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.
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| My adorable student Brenden. |
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| Fearless leaders |
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| Learning about solar energy |
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| 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.
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.
