and I'm off.......

I am finally leaving tomorrow on what will be the adventure of a lifetime. I will miss everybody and hope that you all will stay in contact with me, whether through facebook, skype, email or comments on this blog. I want to stay updated on everybody's lives and maybe even American popular culture. My skype address is bernie.lombardi and my email is bernie.lombardi@gmail.com. I hope you all enjoy my blog and I will try and update it when I get internet access.

I will miss everybody very much!

Thanks for being a part of my life!

Love,

Bernie

Omungwelume

I have great news! I found out my placement information this morning. I will teach 11th grade English and high school computer at Eengedjo Senior Secondary School in Omungwelume, a small town in northern Namibia. People in the north speak Oshiwambo, a Bantu language, and the specific dialect is called Oshikanyama. I will live in a 2 bedroom flat with another volunteer who is teaching at the Junior Secondary School. I can't wait to start preparing and actually finally be there!

More about Namibia

Hello Everybody!

I have finally found out my departure date. I will be leaving on December 28 from Washington-Dulles Airport in D.C. I was also told that I would receive my in-county placement very soon. This is all very exciting. The trip seems real now that I have a ticket to Namibia. It is also more evident to me how soon I am leaving and the thought of saying goodbye for a year to my family and friends seems much more difficult. I have been doing research about the history and culture of the country and this makes me excited. I spent a couple of hours the other night watching Namibian music videos on you tube. Here is one by a Kwaito artist. Kwaito is Namibia's most popular music genre and is similar to Hip Hop. Here is one by a Namibian pop duet.

I also wanted to thank all of you who have so generously donated to my trip. I encourage those of you who are considering donating to please do so. My fundraising has been successful and I am getting closer to covering the cost of my trip. One of the great things about my program is that every dollar that World teach receives in my name that exceeds my project cost will go towards my programming in country. Besides teaching classes like Math, English or Science, I have the opportunity to begin clubs at the school. One of World Teach Namibia's major goals is to spread awareness to the students about HIV/AIDS. There are over 200, 000 adults in Namibia living with HIV/AIDS. Keep in mind that Namibia is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. It has the 5th highest percentage of adults living with HIV/AIDS in the world. Being able to help spread awareness within the community would be very beneficial. In the past, volunteers have held events such as 5K runs and school field days in order to raise money for proper prevention materials and literature to use at their schools. They would not have been able to do this without the support of their communities at home. If you would like to help spread awareness within my Namibian community, please donate here.

Thanks for reading my blog and I will keep you updated on how my fundraising is going. Also, I hope that I have good news to share very soon regarding my placement. I am "patiently" waiting to find out.

Welcome to my blog

Hello Family and Friends,

As many of you know, I am about to embark on what will be an amazing adventure. After Christmas, I will be leaving for Namibia, where I will spend a year as a teacher. As of today, I do not know where I will be in Namibia or what I will be teaching. That will all come very soon. Most volunteers teach anywhere from 5 - 12th grade and teach subjects like English, Math, Science, Art, Lifestyles and Computers and coach sports teams or lead after school clubs such as drama, government or HIV/AIDS awareness.

I am going through a program called World Teach which is a non-profit, non-governmental organization founded by a group of Harvard students in 1986 in response to the need for educational assistance in developing countries. The program is now run through Harvard University's Center for International Development.

I am planning on keeping this blog throughout my time in Namibia so that I can share my experiences with all of you. I would love for you to be a part of this experience as much as I am and I would also love to here from you occasionally throughout the year.

Many of you know that I have a passion for traveling and social justice, especially in Africa. I graduated this past May from Fordham University with a double major in African and African American Studies and English Literature. I spent my last semester writing a thesis entitled Language and Immigrant Identity Formation: Ghanaians and Twi in the Bronx. The idea rooted from my interest in American immigrant communities and my life changing experience in Ghana.

I have been fortunate enough to be a part of Fordham's Global Outreach program where I discovered my desire to work towards global solidarity. When I was a freshman, I traveled to Tijuana, Mexico and worked with Los Ninos organization. Here, my team and I mixed cement to use as foundation for schools. My sophomore year, I visited Ghana. This trip was a turning point in my life because, it was here that I discovered who I was as a person and what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. We worked with an organization called Pace Ghana and helped renovate the Worawora community library and a high school dormitory. I was blessed my senior year to be able to lead a Global Outreach project to Romania. In Romania, we worked at an Orphanage for severely disable children and a center for HIV/AIDS survivors.

This past summer, I spent two months in China. During the first month, I taught in Shanghai. I taught 10th and 11th graders about American Literature, History and Culture. My students are all in the United States now, studying abroad for the school year. My job was to prepare them for this experience. I stay in touch with several students. One of my students emailed me this week telling me that he is learning about the French and Indian War in school but that he new everything already because of my class. It was amazing for me to hear that my students retained the information I shared with them!

Throughout these experiences that I have explained without full justice, I have met many amazing people who have affected my life more than I would have ever expected anybody could five years ago. I am impatiently waiting for December to come so that I can begin this new journey. Although I have graduated from college, I am still naive about so much in the world and I am anxious to see how my thoughts and opinions change throughout the next year. This is the perfect opportunity to share and witness my own growth as a person.

Currently, I am doing everything I can to prepare for this trip. I just got my TB skin test this morning for my Namibian Visa. I have gotten all of my paper work and visa materials together and am just waiting for the TB results which I am expecting on Wednesday. I have not thought about packing yet; i'll probably leave that until the week before Christmas. I have, though, been thinking about what books I want to bring with me. I have been working two jobs, seven days a week saving money for the trip. The total cost for the trip is roughly $6,000. While I am there, I will be situated into a living arrangement and be given a monthly stipend by the Namibian government. Although I have been working non stop, this is a lot of money and if anybody is able to donate to my trip, you can do so by clicking here or going to the "donate here" link at the side of this page. Every contribution helps and is extremely appreciated! I would not have been able to have my past experiences without the generosity of others. If you are able to help out, please put Bernie Lombardi Namibia 2011 under the heading "Purpose." Please send this link to your colleagues and friends who would be interested in supporting me and are passionate about international development.

Regardless of donations, I hope everybody follows and enjoys my page and I hope to hear from everybody throughout the year!

Bernie