It's official

Yesterday I sent in my paperwork setting October 14 my last day as a volunteer.  It had to be signed by the principal (formally the HOD), and when I gave it to him to sign, he said, "...And if I don't want to let you go?" .....what??  Sometimes I just don't understand you, Namibia.

My morning walks to school continue to be one of the best (if not the best) parts of my day.  I pass various groups of boys walking to the other schools, and they like to greet me by name.  It makes me smile. I've been advised that I should resume riding my bike to and from school due to the escalated gang activity in and around Gobabis...  but in the month or so that I've been walking, I've never felt unsafe. 


I think that most volunteers would agree that problem solving and the power of deduction are skills lacking in general among learners and even our colleagues.  They can tell you that A+B=C, but if you ask them how to get back to A using B and C, they can't.  This morning on the radio (at about 6:10, on the English NBC/BBC station) there was an Early Childhood Education specialist (African in descent, although I'm not sure from which part of Africa) talking about the importance of ECE and how a lack of proper early childhood stimulation in Namibia is having long-reaching, long-lasting effects here.  The woman speaking evenn went so far as to point out that if the neurons  created by early childhood stimulation are not maintained and die, "that child is not so clever anymore."  To hear this problem being addressed on public radio was encouraging.  Unfortunately, I know that the population to whom this issue should be directed (ie the parents of my learners) is not listening in to the English language news.