I have tried writing blog posts for months now, but it just
never seems to work out. Most of you who read this have probably heard that the
whole Karasburg thing didn’t work out. I’ve moved to village closer to
Windhoek, but on a dirt road the middle of no where. I actually really love it
here. I walked to work this morning listening to goats bleating and rosters
cock-a-doodle-do-ing. It’s super green and there are tall trees along the
riverbed (pictures soon, I promise!). I’ve made so absolutely fantastic friends
in the community who really take care of me. I now have a friend I buy fresh
bread from, a friend I buy meat from, and another I buy seeds from to grow the
vegetables I keep meaning to plant.
My daily life changes quite a bit as I’m adjusting to my new
responsibilities. I’m now officially a teacher. I teach English and girls’ PE for
grades 8-10 (junior secondary school). My kids are smart, funny, and creative
as hell. They are also little demons when they are all in a class together and
drive me crazy. One on one, or even in small groups, they are really fun to be
around, but when the class has 44 students and at least 5 of them are competing
for class clown with another 25-30 who just want to chat, it makes it
absolutely impossible to get control. I’m struggling a lot with this. But I’m
going to keep going. I’m alternating between being the horrible woman who gives
detention and the awesome teacher who gives out rewards for good behavior.
Lately I feel like the former is the most common side of me. My grade 8Bs were
actually really good today though. I promised them rewards tomorrow. Same with
one of the grade 9 classes. I teach five class groups in total.
Last night we had the school athletics tournament and it was
really nice. Participation in athletics is mandatory for all able-bodied
students (and some who lie and say they are, which caused a lot of drama last week!) and after a few weeks we have a
school wide athletics tournament and the top three in each event become the
official school team. I got to judge high jump, which, as most people don’t
know, is by far my favorite athletics event. Some of the kids stayed around to
help with raising the bar up and down and keeping everyone lined up. It was a
great chance to get to meet some of the students who don’t usually come and
talk with me, so despite having to sit in the sun for a few hours, I actually had
a lot of fun!
Despite that, my favorite part of the athletics tournament
was the community support. Thinking about it now almost brings tears to my
eyes. Even though our tournament was rescheduled for a week day, tons of
parents and community members came to support the kids. I talked with the
parents of a few kids and the level of pride and investment in their kids was
amazing. Back down in Karasburg, this just wasn’t a thing. Almost no one came
to support the students at the girls’ soccer tournament and the few that did
weren’t really there for the students. I talked to some of the teachers here
afterwards and they said that this level of participation is typical and it
warmed my heart to see that some of the kids really have a good support network
at home. It’s probably because this is more of a farming community while the
other school was in the Location. It makes me hope another volunteer will get
to go back there and work with community development because those kids really
deserve it (I obviously miss my K-burg kids a lot).
I’ve only been here a few weeks and it has been a crazy, roller coaster
of a time, but as my principal asks each day, I’m still swimming. I’ve made
more mistakes than I can count but I’m going to keep trying. I want to be a
good teacher because I know no matter how naughty these kids are, they don’t
deserve the disorganized wreck I’ve been the past few weeks. Right now I am open to any suggestions on classroom management and planning interesting and engaging lessons!!
