The big news in Namibia currently is an outbreak of polio. A nationwide vaccination campaign gets started next week and everybody at my school must get vaccinated at our local clinic, me included. Sadly, I think that 10 people have died so far.
Aside from that, the other large item of news here is that Britney Spears is thinking about having her baby in Namibia!!
Well, not really. On Friday the English-medium independent newspaper in Namibia, The Namibian, admonished several other media outlets in Namibia for publishing this story as a factual news item and noted that the source for this information was a non-mainstream website that regularly publishes satirical stories such as "The spay Britney Spears campaign..."
I love it. The government does not allow any government advertisements in The Namibian (such as job adverts or whatever) because this newspaper is too critical of the government, so I'm sure The Namibian never misses an opportunity to give voluminous attention to government media cock-ups!
The last big piece of news is that yesterday and today there have been clouds in the sky. I haven't seen clouds in well over a month and didn't expect to see them again until October. It doesn't look like it's going to rain, which would just be insane, but still...clouds in June.
School is going really well. The music lessons are plugging along and I hope that each student will be able to perform a piece of music at an end of term student concert I would like to hold at my house. Women's soccer is going well too and next week I am taking the women up to Ruacana, a town about 100km north west of Outapi to play in their first tournament! It's really exciting because before this I hadn't found any schools in our area that offer women's soccer, which of course makes organising games difficult.
Absolutely unrelated, but something I like to think about: literature.
I am really happy that over the past five and a half months I have had the time to read a lot. I have read, I don't know, maybe 16 books over these past months here. This morning I finished Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux. I also recently read The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer. Both very good. Next up is Africa: The Biography of a Continent by John Reader, which I'm really looking forward to.
Yesterday was Day of the African Child, marked by children performing dramas, songs and dancing all over the country. I am glad that this day is so widely recognised and celebrated and that the children feel a sense of ownership over this day. One student at Pete's school said, "We are happy because this is our day."
Aside from that, the other large item of news here is that Britney Spears is thinking about having her baby in Namibia!!
Well, not really. On Friday the English-medium independent newspaper in Namibia, The Namibian, admonished several other media outlets in Namibia for publishing this story as a factual news item and noted that the source for this information was a non-mainstream website that regularly publishes satirical stories such as "The spay Britney Spears campaign..."
I love it. The government does not allow any government advertisements in The Namibian (such as job adverts or whatever) because this newspaper is too critical of the government, so I'm sure The Namibian never misses an opportunity to give voluminous attention to government media cock-ups!
The last big piece of news is that yesterday and today there have been clouds in the sky. I haven't seen clouds in well over a month and didn't expect to see them again until October. It doesn't look like it's going to rain, which would just be insane, but still...clouds in June.
School is going really well. The music lessons are plugging along and I hope that each student will be able to perform a piece of music at an end of term student concert I would like to hold at my house. Women's soccer is going well too and next week I am taking the women up to Ruacana, a town about 100km north west of Outapi to play in their first tournament! It's really exciting because before this I hadn't found any schools in our area that offer women's soccer, which of course makes organising games difficult.
Absolutely unrelated, but something I like to think about: literature.
I am really happy that over the past five and a half months I have had the time to read a lot. I have read, I don't know, maybe 16 books over these past months here. This morning I finished Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux. I also recently read The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer. Both very good. Next up is Africa: The Biography of a Continent by John Reader, which I'm really looking forward to.
Yesterday was Day of the African Child, marked by children performing dramas, songs and dancing all over the country. I am glad that this day is so widely recognised and celebrated and that the children feel a sense of ownership over this day. One student at Pete's school said, "We are happy because this is our day."
posted by Sinéad at 9:11 AM
2 Comments:
Hi Neids,
Very sad on the polio front as it should be eradicated by now. Priorities very off in the developed world.
Papers here say Zambia for Brit as if anyone cares and what a pathetic way to get attention!
Love
Dad
i really liked this entry! can't believe that dad thinks that no one would care abot britney giving birth in namibia! hehe! little does he know how some ppl crave celebrity gossip, not me though of course. :-) that is very sad about polio, i didn't realise how dangerous it still is. it never rains there??
nic xx
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