Last day of lecturing

I taught my last class today to my second year students in Social Development (sophomores). The students have a week off for studying/reading, and then have a full three weeks of exams similar to the British model. I think I have finally figured out the whole examination thing, but it took me all year to do so. I still have to give exams, and I’m doing the final oral examinations for the 4th year students in a few weeks, so there’s still quite a bit to do here before the university closes for the end of the year.


A UNAM classroom


My co-teacher watching, as a group tries to get the right Jeopardy "question"


It was a bittersweet class for me today. I prepared a “Jeopardy” board and we did a review game with the students, which was quite fun. They all had team names, and it went down to Final Jeopardy bidding to see which team one. There was lots of cheering and revelry. I then had to say goodbye to this group, the class I had spent the most time with here in Namibia, teaching them 2 or 3 days a week both terms. They were very sweet to me, and gave me a big Namibian cheer, which is impossible for me to do, but involves a lot of screaming at a really high-pitched level. They also told me that they liked being able to debate in class and try out different views, which we did a lot of in this class together. I tried as much as possible to draw on what they already knew, so our class discussions would involve such topics as “what good is it to raise a chicken to maturity when you are starving today” to “how many feet away from a hut you need to dig a latrine”. I had very little to add to these conservations, but they often got heated, in a good way. I was pleased to hear that it seems that I was able to run classes in a way that was useful and interesting to most of the students, and led them to some critical thinking. I told the students today how much I learned from them, which I truly did. I'm a little sad that it is all over already. I feel lucky that I had the opportunity to teach some of the brightest and most committed young people in Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and the rest of Southern Africa.


My co-teacher and I with some students


Here I am with a bunch of students.

My social work school back home sent me a bunch of t-shirts, and I gave each of the students either a bag or t-shirt (and my business card), which they loved. I think there are a number of new University of Minnesota fans here in Africa now. It was a pleasure for me to see them around campus the rest of the day in their maroon and gold.

Shannon goes to the Kunene

Our second visitor was Auntie Shannon, who came all the way from Bremerton, Washington to visit at the end of September. We were so excited to see her that I think we ran her ragged with our touring. Just a few hours after she arrived, we took her to a benefit for an NGO. She got to witness first hand how formal events are in Windhoek, with all the protocol that must be followed when Ministers and other important people are present. The speeches lasted for 2 ½ hours and we didn’t get served dinner until after 9:00. The next day she was allowed to “rest”, if resting means going to a Girl Guides meeting and having a Braai at our house. We then went off on a five day trip through northeastern Namibia. Our first stop was Etosha, where we had another magical night at the waterhole (elephants, giraffe, zebras, rhino, gemsbok, wildebeest, jackal, etc. etc.). After Etosha, we went over the stunning Grootberg pass in northern Damaraland towards the Kunene region and Palmwag.

Shannon on the game drive

The highlight of the trip for me was a tour that Shannon and I took up into Kunene region to visit a Himba village. With our private guide, we went about two hours north of Palmway on a gravel road, passing one car in the other direction and almost no settlements. This area just grew more and more beautiful the further north we drove. We then came across a few small settlements, and then came across the outpost town of Sesfontein, which is home to Damara and Herero people. This is the Wild West region of Namibia, where there are hardly any people, any roads, and anyone visiting at all. Sesfontein does have some shops, and a surprisingly nice lodge which we stopped by, that was made out of the old German fort.


Beautiful scenery on our drive

We then to pick up our Herero guide. The Himba are closely related to the Herero, and they speak very similar languages. Then we drove over to the village. We first waited while the guide went in and asked an elder for permission for us to enter, then we entered. The only ones in the village were women, children, and older men. The younger men were all out tending their goats and cattle. They follow their herds for 20-40 kilometers today, out in the hot sun walking barefoot in the harsh terrain. Sometimes they are gone for days at a time. The women were cooking, making crafts, and making buildings.

The Himba are one of the last nomadic tribes on Earth, and still lead a very traditional lifestyle. They have retained much more of their culture and traditional ways than the Bushmen, probably because they are in such a remote region. The women are famous for their red skin. They make a mixture of red ochre and fat that they rub all over their hair and skin. They also perfume themselves by burning herbs and sitting in a closed up hut (essentially smoking themselves). The women were very beautiful, and had perfect skin. They were very much into having their photos taken, but were concerned about their appearances. They had to have their hair, hairpieces, etc. just perfect, and laughed and laughed at each others’ photos. We spent a lot of time taking photos and showing photos, and they could have posed all day.


Shannon showing a photo to the women


Himba woman with her baby

One of the woman was in the process of making one of their mud huts when we arrived. She showed us how they mix cow dung with mud to make the thick walks of the huts. It is apparently very good insulation, keeping the huts cool in the hot summer days and warm in the cool winter nights. She was very proud of the hut, and wanted numerous pictures taken of it.











Many of the children do not go to school, though there are some mobile schools for them set up by the government. These women did not know how old they were are what day of the week it was. But, when they sold us crafts, they were shrewd businesswomen and were experts at accounting.



After meeting the Himbas, our guide drove the 4x4 into a dry riverbed about 30 minutes away, and we had lunch with goats, cows and children sitting around. It was quite funny.




While Shannon & I were gone for the day visiting the Himba people, Ruby and bill went on a game drive.

We then had a long drive down the skeleton coast, stopping at shipwrecks, the Cape Fur Seals and even running out of gas at one point (don't ask, but it was a small adventure). We stayed for two nights in Swapokmund and had a nice time at the seaside, before returning to Windhoek.


Skeleton Coast Ship Wreck


Alice is a big fan of the skeleton coast!

In Windhoek, we went for another braai, visited "Heroes' Acre", the Namibian national monument to the War Veterans that looks a lot like the Washington monument, and a rest by the pool.


Climbing Up Heroes' Acre


We were so happy that Shannon could come! Anyone else? Your time is running out...

Rain at last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It RAINED last night! it has not rained since early April until last night. I (Maxine) was reading on our back porch, which has a tin roof, so the rain goes pitter-patter (or BOOM BOOM). The smell was wonderful, it was like all the desert sand suddenly disappeared, it was all refreshing, and relaxing. It was sunny again today, and I was practicing my diving in the pool after school.

Cheetah Conservation Fund

We are very fortunate to have spent a day at the international headquarters of the Cheetah Conservation Fund near Otjiwaraongo last weekend, about 3 hours north of Windhoek in the heart of Cheetah country. Namibia is the Cheetah capital of the world. Here is how Alice described it:

We got back yesterday from the Cheetah Conservation Fund, aka CCF. It's a farm where they take in orphaned cheetahs and take care of them because their mothers died from the farmers shooting them. They also raise guard dogs to give to farmers. The dogs scare away big cats like cheetahs, and then the cats won't get to the livestock and the farmers won't kill the cheetahs. It was cool. They had a predator playground which had 9 steps to being like a cheetah. It showed you what they had to do in childhood and such.

Here is how Maxine described it:

This weekend I went to the Cheeetah Conservation Fund, a place where they keep orphaned cheetahs because they can't live in the wild because only their mothers can teach them about surviving. There are 51 orphan cheetahs there, and the farmers have been hunting them, so cheetahs are starting to become a really endangered species. We saw three cheetahs named Harry, Ron and Hermione. Harry was actually a girl though! They also train guard dogs that can scare away the cheetahs and other big cats so that the farmers don't kill the cheetahs for killing their livestock. There are about 3000 cheetahs in Namibia (15,000 in the world), but I have not seen any in the wild, except the blur of one running off the road.

I (Liz) had a better glimpse of that Cheetah, which we saw on a gravel road awhile back, but they are so fast that they are hard to see. Cheetah’s can go 110 km/hour (66 miles per hour)! The girls are especially fond of cheetahs this year since they are in the “Cheetah house” at Windhoek International School (like "Gryffindor" house in many ways!). The one big animal we have yet to see in the wild is the leopard.












The main road leading to CCF. We have spent a lot of time on gravel, dirt and salt roads like this. We only spent 48 km on this one though.







The entrance to CCF.






This is Harry the Cheetah (or maybe Ron or Hermione, it's hard to tell)

Spring Term at WIS

School started again in August. Maxine started junior high. She is finding 7th grade much more enjoyable than her previous grade. She has something like a dozen subjects, including science, Portuguese, health, Maths (they add the s to Math here), social studies, drama, etc. Her afterschool activities are chess and working at the Orlindi orphanage. She'll be going back down to 5th grade when return to St. Paul. Alice has a nice new teacher for year 4 from England. She’s still enjoying playing with her good friends from Namibia and the rest of the world. Alice is playing on the Netball team this year. Netball is derived from girls basketball in the USA, and is played in more than 70 countries. Ruby is enjoying kindergarten, and has a new best friend from Australia.

The kids just had sports day at the school. It started out with all the flags parade around the school from where the kids were from, followed by a full day of sports for kids in pre-primary all the way up to the ones in Matric (senior year). The Lightfoot girls were excited because their house, the Cheetahs, won sports day!


The Opening Ceremonies, with flags of each nation represented in the school


Ruby is a natural bucket racer



Alice and her Cheetah friends

Hakos

One place that Bill and I really wanted to visit was the Hakos Guest Farm, a few hours west into the Hakos mountains from Windhoek. The highlight of this farm is the southern sky, and is has an observatory as well as telescopes set up on the lawn. As Namibia is one of the least populated places on the planet, it is considered one of the best places for viewing stars and planets, and the stars are all different than in the northern hemisphere. The Milky Way is visible every day in Namibia, even in our backyard in Windhoek! Hakos is near the top of the Gamsberg mountain pass, so it’s viewing is even better. Many astronomers from northern countries come to Hakos for their southern sky tours. A German astrophysicist who comes annually to Hakos led our “tour”. He says his favorite thing to do is to stay up all night laying in a lawnchair, looking at the sky with his binoculars. We are all pretty good at picking out the Southern Cross and all the planets, and, with a telescope, we were able to see Omega Centauri, other globular clusters, and the four moons of Jupiter. It was a great night!


Traffic on the way to Hakos






Driving near Hakos mountains



Another beautiful, remote, Namibian campsite


Ruby in front of the Hakos mountains. We don't have any photos of the telescopes!

Winter and Spring in the Pool

Was I complaining about the cold? Well, it just turned Spring a few weeks ago, but it is HOT in Namibia, and I guess it will be until we leave. It started warming up in August, and now is warm or hot every day (its been about 30 celsius - mid 80s every day). The kids love coming home from school and jumping in the pool. Now that Bill has got the solar heater up and working, we have people over almost every day swimming in our pool.


Pool at night


Maxine is volunteering weekly at the Orlindi orphanage. A few weeks ago we had 13 kids from the orphanage over for a swimming party. Maxine and her friend did all the cooking for the party. We thought a bunch of 8-10 year old girls were coming, but It turned out that it was one of the kids’ 16th birthday, so we quickly turned it into an older kids' birthday party, with a cake and a few presents. We learned later that while there are many volunteers who come to the orphanage for visits, these kids had only ever been invited to someone’s house once before. We’re going to arrange more of these to get these kids a break from the crowded orphanage. Both the kids from the orphanage and our kids had a great time.


Orlindi kids in the pool



Birthday party by our "Braai"- bar-b-q



Maxine serving the birthday cake



Maxine and Alice are still in Girl Guides, which has a great leader and a nice bunch of girls ages 9-11. We had the Girl Guide troop over on Saturday for a swimming "meeting". We fit all 12 girls, plus the leader, in our combi. They are in the process of planning a camping trip, and recently earned the “why a bathroom should be kept clean” badge.


Girl Guides in the Pool


Alice playing a game with the girls & leader