Monkeying around

Kuvaza loves the After School Program. She has been coming ever since it was started in March 2004! She’s in Grade 5 and really works hard, often spending two hours on her homework. She doesn’t like maths very much, but does extra maths homework every week to try and improve her marks. Her favourite part of the Program is Bible Club on Wednesday afternoons, and she often gets points for remembering Bible verses and knowing stories from the Bible.

Kuvaza always works hard and has a smile!

This week she had to write two paragraphs on something scary that happened to her and I thought what she wrote was really cute. So I asked her permission and here it is:

Two years ago a scary incident happened to me. While I was busy bathing I heard voices and steps outside. I looked through the window but there was nothing. I finished bathing, put on my clothes and went to the kitchen to make something to eat.

When I went to the kitchen I saw some papers lying around. I took the papers to go throw away. When I went outside to the dustbin something that looked like a big monkey jumped out from behind it. I was so scared, I screamed and dropped the papers and ran. Only at last I realized that it was my Aunt’s brother wearing a monkey mask.

On the home front: more rugby blues
Well, Namibia’s World Cup campaign is over with two more losses under their belt(s). Disappointing, but the last game was played in very rainy conditions. Wacca will be home on Saturday, and it’ll be interesting to hear about his time in France.

Speaking of rain, ‘they’ are predicting a good rainy season for Southern Africa and while Jimmy was working up in Rundu (right in the north of Namibia on the Angolan border) on Wednesday, they got their first showers of the season. So may it start early and last long!

Lastly, I’m sure you’re dying to know the squash score – only won one game this week again (and that was with Rachel doped up on antihistamines – or maybe they’re performance enhancing?!).

Another week, another...

Another week, another volunteer! We’ve got someone else helping at the After School Program. Edwin is a student from the Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary (NETS), doing a year-long Certificate in Youth & Child Ministry. He heard about our Program through his friend, Carlos, a second-year Theology student also at NETS.

Edwin (see under, helping one of the Grade 1 girls) is from Opuwo in the north-east corner of Namibia. He has a real desire to tell young people about Christ and spent two years with his church, the Dutch Reformed Church, doing school outreaches in the Kunene Region. “I could see a real difference between schools as we traveled around the Region,” he said. “Where there was a positive atmosphere and learners were doing well, I could see that there were teachers who really cared for the learners. Invariably, those teachers would be Christians who really wanted to make a difference in the kids’ lives and not just help to educate them. I want to become a teacher like that!” He hopes to complete a Diploma in Theology before getting a teaching qualification and becoming a Religious Education/Life Skills teacher. For now, he’ll get some practice with us!

We’re looking into an arrangement with NETS where the students can get the practical children’s ministry experience they need as part of their courses, by helping out at the After School Program. Meanwhile, we’re very happy to have Carlos (see left, with some of the upper primary kids) and Edwin assisting when their studies allow.

The week was still a little hectic as Kauna (the Program Coordinator) had exams and so was on study leave. We sure missed her organizational skills! I was Acting Chief and I just hope she isn’t too mad at the mess she’ll find on Monday…

On the home front: don't talk about rugby
I’m looking forward to Jimmy’s last week-long trip for work for the year, which takes place next week. Not looking forward to him being gone (of course!), but the fact that it’ll be the last one for a while. So, barring any emergencies, his trips outside Windhoek for the rest of the year should only entail being away for two or three days at the most.

And I managed to win two squash games this week – Rachel better watch out! As for the rugby match against France, well let’s not talk about it. The Namibians are playing again tonight against Argentina, so we’ll see how that goes.

Lastly, while we were sitting on Tuesday evening, watching the sunset turn the clouds pink and the birds wheeling and diving in the sky, Caietta, my two-year-old, suddenly shouted at the top of her voice, “Birds! Where are you going?”

So let me leave you with that – where DO birds go?

Reflection on Philippians 2:1-11

How can I stand before You
When every knee should bow?
How dare I remain silent
While tongues confess You now?

And yet too often I stand
Proud of myself, my face
Turned to what You’ve given me,
Focused on these, not grace.

And when I need to praise You
Somehow my words won’t fall
While all too often I speak
Of how I’ve done it all.

And, seeing, does it pain You
To watch me force my way?
To put myself high up there
When that should be Your place?

My knees must bow before You,
I must be brought so low
To recognize Your glory
And it to others show.

My tongue must now confess You
My words must start to fall;
Glorify the Chosen One,
My Jesus, Lord of all.

How can I stand before You
When every knee should bow?
How dare I remain silent
While tongues confess You now?

'Rithmetic, Rugby & Radio

More maths?! I felt like I had it coming out of my ears this week. At one stage on Tuesday I was helping 5 kids at the same time – Grade 9 Life Science (Biology – diffusion), Grade 6 maths (units of distance), Grade 6 maths (long division), Grade 5 Social Studies (water pollution) and Grade 4 maths (adding and subtracting thousands). I don’t think I got confused and said anything like, “Diffusion is kilometres divided by the amount of effluent minus 2,375” – but you never know!

The reason for my multi-tasking was just one of those weeks when almost none of the normal volunteers for the After School Program were available. Ruth had extra classes all week, Cillo was out of town, Tom had an assignment to work on and Joël’s grandmother passed away and he had to help his family with the funeral preparations.

One of the volunteers who did show up was Hauta Veii, who just recently started helping with the Program. An up-and-coming rugby player, we roped him in to teach the kids some rugby skills in our Tuesday sports slot. All the boys are crazy about soccer, and the only sport the girls know is netball, so we thought it would do them good to be exposed to something else. And so far they seem to be enjoying it…well, the boys at least (see picture)! The girls are being rather girly and saying things like, “But it’s too hot!” and “Won’t I get hurt?”

Hauta also helps out on Wednesday afternoons and is very effective in keeping the kids under control – a big, front-row player, all he has to do is look at the kids and his size does the talking!

Something encouraging: I got a call from Mr Kateve at Katutura Community Radio (KCR). KCR is a small radio station that only broadcasts in the Katutura area of Windhoek (Katutura is the former black township area where our church, the Evangelical Bible Church, is located). Mr Kateve found out about the training we ran in May on Orphans and Vulnerable Children and interviewed us on air. Since then he calls regularly to find out what other community programs we’re running. This time he expressed interest in coming to see the After School Program and broadcasting something about it. Hope it happens soon!

P.S. Kuzatjike did the extra maths homework I set for him over the weekend and actually got all the multiplying and dividing of decimals sums correct (a bit too good to be true? but he said no one helped him). Didn’t do so well on changing fractions to decimals and vice versa. So we revised that, and this week he had percentages. He didn’t come to the Program on Tuesday and Wednesday as he was sick, so we had a lot of work to catch up on yesterday. He has extra reading and maths to do over the weekend. Kauna (the Program Coordinator) has started sending extra reading work home with the kids who most need it, and some of them are really doing well.

On the home front: sports, sums & sweetness
Last weekend was great for Namibia on the sports front! On Saturday we qualified for the quarter finals of the Africa Cup of Nations (the biggest continental soccer tournament) and on Sunday we really gave Ireland a tough game at the Rugby World Cup. Sure, we lost 17-32 (which should have been 17-27 as the last try shouldn’t have been awarded…) but the boys really played a good game. We especially enjoyed watching our friend Wacca (see left, his autographed players card) play – and the ref only had to talk to him once for fighting! So if you get a chance to see Namibia playing on Sunday (against France, eek), cheer on the big #4 with us.

And yesterday I was exhausted after some tough squash games. Yes, I managed to win one this week! What made it worse for my muscles was that I decided to drill the kids at the Program yesterday on their times tables – with full body actions. They tired before I did, but I was also glad to stop and sit down for a while. And that was only the 1x table. I started off with, “One times one equals two” and not one of them batted an eyelid, sigh. (I wish I could say I did it on purpose, but, hey, it had been a busy week.)

Lastly, Jimmy and I have a brand-new goddaughter, Gloria, born to our friend Abigail on 5 September. She was 2.7kg at birth and when I held her a couple of days later I couldn’t believe how tiny she is! My two were much heavier than that at birth and I thought they were small. Hope to post some pics soon!

Grade 7 Maths Problems

School started this week for the third and last term, which means that the After School Program also started. The number of kids was lower (about 30 instead of 60), but that’s normal for the first couple of weeks of term at least.
{At the After School Program a group of volunteers from our church and the community help kids who live in the area with their homework and revision, and then we have games and activities (such as sports, craft and Bible Club) for them. It runs on Mondays to Thursdays from 2pm until 5pm. Kauna, one of the young ladies from the church, directs the Program.}

I spent each day helping Kuzatjike, one of the Grade 7 boys, with his maths homework – multiplying and dividing decimals, and converting fractions to decimals and vice versa. Every day was the same: we’d sit down and I’d ask him how to start working on the problems, and he’d have absolutely no idea! Now I don’t know if that’s because he doesn’t listen in class or the teacher just doesn’t explain what to do. The class sizes are at least 40 kids and that sure doesn’t make for optimal teaching conditions. An added complication is that the schools mostly don’t allow the kids to take their textbooks home and so if they don’t know how to do the homework, there’s nothing they can refer to. It also makes it a bit difficult for us at the Program, because if they don’t have similar problems they’ve already done in their homework books, we’re not sure how the teacher wants them to do the working out and so on.

Despite not knowing what to do, Kuzatjike paid attention when I explained the working out to him and was able to do the sums with only a bit of help from me. However, a big problem is that he hardly knows his times tables and even finds dividing easier than multiplying! Weird.

Kuzatjike’s mother came on Thursday to show us his report from last term – he failed Maths, English and Social Studies and almost all his marks were worse in Term 2 than Term 1. He did okay in Science, which most kids here wrestle with, and admitted that he likes Science a lot more than Maths. His mother really wants to help him but she works as a hairdresser and sometimes doesn’t get home until 9pm.

After talking with her, I did up an extra homework sheet of maths problems, similar to the ones he’d done all week, for Kuzatjike to do over Friday and the weekend. Kauna’s idea is to start a reading program for some of the kids who are really struggling with English – something they can take home to work on in the evenings, as well as getting help at the Program. I’ll keep you posted as to how that all works!

On the Home Front: Time changes & sleepyheads
I don’t know who came up with the brilliant idea of always having winter time finish (and thus having the clocks move one hour forward) the same week that school starts for Term 3. Samara has to be at pre-school at 8am and I’ve had to wake her up at 7am when she’s still been fast asleep. I don’t know how the primary and high school kids, who have to be at school at 7am, are managing! Hey, even I’m finding it hard to adjust and have had a few unscheduled sleep-ins…

Added to that, Windhoek residents were warned on Monday to use water sparingly as NamWater had had a fire which took out one of their water pumps. We were all prepared for water rationing and similar drastic measures, but the water was never off, and things were back to normal by Wednesday, instead of Friday as they had announced. However, they also reminded us that dam levels are quite low and if we don’t get a good rainy season (should start raining next month), then we’re looking at some shortages.

AND the airconditioner at the gym was off all week, due to repairs being carried out. For some reason this also affects the hot water, so after working up a good sweat exercising (maximum temperatures here are already up around 30°C), we have the bonus of cold showers! Rachel and I WERE sweating when we finished four games of squash yesterday and, yes, she walloped me in each one. I do have an excuse (having had flu quite badly last week) – but then again, her walloping me is quite a regular occurrence. Oh well, I really enjoy playing and that’s what matters, hey.

Lastly, Jimmy and I actually managed to go to the movies last night and saw ‘Rush Hour 3’. He enjoyed it, I thought the first two were much better. And the fight scenes on the Eiffel Tower just made me dizzy!