Blog posting has taken a backseat as we power through our last few days in Opuwo! We're cramming internships, projects, meetings, drama classes, workshops, travel preparations and sometimes even a few hours sleep as suddenly 24 hours in a day just isn't enough as the end of our busy stay approaches. The students are currently preparing for their final exams meaning they spend their school day "studying" in their classrooms. For my class on some days this means genuinely sitting in silence, with a teacher present and not being allowed to make a peep and on other days (like today) it means dancing, singing, fighting, everything and anything that has as little to do with studying as possible. Consistency is key!
On Wednesday I brought my camera along to class and the kids went crazy taking pictures and videos of eachother and myself and at a certain point my camera alone wasn't enough and my phone was summoned. I had to take an individual picure with every single student and they took pictures in every combination possible. 244 pictures and 23 videos later it was break time and I left school to give them a chance to really study! As a few of you know this project has been on going since last semester where we had to teach a handful of times at a local secondary school. On one occasion Jane (my teaching partner) and I asked our Dutch 13-14 year old students to draw us a tourist poster for Namibia without any prior knowledge of the place. I'll attach a few of them but lets say their ideas were as biased as we'd expected. The shock on their faces when we showed them the busy city centers of Windhoek and Walvis bay was priceless. I decided to carry out the same activity in Putuavanga, the school I'm currently working at. As expected, the learners didn't quite catch on to the task and the session turned more into a Q&A about Europe and the Netherlands. They simply could not get their heads around the concept of farms and zoos, ferociously contesting my claims that goats and boars are not regular visitors at my university. On the subject of housing they excitedly shouted that we lived in towers, in houses built on top of eachother and with big, pointy roofs. When discussing this question with a colleague of mine later on she mentioned that in her class the learners referred to apartment block as "rudely building a house on top of someone else's house" and "something they'd never do in Namibia". Needless to say the poster idea was abandoned mid-discussion, with my students claiming they couldn't draw a concept they were unfamiliar with. Concrete roads as opposed to sand, monkeys in zoos and goats contained to farmland? "You must be joking, miss!" Yet another eyeopening conversation with my students!
As part of our Going Glocal program we have bi-weekly "therapy sessions" with our professors about how and what we are doing with both our internships and projects but also emotionally and mentally. One of the topics brought up at this particular meeting was that of my previous blog post, the Bullet concert. The group was strongly divided between those who had had a great time and those who had experienced the concert like I had. It caused a light discussion as one of our professors felt our discomfort at being placed in front row was disrespectful towards the establishment owner who had gone out of his way to make us feel comfortable and welcomed. He wasn't as open minded towards our feelings as I would have hoped and I left the session feeling as if I'd been reprimanded for experiencing the concert the way I did, just because it wasn't the way it had been intended to be experienced. The importance of appreciating a story from many perspectives became beyond apparent following this meeting!
Obviously it's not all fun and games as the world turns and the busyness of the last few days is really starting to take its toll on me. The recent plane catastrophe has also contributed an obvious amount of grief, with the entire nation left affected by the tragedy. Being in Africa during this time had offered a certain amount of distance to the affair as the people of Opuwo are none the wiser and with only one television in the building, little to no free time and a questionable internet connection it had been pretty easy to avoid. However receiving an email from school stating that a former student was on the plane has left it impossible to push aside. The selfishly comforting distance of being fortunate enough not to personally know any of the victims has vanished. Although I wasn't friends with Marit I've met her, seen her at school and seen her living, breathing and laughing. She is survived by her brother and loved ones and my heavy, heavy heart goes out to them all. Now with the crash in China and the on going conflict in Israel I'm left reeling with questions summarised into a massive: what the actual fuck is going on with the world?
With only 4 days left in Opuwo I'm feeling a little strange as to just how quickly time goes past. I'm definitely looking forward to going home and have started to count down the days. It's been amazing up until now with every good but especially every bad moment contributing something to my experience in some way. I've been in Africa for a month today and I'm just starting to miss my life back home. My friends, my boyfriend and being able to walk to the supermarket without being attacked by Himba entrepreneurs are all I need right now and 11 days suddenly seems unbearably long! It's the little comforts in life that become apparent when you're away and if there's anything I'm taking from this trip it's a deeper understanding of the importance of being surrounded by people who you love and who love you back. And that's definitely all I need right now (oh and maybe some tap water that doesn't give me the runs, just to keep this from becoming a sapfest!).
Just love (and lots of it), Tiger Laylay xo
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