I survived the first week!

I survived my first week of teaching and have begun adjusting to a new lifestyle. Despite being unorganized and having a bumpy start to the school year, Eengedjo Secondary School is a good school. Last year, the school had a 92% passing rate for 10th grade standardized tests. These tests determine a learner’s advancement to 11th grade. The country’s average passing rate is between 40 – 50%. With this statistic, Eengedjo is ranked #27 in the country and #2 in the region. This is a big accomplishment; the school is working to pass 100% of its students this year.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the staff worked to create a time table, distribute books and place the learners into classes. Even with all of this work to do, many teachers just sat around and watched soap operas in the staff room.

Eengedjo is a hostel school. 400/700 learners live on the campus in dormitories. The learners have to remain on their best behavior because, if they do not, they have to forfeit their place in the hostel. Such a strict code of conduct is caused by the high demand for space in the hostel. Literally, the consequence for almost every broken rule is loosing your place in the hostel. Already, there has been a learner kicked out for being drunk.

I was introduced to my two English classes on Tuesday and, on Wednesday, I visited their classrooms and played some get to know you games so that we could get straight to lessons when we were finally given a time table. I forgot to mention that even though there was no time table Monday through Wednesday, the learners still had to sit in their classrooms all day with no teacher and nothing to do.

Finally, on Thursday, the time table was complete and I was given two English 11 classes and all seven 12th grade computer classes (only 12th graders take computer; just about none of my students have ever used a computer before). The school runs on a 7 day schedule. Each class meets twice for computers within those seven days. 11th and 12th grade English classes meet for ten periods within the seven days; therefore, the learners are scheduled for English twice a day three times out of the seven.

The schedule looks like this (As you will see, there is no time allotted for switching classes) :

Period 1: 7:00-7:45 AM
Period 2: 7:45-8:30 AM
Period 3: 8:30-9:15 AM
Period 4: 9:15-10:00 AM
Tea Break: 10:00-10:30 AM
Period 5: 10:30-11:15 AM
Period 6: 11:15 – 12:00 PM
Period 7: 12:00 – 12:45 PM
Only on Day 7: Period 8: 12:45 – 1:30 PM (Luckily, I don’t have a class that period)

On Mondays, school starts at 6:25 AM for a weekly prayer service.
On Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, the learners have a study period from 2:00 – 4:00 PM. At this time, the teachers either stay in the staff room and do lesson planning/marking or they monitor the study hall. Even though this is required of the teachers, many of them just go home. The learners who stay at the hostel also have a study period at night.
On Wednesday and Friday afternoons, the teachers have off. Wednesday is cleaning day and the learners are given tasks to do around the campus. This week, they had to cut the grass in front of the school.
They eat breakfast at 10 AM during their tea break. They have lunch at 12:50 PM and dinner at 5:30 PM.

Omungwelume is considered a village/small town. There are two “bigger” mini-markets, a few churches and barber shops, a primary school, a junior secondary school and my school. Also, there are several shabeens (informal bars). These are the center of attention in the village, especially when there is not much else to do. One of our WorldTeach rules is that we are not aloud to get in a cab once it is dark out because of the serious drunk driving problem here in Namibia.

Omungwelume is located on a paved road that takes you to Oshakati, the largest city in the region (about 27 kilometers away). On Wednesday, my roommate, Bret, and I went to Oshakati to get a few groceries. In order to get around in Namibia, one must hitch rides. We walked to the main road and hitched a ride with two other people. Once in Oshakati, one has to get another taxi to whatever destination. Coming home from Oshakati, one has to take a cab to “Apollo 11” where, then, one would find a ride to his/her respective village. Our experience was interesting and lived up to what we heard from previous volunteers. When we got to Apollo 11, without the taxi even stopping, a stampede of drivers came rushing at us. One person opened our door, took our groceries and put them in his taxi so that we would have to ride with him. After we followed him to his cab, all of the other drivers came and tried to convince us to go with them. Our driver told us that we had to wait until two more people came for a ride so that he could fill his cab. After THREE more people smushed into the cab, we took off for Omungwelume.

I have adapted to an after school routine. I usually have a snack, write my emails, do some exercise (I still haven’t gone running yet because people don’t run here. I have to prepare for all the staring that will come my way). When Bret comes home, we make dinner and then I watch tv shows on my computer. Bed time has found itself at around 9:30 – 10.

Tomorrow, we are meeting a couple of volunteers in Oshakati for shopping/lunch and then they are coming to Omungwelume for the night. We should have fun.

I hope everything is great at home and would love to hear from you!