Sunday was such an emotional day. I started to pack and sort out what I’m leaving behind and what will come home. It didn’t take long for my room to no longer look like my room anymore. Chelcie and I both wore our Owambo dresses with matching headscarves to church which everyone loved. They are very comfy to wear as they are incredibly loose but with the downside of making you look very large. I cried throughout the service...Gilly said a few words about us at the beginning of the service and we were prayed for. I managed to pull myself together to sing with Chelcie ‘I vow to thee my country’ (this is Gilly’s favourite hymn) as well as ‘From a Distance’ which we have sung together all year. During the Peace we walked up and down the aisle shaking hands with all the children which made me cry again. We had lunch at the Stommels house where we sang ‘Lord of the Dance’ as Reiner had been ill last Sunday so hadn’t heard us. In the afternoon we had all the G7s over for a party and we had a humongous cake with ‘Goodbye’ piped on the top. This was really fun and lovely but Diodores keeps on asking why I have to leave and every time he asks it breaks my heart.
On Monday evening we had our last ever Concert which was brilliant. We had recorders, singing, violins, flute playing, trumpet playing, keyboard playing and it was just a great evening. We then went to sleep in the Girls Hostel which is another tradition. I started off in Protea but then was literally dragged into Sunflower. I slept on the floor on a mattress between Stacy and Theopoldine. The dorms have 20 girls in of mixed ages and I had all of them around me/lying on me while I told them the story of Cinderalla and Rapunzel. I can’t say I slept brilliantly as Stacy and Theopoldine’s idea of snuggling is to lie half on top of you so I had a human blanket!
The last few days as usual were filled with finishing writing the newsletter and folding all the copies and making sure that all the rooms we are in charge of sparkling clean as well as the GAP flat. All the things that I didn’t want to bring home I made up into little parcels that I then gave out to 11 of the children I am closest to. They all came over on Tuesday afternoon with some others for Chelcie and we gave out all our stuff. This turned into the saddest afternoon ever as everyone was crying and it all got far too emotional for my liking. It’s bad enough when the girls cry but when the boys start it gets too much for me.
We spent our last evening at Paul and Sara’s house which was lovely. By then I was feeling quite drained from all the crying and just wanted to have some fun which we did. I also spoke to Mrs Vermaak about Diodores – she said that she was very happy with his end of term exam results but if he stopped working she said she would let me know and then it would be up to me to get him back on track! I’ve made Brenden promise that he will look out for Dankie and make sure that no one bullies him. Desvino is also going to look out for Damian for me and stop people picking on him. I didn’t go to bed for ages as I stayed up writing notes for lots of children to give them the next day.
The last assembly was actually really good fun rather than super sad, which I was glad about. The children were all in their home clothes and it was lovely to see lots of the older ones wearing mine. I don’t think many children in Namibia own an Eton hoodie but Diodores does now! The children sang all our favourite songs and then Mrs Vermaak and Gilly said a few things about us. We were presented with an Otjikondo Book, DVD, t-shirt, baseball cap and a reference. At the end all the children filed out past us and gave us a hug. I didn’t cry until I reached the Grade 7s – knowing that this would be the last time I would see most of them killed me. We said goodbye to Mrs Vermaak, the teachers and then Gilly which was so sad – even made Checlie cry! We then went to say goodbye to the rest of the Stommels; Reiner blessed us and gave us a lucky stone to help us on our way, and then we were on our way to Windhoek.
We got a lift with Fabiola and Rob and after the children had put all our stuff in the Combi we went on our way. The drive to Windhoek was a sad and quiet one. We spent three days in Windhoek trying not to think about Otjikondo and doing lots of present shopping. We met two guys from England who were on their University holidays who were good fun and we went out with them. It was hard being in Namibia but not at Otjikondo and we actually now just wanted to be at home.
Saturday at 12pm we started our long and tiring journey home. I wont dwell on the journey apart from to say it wasn’t fun and it wasn’t amusing when they wouldn’t let us on our plane from Dubai to Heathrow as they had sold our tickets. However, when we walked through arrivals to see our families it was amazing.
It is impossible to try and sum up this year in any way. All I can say is that it has been the happiest and most rewarding year of my life. I have fallen in love with Africa and however cringe it may sound my heart has remained in Otjikondo. The Stommels became my African family, Chelcie became my other half and the children are indescribable. I am so thankful to everyone who made my year possible, everyone who kept in contact with me and the many people who looked after my family while I was away. This year will stay with me for evermore.
love Me xxxx
Thursday, 13 September 2012
Part Thirty Nine: The Beginning of the End (6th – 18th August)
Monday was such a bizarre day – now that Parents Day is over it didn’t really feel like we should be teaching anymore. In Wings Art we got them to draw out of the magazines while we everyone turned everyone’s marks for the term in Art and PT into averages so that we could give them a grade. In the afternoon we had one last performance of The Button Box for the school and we had it recorderd. Mr Schnurr (he wrote the book ‘Namibia Calling’ which tells the story of the Stommels and Otjikondo – it’s fascinating and I would definitely recommend reading it) and some of his friends were visiting Otjikondo and had some equipment and very kindly said they would record it. This means that I will end up with a DVD of the play which is hugely exciting. In the evening we went to climb the water tower to watch the sunset – apparently this is a GAP tradition and therefore something we had to do. However the tower is very, very tall and even more rickety. I got about 6ft of the ground and had to come down again – very scary! Chelcie got to the top and said the view was incredible – she took a quick photo so I could see and came down rather fast!
It has now been totally confirmed that Laurie is arriving to record our girls singing which is very exciting. Mrs Vermaak said that we could watch Olympics in class with the children as she thought it was important for them to see some of it. This meant we had an incredible week teaching and got to see lots of the Olympics! Laurie arrived on Tuesday evening and work commenced on Wednesday. We did all the vocal recording in the Church because of the amazing acoustics but then we went to different locations to video them. We did some of the filming at the most incredible location – Holstein Rocks which is where Paul and Sara had their wedding photos taken. Masses and masses of giant rocks which made a spectacular background especially with the sun setting behind them.
We have made prizes for each of the Drama cast – just a little medal type thing. Each of them have a different award according to what they did best or what we remember them for. Some were quite silly or in jokes amongst the cast but others were more serious awards.
Aune – Best Grandma Rage
Desvino – Most Valued Player
Uapiona – No 1 U18 Wrestler
Diina – Arrum Prize
Damian – Best Impuku Dancer
Sitaleni – Good Egg
Tuhafeni – Most Distracting Face
Ruben – Marvelous Matelot
Paulus – Best Chair
Twasindana – Magnificent Mango Picker
Evangelina – Most Bootylicious Wiggle
Tuyambeka – Miss Otjikondo
Albertha – Triple Threat
Davensia – Most Reliable
Theopoldine – Star Chorus Member
Avihe – Miss Paradise Island
Stacy – Little Miss Sunshine
Robertine – Truly Scrumptions Chocolisious Smartie
Britney – Cheekiest Chocolate Button
Waltraudt – Super Singer
Anna Debs – The award for...8 appearances on stage in the correct costume
Kenisha – Miss Sugar Sweet
Vanessa – Best Knicker flash
Xunta-I – Best Soldier
Emelia – Best Behaved
Joyce and Helena – Star Stage Manager
Carla – Speediest Dresser
I’ve been busy writing the end of term Newsletter as well as my Post Report. The Post Report is to leave for the Stommels and for Gilly to read in her old age to remind her which GAP I was! I could do it in any format that I liked and it was just about what the year had meant to be and what I had gained. Luckily these were all things I had been thinking a lot about recently and it wasn’t too much of a struggle.
Friday was CRAZY. As in really crazy! We set off for Tanigu Kindergarten which is the Stommels Kindergarten in Khorixas. It was their Parents Day and we were going to paint the all the children’s faces while the parents were in the meeting. The kindergarten is an oasis in such a poor area – the houses are one room huts built from corrugated iron and the roofs are weighed down by stones or old car tyres. The children were all so sweet and we had great fun transforming them into lions, butterflies, flags and generally anything we felt like! We then painted each other’s faces – a GB flag for Chelcie and me, a German flag for Carla and we even did Gilly – one side Namibia and the other half Great Britain. On the way home we stopped to buy some lunch in Khorixas and the looks and laughs we got from other customers were brilliant. As soon as we got back to Otjikondo we rushed off to Holstein Rocks with Lauire, Sara and the children. We filmed them in lots of different positions – for one we climbed up a series of rocks and had them positioned scattered over the boulders. As the sun set the children just became silhouettes against the sunset which was stunning. Definitely not a typical Otjikondo Friday.
On Saturday Chelcie and Carla did some more filming for BOOF in different locations and I went to Outjo with the U9 and U12 Football teams and the U8, U9 and U11 Netball teams to play in the finals. We had a very successful day out and returned with three medals. It’s lovely spending time like that with the children outside of school and I also got to see some of the old G7s who came to watch and support. Peterson, who plays for the U12 team but is half the size of most of them, was the star player. Twice he was totally surrounded by five players on the opposition and managed to dribble around them leading to goals which was just amazing. I saw a girl wearing what appeared to be a McDonalds t-shirt – a big red yellow ‘M’ on a red background but when I looked closer under the M instead of saying McDonalds it said Marijuana and then ‘Over 1 billion stoned’ – very inappropriate for a 11 year old to be wearing! In the evening we ended up having supper at Paul and Sara’s house with Laurie which was great fun and we ended up singing to Laurie playing the guitar. Laurie also very kindly recorded Chelcie and I singing together so that we now have a CD. This means that Gilly can also keep on listening to us sing once we’ve gone home.
Sunday was very relaxed – we sang Lord of the Dance in church which has become the Stommels new favourite song. We went with all the teachers to Mrs Vermaak’s house for lunch where we were treated to a meat feast including warthog which is yummy and liver which is less so! In the evening Carla gave me a saxophone lesson which was brilliant. It was the same fingering as the recorder so I picked it up pretty quickly and found it great fun.
Last full week at Otjikondo....Gilly informed us that she was putting a clause in her will so that our flights would be paid for us to fly out and sing at her funeral -she wasn’t joking. We said we’d rather come out for a big birthday so she could actually hear us sing! On Tuesday Gilly drove us to St Michael’s to say goodbye to Sam as he was leaving for Windhoek. I found it quite upsetting as knowing that he was leaving really brought it home to me that in just over 10 days time it would be my turn. We had a resale of the left over Craft bits and then packed up the remaining things. We have left all the boards up with the art work on – feel a bit sorry for the next GAPs as it will all be up when they arrive.
Lessons this week consisted of taking the children for walks and just chatting. At this stage we just wanted to spend the time with them and start to say our goodbyes. In the afternoons we gave parties for our activity groups – this consisted of giving them some food, dancing to music and having water fights in our garden! We had our last music class with the Kindergarten where we went over all the songs we had taught them this term. It’s amazing how much English and confidence they have picked up in such a short period and I have enormous respect for Sara for this. I was sitting next to Sinky who is very enthusiastic about music and kept on bursting into song and spontaneously growling which I found hilarious!
On Tuesday evening we went over to Ms Rachel’s house and she let us dress up in her traditional Herero dresses. These are absolutely brilliant – firstly you have to be wrapped in quilts and blankets as the rounder you are the more fertile you are and therefore more attractive to a husband. You then wear a petticoat and then a Victorian esq dress but with massive shoulders and hat which is triangular. When we got undressed again I suddenly felt so light and tiny – a good feeling! On Friday morning we went to school dressed as Hereros and got the best reaction from the children and the other staff. They all thought we looked beautiful (actually I looked about 8 months pregnant!) but they see it as a massive compliment that we went to be involved in their culture and experience a part of it. We walked down to the farm yard and the farm workers found it hysterical. The Stommels also loved it and there was more than one conversation about marrying us off to a Herero!
On Thursday evening we finally got round to having Paul and Sara to supper. We had been meaning to have them all year as we have been frequent guests at their house but only just got round to it. I cooked curry and they brought champagne and wine and we had a lovely evening. Although this week has been really fun, everything we have been doing we have been doing for the last time and therefore been tinged with sadness. I’ve cried less than I thought I would but I have been on the brink of crying most of the time! I love these children and place more than I can possibly describe and I honestly can’t imagine leaving them and not seeing some of them again and the others not for a year. Just writing this I’m starting to tear up at the prospect of having to say goodbye.
Friday break time we had a goodbye party with the teachers. Over Carrot cake and tea we were presented with beautiful chunky copper bracelets as well as a massive card from the teachers with messages inside from them all. The reality of having to say goodbye hit me and I cried. I can’t imagine what I’m going to be like next week saying goodbye to the Stommels and the children. How do I explain to Dankie that when he comes back after the holidays that I won’t be there anymore.
On Friday evening we had the cast party for The Button Box and it was one of my best evenings at Otjikondo. At 3pm we set off for Oenitzaub (the Heritage Centre) laden with tents, sleeping bags and an enormous amount of food not forgetting 27 children! Nearly crashed on the way there when a warthog came running out into the road but we got there safely! We set up camp and then had a sort out of all our things. We sat talking and listening to music before giving the children a tour of the heritage centre. As tradition calls we all signed our names with the date on one of the doors inside. We started cooking quite early as had a lot of borevors to cook and only a small braai. Supper stretched out as I could only cook 10 borevors at a time and everyone had 2 so that was 60 to cook! As it got dark everyone got changed into their pj’s and it was very cosy. As Desvino got into the buggy I asked him if he had a jumper – the answer was no but he’d be fine as he had brought a blanket. As soon as it started to get cold – ‘Ottilie I’m cold’, luckily I’d brought two jumpers and being the nice person that I am, I gave him one of them! By now it was pitch black and we only had two torches....luckily I’d brought 10 light up balloons and 4 glow sticks which Mummy had sent out for my birthday. These were absolutely perfect – thank you Mummy and the children loved them. We gave out all our prizes and gave a little speech saying thank you for all their hard work before having the promised talent show. We had singing, dancing, rapping....
We then sat around the camp fire roasting marshmallows on sticks. I had Damian curled up on my lap and it was idyllic. Damian whispered in my ear how I was the best GAP in his life and that I was perfect and just the best. It meant the world to me to hear this and broke my heart just a tiny bit. They wanted to hear a ghost story so I made up a story about the Ghost of Oenitzaub complete with sound effects done by Chelcie. It wasn’t particularly scary but it was very jumpy and they were terrified – but in a good way! Carla thought it was true at first as she didn’t believe that I could have made it up on the spot like that! I told them that the way to pacify the ghost if you saw her or heard her crying was to sing ‘Twinkle, twinkle little star’ and throughout the night we heard little burst of ‘twinkle, twinkle’ which was highly amusing! It was then time for bed but said they could talk and be in each other’s tents for a bit. In England the tent would be a four man tent but with five its fine but 6 is pretty squishy. I was in a tent with Stacy, Avihe, Emilia, Robertine and Tuyambeka however we were quickly joined by Desvino, Sitaleni and Damian, making nine of us which wasn’t much fun! We sat talking, telling stories and singing. They got me to teach them ‘Lord of the Dance’ which they loved and Desvino said that Chelcie and I were better than Rihanna which was very sweet of him!
Chelcie came and collected me for a loo run and we both decided that we would quite like to go to sleep now so very cheekily we got into one of the boys tent – it was empty as they were spread out amongst the other tents, made a bed and tried to get some sleep. However, it didn’t take long for the children to miss our presence and come looking for us and we were discovered but allowed to stay put! At midnight we told them they had to get some sleep and we made Desvino and Damian come join us as 8 children in one tent was not going to be conductive for sleeping. I don’t think Chelcie and I got any sleep at all – when we had escaped our respective tents we had left behind our pillows, duvets and blankets meaning we were left with one sleeping bag between the two of us and it was FREEZING! Desvino is also a very, very loud snorer and windmill was incredibly loud- it sounded like a clock chiming but it was continuous! The children woke up and started talking about 5 and we were joined by various children who came to snuggle! At 7 we gave up the pretence of trying to sleep and decided to feed them much to their delight. We played two games of pass the parcel and gave out the ‘2012 Button Box’ cup for the best performance at the Talent Show last night – Damian won this for his medly of all the songs that he knew ranging from ‘How many times do you read your Bible?’ to his rap from The Button Box, which was incredibly amusing.
After some much needed sleep in the afternoon we went for a Braai at Paul and Sara’s house – the first evening braai in months. Summer is on its way! I also found out that my remedial Maths classes had done really well in their maths exam which made me so happy. Stacy got 70%, Brenden 72% AND Diodores 75% so I was extremely proud of all of them.
Four days left at Otjikondo....not sure where the time has gone and I don’t know what to say. I’m excited to go home but I don’t want to leave here. I miss it already
Lots of love Me xxx
It has now been totally confirmed that Laurie is arriving to record our girls singing which is very exciting. Mrs Vermaak said that we could watch Olympics in class with the children as she thought it was important for them to see some of it. This meant we had an incredible week teaching and got to see lots of the Olympics! Laurie arrived on Tuesday evening and work commenced on Wednesday. We did all the vocal recording in the Church because of the amazing acoustics but then we went to different locations to video them. We did some of the filming at the most incredible location – Holstein Rocks which is where Paul and Sara had their wedding photos taken. Masses and masses of giant rocks which made a spectacular background especially with the sun setting behind them.
We have made prizes for each of the Drama cast – just a little medal type thing. Each of them have a different award according to what they did best or what we remember them for. Some were quite silly or in jokes amongst the cast but others were more serious awards.
Aune – Best Grandma Rage
Desvino – Most Valued Player
Uapiona – No 1 U18 Wrestler
Diina – Arrum Prize
Damian – Best Impuku Dancer
Sitaleni – Good Egg
Tuhafeni – Most Distracting Face
Ruben – Marvelous Matelot
Paulus – Best Chair
Twasindana – Magnificent Mango Picker
Evangelina – Most Bootylicious Wiggle
Tuyambeka – Miss Otjikondo
Albertha – Triple Threat
Davensia – Most Reliable
Theopoldine – Star Chorus Member
Avihe – Miss Paradise Island
Stacy – Little Miss Sunshine
Robertine – Truly Scrumptions Chocolisious Smartie
Britney – Cheekiest Chocolate Button
Waltraudt – Super Singer
Anna Debs – The award for...8 appearances on stage in the correct costume
Kenisha – Miss Sugar Sweet
Vanessa – Best Knicker flash
Xunta-I – Best Soldier
Emelia – Best Behaved
Joyce and Helena – Star Stage Manager
Carla – Speediest Dresser
I’ve been busy writing the end of term Newsletter as well as my Post Report. The Post Report is to leave for the Stommels and for Gilly to read in her old age to remind her which GAP I was! I could do it in any format that I liked and it was just about what the year had meant to be and what I had gained. Luckily these were all things I had been thinking a lot about recently and it wasn’t too much of a struggle.
Friday was CRAZY. As in really crazy! We set off for Tanigu Kindergarten which is the Stommels Kindergarten in Khorixas. It was their Parents Day and we were going to paint the all the children’s faces while the parents were in the meeting. The kindergarten is an oasis in such a poor area – the houses are one room huts built from corrugated iron and the roofs are weighed down by stones or old car tyres. The children were all so sweet and we had great fun transforming them into lions, butterflies, flags and generally anything we felt like! We then painted each other’s faces – a GB flag for Chelcie and me, a German flag for Carla and we even did Gilly – one side Namibia and the other half Great Britain. On the way home we stopped to buy some lunch in Khorixas and the looks and laughs we got from other customers were brilliant. As soon as we got back to Otjikondo we rushed off to Holstein Rocks with Lauire, Sara and the children. We filmed them in lots of different positions – for one we climbed up a series of rocks and had them positioned scattered over the boulders. As the sun set the children just became silhouettes against the sunset which was stunning. Definitely not a typical Otjikondo Friday.
On Saturday Chelcie and Carla did some more filming for BOOF in different locations and I went to Outjo with the U9 and U12 Football teams and the U8, U9 and U11 Netball teams to play in the finals. We had a very successful day out and returned with three medals. It’s lovely spending time like that with the children outside of school and I also got to see some of the old G7s who came to watch and support. Peterson, who plays for the U12 team but is half the size of most of them, was the star player. Twice he was totally surrounded by five players on the opposition and managed to dribble around them leading to goals which was just amazing. I saw a girl wearing what appeared to be a McDonalds t-shirt – a big red yellow ‘M’ on a red background but when I looked closer under the M instead of saying McDonalds it said Marijuana and then ‘Over 1 billion stoned’ – very inappropriate for a 11 year old to be wearing! In the evening we ended up having supper at Paul and Sara’s house with Laurie which was great fun and we ended up singing to Laurie playing the guitar. Laurie also very kindly recorded Chelcie and I singing together so that we now have a CD. This means that Gilly can also keep on listening to us sing once we’ve gone home.
Sunday was very relaxed – we sang Lord of the Dance in church which has become the Stommels new favourite song. We went with all the teachers to Mrs Vermaak’s house for lunch where we were treated to a meat feast including warthog which is yummy and liver which is less so! In the evening Carla gave me a saxophone lesson which was brilliant. It was the same fingering as the recorder so I picked it up pretty quickly and found it great fun.
Last full week at Otjikondo....Gilly informed us that she was putting a clause in her will so that our flights would be paid for us to fly out and sing at her funeral -she wasn’t joking. We said we’d rather come out for a big birthday so she could actually hear us sing! On Tuesday Gilly drove us to St Michael’s to say goodbye to Sam as he was leaving for Windhoek. I found it quite upsetting as knowing that he was leaving really brought it home to me that in just over 10 days time it would be my turn. We had a resale of the left over Craft bits and then packed up the remaining things. We have left all the boards up with the art work on – feel a bit sorry for the next GAPs as it will all be up when they arrive.
Lessons this week consisted of taking the children for walks and just chatting. At this stage we just wanted to spend the time with them and start to say our goodbyes. In the afternoons we gave parties for our activity groups – this consisted of giving them some food, dancing to music and having water fights in our garden! We had our last music class with the Kindergarten where we went over all the songs we had taught them this term. It’s amazing how much English and confidence they have picked up in such a short period and I have enormous respect for Sara for this. I was sitting next to Sinky who is very enthusiastic about music and kept on bursting into song and spontaneously growling which I found hilarious!
On Tuesday evening we went over to Ms Rachel’s house and she let us dress up in her traditional Herero dresses. These are absolutely brilliant – firstly you have to be wrapped in quilts and blankets as the rounder you are the more fertile you are and therefore more attractive to a husband. You then wear a petticoat and then a Victorian esq dress but with massive shoulders and hat which is triangular. When we got undressed again I suddenly felt so light and tiny – a good feeling! On Friday morning we went to school dressed as Hereros and got the best reaction from the children and the other staff. They all thought we looked beautiful (actually I looked about 8 months pregnant!) but they see it as a massive compliment that we went to be involved in their culture and experience a part of it. We walked down to the farm yard and the farm workers found it hysterical. The Stommels also loved it and there was more than one conversation about marrying us off to a Herero!
On Thursday evening we finally got round to having Paul and Sara to supper. We had been meaning to have them all year as we have been frequent guests at their house but only just got round to it. I cooked curry and they brought champagne and wine and we had a lovely evening. Although this week has been really fun, everything we have been doing we have been doing for the last time and therefore been tinged with sadness. I’ve cried less than I thought I would but I have been on the brink of crying most of the time! I love these children and place more than I can possibly describe and I honestly can’t imagine leaving them and not seeing some of them again and the others not for a year. Just writing this I’m starting to tear up at the prospect of having to say goodbye.
Friday break time we had a goodbye party with the teachers. Over Carrot cake and tea we were presented with beautiful chunky copper bracelets as well as a massive card from the teachers with messages inside from them all. The reality of having to say goodbye hit me and I cried. I can’t imagine what I’m going to be like next week saying goodbye to the Stommels and the children. How do I explain to Dankie that when he comes back after the holidays that I won’t be there anymore.
On Friday evening we had the cast party for The Button Box and it was one of my best evenings at Otjikondo. At 3pm we set off for Oenitzaub (the Heritage Centre) laden with tents, sleeping bags and an enormous amount of food not forgetting 27 children! Nearly crashed on the way there when a warthog came running out into the road but we got there safely! We set up camp and then had a sort out of all our things. We sat talking and listening to music before giving the children a tour of the heritage centre. As tradition calls we all signed our names with the date on one of the doors inside. We started cooking quite early as had a lot of borevors to cook and only a small braai. Supper stretched out as I could only cook 10 borevors at a time and everyone had 2 so that was 60 to cook! As it got dark everyone got changed into their pj’s and it was very cosy. As Desvino got into the buggy I asked him if he had a jumper – the answer was no but he’d be fine as he had brought a blanket. As soon as it started to get cold – ‘Ottilie I’m cold’, luckily I’d brought two jumpers and being the nice person that I am, I gave him one of them! By now it was pitch black and we only had two torches....luckily I’d brought 10 light up balloons and 4 glow sticks which Mummy had sent out for my birthday. These were absolutely perfect – thank you Mummy and the children loved them. We gave out all our prizes and gave a little speech saying thank you for all their hard work before having the promised talent show. We had singing, dancing, rapping....
We then sat around the camp fire roasting marshmallows on sticks. I had Damian curled up on my lap and it was idyllic. Damian whispered in my ear how I was the best GAP in his life and that I was perfect and just the best. It meant the world to me to hear this and broke my heart just a tiny bit. They wanted to hear a ghost story so I made up a story about the Ghost of Oenitzaub complete with sound effects done by Chelcie. It wasn’t particularly scary but it was very jumpy and they were terrified – but in a good way! Carla thought it was true at first as she didn’t believe that I could have made it up on the spot like that! I told them that the way to pacify the ghost if you saw her or heard her crying was to sing ‘Twinkle, twinkle little star’ and throughout the night we heard little burst of ‘twinkle, twinkle’ which was highly amusing! It was then time for bed but said they could talk and be in each other’s tents for a bit. In England the tent would be a four man tent but with five its fine but 6 is pretty squishy. I was in a tent with Stacy, Avihe, Emilia, Robertine and Tuyambeka however we were quickly joined by Desvino, Sitaleni and Damian, making nine of us which wasn’t much fun! We sat talking, telling stories and singing. They got me to teach them ‘Lord of the Dance’ which they loved and Desvino said that Chelcie and I were better than Rihanna which was very sweet of him!
Chelcie came and collected me for a loo run and we both decided that we would quite like to go to sleep now so very cheekily we got into one of the boys tent – it was empty as they were spread out amongst the other tents, made a bed and tried to get some sleep. However, it didn’t take long for the children to miss our presence and come looking for us and we were discovered but allowed to stay put! At midnight we told them they had to get some sleep and we made Desvino and Damian come join us as 8 children in one tent was not going to be conductive for sleeping. I don’t think Chelcie and I got any sleep at all – when we had escaped our respective tents we had left behind our pillows, duvets and blankets meaning we were left with one sleeping bag between the two of us and it was FREEZING! Desvino is also a very, very loud snorer and windmill was incredibly loud- it sounded like a clock chiming but it was continuous! The children woke up and started talking about 5 and we were joined by various children who came to snuggle! At 7 we gave up the pretence of trying to sleep and decided to feed them much to their delight. We played two games of pass the parcel and gave out the ‘2012 Button Box’ cup for the best performance at the Talent Show last night – Damian won this for his medly of all the songs that he knew ranging from ‘How many times do you read your Bible?’ to his rap from The Button Box, which was incredibly amusing.
After some much needed sleep in the afternoon we went for a Braai at Paul and Sara’s house – the first evening braai in months. Summer is on its way! I also found out that my remedial Maths classes had done really well in their maths exam which made me so happy. Stacy got 70%, Brenden 72% AND Diodores 75% so I was extremely proud of all of them.
Four days left at Otjikondo....not sure where the time has gone and I don’t know what to say. I’m excited to go home but I don’t want to leave here. I miss it already
Lots of love Me xxx
Part Thirty Eight: Countdown to D Day (30th July – 5th August)
Monday turned out to be an incredibly productive day. Chelcie’s throat wasn’t very good and she had lost her voice so she stayed at home. Hannah and Carla took the lessons while I continued with preparations for Parents Day. I managed to get all the people made and finished which was very satisfying and I was really happy with the end result. The Europe board has been transformed into a 3D state and everything is staying up touch wood! The asia board is now also complete. The bottom half of the board has ‘bamboo sticks’ on it – made from green paper, and on the top half we have displayed G7’s work on Chinese Symbols. Hanging from the bottom of the board is all the origami work and down the sides I stuck all the paper lanterns. It’s a really bright and colourful board now. In the afternoon with the help of Jacky and Marvelous (G7 boys) we managed to get the world and people stuck up on the board. So happy with what it looks like. Big Ben is also now completed and up on top of one of the cupboards.
I spent the evening preparing lessons as Mr Hawaxab was away on Tuesday and Wednesday so I got to return to the class to teach English and Social Studies. Tuesday started with double Social Studies with G6 in which we did a revision quiz which I’d written the night before for topics four and five. They really enjoyed this and hopefully it was helpful. I then had G7 English and we were looking at comparatives. They were in a good working mood and we had a fun productive lesson. After break it was double social studies with G5, they were less fun to teach but not too bad. Then BIS with G6 and they just had a study period and lastly double English with G6 which was brilliant. We were looking at adjectives and the eight different kinds;
1. Descriptive 2. Proper
3. Quantative 4. Order
5. Demonstrative 6. Interrogative
7. Possessional 8. Compound
I attempted to tell them the story of ‘The Three Little Pigs’ without using a single adjective, so of course the story became ‘The Pigs’ and not only was it really difficult not to use any adjectives but the story was deathly boring. It’s easy to remember not to say the pink pig but remembering not to say the second pig was challenging! I then told it again using lots of adjectives and they loved it.
During Remedial with my G7 boys they made me promise that if I marry a footballer or someone really rich that my husband would fly them out for the wedding. They were being very serious! Afterwards went and finished the last bits and pieces for the Art Room – cut out the Eiffel Tower and stuck it up, did the last name tags and then placed the boards. The Art side is now all complete and we just have to get ready all the craft things. We started sorting out some of the jewellery and some of it is HIDEOUS! Hopefully the children will disagree and think that it’s lovely as otherwise we aren’t going to make any money at all!
In the evening we had our last supper with Hannah as she was leaving the next morning – I made pasta with bacon and leeks in a cheese sauce and we had a good last night with her. Chelcie and I each made here a friendship bracelet to start her collection and we made here a little book called ‘Question Time with Kicks and Dimps”. It was for her to write all her unanswerable questions on as she proceeds on her travels. We filled in the first page for her… “Why do men have nipples?”, “If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren’t people from Holland called Holes?”, “Why are weathercocks often cockerels?”. On the back cover we wrote “What do you call a donkey with 3 legs?” (a wonky) as this is one of two jokes in my repertoire! We then went over to Paul and Sara’s for a drink and to watch some of the Olympics.
I cannot, cannot, cannot believe it’s August. How can it be August? It can’t be August, as I leave in August, but somehow it is. That means that July is over so records for the month…..I read 15 books, wrote 9 letters and received 10, cried twice, completed month 10 away from home, got into Holland Halls, took my 5th course of antibiotics in 10 months, made friends with a 2 week old Baboon, said goodbye to Glenn, discovered Desert Island discs – thanks Hannah, turned green and red (at different times!) and had our first performance of the Button Box.
We had a goodbye assembly for Hannah and I had a little cry when the children sang one of the goodbye tunes – it gets to me every time. I am going to be totally hopeless when a) it’s time for me to have to say goodbye and b) listening to them sing that song but this time to me. The day started with G6 English and lesson on Adverbs, this time only five kinds to remember thankfully. Then Social Studies where we did another quiz but this time with them working alone to see how much they really knew – luckily they all got nearly full marks. Spent p3 saying goodbye to Hannah, it was sad but I am sure I will see her again and we had a really fun three weeks which I have to remember. After break I had quadruple G5 which was a test, a real test. Started with an individual social studies quiz which went well and they were all listening and then double English where we looked at adverbs and comparisons. Lastly BIS, which was just a study period. When they are quiet they are fun to teach and they actually ask intelligent questions but I find it deeply frustrating having to stop the whole time to ask some people to be quite as it always makes me lose my thread. There is nothing worse than standing at the front of a classroom and knowing that people aren’t listening to you. Luckily, ended on a high by teaching adjectives to G7. It was also Desvino’s birthday today, who is another person who is very special to me and he had a good day which made me happy. In the afternoon we continued setting out the craft things ready to be sold and finishing off bits which the children hadn’t quite completed.
Chelcie and I decided that we don’t spend enough time together (!) so she has moved into my room. We have made a double bed on the floor of my room where we are now both camped out. Franzelle and Aune scared the living daylights out of us by coming at 8:30 and asking for selotape just outside my window. We hadn’t heard them coming and suddenly there were just voices outside my room. Franzelle also has a very low voice so actually sounded like a man in the dark!
Our month 11 ‘anniversary’ was a day of real highs and lows for me. We had just discovered at break time who the new GAPs are so we spent the time checking them out on their Facebook pages! In G7 art we decided to take them to the Zebra Pan which is just the other side of the road from the school gates. It’s a big stretch of open countryside where lots of animals go to water and then around the edges there are rocks and trees. I went off with Brenden and Diodores exploring which was great fun and later we were joined by Milla. They kept on talking about us as the Damara 5 – not really sure why, because even if I was a token Damara, there were definitely only four of us and these are the boys I teach remedial maths to! Occasionally we would bump into other people but if they were girls we had to leave as they don’t like girls! When I asked ‘what about me?’ they informed me that I wasn’t a girl but a chick and that makes me cool! Glad I have their seal of approval. We finished the lesson by eating Namibian figs – they are bright purple and the outside has thorns on so we got the boys to de-thorn them for us. You end up with bright pink lips and fingers from where ever the juice has touched you but it’s worth it. A really fun outing. With the G6s we went for a walk along the air strip which was also fun. We tried Bush Gum which looks like honeycomb/resin but it was disgusting. It’s supposed to be really sweet and the children were fighting over it. At first it tasted like rice cakes and then it was just REVOLTING!
In the evening we performed The Button Box to the school and all the teachers. We had to wait for all the children to eat supper before we could set out all the costumes. I went outside to wait and I heard Ruben shouting at Brenden and Diodores, so I went over to see what was going on. I didn’t want Ruben to get all upset before he had to perform. Bradley was sitting down crying his eyes out and Ruben was saying it was because Brenden and Diodores had been mocking him and it wasn’t the first time they had made someone cry. I knew it was serious as Ruben isn’t someone to lose his cool over nothing so I said that they should apologise straight away but they refused saying they hadn’t done anything wrong. I said it didn’t matter what they thought, they should be the bigger person and just say sorry as something they had done had obviously really upset Bradley and I didn’t want to hear details, I just wanted them to say sorry. They went over to Bradley and were trying to pull him to his feet, laughingly saying sorry but it was very clear that it was a joke and they didn’t mean it. I then totally lost it; I really can’t remember feeling that cross before. I’m sure I have before but I can’t remember it. I felt so let down by them – I have stood up for those two numerously and I won’t let anyone criticize them in my presence and I felt that they had really let me down. I got so riled up and upset by the way they were acting – they wouldn’t listen to me properly and were just playing the clown. I know that they are teenage boys but I felt so personally let down by their behaviour and the way they chose to act. I was so close to crying so I just left them and went and ranted to Chelcie who fed me fudge to calm me down!
I love those boys so intensely and just writing this is upsetting me again. I can see both of their potential’s, Breden’s is more obvious which is why he was appointed Deputy Head Boy but I can also see how Diodores could succeed if he makes the right choices. Seeing them like that really made me question whether at High School they will make the right choices especially without someone like me to protect and care for them. Once they leave here, they are basically going to be on their own and I really can’t bare it.
It was then time for the performance which was FANTASTIC. I was so, so, so, so proud of all them, they really were amazing. From the moment Diina and Uapiona ran on stage to the end of the last song it was full of energy and life and I was just so unbelievably proud of all of them. For the first time Paradise Island was great – they don’t enjoy singing this one, but you would never have guessed it. Damian was amazing and I was just so happy for him. Xunta-I and Vanessa sang their duet in tune which was just incredible and quite unbelievable to be honest! The main four were acting the whole time and I enjoyed watching them so much. Once again Desvino was our star player and he was stupendous. He got so many laughs from sneaking biscuits and sticking his tongue out at Grandma behind her back and at one point I had to go out as I was laughing so hard! Ruben panicked at the beginning of his second verse, slightly forgetting his words and ended up singing the rest of his solo which was just brilliant but shocked me so much. The best thing was the grin on his face once he’d finished. The teachers and Mrs Vermaak were very complimentary and it was clear how much they had enjoyed themselves. I was only sorry that Gilly was away so didn’t get to see it.
The last day before Parents Day, otherwise labelled D Day, was actually quite relaxed and we weren’t running around like headless chickens, luckily! Finishing touches were made to the Art Room and we set all our rubbish on fire. I nearly set Otjikondo alight as I filled the Rubbish bin to full and some fell out only centimetres away from a heap of dried grass. Luckily, I managed to cover the fire quickly in sand and the school was saved! At break time it was lovely to hear the feedback from the teachers; Mrs Vermaak was particularly impressed with Waltraudt’s voice and Vehonga said that it was the first musical she had enjoyed! They unanimously commented on how brilliant the main four were. Gilly returned bringing our passports with our visas stamped in. Finally with less than a month to go I am legal in Namibia.
Parents Day! Never really thought this day would actually arrive – just like leaving for Namibia but it has and it was a brilliant day. From 8:00 to 11:30 Chelcie and I were in the Art Room selling all our craft things and talking to Parents. We had to regulate how many children came in at time as it was very tempting for them to take something. It was lovely to see the children with their parents and astounding as to how similar they looked to each other. The tombola was next door and we had great fun wasting our money and getting rubbish prizes! I ended up with a belt, a little blue jug, two toothbrushes and a packet of biscuits. Chelcie won a wooden spoon which turned out to be made from plastic! Diodores’ parents didn’t come but I met his older sister, who is a year younger than me, and her son who was very sweet. It was nice to meet part of his family. It was then time for the Drama production which went very well – there wasn’t quite as much energy and buzz as Thursday night but it was still a very good production and once again I was immensely proud. The tickets cost N$4 (roughly 25p!) and we were a total sell out, even having to send people away! It was lovely to talk to some parents after the performance who said how much they had enjoyed it and to meet some of the cast’s parents who were as proud as I was. We then returned to the Art Room where we did face painting for the children and a couple of adults! The Parents all went to their meeting where at the end a Raffle was drawn. Aune’s Mummy won a traditional Owambo dress which she then gave to me! This was so lovely of her and it was so unbelievably kind and made me incredibly happy. It was the teachers’ lucky day in the Raffle with Mrs Vermaak winning N$1000, Ms Laurencia N$500 and Ms Shituleni winning the goat! By the end of the day we were absolutely shattered and just collapsed into bed. At the craft fair Reiner bought each of us a necklace so that we went home we wouldn’t forget him. When we told Gilly this she cried.
No rest for the wicked....Sunday was the day of first Communion. All the first Communion children looked so smart all in white. The girls where in white dresses with matching capes, gloves and shoes and they had all had their hair done. The boys were in suits and the twins, Tunga and Tangi, were in matching white three piece suits with bow ties! We sat at the front with the choir and sang with them – we had taught the choir ‘Shine Jesus Shine’ specifically for this occasion but they weren’t very confidant so it ended up being an unintentional duet between me and Chelcie. Father Heinz did the communion for the candidates first and the first one was Desiree. She put the wafer in her mouth straight away just as he said to wait and that all the candidates should take it together. Desiree then fished her wafer out of her mouth and held it again. Everyone who saw this took place lost it and got the giggles so to everyone who couldn’t see what was going on it looked like we were behaving very badly!
The whole community with the parents then had lunch together in the Dining Room. We went up to help the Kitchen Staff and had great fun serving the food. We had a competition between the Rice serving team against the Coleslaw team as to who could serve the quickest. Obviously mine and Chelcie’s rice team won! In the afternoon I went for a ride through the farm. Paul has found me a horse to ride and when Hannah was here we tried it out. It’s quite a crazy African horse but it was lovely to be back in the saddle. I asked Tate Johannes if it had a name which the answer was obviously no so I called him Donkeyba meaning Donkey in Damara.
Totally crazy that Parents Day is now finished. This was one of the few things we were told about on Training that we knew we would have to do. Throughout the year we have heard about it and how important the day was. There was a lot of pressure on us to put on good displays as well as to produce a good Musical. I had so much fun doing the art displays as well as doing the play and luckily the day wasn’t a huge anticlimax.
As usual love to everyone
Ottilie xx
I spent the evening preparing lessons as Mr Hawaxab was away on Tuesday and Wednesday so I got to return to the class to teach English and Social Studies. Tuesday started with double Social Studies with G6 in which we did a revision quiz which I’d written the night before for topics four and five. They really enjoyed this and hopefully it was helpful. I then had G7 English and we were looking at comparatives. They were in a good working mood and we had a fun productive lesson. After break it was double social studies with G5, they were less fun to teach but not too bad. Then BIS with G6 and they just had a study period and lastly double English with G6 which was brilliant. We were looking at adjectives and the eight different kinds;
1. Descriptive 2. Proper
3. Quantative 4. Order
5. Demonstrative 6. Interrogative
7. Possessional 8. Compound
I attempted to tell them the story of ‘The Three Little Pigs’ without using a single adjective, so of course the story became ‘The Pigs’ and not only was it really difficult not to use any adjectives but the story was deathly boring. It’s easy to remember not to say the pink pig but remembering not to say the second pig was challenging! I then told it again using lots of adjectives and they loved it.
During Remedial with my G7 boys they made me promise that if I marry a footballer or someone really rich that my husband would fly them out for the wedding. They were being very serious! Afterwards went and finished the last bits and pieces for the Art Room – cut out the Eiffel Tower and stuck it up, did the last name tags and then placed the boards. The Art side is now all complete and we just have to get ready all the craft things. We started sorting out some of the jewellery and some of it is HIDEOUS! Hopefully the children will disagree and think that it’s lovely as otherwise we aren’t going to make any money at all!
In the evening we had our last supper with Hannah as she was leaving the next morning – I made pasta with bacon and leeks in a cheese sauce and we had a good last night with her. Chelcie and I each made here a friendship bracelet to start her collection and we made here a little book called ‘Question Time with Kicks and Dimps”. It was for her to write all her unanswerable questions on as she proceeds on her travels. We filled in the first page for her… “Why do men have nipples?”, “If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren’t people from Holland called Holes?”, “Why are weathercocks often cockerels?”. On the back cover we wrote “What do you call a donkey with 3 legs?” (a wonky) as this is one of two jokes in my repertoire! We then went over to Paul and Sara’s for a drink and to watch some of the Olympics.
I cannot, cannot, cannot believe it’s August. How can it be August? It can’t be August, as I leave in August, but somehow it is. That means that July is over so records for the month…..I read 15 books, wrote 9 letters and received 10, cried twice, completed month 10 away from home, got into Holland Halls, took my 5th course of antibiotics in 10 months, made friends with a 2 week old Baboon, said goodbye to Glenn, discovered Desert Island discs – thanks Hannah, turned green and red (at different times!) and had our first performance of the Button Box.
We had a goodbye assembly for Hannah and I had a little cry when the children sang one of the goodbye tunes – it gets to me every time. I am going to be totally hopeless when a) it’s time for me to have to say goodbye and b) listening to them sing that song but this time to me. The day started with G6 English and lesson on Adverbs, this time only five kinds to remember thankfully. Then Social Studies where we did another quiz but this time with them working alone to see how much they really knew – luckily they all got nearly full marks. Spent p3 saying goodbye to Hannah, it was sad but I am sure I will see her again and we had a really fun three weeks which I have to remember. After break I had quadruple G5 which was a test, a real test. Started with an individual social studies quiz which went well and they were all listening and then double English where we looked at adverbs and comparisons. Lastly BIS, which was just a study period. When they are quiet they are fun to teach and they actually ask intelligent questions but I find it deeply frustrating having to stop the whole time to ask some people to be quite as it always makes me lose my thread. There is nothing worse than standing at the front of a classroom and knowing that people aren’t listening to you. Luckily, ended on a high by teaching adjectives to G7. It was also Desvino’s birthday today, who is another person who is very special to me and he had a good day which made me happy. In the afternoon we continued setting out the craft things ready to be sold and finishing off bits which the children hadn’t quite completed.
Chelcie and I decided that we don’t spend enough time together (!) so she has moved into my room. We have made a double bed on the floor of my room where we are now both camped out. Franzelle and Aune scared the living daylights out of us by coming at 8:30 and asking for selotape just outside my window. We hadn’t heard them coming and suddenly there were just voices outside my room. Franzelle also has a very low voice so actually sounded like a man in the dark!
Our month 11 ‘anniversary’ was a day of real highs and lows for me. We had just discovered at break time who the new GAPs are so we spent the time checking them out on their Facebook pages! In G7 art we decided to take them to the Zebra Pan which is just the other side of the road from the school gates. It’s a big stretch of open countryside where lots of animals go to water and then around the edges there are rocks and trees. I went off with Brenden and Diodores exploring which was great fun and later we were joined by Milla. They kept on talking about us as the Damara 5 – not really sure why, because even if I was a token Damara, there were definitely only four of us and these are the boys I teach remedial maths to! Occasionally we would bump into other people but if they were girls we had to leave as they don’t like girls! When I asked ‘what about me?’ they informed me that I wasn’t a girl but a chick and that makes me cool! Glad I have their seal of approval. We finished the lesson by eating Namibian figs – they are bright purple and the outside has thorns on so we got the boys to de-thorn them for us. You end up with bright pink lips and fingers from where ever the juice has touched you but it’s worth it. A really fun outing. With the G6s we went for a walk along the air strip which was also fun. We tried Bush Gum which looks like honeycomb/resin but it was disgusting. It’s supposed to be really sweet and the children were fighting over it. At first it tasted like rice cakes and then it was just REVOLTING!
In the evening we performed The Button Box to the school and all the teachers. We had to wait for all the children to eat supper before we could set out all the costumes. I went outside to wait and I heard Ruben shouting at Brenden and Diodores, so I went over to see what was going on. I didn’t want Ruben to get all upset before he had to perform. Bradley was sitting down crying his eyes out and Ruben was saying it was because Brenden and Diodores had been mocking him and it wasn’t the first time they had made someone cry. I knew it was serious as Ruben isn’t someone to lose his cool over nothing so I said that they should apologise straight away but they refused saying they hadn’t done anything wrong. I said it didn’t matter what they thought, they should be the bigger person and just say sorry as something they had done had obviously really upset Bradley and I didn’t want to hear details, I just wanted them to say sorry. They went over to Bradley and were trying to pull him to his feet, laughingly saying sorry but it was very clear that it was a joke and they didn’t mean it. I then totally lost it; I really can’t remember feeling that cross before. I’m sure I have before but I can’t remember it. I felt so let down by them – I have stood up for those two numerously and I won’t let anyone criticize them in my presence and I felt that they had really let me down. I got so riled up and upset by the way they were acting – they wouldn’t listen to me properly and were just playing the clown. I know that they are teenage boys but I felt so personally let down by their behaviour and the way they chose to act. I was so close to crying so I just left them and went and ranted to Chelcie who fed me fudge to calm me down!
I love those boys so intensely and just writing this is upsetting me again. I can see both of their potential’s, Breden’s is more obvious which is why he was appointed Deputy Head Boy but I can also see how Diodores could succeed if he makes the right choices. Seeing them like that really made me question whether at High School they will make the right choices especially without someone like me to protect and care for them. Once they leave here, they are basically going to be on their own and I really can’t bare it.
It was then time for the performance which was FANTASTIC. I was so, so, so, so proud of all them, they really were amazing. From the moment Diina and Uapiona ran on stage to the end of the last song it was full of energy and life and I was just so unbelievably proud of all of them. For the first time Paradise Island was great – they don’t enjoy singing this one, but you would never have guessed it. Damian was amazing and I was just so happy for him. Xunta-I and Vanessa sang their duet in tune which was just incredible and quite unbelievable to be honest! The main four were acting the whole time and I enjoyed watching them so much. Once again Desvino was our star player and he was stupendous. He got so many laughs from sneaking biscuits and sticking his tongue out at Grandma behind her back and at one point I had to go out as I was laughing so hard! Ruben panicked at the beginning of his second verse, slightly forgetting his words and ended up singing the rest of his solo which was just brilliant but shocked me so much. The best thing was the grin on his face once he’d finished. The teachers and Mrs Vermaak were very complimentary and it was clear how much they had enjoyed themselves. I was only sorry that Gilly was away so didn’t get to see it.
The last day before Parents Day, otherwise labelled D Day, was actually quite relaxed and we weren’t running around like headless chickens, luckily! Finishing touches were made to the Art Room and we set all our rubbish on fire. I nearly set Otjikondo alight as I filled the Rubbish bin to full and some fell out only centimetres away from a heap of dried grass. Luckily, I managed to cover the fire quickly in sand and the school was saved! At break time it was lovely to hear the feedback from the teachers; Mrs Vermaak was particularly impressed with Waltraudt’s voice and Vehonga said that it was the first musical she had enjoyed! They unanimously commented on how brilliant the main four were. Gilly returned bringing our passports with our visas stamped in. Finally with less than a month to go I am legal in Namibia.
Parents Day! Never really thought this day would actually arrive – just like leaving for Namibia but it has and it was a brilliant day. From 8:00 to 11:30 Chelcie and I were in the Art Room selling all our craft things and talking to Parents. We had to regulate how many children came in at time as it was very tempting for them to take something. It was lovely to see the children with their parents and astounding as to how similar they looked to each other. The tombola was next door and we had great fun wasting our money and getting rubbish prizes! I ended up with a belt, a little blue jug, two toothbrushes and a packet of biscuits. Chelcie won a wooden spoon which turned out to be made from plastic! Diodores’ parents didn’t come but I met his older sister, who is a year younger than me, and her son who was very sweet. It was nice to meet part of his family. It was then time for the Drama production which went very well – there wasn’t quite as much energy and buzz as Thursday night but it was still a very good production and once again I was immensely proud. The tickets cost N$4 (roughly 25p!) and we were a total sell out, even having to send people away! It was lovely to talk to some parents after the performance who said how much they had enjoyed it and to meet some of the cast’s parents who were as proud as I was. We then returned to the Art Room where we did face painting for the children and a couple of adults! The Parents all went to their meeting where at the end a Raffle was drawn. Aune’s Mummy won a traditional Owambo dress which she then gave to me! This was so lovely of her and it was so unbelievably kind and made me incredibly happy. It was the teachers’ lucky day in the Raffle with Mrs Vermaak winning N$1000, Ms Laurencia N$500 and Ms Shituleni winning the goat! By the end of the day we were absolutely shattered and just collapsed into bed. At the craft fair Reiner bought each of us a necklace so that we went home we wouldn’t forget him. When we told Gilly this she cried.
No rest for the wicked....Sunday was the day of first Communion. All the first Communion children looked so smart all in white. The girls where in white dresses with matching capes, gloves and shoes and they had all had their hair done. The boys were in suits and the twins, Tunga and Tangi, were in matching white three piece suits with bow ties! We sat at the front with the choir and sang with them – we had taught the choir ‘Shine Jesus Shine’ specifically for this occasion but they weren’t very confidant so it ended up being an unintentional duet between me and Chelcie. Father Heinz did the communion for the candidates first and the first one was Desiree. She put the wafer in her mouth straight away just as he said to wait and that all the candidates should take it together. Desiree then fished her wafer out of her mouth and held it again. Everyone who saw this took place lost it and got the giggles so to everyone who couldn’t see what was going on it looked like we were behaving very badly!
The whole community with the parents then had lunch together in the Dining Room. We went up to help the Kitchen Staff and had great fun serving the food. We had a competition between the Rice serving team against the Coleslaw team as to who could serve the quickest. Obviously mine and Chelcie’s rice team won! In the afternoon I went for a ride through the farm. Paul has found me a horse to ride and when Hannah was here we tried it out. It’s quite a crazy African horse but it was lovely to be back in the saddle. I asked Tate Johannes if it had a name which the answer was obviously no so I called him Donkeyba meaning Donkey in Damara.
Totally crazy that Parents Day is now finished. This was one of the few things we were told about on Training that we knew we would have to do. Throughout the year we have heard about it and how important the day was. There was a lot of pressure on us to put on good displays as well as to produce a good Musical. I had so much fun doing the art displays as well as doing the play and luckily the day wasn’t a huge anticlimax.
As usual love to everyone
Ottilie xx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)