Teaching in Namibia and other tales by an Irish woman: November 2006

A last weekend with some friends in Namibia

Pete and Kate chilling by the braai

Me and Rashmi

Ant braaing all sorts of different meat

Namerican Thanksgiving

The weekend before last we celebrated a Namerican Thanksgiving at our friends' house in Oshikango, a town that is on the border with Angola. At last count there were 11 different nationalities present - Namibian, American, Irish, English, French, Japanese, Canadian, Australian, Zimbabwean, Israeli and South African. One of the Namibians was from Caprivi and he thought that this should be counted as a separate nationality, so perhaps I should say there were 12 different nationalities present!

The spread

Mmm, a plate of good food!

A Zimbabwean teacher with her daughter Babes.

Farewell Canisianum!

Last Friday my school held a farewell bash in honour of the departure of myself and two other teachers. It was held at the site of a famous baobab tree in town. This tree is so large, and hollow, that it was once the site of a post office. The party food consisted primarily of meat to the delight of everyone but the single vegetarian among us.

Sister Daisy straight out of a commercial.

Sister Annie

The Sisters having a good time.

Pete and my principal, Mr. Kalipi

Mr. John and another tate enjoying their food.

Pete and my new roommate, among others, chatting in the shade of the enormous baobab tree.

Mrs. Aukongo enjoying some sausage.

Tate Ngoto

Tate Efraim and Mr. Vasco hanging out.

Saying Goodbye

It is officially my last week in Namibia. I am looking forward to the holidays after a busy term, but I get sad when I realise I won't be coming back. These are some of the class photos I took on the last day of teaching. I have also included some of the last music classes I taught.

Grade 8A

Grade 11A

Grade 8B

Simson playing the guitar while a goup of students sing along.

Simon playing the guitar while a group of students and an oshilumbu sing along.

Johannes playing the keyboard to the amazement of his friends.

One of my recorder groups

Party Time

It has been a busy few weeks with parties each weekend. First there was a party for the grade 10 students at Pete's school, then there was a farewell party for Pete himself. The next couple of weeks will also be dominated by parties - this weekend we're celebrating a Namerican Thanksgiving (with 8 different nationalities present) and next weekend is my farewell party. The photos below are a mixture of scenes from the past two parties.