Wednesday was an incredible day full of eye opening and amazing experiences. We began the day getting dressed up in skirts and filling our tummies with delicious breakfast. We departed from Ohakane at about 9 am. Our first stop was the Ondao Mobile Schools head office. There we sat in the principal's office with him and a few of the Head of Departments (HODs) and learned about Ondao. Ondao Mobile Schools was started in 1999 with a mission to reach learners who were otherwise left uneducated. The goal was to bring schooling to people groups where they were and meet their individual group's needs as far as time and place for schooling. The schools were set up in moveable tents so they could migrate with the people they were serving. These people groups moved periodically in search of better grounds for growing, better water sources, better hunting situations, etc. Today there are 75ish schools all over Namibia with the farthest school being a 7 hour drive from the main office. There is typically one teacher for each school and they teach the whole span of ages of learners from their community. They have few supplies and in most cases live in a smaller tent inside the school tent. Some of the schools have found that as time passes, the people groups they were serving don't move around anymore. In cases like these, permanent schooling structures including housing for students have been built so that a more sophisticated school can be birthed.
Once we were finished with our meeting at the head office, we took one of the HODs, Ben, with us to go visit a few schools. Since we didn't know where the schools were located and we would be traveling on roads without names, Ben was our guide and navigation system. On the way out of town, we stopped at one of the stores and purchased some large bags of maize and sugar to take to the schools. We drove out into what seemed like uninhabited land, but every once and a while, we would spot some people in the distance or some animals fenced in just off the road. We drove for a while before we turned into the first school we would visit.
This first school was a “permanent” school, Orotjitombo Community School, which had school buildings similar to ours in Windhoek and wooden desks and chairs. The people didn't know we were coming, but were delighted to see us. There were a hand full of teachers at this school who knew Paula (my professor) from a teacher training of about 80 teachers she conducted back in 2002 in Namibia. She was delighted to see that these teachers were still teaching. When we first arrived, we mingled with the learners who were on a break from classes. We took many pictures with them and they enjoyed seeing themselves in our digital cameras. After some time, I went with my other professor, Jan, to look inside a grade 4 classroom. We were delighted when we saw sight words posted on the wall as this was something Paula had taught them about. Next Jan and I went to see where the children sleep. The children smiled as they told us about how they slept together in a concrete room on blankets on the floor. One girl was outside working on the laundry that they wash in a bucket of soapy laundry and hang to dry in the windows. I was blessed by the joy these children expressed even though they had little to nothing in terms of personal belongings. They lived at the school from Monday to Friday and walked home, up to 6 miles for the weekend at home with their families.
As a farewell, the students gathered in front of one of the buildings and sang some songs for us and did some traditional dancing. It was amazing to watch their cultural backgrounds unfolding in front of our eyes.
Next we drove back down the road to a Himba village where Uanee told the children to follow us to the school. We arrived to find another one of the teachers Paula had taught back in 2002. This school was a tent school with a few more permanent buildings surrounding it including a little hut for the teacher to live in and a few pit toilets. Ohungumure as this school was called had a very small tent and many learners of a variety of ages. The reason the learners were not at school when we arrived however was because there was no food for them there. We were happy then that we had brought them so much maize and sugar as they really were in need of it.
We were brought into the school tent by the children where they showed us their chalk boards and what they had been learning. We then showed them what else we had brought for them. Jan's book club had donated many school supplies including, paper, construction paper, colored pencils, work books, candies, pencils, and much more. It was fun to watch the learners' eyes light up when Jan took the items one by one out of the bag. Steve and Paula had also brought the game Bananagrams to give to the teacher to play with her students. It was a very fun time of us interacting with the learners and watching them created artwork with their new supplies.
After some time, we had to head back to Opuwo. When we returned, we were confronted again with ladies wanting to sell us jewelry. Many of my classmates bought several bracelets which are made out of pvc piping and carved with designs. I bought a few as well but not as many as the others by far.
For dinner this evening, we traveled about 15 minutes down the road to another hotel operated by the same people as the one we were staying in. This location was a bit more rustic with tent instead of rooms. We enjoyed a tour and an amazing sunset followed by a delicious dinner and some great “family” time around the table. We shared stories, jokes, and enjoyed one another's company. It was one of the best evenings we've had as a group yet.
All of us outside the main office
The Namibian flag flying outside the main office
A boy tending to a herd of goats along the road
Many people who drive by stop to give children sweets along the road, we were told not to give them any though so to keep us from looking mean Uanee told this little boy we only ate salty foods and this was the expression on his face at the time
Girl in a pretty dress outside the school
The first school's sign
I loved these hand prints painted on the school windows
Pictures with the learners
The grade 4 classroom
This is what the teachers use as a curriculum guide, they call it a syllabus
Inside the classroom
Paula and the teacher (who happens to be Uanee's niece)
Learners in their living quarters
That's the laundry drying in the window
A learner happily washing her laundry
Students singing and dancing for us
The second school's sign
Community living
I think this is where the teacher lives
The school tent
Interacting with the learners
Bananagrams...an international game :)
The learners carrying the large bag of maize we brought them to the storage room
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