Namibian Adventure 2010

We are going again!!

We will visit our special Ehomba School again in July.  Burton, myself, Mary and Garry and our daughter Anna and her husband Andrew are on the team and will work for a week at the school in late July and early August. 

As usual we have some funds that we have raised over recent times to buy key equipment, invest in these delightful children and ensure that their prospects moving forward are positive.  As we plan our travel we proudly continue to maintain the commitment that all monies we raise for the Namibian Education Trust go to the children of Namibia.

Schools Priorities for 2010

Recently we invited Mr Zauana to tell us what the teachers priorities were for 2010.  We were highly delighted when he came back and said that the headman of the local tribe had met with the School Board of Trustees and while they are delighted as locals with the progress that the children are making, they were worried about the fact that the local language was not being learnt to the same extent as English.  They asked if we could provide one set of textbooks in the local language.  We recognise this as a very high priority and are pleased to report that now a full school set of workbooks at the appropriate levels and in the local language have been acquired for the school and are in the classrooms.

Teaching the teachers

Mary Green, our education advisor for the Education of Namibian Trust last year ran a very successful teacher training programme.  It has been met with such acclaim that this year 30 teachers want to travel to Ehomba during our visit so that Mary can run a two and a half day workshop with them.  Mary is a specialist in phonics and her teaching methods have been a revelation to the teachers in Ehomba and the surrounding areas.  The Ministry of Education is supporting this project by transporting the teachers from very long distances so that they can attend this seminar.  Some of the others of us will be caterers and support people while the seminar is held.  The teachers and the local inspectors have identified this as one of the most beneficial areas that we can assist them with through our exchange and support, and we are very happy to do so.

Garden exceeds expectations!

The garden continues to be a great success.  The teachers and learners visit the garden at 4 o’clock each afternoon, and it continues to produce a surprising amount of food that supplements the children’s previously single Pap meal a day which is a type of maize porridge.  This year we are trying to source some sweet potato legume that the Namibian agricultural department has been developing and which are disease and drought resistant.   We are hoping that we can get a stock of these and teach the teachers and children how to plant and harvest them while we are there.  As well as that we want to show them how to collect seed so they can keep producing without the need to buy seed. Burt and Garry have extension plans for the irrigation system and I have no doubt the well and water system will also entertain them!

Bookshelf Working Bees

The teachers want shelving for the classrooms is a key priority, and so Burton and Garry in addition to the extension of the irrigation system for the garden are undertaking a major exercise of producing a number of bookshelves that will be available both for the children and the teachers.  We will let you know how we get on.  But it is a complicated project in so far as wood is a risk because of the termites.  Nothing is every simple in Namibia! We love learning about things that would in the normal course of events not cross our minds!

Scholarship Students

I hope to visit some of the 8 children who we now fund on scholarships for their secondary education. These children now live over a 100 kilometres away from their families and don’t get home or have any contact except at term holidays. This is not a matter of complaint as they prize the chance to have a secondary education which would otherwise not be possible.

We will keep you posted.