3 to 4 p.m. is notoriously known at SIAMA as ... STUDY TIME !!! : )
The school system is organized totally different over here. Temperature can easily rise up to 40°C in summer. They try to avoid the hot hours (& equally hot-tempered teachers or pupils ; ) Therefore school starts at 7 a.m. in the morgen and ends at 1 p.m. at noon.
At study time we help the girls with their homework. For the little ones that means basically learning to read or calculate. It's hard to say that some 8 year olds barely know their alphabet, let alone know how to read... The less talented go into the 'special class' for a while which focuses on these basis capacities. Some might easily lack 2-3 years behind on Western children with better education opportunities...
From those who do eventually graduate, only a minority goes to university. The elite doesn't even send its children to the university in Windhoek. They send them to Johannesburg or Kaapstad (regarded as offering the highest education standards in Southern Africa) or Germany (descendants of the former colonists) The ones that acquire a university degree are often offered better jobs abroad - even nurses - and so the "brain drain" continues putting a mortgage on the future of the country...
Friday, 17 August 2007
Omarurukoppe
The Omarurukoppe is elevated merely a couple of hundred meters from the surroundings, but since the rest of the area is so flat you have a stunning sight for miles!
If you're in a good condition you'll be at the top in 1,5 hour. Only the bigger girls were allowed to hike to the top, since it might be a bit too heavy on the little ones. Although we asked them to dress for a firm walk, Rosa managed to wear shoes which were almost completely open, Bernice thought a skirt would be nice even though Namibia is full of thorns and Vistorina brought a shower cap as protection against the sun (which was quite funny actually! : )
I didn't have to say much myself, since the hiking shoes I bought didn't actually turn out to be "thorn-proof" as required for African bush walks ; ) In the beginning I found it strange I had so many stones in shoes, but after a while I discovered the thorns pierced right through the soles of my boots!
Anyway, after taking a wrong turn and getting stuck in the sand with the van - luckily the girls pushed it out just as quickly - we were ready for the climb up. The girls were a bit worried about the snakes and baboons hanging around, but I can assure you: a group of noisy teenage girls jabbering & squealing away is enough to keep any wild animal away ; )
If you're in a good condition you'll be at the top in 1,5 hour. Only the bigger girls were allowed to hike to the top, since it might be a bit too heavy on the little ones. Although we asked them to dress for a firm walk, Rosa managed to wear shoes which were almost completely open, Bernice thought a skirt would be nice even though Namibia is full of thorns and Vistorina brought a shower cap as protection against the sun (which was quite funny actually! : )
I didn't have to say much myself, since the hiking shoes I bought didn't actually turn out to be "thorn-proof" as required for African bush walks ; ) In the beginning I found it strange I had so many stones in shoes, but after a while I discovered the thorns pierced right through the soles of my boots!
Anyway, after taking a wrong turn and getting stuck in the sand with the van - luckily the girls pushed it out just as quickly - we were ready for the climb up. The girls were a bit worried about the snakes and baboons hanging around, but I can assure you: a group of noisy teenage girls jabbering & squealing away is enough to keep any wild animal away ; )
Franke Tower
The only thing to do on a Sunday in Omaruru is go to the Spar-supermarket. But since the girls generally don't have any money to spend, they're a bit bored in the weekends... So we took them on a walk to the Franke tower.
Basically, it's the only historical point of interest in Omaruru and built by the German colonial army to honor their general Franke.
It's not enough, mum!
The food habits of the girls in the SIAMA-compound weren't too healthy. While we were dying for some vegetables, the girls would take one piece of lettuce and literally spray it with salt to make it "tasty"!
They also dig sugar! The porrigde - standard meal every evening - almost never was sweet enough! Vistorina was complaining "It's not enough, mum" (The mum is the nanny/governess who lives with the girls. Lisette was the mum upon arrival, Appolonia upon departure) until Lisette finally got so bored with it she almost poured the whole can of sugar into her bowl, after which all the girls eagerly began spooning it up into their own bowls...
Dentist aren't readily available in Omaruru, but jack-of-all-trades Ender pulls teeth the African way when necessary.
They also dig sugar! The porrigde - standard meal every evening - almost never was sweet enough! Vistorina was complaining "It's not enough, mum" (The mum is the nanny/governess who lives with the girls. Lisette was the mum upon arrival, Appolonia upon departure) until Lisette finally got so bored with it she almost poured the whole can of sugar into her bowl, after which all the girls eagerly began spooning it up into their own bowls...
Dentist aren't readily available in Omaruru, but jack-of-all-trades Ender pulls teeth the African way when necessary.
Public Transport: the African way...
Omaruru is pretty isolated. The next inhabited "town" (over here a village qualifies as a town once it has a gas station ; ) Karibib is 60 km down south, Otjiwarango 135km up south) .
Public transport is almost non-existent. The Intercape Mainliner drives twice a week between the biggest towns. But don't expect the coach buses you see driving around in the northern hemisphere! ; ) Our first Intercape bus pulled up at the parking lot in the city centre of Windhoek with a front window that was held together with duct tape...
After a delay of two hours without any obvious reason (hey, it's Africa...) the bus finally kicks off... only the stop again in the outskirts of Windhoek because there are sparks coming out of the engine... After 15 minutes the drivers depart again since it was only "rust". When asked how "rust" can cause "sparks" they pull out their biggest comforting smile with white teeth and say "but it's fine, it's okay" When asked what time we will arrive, the same smile saying "we're flying, we're flying now" - read: sit back, relax & don't expect answers ; )
But Omaruru is basically a street with some shops and doesn't lie on the big axis, so it doens't have the luxury of an Intercape Mainliner stop.
There are of course the shuttles. These are small mini-vans where they fit in as many as 24 people(!) Luckily in Africa you can drive with as many people as you want in your car. Basically you can have a pick up truck with 15 in the back, but beware if you're not wearing your seat belt in the front! The police will happily turn an eye and forget about a fine in return for a "warning worth 50 Namibian dollars", but it is advisable not to encourage this form of corruption.
But back to the shuttle buses: they use the gas stations as stops. Basically you go and wait there for a shuttle bus to show. They might be late, they might be early (although that's rather rare in Africa) or they might not show up at all. Even if they come, they might already be full. Reservations are not possible, unless you're prepared to pay for the full trajectory. The drivers aren't keen an reserving seats for short distances, hoping to find passengers who want to go all the way at the departure point.
Luckily African people are often very open and 'there's always room for one more'. So when we took the shuttle from Omaruru to Swakopmund we found ourselves pressed on the back seat of the van. It must be said that our place was to be considered as quite comfortable, since the mothers seated next to us each had two children on their lap for another 200km to come! That made 8 of us on the back bench of the van! Things you only experience in Africa! : )
Since the shuttles sometimes don't show up, we were forced to hitchhike a few times (despite the fact that it isn't advised in the Lonely Planet & and I pledged my mother never to hitchhike in Africa - of course, if I ever have children of my own I'll deny ever having hitchhiked in Africa ; )
Of course, if you hitchhike, be sure to 'pick your rides' like the candidates of the popular TV-show of Peking Express. As a tourist in Namibia it is possible to get comfortable lifts in big 4WD-jeeps if your color is Caucasian and a girl is accompanying you. It maybe hard to state, but for most drivers this will make the difference between letting you stand there or picking you up...
But sometimes you gotta take what passes by and end up in the back of a truck, but let's face it: those are the best stories afterwoulds... : )
Public transport is almost non-existent. The Intercape Mainliner drives twice a week between the biggest towns. But don't expect the coach buses you see driving around in the northern hemisphere! ; ) Our first Intercape bus pulled up at the parking lot in the city centre of Windhoek with a front window that was held together with duct tape...
After a delay of two hours without any obvious reason (hey, it's Africa...) the bus finally kicks off... only the stop again in the outskirts of Windhoek because there are sparks coming out of the engine... After 15 minutes the drivers depart again since it was only "rust". When asked how "rust" can cause "sparks" they pull out their biggest comforting smile with white teeth and say "but it's fine, it's okay" When asked what time we will arrive, the same smile saying "we're flying, we're flying now" - read: sit back, relax & don't expect answers ; )
But Omaruru is basically a street with some shops and doesn't lie on the big axis, so it doens't have the luxury of an Intercape Mainliner stop.
There are of course the shuttles. These are small mini-vans where they fit in as many as 24 people(!) Luckily in Africa you can drive with as many people as you want in your car. Basically you can have a pick up truck with 15 in the back, but beware if you're not wearing your seat belt in the front! The police will happily turn an eye and forget about a fine in return for a "warning worth 50 Namibian dollars", but it is advisable not to encourage this form of corruption.
But back to the shuttle buses: they use the gas stations as stops. Basically you go and wait there for a shuttle bus to show. They might be late, they might be early (although that's rather rare in Africa) or they might not show up at all. Even if they come, they might already be full. Reservations are not possible, unless you're prepared to pay for the full trajectory. The drivers aren't keen an reserving seats for short distances, hoping to find passengers who want to go all the way at the departure point.
Luckily African people are often very open and 'there's always room for one more'. So when we took the shuttle from Omaruru to Swakopmund we found ourselves pressed on the back seat of the van. It must be said that our place was to be considered as quite comfortable, since the mothers seated next to us each had two children on their lap for another 200km to come! That made 8 of us on the back bench of the van! Things you only experience in Africa! : )
Since the shuttles sometimes don't show up, we were forced to hitchhike a few times (despite the fact that it isn't advised in the Lonely Planet & and I pledged my mother never to hitchhike in Africa - of course, if I ever have children of my own I'll deny ever having hitchhiked in Africa ; )
Of course, if you hitchhike, be sure to 'pick your rides' like the candidates of the popular TV-show of Peking Express. As a tourist in Namibia it is possible to get comfortable lifts in big 4WD-jeeps if your color is Caucasian and a girl is accompanying you. It maybe hard to state, but for most drivers this will make the difference between letting you stand there or picking you up...
But sometimes you gotta take what passes by and end up in the back of a truck, but let's face it: those are the best stories afterwoulds... : )
About HIV & Sugardaddies
Namibia suffers from a considerable high percentage of HIV-casualties. Although official figures are around 20-25%, actual figures allegedly amount up to 40%.
Persons with HIV-diagnosis are also less immune against other diseases. HIV-patients are for instance more easily infected with TBC. If the patient dies from that disease before developing AIDS, it will go into the statistics as a TBC-casualty instead of an HIV-infection, even though a healthy person might very well have conquered a TBC-infection itself...
The Namibian government tries very hard to make the young population aware of the extent of the problem.
The schools regularly try to point out the consequences of the disease on every day life by playing school plays about it. The government also distributes a free school magazine with comics and testimonies from readers.
Most parents in Europe would probably be quite shocked if they would see what their 8 year old gets to read in the school magazine. It tries to disencourage young girls to have sex before their studies are finished, make them more assertive towards boys and if they do decide to have sex: the need to do it safe.
Every editions contains testimonies about girls who incurred pregnancy, diseases, violations or rape. In poor countries, sugar daddies are also problematic: older men give younger girls presents or money supposed to alleviate their poor living standards and to become friends with them. After a while they start to ask things in return...
Although HIV-infection, teenager pregnancies and child rape also occur in Europe, many Western people would probably be a bit shocked that the topics are put forward so openly in government funded publications. But with such high HIV-percentages, drastic problems call for drastic solutions...
Persons with HIV-diagnosis are also less immune against other diseases. HIV-patients are for instance more easily infected with TBC. If the patient dies from that disease before developing AIDS, it will go into the statistics as a TBC-casualty instead of an HIV-infection, even though a healthy person might very well have conquered a TBC-infection itself...
The Namibian government tries very hard to make the young population aware of the extent of the problem.
The schools regularly try to point out the consequences of the disease on every day life by playing school plays about it. The government also distributes a free school magazine with comics and testimonies from readers.
Most parents in Europe would probably be quite shocked if they would see what their 8 year old gets to read in the school magazine. It tries to disencourage young girls to have sex before their studies are finished, make them more assertive towards boys and if they do decide to have sex: the need to do it safe.
Every editions contains testimonies about girls who incurred pregnancy, diseases, violations or rape. In poor countries, sugar daddies are also problematic: older men give younger girls presents or money supposed to alleviate their poor living standards and to become friends with them. After a while they start to ask things in return...
Although HIV-infection, teenager pregnancies and child rape also occur in Europe, many Western people would probably be a bit shocked that the topics are put forward so openly in government funded publications. But with such high HIV-percentages, drastic problems call for drastic solutions...
Monday, 16 July 2007
Eerder vertrek
Het vrijwilligerswerk is eerder dan voorzien tot een eind gekomen voor ons. We hadden andere verwachtingen op basis van de projectbeschrijving en de verhoudingen met de Luxemburgse projectleider ter plaatse verliepen niet meer optimaal. Meer uitleg volgt later nog...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)