To celebrate the upcoming International Human Rights Day, which will take place on December 10, our school created a “human rights tree.” All of our students were invited to trace their hand and write their name and the human rights which they value most. You can see below our signs raising awareness about Human Rights Day, and our students taking part in this human rights action. It is our hope that through activities such as these, students will become aware of their human rights, and be able to advocate for themselves now and in the future. The rights which our students valued most were EDUCATION and FREEDOM.
I have also worked with my students on human rights in the classroom. Our ninth graders studied case studies of forced evictions around the world. This is quite a pertinent topic as forced evictions take place here in Namibia. Human rights violations are rampant – I see daily the right to education, safety, health, and much more violated due to the challenges of poverty.
It is challenging here – and I have the privilege and benefit of coming into this situation “fresh” with “fresh eyes,” not having been fighting this battle for years. You can see in the gloss of some people’s eyes that they simply accept the perceived or real limitations that poverty places on us. Yet we must fight and try our best to transcend. As a teacher, this must be done for our students. There are days when you want to give up – when it is too hot, when things aren’t going the way you had planned, when the cultural divide simply seems too wide to even attempt to cross. Yet the “success” that one might achieve in this situation has a lot to do simply with not giving up.
I begin teaching in earnest in January – hopefully to the 9th and 10th grade English classes. (We had been team eaching this term.) It is quite a daunting challenge. School supplies are in short supply. Teachers must provide our own basic supplies such as paper, tape, glue, etc. I am looking forward to teaching, in a deep and unexpected way. I do feel I was placed in this community for a reason. But I will also not say it is easy – daily, I am reminded of the stark contrasts between the people and cultures of Namibia and the United States. This is one of the primary goals of the Peace Corps – to foster understanding between the U.S. and other countries of the world, and to provide development assistance where it is requested.
On a personal level, this leads to an interesting conflict – the need for diplomacy and cross-cultural sensitivity often usurps the personal journey to find my voice and to speak out against injustice. One must walk this divide very carefully – it is not my place to judge or comment regarding another country and culture. There are so many layers of culture, history, norms, etc that I simply cannot understand yet. And in the interest of strong collaboration, and in favor of locally-led leadership, it is important that I remain purely in an accompaniment mode, to work alongside my colleagues and community members as we all work to realize our human rights. It is more important to let the local community lead than for me to speak out with my own voice. So it is this intercultural tightrope that I work to walk daily. I love my community and compare it to the informal settlements in the novel Shantaram – the author speaks about how he sees a certain purity of spirit amongst the inhabitants, and a real beauty within that. So it is here as well – when living in varying degrees of poverty, you cannot hide behind material possessions, vice or distractions.
My mentor from graduate school, Bill Grace, calls this the “wisdom from the margins.” This is the applied, on-the-ground realities that individuals know best who are living with various injustices. There is valuable knowledge in this wisdom. I can only seek to be a student of this learning.
Finally, I am including a photo of my neighbors, and a photo of the stunning Namibian sky. I don’t know what it is, relation to the equator or what, but the sky here appears vastly different than the sky at home. I continue to be captivated by it.
This past weekend I spent in Omaruru, which is a town nearby my site. It is a lovely little desert oasis, and the scenery becomes lovely on the way towards Omaruru, with shrub-covered mountains stretching into the distance.
I included some photos below. The first is of the dry riverbed. Because Namibia is largely desert, the rivers only run during the rainy season. Soon, this riverbed will be rushing with water as summer is here and it will rain this month and next.
Below you will see a photo of the Omaruru scenery, and also some of the interesting plants and cactuses that are native to this area.
Finally, below is an interesting 1907 building which has been refurbished. Inside, there is a café and shop. You can also see the guesthouse pool where I was lucky enough to spend some time. This was a very welcome break from the extreme heat and dust of my village!
Sending much love and light to all of you ~
I wrote the post below on the 12th..fortunately, the strike ceased on Nov 13th.
Since I last posted, the strike has continued here in Namibia. The Namibian National Teacher’s Union (NANTU) is demanding higher wages and better benefits for teachers. Especially in Windhoek, Namibia’s capitol city, teachers cannot afford to live on their teacher’s salaries. Therefore, teaching has been suspended for over two weeks. We are now in the third week of the strike, and many schools are without teachers. It is an unfortunate situation; while waiting for the negotiations to conclude, the students are suffering. They are sitting in classrooms without teachers, lesson plans, guidance, or proper instruction. You can see both sides – yes, teachers should be paid adequately; yet also, one sympathizes with the students who are being denied their right to education.
The atmosphere is tense; the students are meant to be taking exams and are asking when and how they can take their exams. Meanwhile, no teachers are present at many schools. The classrooms are left in chaos and disrepair, with students running rampant across the school grounds. Administrators and support staff are caught in the middle. Parents and community members are in an uproar. The government does not want to give in and offer the salary increases that teachers are demanding. It is unclear at this point how all of this will end up.
Otherwise, our school community has been busy with a “Fun Day” and Talent Show. The day-long event was an income-generating activity for the school fund. A group of dedicated parents and teachers worked very hard to pull the event together. We had egg races, apple bobbing, tug-of-war, 3-legged races, and sack races. We sold soda, candy, chips, hot dogs, “poinky” or African stew, and special, home-made “ginger beer” (non-alcoholic).
The day was a success, with a lot of kids showing up for the fun day, and many also performing at the talent show. We were also pleased to see many community members show up for the talent show. Perhaps the most important part of the day was simply giving the kids something positive to do with their time. We live in a small community with very scarce resources. There are not a lot of activities for youth to engage with on the weekend. This is one of the main reasons that our village suffers from alcohol and drug abuse – without positive alternatives or outlets for their energy, youth start drinking. Throughout Namibia, alcoholism is a huge problem. Some women, for example, are so addicted to alcohol that they do not, or cannot, stop drinking - even during their pregnancy. Many of them DO know the dangers of fetal alcohol syndrome, yet they continue to drink because they are so dependent on the effects of alcohol. Even people living with HIV/AIDs often drink excessively, claiming they cannot stop. So it was in this spirit that our event tried to also offer a positive alternative to some of the negative behaviors that our youth can easily fall into.
The talent show was a success, with our students really showing off their talent and singing and dancing skills. The most important part was for them to develop and display their self-confidence. I am proud of our students, and honored to be a part of their community.
I am including below some of my most recent photos.
This photo shows the stunning Namibian sky. I have been captivated by the sky here lately. For some reason, it looks so different than at home. What I also like about this photo is the rugged beauty of the sky contrasted with the reality of the location (township where most of the community lives). You can see the roof to one of the family’s chicken coops. It is made of corrugated sheet-metal, with an old sink and toilet placed on top to weigh down the roof so it does not blow off. This is common practice here, and quite clever – people use old tires, or anything heavy to keep their roofs secure. Even with these efforts, it is so windy here that sometimes these efforts do not work, and the roofs blow off.
The second photo is another beautiful photo of the Namibian sunrise behind our village.
When you see scenes like this . . . it is easy to believe in God.
Below are photos from the “fun day” and talent show. The first is the egg race, and the second is some of our students with their 1st place trophy! The black pot is the Namibian way of cooking “poinky” or African stew.
I will conclude this post with a quote that my dear friend Jennifer Lucero Earle recently posted on her blog. It ties together nicely the spirit of our student’s talent show:
"When the flame of creativity is shared, all benefit and no one single fire is diminished. Passions shared and combined can create a bonfire big enough to light up the entire sky…I spark creativity in others while tending my own creative flame." - by Joanna Powell Colbert
Thanks for following my blog, and I would love to hear your feedback, comments, or questions! Please, stay safe and well!
Here in Namibia, there is a teacher’s strike taking place throughout the country. Since Tuesday, no teachers have been working. The students are at school all alone, with no one leading them. The teachers are asking the Ministry of Education for pay increases – they claim they cannot support themselves properly on their current salaries. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I am also required to stay off school grounds during the strike.
The strike makes me think about the human condition and how we are never quite satisfied…..being in Namibia makes me realize how very materially pleasant my life in the U.S. was. Here it is a real luxury to have your own car or own home – and so many people do not have proper food or basic staples such as soap, toothpaste or school supplies. Yet, sadly, when I was in the U.S., I took all of this for granted. I was often wanting what I didn’t have – to serve overseas. Now of course I miss the amenities of the U.S. This happens over and over again. Even amongst the Peace Corps Volutneers here – those of us in villages envy those in larger towns or on the coast for having a posh life and access to amenities. Those in the city regret that they are not having the “real Peace Corps experience.”
And now that I am not allowed to be on the school grounds, I realize how much I miss teaching and working with my students. But that gratitude and appreciation is sometimes missing while I AM at school. We often want what we don’t have…so the question is, how can we be present and grateful for what we do have? And how can we use our own privilege to be allies for those who do not have a voice?
Here at my site, I live with a homestay family that has very little. It is a grandmother supporting two children. It became clear right away that the family is suffering. I have helped as I can, and others from home have helped as well. But what is a sustainable solution? Fortunately, I thought, there are government programs that can help. It is not, however, that easy. When I called the Ministory of Gender and Child Welfare, I was told it would take 3 weeks for a social worker to visit the family – then it will take 2-3 months for the “emergency” food support to be distributed from the government. Even then, it is only a 3-4 month supply of food. For people that are truly hurting, this timeframe really doesn’t help them. Retired people like my host grandmother earn N$500 per month, which is only $63 USD. This is barely enough to buy staple foods, let alone to pay for utilities, clothing, school supplies, school fees, basics such as soap and household products, etc. I have heard many people here even say that things were better under the apartheid system – because then things were much more affordable. From the U.S. perspective where freedom is often among our top values, I find it hard to believe that you could place a value on affordable goods over your own independence. Yet, when one lives in poverty, your material needs are your number one thought and goal. I see that as the root of most social issues. In my community, so many people live in poverty, and this can contribute to a downward spiral of alcoholism, teenage pregnancy, HIV transmission, less planning and preparation for the future, despair and lack of hope, etc.
It is within this context that a few messages emerge - to work to be satisfied with what we have, to advocate for social justice and an end to poverty, and to do what we can to ally and accompany others on their journey towards realizing their human rights.
