Double Trouble!

One of my learners brought her adorable twin cousins along with her to my house. They were so cheeky, spending the whole time running around, jumping on peoples laps and picking up everything they shouldn't!

I simply couldn't resist their cuteness though, and had to give them a 'Hello Kitty' sticker each, which they absolutely loved. I also taught them how to pull faces and wiggle their tongues from side to side at people - continuing my streak as a bad example to small children (people always say I take after my Father!)

I found it amusing that, despite the fact that despite the fact I had never met them before, and didn't know their names, I could immediately tell them apart. One was just so much more adventurous and cheeky than the other! (even in these photos I'm sure you can tell which one I'm talking about!)

Sachi demands Christmas!

Since December is one of the hottest parts of the year, celebrating Christmas then feels.....wrong. So we decided that we would have to have Christmas during the Namibian Winter when it is actually cold (summer time in England).

However Sachi seemed to have a slight breakdown one evening, sitting beneath the paper tree Daisy and I made (and that we just never took down) and demanding Christmas. This is what happens if you stay in Tses for too long - you become a crazy person!

Luderiz - again

 
My desk officer, John, came to visit Namibia a couple of weekends ago. He travelled down to Windhoek, picked me up, and we went down to see the Project Trust volunteers who live in Luderitz. The journey down there is absolutely incredible, a five hour drive seeing mountains, massive plains that stretch into the horizon, tiny secluded farms, and of course, wildlife!

On the journey down we saw ostrige, kudu, oryx and wild horses - which are apparently the symbol of freedom. Very appropriate since they're descended from horses that either escaped from farms or were left behind when their owners moved! The ride is truly incredible, probably one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The pictures are of a large river on the way down. Normally it's completely dry, and on the way back to Tses two days later the water was almost completely gone! Shows just how much it has rained here lately!

 

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of this time in Luderitz since all photos were taken on John's iPhone! It was a nice weekend, catching up with the Luderitz girls and meeting a returned volunteer from last year who has returned to live with her boyfriend. It was a really good weekend though, even though John didn't actually tell the Luderitz girls that we were coming! It was only when we had parked outside their building that he decided to share this small nugget of information with me. Oh well, I suppose that's just typical of Namibia :)

Why our boys should NOT play rugby!

It was the regional rugby try-outs and so I helped Sachi take 20 of the senior boys to Keetmans to compete. They spent the either journeys there and back stood in the aisle of the bus, singing, chanting, dancing, shouting, jumping and clapping (let's just say heath and safety is still to reach Namibia!)

 

Watching out boys trying to play rugby against other schools was...painful. Our kids are just way too skinny! Most of them have never had enough food, and so compared to other, more privileged children they are simply tiny. They were literally being picked up and thrown out of the way!

One boy injured himself and so Sachi and I had to take him to the hospital to get checked out.

 

The boy had a massive lump on his collar bone, but wasn't in any pain, so we thought maybe he had bruised his bone or something. How wrong we were! To our shock the boy had snapped his collar bone right in two! He  was given pain killers and his arm was strapped up against his chest. He was told to keep it that way for the next six weeks although, typically, he took the sling off two days later!

Plasic bag bracelets

Sometimes my kids just confuse me. In Arts lessons they can show a complete lack of imagination and creativity. Their drawings consist simply of things that they know and can see, such as the Namibian Flag or copying a picture from one of their exercise books. Asking them to complete a creative writing exercise is simply a nightmare, and even copying down a simple drawing from the board can be confusing for them.

Yet in other areas they show incredible creativity. For example, give them a pile of plastic bags and they can create these amazing plastic bracelets. They rip the bags up into strips with their teeth (something that my Mother would certainly disapprove of!) Hold the strips steady in their mouth and braid them together.

Every time I've gone to Keetmans I have been trying to find brightly coloured plastic bags for them. I was truly amazed the first time I saw how excited they were the first time I gave them a pile of unwanted plastic bags.







The girls have been making bracelets for me, which I have been shipping back to England. I have explained to them that I am going to sell them to raise money for choir t-shirts. Their (adorable) response was 'Miss, you must give us hundreds of bags!'

Poor murdered lizard!

The wildlife in Tses has certainly been interesting lately!  The rain seems to have brought out the creepy crawlies - we now have at least 3 crickets in our house at all time!

We also had this little guy running around our house. As you can imagine I got the absolute shock of my life when I stepped into my shower and came face to face with him! Sachi and I did our girly attempt to get rid of him - trying to get him into a pot and release him into the wild. But he simply would NOT move off the wall, and neither of us wanted to hurt him by forcing him into the pot.

So instead we asked two of the senior boys (who both just happen to be called Paul) to come and get rid of him. They took one look, grabbed our broom, and bashed the poor little guys head in with the broom handle, while Sachi and I watched (and screamed) in horror.






Their excuse was 'Miss if it bites you, you must go the clinic' (the medical clinic).  Maybe they were right, but I still found it shocking how two perfectly lovely boys who I regularly chat to, could suddenly become so violent, and laugh about it in the process. I suppose i'll just never really get used to the violence of my kids!

Nama jewellery

Examples of pattern and colour

One of the security guards at the secondary hostel makes incredible beaded bracelet. Some are bracelets, others are necklaces, and she even makes incredible brooches on safety pins (as you can see below).

Her jewellery is all different, and comes in a range of patterns, colours and sizes. All year I've been trying to think of ways that I could help fundraise to buy supplies for the schools. For example, I'd like to try to help the secondary school choir in their fundraising for matching shirts.

But I also wanted to try to do something that would include the community that I'm trying to help. And so I have come up with a plan! The security guard has agreed to sell me all of her jewellery, which I am bringing home to England. When I leave Sachi is going to ship the jewellery to me, and then I will be asking the next volunteers in Tses to also do the same.

I am then going to sell the jewellery in England. 100% of the profit is going to go towards whatever I am fundraising for at the time. As I have already said, I am currently trying to help the choir buy matching t-shirts. I would then like to try to fundraise for some hurdles for the athletics team to practice with. The kids here are such incredible runners, and the only reason they cannot do hurdles is because the school cannot afford to buy any!





So here are some examples of the bracelets that the security guard makes. For obvious reasons, the bracelets which say 'Hebe' or 'Sachi' are not for sale :P but I thought they were a good example of how she is able to personalise them.











 

This bracelet is for sale!

There are also photos of the flags which the security guard is able to create, for example a Namibian flag, an American and a Union Jack. I thought this was also a good example of how, if she is shown a picture, the security guard is able to create almost anything!

So, if you would like to help with my fundraising efforts, or if you simply think that these bracelets are pretty, please get in contact. You can either leave a message here on my blog, or can email me at hebe.barlow@hotmail.co.uk










This is quite long, probably more
suitable as a necklace for a child

All beaded bracelets are £2.50 If you would like a particular pattern, colour, flag, name etc. just let me know, and I will ask the security guard if it is possible. The broaches are £1 Again she can do almost anything you can dream of! Of course, I do need to point out that if you order a bracelet, they can vary in size etc! Thankyou to anyone who helps :)

So much post!

When I got back from Windhoek I had a lovely surprise waiting for me - post! Lots and lots of post :) I have been trying to make good use of all the goodies which I have been sent by various lovely people :)

The one thing that I'm truly sad about is that I'm not going to be here long enough to use everything that people have sent me! But at least it means that I can leave a nice pile of goodies for the next volunteers to make use of!

The amazing parcels I have received this year have inspired an idea. Getting a parcel is one of the lovelies things, I cannot even begin to explain. It's literally like a version of Christmas every single time you receive a parcel. Knowing that somebody cares about you enough to put the time, effort (and money) into organising and sending a parcel is amazing.


So I have decided that at least once every year I am going to organise and send a parcel off to the volunteers here in Tses. Simple things like stickers and cool pencils, but the things that the kids absolutely adore and which can make a real difference here!

It's raining, it's pouring!

Last week there was a MASSIVE storm in Tses. Now when I say that it 'rains' in Tses that normally means a 5/10 minute drip. But this was a proper torrent - as you can see from the pictures. It rained for most of the night and the morning of the following day, meaning that the whole area was completely flooded.

Since the kids couldn't be trusted to move around in the rain, they had to stay in one classroom whilst the teachers moved around to find their classes - added chaos! The learners couldn't quite seem to understand why I was so happy at being soaked to the skin. When I tried to explain that this was the weather in England, and that it rains like this for most of the year, they looked at me in disbelief. When I tried to explain the extent of the flooding England had just suffered I told 'Miss, you are telling an untruth!'


The chaos continued after school had finished. The strip of land directly outside the school gate was completely flooded, meaning that the learners basically had to wade across a small river to get to their homes!

I found it amazing how quickly the land flooded. The earth here is so dry that at first, the water simply didn't get absorbed. But by the next day all of the water you can see here was completely gone - quite incredible really!








And of course as soon as I took my camera out and started taking photos, the kids came running, desperate for me to 'catch them a photo'! Possibly one of the most amazing things I've seen here at school!