that day, my buddies and I were walking around in town when I saw a fellow Hellenic supporter. “Did you like the game?” he asked. I laughed and told him yes except for the end result and ensuing bedlam. “You must come to the game tomorrow,” he said, “maybe there will be a boxing match.”

"NamBoer...more like NamEK"

So I’m now a little over three weeks deep into “Phase 2” of Peace Corps i.e. the introductory stages at site. During this time, I’ve been getting acquainted with Rehoboth and the people who I’ll work closely with over the next two years. At school, I’ve still been observing and teaching a lesson occasionally or helping out my counterpart.

I went to a fellow RPS teacher’s farm this past weekend.  A lot of Namibian families own and operate cattle farms like the one I went to. The farm was only about an hour outside of Rehoboth and about 5000 acres I believe. But we did have to drive through several other farms on gravel roads. The landscape was untouched savanna grassland for miles and miles. This farm in particular had cattle, goats, and sheep along with springbok and wild horses. Several times we drove around the property and once saw the herd of springbok. I’m told there will be plenty other opportunities for me to go back to the farm. It’s definitely a very authentic experience and restful at the same time. I played dominoes for the first time i

I witnessed my second fresh slaughtering as we killed a sheep – which I thought would be our Sunday lunch. I wasn’t wrong, but I wouldn’t say I was right either. We didn’t necessarily eat the more desirable cuts. We ended up eating the heart, liver, kidneys, and certain parts of the intestine and stomach and brought back the rest of the carcass for another family in Rehoboth. After several adventures with liver, I can confidently state it is not my cup of tea. But I ate most of what was offered to me and smiled as I ate. Oh, did I mention I cut the sheep’s head off?

While I’ve had a few rough days where I’ve had to take care of classes while a teacher was out – rough because the learners misbehave and know I won’t beat them, I’ve had some pretty awesome moments as well. Today, my counterpart and I gave out a writing assignment for the learners to write about heroes or people they admire. In both classes, a learner raised their hand and asked if they could write about Mr. Kelly.

We’re now in the end of year exam period, which entails “invigilating” exams (a seemingly made-up word for proctoring) and also trying to get learners to be quiet and study when they aren’t taking exams. Yesterday, there was an essay question about Batman. I don't even know what to say about that so I'll leave it to y'all for the witty comments. That’s all for now, more to come soon.

All The Way Swornt In

Finally, I can truly say I am a Peace Corps Volunteer! After eight weeks of training on language, technical lessons on education, health, security issues, cross cultural discussions, Namibia Group 34 was sworn in on Thursday, October 20^th.

The last few weeks of Pre-Service Training (PST) seemed to be the first time here in Namibia that time went by at its true pace. As I may have said in previous updates, the first few days of my Peace Corps experience seemed like months. I think the comments you would get from anyone in Group 34 about the end of PST concern the excitement of officially becoming a PCV along with the reality check that will be on our own and without the social comfort of our new American friends.

One of the final obstacles of PST was a final Language Proficiency Interview. Because I am so awesome, I had already passed an LPI earlier in PST with a score of Intermediate Low. I ended up scoring an Intermediate High, one of 8 out of the 38 in our group that scored in this bracket, which was the highest for the group. That said, I must admit that Afrikaans is the easiest of the 7 languages groups taught in our PST group. The most difficult, I’m told, is Khoekhoe Goewab, which is a “click” language. I’m happy with how I scored on the PST but I’m barely conversant in Afrikaans and still have a tough time understanding people. Hopefully I’ll start becoming more conversational as time goes on here in Rehoboth.

The actual Swearing In Ceremony was a fairly formal event. In terms of preparing for the event itself, we had practiced our swearing in oath several times before along with a Namibian song that was dubbed our “PST Anthem”. The song, “M’sombia Kamule”, ended up sounding god-awful compared to the performances from the incredibly talented Okahandja Youth Choir. The formality I referred to earlier pertains to the minutes long greeting each speaker would make before they delved into their speeches: “Greetings and welcome to Her Excellency Wanda Nesbitt (U.S. Ambassador to Nam), Country Director Gilbert Collins, Police Chief of Okahandja...in absentia, His Worship the Mayor of Okahandja, colleagues from the fraternity of education and development organizations…” and so on and so on (ed. note: this is apparently the norm in Namibia at any event). From there, our Training Manager made some remarks about us and then presented us to the Country Director who also made some comments. The highlight of Gilbert’s remarks for me was when he was mentioning the diverse educational and professional backgrounds we all came from and after saying a couple jobs people in my group had held, he finished with the heavy hitter, “Congressional Intern”. Amazingly, I’m the only PCV among my group who had worked on the Hill. My buddy Kirby nudged me and I had a big old Georgia Democrat grin on my face. From there, we said our oath, read by the Ambassador, to serve the communities and people of Namibia to the best of our abilities, officially making us Peace Corps Volunteers. The Ambassador had some nice remarks about the importance of the PC in Namibia and how we are the ambassadors representing the U.S. in our respective communities. Our keynote speaker was a Regional Education Director. Her comments echoed most of what Gilbert and Ambassador Nesbitt had already said but also spoke about how in our service we should not expect to change things overnight and that we should relish the small achievements and not dwell on the roadblocks we will face. Most of y’all had probably considered me officially in the Peace Corps for quite awhile now (or not, if you have a low opinion of me), but that was the moment we went from PC Trainee to PC Volunteer. And in a move reminiscent of Will Davis and Jamie Germano standing up at our Marist graduation when family is supposed to rise when their student walks across the stage and my BU friends inserting my name into nearly every song, a couple of my PC buddies instead of saying their own name at the beginning of the oath said “I, Sam Kelly...” Therefore, I’m triply sworn in as a PCV.

Afterwards there was a small reception for all those in attendance. I said goodbye to my host mom in Okahandja who told me the house will be quiet without me and that she will miss me. She sent me off with some biltong, which is delicious African jerky. Ceteris paribus, I’ll be spending Christmas with them in Windhoek (ed. note: apparently not. I talked to my host mom who said that the engagement we were going to celebrate along with Christmas has been postponed). I said goodbye to my new PC friends and headed off in my principal’s bakkie to Rehoboth. The next time Group 34 will all be together will be for our weeklong “Reconnect Training” at the beginning of December. I’m told this is not only a helpful final training event but also a rowdy get together for the PCVs as we haven’t seen each other in almost two months. Don’t worry Debby, we’re safely tucked away in a conference center outside Windhoek where we can’t get into too much trouble.

That’s all for the end of PST and Swearing In. I’ve got more reliable internet access now in Rehoboth and I’ll try to get up pictures and send out another update at the end of the week. Lastly, if anyone wants to just go ahead and set up a blog for me, you’d be really cool and the handful of inquiring minds would thank you (ed. note: Wynne Kelly put da team on his back duuu!)

Site Visit

Goeiemore, goeiemiddag, or goeienaand! (depending on what time of day you are reading this)

This update begins in the sprawling metropolis of Rehoboth, Namibia. Actually, despite my sarcasm, Rehoboth is not all that small and is probably the 15^th or so biggest town in Namibia. As I said in a previous update, Rehoboth is the historical home of the Baster ethnicity, which is a specific group of Namibian coloureds. I’ll tell more about the Basters as I learn.

I’m actually wrapping up my visit at my homestay, sick. Other than picking up a Namibian flu, I had a very enjoyable and productive site visit in Rehoboth. From the PC supervisor workshop in Okahandja where we all met our principals, we drove down through Windhoek to Rehoboth. I met and ate with my host family on Friday, who I will stay with for the first 6 weeks of my service. On Saturday, I watched the All Blacks beat France in the Rugby World Cup with my future PC roommate and principal at his home. That evening, I went to a fundraising event where students were recognized for raising money for the school. There were also dance performances and skits from student groups. My principal introduced me to the whole school community and asked me to say a few words as well. The crowd applauded when I greeted them in Afrikaans and later in the event I had the honor of putting medals on the top three fundraising students. On Sunday, my host dad took me to a local soccer game, which provided a good chance to relax with some Namibians. The soccer was obviously not incredibly high quality but I found that wearing a Chelsea shirt was a good conversation piece as it seems most Namibians follow Premier League and Champions League avidly. My host family also took me by a lake resort about 7 kms outside of Rehoboth. It’s set up on a beautiful lake created by a damn surrounded by rolling savannas. Apparently there is also some wildlife on the grounds like giraffe and kudus, which I look forward to checking out.

My school (Rehoboth Primary School) is very nice and seemingly well run and organized. The grounds are kept very clean and there are several new buildings that were funded by donations from German, Namibian, and American companies. Included in these new facilities is a basketball court. So far my duties will be teaching upper primary (grades 5-7) and a couple of computer classes. I think I’ll also help set up a basketball team/town league and hopefully help with other sports (like rugby) as well. As I learn more about my school when we actually get to site, I’ll report more then.

To get back to Okahandja, a volunteer from a nearby town and I caught a ride with one the teachers from my school to Windhoek. In Windhoek, we fortuitously met up with 2 other volunteers also traveling from the south and got a ride for the 4 of us back to Okahandja in a taxi. Back in Okahandja, we all met up at bar in town and regaled each other with stories from our respective sites. What I’ve learned thus far is that the Peace Corps experience can vary incredibly, even within one country. My experience will be extremely different from volunteers who will be in northern Namibia. The north, I’m told, is much more densely populated, holding about at least half the population in a quarter of the country’s land. But, volunteers will tend to be in rural areas, possibly without electricity. I, on the other hand, will live in reasonably accommodated government teacher housing with a shower, refrigerator and freezer and work at a school with free, uncapped wifi. I believe I will also buy, with a Peace Corps stipend, a bike to ride to school. Many of you probably think I’ll be living the life but there are still hardships such as no Waffle Houses within thousands of miles.

The following week after site visit, we observed and then taught lessons at local schools. I went to a different school than I had gone to for the initial observations. I’m glad for that, as now I’ve seen three very different Namibian schools. Five Rand Primary is a much smaller school than Nau Aib Primary or Rehoboth Primary. There is only one class per grade and only seven or eight teachers on staff. I taught four lessons total, two of which were double periods. Overall, I think I did pretty well. The learners (I believe I have already told y’all how we are supposed to call students “learners”) are pretty well behaved even though we were told they didn’t practice corporal punishment at Five Rand. The lessons I taught ended up being review grammar lessons for the students but I still think I did well to elaborate on concepts like passive voice, conjunctions, and adverbs. I was anxious to teach but now that they are out of the way, I am excited (and more comfortable) for the prospect of teaching everyday. New challenges await in Rehoboth me aside from just giving lessons: learning names, giving marks, and coaching.