Everyone Has Their First Time...

No I’m not talking about what you think I’m talking about…

As part of the Diversity Committee the large annual project we put on is a Diversity Tour. The Diversity Tour takes around 40 orphaned and vulnerable children from every region of Namibia in order for them to experience different peoples, places, and things that they probably would not have been exposed to otherwise. We target kids who are maybe at risk, and often times overlooked. They’re not the smartest, nor are they the naughty-est, but they have potential. The purpose of the tour is not only for them to have fun and make life-long friends (although they always do), but to open themselves up. We had an amazing group of applicants and at the end of the day each and every one of them was deserving of a free holiday away from home, many of them for the first time.

Most of the kids had never been out of their village. If they had been out of their village it was most likely to the nearest shopping town a maximum of 30km away from home. Some of these kids traveled up to 12 hours as their first time in an actual car (as opposed to an open pick up). Dinner was quiet that night as everyone was nervous with their English skills, and probably nervous to be away from home for the first time in their life. We fed them dinner, just spaghetti, and offered seconds. A few kids took it, others had never had so much food before. The kids all slept in their own beds that night with brand new donated sleeping bags that were theirs to take home. A first as well as some of the kids sleep on a mattress on the floor with their siblings.

The next morning we traveled to the B2Gold mine for a tour of the mine and a visit to their educational center and nature reserve. It was an extremely impressive day that B2Gold put on for us and even at the end of the week the first day there at the mine was still some of the kids favorite part. This maybe was because there was unlimited soda at every leg of the tour for the kids and it was only after I heard that a kid put away 12 Cokes that day did I think we should have sponsored them tooth brushes. We learned how gold was detected and extracted while viewing the large rock crushers and the deep pit. At the nature reserve we learned about energy conservation and alternative sources such as water, solar, and even bio-fuel. All were very practical ideas that the kids were able to take back home to their villages.

My adorable student Brenden.

Fearless leaders

Learning about solar energy

Melted chocolate!

After our wonderful day at B2Gold we headed to Twyfelfontien, a UNESCO World Heritage site home to 6,000 year old rock carvings (that some of the kids SAT ON). (This was so cool but included legit hiking as it was not handicap accessible at all and leave it to Miss Shannon to completely wipe out and nearly break her leg. I attribute the avoiding of a trip to the hospital on Peace Corps dime to my recent uptake of yoga.) The travel part of this trip proved a bit difficult as a few kids soon discovered that they get car sick, nothing that a few stops for some fresh air couldn’t fix. When being interviewed at the end of the day one cute little boy said his favorite part of the day was “the road.” This was the first time many of them had seen a tarred road before as well, let alone a highway.

In Twyfelfontein we camped at a cozy campsite in large tents. The danger at night here: elephants. It gets so dark that you can’t see anything, so if you are wandering around for the bathroom and stumble into the herd, you are good as dead. Like no joke, elephants are actually really dangerous. It freaked some of the kids out at first but I think playing with the elephant poop around the campsite really eased some of their tensions.  We made awesome tie-dyed shirts, played Red Rover, and I think a night favorite glow stick rave. Some of my friends and family back home were gracious enough to donate over three hundred glow sticks, which we cracked in the pure darkness of the desert. Most of these kids only light is the sun, so seeing them have so much fun with these dollar toys brought so much joy to my heart. There was a dried riverbed just next to all our tents where we had all the kids stand as we threw the glow sticks into the air. The colors would fly through the sky and the kids would trample each other to fetch them. Their laughs and screams were contagious.

After being reassured the light would die by tomorrow the kids still wanted to take the sticks into the tents to pack away to take home. At least most kids did. About 10 minutes after bed time we heard one boy yell to us “MISS JUNE (one of the other PCVs) MISS JUNE, Uendjipa is EATING the glow sticks!” We go over to their tent and peek inside to ask the boy if he really was eating the glow sticks. He promptly denies as any boy would but ultimately catch him in the act when we ask to open his mouth. We were met with a bright orange glow and promptly took all the glow sticks back. Overall though, the night was a success.

From Twyfelfontien we headed to probably the most anticipated part of the tour Swakopmund on the coast. Many people in Namibia have never seen the coast, many probably don’t even know Namibia HAS a coast. Nonetheless, you could feel the excitement building throughout our 4 hour drive. It was kind of a cloudy morning and as we approached the coast it was difficult to point out the horizon line where the water meets the sky but when we turned a crossed a bridge we saw the beautiful surf. Kids were cheering and screaming. I was sitting next to one quiet girl from a very remote traditional village in Zambezi and all she could do was smile and stick out her tongue. We decided to take the first chance we got to touch the water and it happened to be in the shadows of a fishing boat shipwreck. (Another first even for Ms. Shannon…) Kids were jumping out of the vans before they were even in park and running to the water screaming in excitement. I don’t think there is an equivalent for the excitement that was expressed among these kids. It was better than Christmas morning, better than your first time in Disney world, better than your first car, I can’t even think of other scenarios where kids scream, run, and jump up and down for 10 minutes. I’ll admit, I cried a little bit. These kids smiles were contagious  and while I don’t remember my first time at the beach, I know how excited I get when I go to the beach and I have the means to go pretty much whenever I want. These kids had only ever heard of this magical place far away from home, a place that might not have ever been visited by anyone they knew. The beach.

Time in Swakopmund for them was too short. We had an enormous pizza lunch and played around on grass. Like real green grass that you only find in places that can afford to water it. We put the kids up in A-frame bungalows where they each had their own bed, private showers with unlimited hot water, and flushing toilets. More firsts for most of the kids. I think the shower was an activity in itself as we realized there were some boys that just wanted to play around in it and all jumped in together for about an hour. 

Our second and last day in Swakopmund before heading to Windhoek we walked them around town and to a public beach to swim if they wanted. They buried themselves in the sand, threw beach balls around, chased the surf back and forth, and I taught them a bit about seashells. Then the most amazing thing happened (at least in my opinion). About 10 dolphins decided to pay the shore a visit. I spotted them and obviously began freaking out. As I grabbed a group of kids to watch with me as the dolphins came up they all freaked out and thought it was a shark. Some of the boys thought they should catch them and kill them but after we reassured them they are friendly and just curious about us interest sparked. We taught the kids that dolphins were the second most intelligent animals on the planet, second to humans, and that they use sonar and were probably curious as to why there were things going in and out of the water (like the kids feet and the beach balls.) We also tried to reassure them that this NEVER happens and to enjoy it because they will probably never see them this close again.

After the dolphin excitement we played on a playground. Some of the kids first times to one of these as well. The merry-go-round was termed  “very dangerous and can take a human’s life” as they played on it till they got sick. We began to organize a group picture when my student comes up to me and goes “Miss I don’t feel good, I want to vomit.” Okay hunny lets walk over to that garbage can and you can be sick there. There was like a nice restaurant right next to this garbage can and all I could think was OhMyGod my poor little kid is going to barf in front of all these wealthy tourists, I have hit mother status (if I hadn’t already with my backpack full of first aid supplies, water bottles, apples, chips, and sunscreen). We are nearly to the garbage can and he stops and I’m like NOOO JUST A LITTLE FURTHER, but instead he goes, “Oh Miss, I feel better now.” Well that was anti climactic, thank you merry-go-round. Among other firsts experienced at the playground was airplanes flying overhead and having some cultural exchange with Germans kids also playing. It was extremely rewarding to witness.

We then head to Windhoek for our final evening and to top off our massive, exciting, adventure, we see giraffes on the side of the highway at a few of the game farms just outside of Windhoek. Dolphins and giraffes all in one day.

Overall the tour was a huge success. It was a pretty huge headache for the two weeks leading up to it but it was all well worth it. The kids learned about each other’s cultures, made lifelong friends, saw places of their country they might have never seen in their lifetime, and experienced many firsts. When the kids were all being picked up to be taken home tears were flowing, and this may sound heartless but that was the measure of ultimate success. Those kids will never be the same, their lives have been changed, and I cannot express how happy I was to be a part of it. Our next tour in May cannot come soon enough.

Contrasting Beautiful Namibia – Dolphins to Giraffes, Sand Dunes to Green Riversides

When you hear “Africa” you probably think something along the line of a vast dry, sandy, dusty, hot, desert. When you think of (or research Namibia if you have no idea what Namibia is) you get images of high sand dunes, vast wastelands, and “traditional” women with no top on. At least this is what I got when I Googled Namibia upon receiving my invitation. When I arrived and after living here for over a year I learned how incredibly diverse the country and its people are. When you arrive you find yourself in Windhoek, a metropolitan city where you can for the most part get anything your heart desires. There are high-end hotels, swanky high-rise apartments, multi-level parking garages, specialty grocery stores, coffee shops and the latest fashion trends. Favorites among Peace Corps volunteers include soft serve ice cream, Indian food, and KFC. There are super nice suburbs, which trick you into thinking you are back in the United States except for the security walls surrounding all residences, and then there is the location or the “ghetto” just like any other major city in the world.

Windhoek is in the mountains and a drive through these mountains in any direction will bring you to smaller towns and much smaller villages. These places are generally flat, dusty, gravely, freezing in the winter nights and disgustingly hot in the summer afternoons. Homes are built of concrete and sometimes painted bright obnoxious colors, others are built of pieces of corrugated tin and anything else they can find around to patch up holes. Continuing south for hours on end you will still come across the same housing.

The road to Schlip. 50k of pretty much this

During training I lived in a neighborhood called Smarties because of the brightly colored houses

The largest highway in the country. The B1

Sandwiching the main highway through the country are two of the oldest deserts in the world, the Namib and the Kalahari. In both you find the classic Sahara sand dunes, the ones in the Namib though are a vibrant red-orange though. As you drive further west into the Namib you find the place where desert meets sea as the sand dunes abruptly end on the coastline. Traveling up this coast you find a few towns built on industry. One of them, Swakopmund, is a main tourist attraction heavy on the German influence. Here you find beachfront housing, expensive seafood, Italian, and German dinners, a movie theater, swimming, and souvenirs. Further north up the coast you find what is accurately termed “the Skeleton Coast” for the number of shipwrecks and whalebones that litter the coastline. The only way to access this part of the country is with a 4x4 vehicle.

Swakopmund's German influenced Florida beach town look alike

The giant waves of the Namibian coastline

Where sand meets the surf

The Atlantic Ocean is actually just over those sand dunes

I met some seals in Swakopmund

From the northwest coast traveling back east you run into one of the largest game reserves in the world, Etosha National Park. A highlight of southern Africa, Etosha is home to every African zoo animal you can imagine, and here you can get up close in personal with them, driving your vehicle along side a lion chasing down its prey or having to stop for a herd of zebras, elephants, or giraffes to cross the road.

Don't worry, his belly was full of lunch

Traffic in Etosha

Kelley stopped the car, did a u-turn, and pulled up to take a picture of these little guys on the side of the road.

For the lacking population in the southern part of Namibia, the north quarter of the nation is home to a majority of its population. Up here you have populations bursting with culture and tradition, mud huts (there are concrete and tin homes too), and greenery due to the rivers and tributaries that weave around. Moving east you have hippos and crocodiles that roam freely and the further you go you have elephant crossing signs every few kilometers. You also have larger towns, making fried chicken, fresh fruits and vegetables, and transportation easily accessible. Here is where you might say you get “true Africa” and while it might not be a high tourist area, it is something to experience in itself.

Rundu up in the Kavango Region 

The Kavango River. Angola on the left, Namibia on he right.

Sunset over the Kavango

The people are just as diverse as scenery. There are skin colors ranging from rich dark to deep tan to how-could-you-live-in-Africa-your-whole-life-and-still-be-this-white? While English is the “official” language, Akrikaans is also spoken widely due to the previous South African rule and you will find many people also fluent in German. You have the difficult “click” language spoken and various dialects of that as well as 4 other main Bantu languages which each have 5-10 or dialects of their own. Much vocabulary crosses but each language is unique in its own way.

Dress ranges in colors, fabrics, animal skins, or lack there of. Each speaking to their own individual culture and experience. Dance, ceremonies, and food all rich, all diverse.

My students in traditional Nama dress

My students in their traditional Herero dress

My students in their Owambo skirts

Nama dress for men

My students rebelling against cultural dress day. These are my clean village boys

A line from the Namibian National Anthem speaks to this diversity saying “contrasting beautiful Namibia”. This is true as in just one day you can travel from the ocean and sprawling sand dunes through the mountains to an urban city while you keep your eyes peeled for giraffes on the side of the road. The next day you can head north to the green banks of the Kavango or Zambezi rivers traveling through rolling hills, mountains, wastelands, and mud hut homesteads. If you’re lucky you will catch a glimpse of the hippos or crocodiles that live in the water.

Nearly 10 years ago, Peace Corps Namibia has had a group of their volunteers working toward promoting this diversity throughout the country as well as diversity throughout the world (I could not believe it when I was asked if coming to Namibia was the first time I saw a black person). We do this through hosting an annual Diversity Tour (which I will talk about in the next post), conducting diversity sessions to new groups of Peace Corps trainees, providing educational material for schools around the country, and are working on starting up a Pen Pal Program. I joined this group, as I am passionate about overcoming cultural differences and barriers, and quickly found myself president. It has now become one of the larger projects I am working on during my service and I love it. I am sure you will hear much more about it J

A Day in the Life of Ms. Riley

            I have been slacking on documenting my experience and for that I apologize but this term has been crazy and frankly has kinda sucked. I found myself working my butt off and not having time to sit down and write about what I’m doing. It’s unfortunate that this is the first time since March but such is life.

            I have realized that one of the reasons I have been so busy is because I play so many different roles throughout the day. I’m pulled in so many different directions that there leaves little time to myself which is fine but it’s been exhausting. Here’s a little insight into my daily life this past term.

7am – Teacher

Everyday I wake up in the morning, some days earlier than others and arrive at school to teach English. Some days are longer than others with my “library” classes but I generally am an English teacher 6 hours a day. We do listening comprehensions, reading techniques, grammar busy work, and class discussions on hostel life, corporal punishment, school uniforms, and who they admire most in life. 4 real classes and 2 “administration” periods that I should be able to use for grading, or preparing for future lessons/days.

7am-430pm – Babysitter

Part of the reason this term has been so horrible is because out of three months of school, there has been a fully present staff a total of 5 different days and only 28 actual days of learning in class. Absenteeism has been extremely high and there has been absolutely no planning for it. Substitute teacher are nonexistent out in the village so when a teacher fails to show up for class the kids are either left unsupervised in a classroom or are instructed to “find an open classroom”. After the principal and the head of department (vice principal who is a teacher), I teach the least amount of classes because I am only allowed to work a certain number of periods a week being a volunteer. So when the kids have nowhere to go the first teacher that is looked to is me. In a normal uncontrollable/emergency situation I would be completely fine with this. After all I am here to help but it got to the point that I would have the same kids in my classroom for three whole hours because there were no other teachers present to teach them or watch them. Had I been notified that I would take over a certain teacher’s classes for a whole week I would have prepared extra lessons for kids. I was never notified until the period started so what ended up happening was I babysat the kids. Half their teachers weren’t there to give them work and there is 5 hours outside of school that is set aside for mandatory study time so the kids had nothing to do but sit there causing trouble resulting in them not doing anything educational in school and me not being able to do anything while actually IN school. I tried to stay a step ahead of the game but when I would prepare extra lessons and extra work the kids would refuse to do it or refuse to come to my class. They would find another teacher that wouldn’t make them do anything then come and bother me because they were bored and doing nothing. No one was present to discipline the kids or keep them in line so I fought a loosing battle for a good 2 months.

3pm-430pm (Mondays and Wednesdays) – Volleyball Coach

Against my pleas and promises that I knew nothing about athletics I found myself as volleyball coach. There were actually three coaches but the other two failed to show up more times than they were there which left me flying solo with maybe a ball and/or a net, maybe not. Okay boys lets um do leg workouts. Okay run a lap, okay lets talk about sportsmanship and teamwork. Lets work on communication skills. I had a whistle and a loud voice but I’ll just recap the season as a fail. Nonetheless, the boys had fun, I think

After school – Tutor

Teachers being absent meant that lessons could not be taught meaning the kids had to learn the material and do the work without an actual teacher. The kids all know I am good with math and sciences so multiple times a week I had kids running to me terrified they were going to fail grade 8 because they did not understand why letters were now being used in their math books.

Nights and Weekend – Banking Services

Being stuck in a village for a month it can be really hard to budget your money if you don’t know anything about saving. Saving is not a value that many kids are taught by their parents so when they arrive at school for a month with money from home its all gone within a week or two and they are stuck. Then it turns into Miss Riley can I have 5$ to go to the movie night with everyone, Miss Riley I need 30$ to get home, Miss Riley I’m so hungry I just want a 10$ for bread. Instead of free handouts of food, money, soap, whatever I tell them they can have the amount of money they need if I get their cell phone or school shoes or something personal of value that I know they will want back. I lent kids money before and I was out like 150$ at the end of term one so now I have a system. It works quite well until I found out one of the cell phones that a kid gave to me for 10$ was in fact stolen from a girl in the hostel. Well that was a fail but his punishment was no more Miss Riley banking.

I also have a few kids give me their money after coming home so that 1) it doesn’t get stolen and 2) so that it doesn’t burn a hole in their pocket.

Nights/Weekends/Holidays – Cruise Director

I use the term cruise director in reference to my mother who always plans fun events and activities when friends and family come to stay at “Resort Riley”. Becoming my mother in yet another aspect I now consider myself the Cruise Director of the hostel and school. Being a teenager living in the middle of nowhere Namibia and not allowed to leave the hostel gates except on one weekend a month would drive anyone flipping bonkers. I don’t show it but I truly feel bad for these kids. I remember all the different things and activities I was involved in as a teenager and how it helped to balance my schoolwork and my students have none of it so what I have tried to do give them something to do in their free time. There’s only so many Harry Potter and Hunger Games books that grab kids attention so most of the time it is a movie night with the school’s projector (I know SO Peace Corps right) and if I’m feeling really generous with my time, I will make them popcorn to sell (Kelley Riley Popcorn to be exact).  Other events offered are sports activities, workout videos, cleaning Ms. Riley’s flat and doing some of her wash.

Random Times and Days – Doctor/Nurse

My kids are violent, they’re mostly city kids with dark pasts and so you throw them all in a hostel together with hormones they punch walls, scratch each other, and bash each others faces. At 8pm just last Thursday night I had a kid at door with blood running down his hand. He punched a wall and needed a Band-Aid. Okay here are two, don’t punch walls any more. Sometime they fell playing soccer and a simple Band-Aid wont help at all but like every little kid, its like a miracle drug and all of a sudden they are all better.

About a month ago I had a girl who fell and knocked her head on a concrete step. Okay come in, sit down let me look at your eyes, here’s an ice pack (which is actually a bag of spirit alcohol I purchased in Malawi for purposes like this), talk to me for a half hour, let me assess if you have a concussion, no you’re good. Just take some pain pills and take it easy.

Flu season was pretty bad. That was lots of hot water with lemon. Miss my head is paining and I don’t feel good. Okay how long has it hurt, how much water did you drink today, you need to drink more and take some pain pills before bed and try to sleep early.

There was one day during study where a kid came up to me asking if he could sit with a girl to get something out of his hand. There was the Namibia equivalent of a sliver in his hand meaning it was a microscopic thorn that had broken off in his hand when he as playing soccer in the location. It was his writing hand and he said it hurt a lot so I said yes if she could get it out okay that’s fine just stay quiet. Wait do you have tweezers? No can I go outside to get the thing she uses? She’s really good, she knows what to do. Okay whatever just don’t talk. Well the kid brings back an acacia thorn. For those of you who don’t know they are extremely long and strong thorns and getting one in your shoes unexpectedly pretty close to stepping on a Lego. Well the girl tries for about a half hour and gives up, no luck. Miss can you please try. Okay fine come here. I do not know how I did it but I managed to extract the microscopic thorn using the same kind of thorn that was in his hand. I felt like nurse of the year with that one, the kid was so happy and I felt really warm and fuzzy inside.

Weekends – Big Sister/Mentor/Life Coach

Most weekends kids are bored so they stop by to say hi but more often than not they come over with a story or a question. These range from girl fights, to troubled pasts, to bad friends, to relationships, to sex questions.

Ah Miss these girls in the hostel they are all two-faced and talk about you behind your back. Yeah well unfortunately it doesn’t get better as you get older, there will always be people that don’t like you and that say bad things all you gotta do is learn to keep your head up.

Miss theres this girl that I like but the problem is she has another boyfriend who she doesn’t want to break up with because he has a heart problem and she doesn’t want to make him sick. Okay hun you are too young to date and even if you do like where are you gonna go? You’re not allowed to leave the hostel grounds or even have relationships in the hostel. Go write me an essay about it.

Miss you know a lot of like stuff right? Like these STI’s or whatever? Well theres a guy at the hostel who has a something on his something and everyone is saying is herpes. Okay well it could be that or another infection, but it could also just be a pimple, it happens but if it starts to hurt or grow he needs to go right to the clinic. Okay thanks Miss.

I even had one day where there were three large boys at my door at 1130 in the morning asking for their essay books and toothpaste. These were not the most dedicated of students and it was a Thursday and there was no school, some holiday that meant everyone got the day off,.1130am, three extremely large boys asking for toothpaste and homework why? They were drunk as skunks and thought it was funny. Between breakfast at 630am and right at that moment these boys managed to leave the hostel grounds get their hands on a fifth of whiskey and finish it before coming back to school. I was furious, not only at them and their stupidity (actually one was 18 so he was technically legally allowed to drink) but also for the lack of security and supervision on the part of the adults at the hostel. They wanted the toothpaste to mask the smell but I knew that even if I gave it to them it wasn’t going to help much. Now with them showing up at my door, I was either an accomplice or the one to rat them out. These boys would be expelled from the hostel and unable to attend school to finish the term if anyone found out they had been drinking. I began to interrogate them: who let you leave the hostel, how long were you gone, who did you buy it from, where did you drink it, WHY DID YOU COME TO MY HOUSE IN THIS STATE HAVEN’T YOU LEARNED ANYTHING, WHY, WHY, WHY? Their answer: Miss, its because we trust you. We’re not going to make any trouble, we were bored, had nothing to do, and wanted to have some fun. We just wanted you to help us with some toothpaste and we are going to bed. I ended up not ratting them out, because while I realized it would have been the correct “adult” thing to do, these boys trusted me. They skipped my class most Fridays, would sleep on other days, one of them once threw a dead bird into my classroom, and not one teacher trusted them to do anything productive ever, but they trusted me and the last thing I wanted to do was break that. I wanted to make sure that in the event that they really screwed up, that they knew they could come to me for genuine help. In the end, it was a good gesture and I really thought I was going to get somewhere with these boys but since then all three have been expelled from the hostel or other incidents and only two returned to finish school. Well I tried.

Days are long and many are tough. You get defeated a lot but you also win a lot. Its not easy filling so many roles and being pulled in so many directions but it is worth it. Even if I only write one blog post a term…