Well...it is official...I am going home for a little holiday at the end of August! And I am bringing my cat Crunch!
I know it is a little silly to come home for a visit when I was just home (last December) and will be finishing up my service (this December), but my parents wanted me to visit and offered to pay, so how could I turn that down?!? Plus, it is a great opportunity to bring home the Crunch-man. He will officially be an Nam-American! He is very excited about his dual citizenship.
So...mark those calendars! I will be home from 22 Aug to 10 Sept. I plan on spending most of my time at the Lake with some FW and Indy visits squeezed in. Of course, all my plans have to be run by my mom (who only allows me to be out of her sight for a select few minutes a day ;), but hopefully I will be able to see as many people as possible when I am home.
After I fly back to Nam, I will finish up my service and leave Nam and PC for good in early December. It will be really hard to say good bye and officially leave my second home, but I think I will be ready (please remind me of this statement when I am saying my final goodbyes and cannot stop sobbing--I can be pretty emotional when it comes to saying good bye!). Once I COS (close of service), some friends and I will backpack around Africa a bit and I will hopefully be home for good in February. I will update you on the whens and wheres of that big trip once we sit down and do some planning..I have begun to realize that planning is not a PCV's strongsuit after 3 years of chaotic non-planning, one of the many joys of living in Nam :).
See you in America soon soon!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Visit to the Bing!
I finally got to go back and visit the Bing! The last time I had been there was in January--way to long to go without seeing my Nam Fam!
I ended up traveling there on a Sunday. It took about 10 hours to hike there, but was well worth the hells of hiking! I got there and made a quick trip to the school for hugs from my old learners and a few teachers.
I stayed with the new volunteer (who replaced Colleen at the primary school). She so sweet and fun. It was grea to be able to hang out and catch up with her! It was a little odd to be back in my old house and sleeping in my old room. As crappy as that house was (NOTHING worked right), I still missed it. I miss how close it is to my school, our front porch and how quiet it is (I swear it is never quiet now that I live in the primary school's hostel--never ever quiet!). But, then there are things I don't miss--the fridge with the door that falls off all of the time, the drains that don't drain, the toilet that doesn't flush...the list can go on and on.
I spent all of Monday at school. It was great to see that some things don't change. The school is still pretty chaotic, which was perfect for me because I could just float from teacherless class to teacherless class to catch up with the learners. I got lots of hugs and heard lots of stories from the year. It was just great to be back! I also got to catch up with my teacher-friends--I really miss them a lot!
Probably my favourite part of the visit was going to a Girls Club meeting. My old girls club decided to start a new girls club on their own--without any help from another teacher! They had been texting me about the progress of the club and telling me what a success it has been, so I was really excited to see it in action. I was so proud when I attended the meeting--they keep attendance (with a pretty strict attendance policy),have a secretary and a plan of action for each meeting. They requested that I send them some lesson plans to teach from, but other than that, they have it going on! It makes me feel so great to see my girls so empowered and excited. They are just fabulous! I miss them so much!
I ended up leaving the village on Tuesday. It was a pretty short visit (especially since it took me 12 hours to get home!), but totally worth it. It was just great to visit with Lauren (the new vol) and see all of my learners and teachers. They really are my family here in Namibia. I hope to get back to visit again at least once or twice before I leave for good (so weird to think about leaving for good!).
I ended up traveling there on a Sunday. It took about 10 hours to hike there, but was well worth the hells of hiking! I got there and made a quick trip to the school for hugs from my old learners and a few teachers.
I stayed with the new volunteer (who replaced Colleen at the primary school). She so sweet and fun. It was grea to be able to hang out and catch up with her! It was a little odd to be back in my old house and sleeping in my old room. As crappy as that house was (NOTHING worked right), I still missed it. I miss how close it is to my school, our front porch and how quiet it is (I swear it is never quiet now that I live in the primary school's hostel--never ever quiet!). But, then there are things I don't miss--the fridge with the door that falls off all of the time, the drains that don't drain, the toilet that doesn't flush...the list can go on and on.
I spent all of Monday at school. It was great to see that some things don't change. The school is still pretty chaotic, which was perfect for me because I could just float from teacherless class to teacherless class to catch up with the learners. I got lots of hugs and heard lots of stories from the year. It was just great to be back! I also got to catch up with my teacher-friends--I really miss them a lot!
Probably my favourite part of the visit was going to a Girls Club meeting. My old girls club decided to start a new girls club on their own--without any help from another teacher! They had been texting me about the progress of the club and telling me what a success it has been, so I was really excited to see it in action. I was so proud when I attended the meeting--they keep attendance (with a pretty strict attendance policy),have a secretary and a plan of action for each meeting. They requested that I send them some lesson plans to teach from, but other than that, they have it going on! It makes me feel so great to see my girls so empowered and excited. They are just fabulous! I miss them so much!
I ended up leaving the village on Tuesday. It was a pretty short visit (especially since it took me 12 hours to get home!), but totally worth it. It was just great to visit with Lauren (the new vol) and see all of my learners and teachers. They really are my family here in Namibia. I hope to get back to visit again at least once or twice before I leave for good (so weird to think about leaving for good!).
HIV Testing Program
I have been really bad about writing a proper post for the blog. Sorry!
Here is a little update about what has been going on around here.
Last year, I wanted to do an HIV testing competition at my school, but the timing was just off and we were not able to plan it. So, I decided, since I have a lot more free time and resources here in Khorixas, it would be the perfect time/place to have an HIV testing program. I modeled it after a program done in Erongo region (my old region), made some changes and proposed it to OYO (my new host organization). They loved the idea, so we worked on making it happen!
The idea for the competition was to educate the secodary learners on HIV testing and then send them out into the community to mobilize the community to come and get tested (the learners were also encouraged to get tested as well--as long as they are 16, they do not need parental permission). We partnered with a few other organizations (the main one being an HIV testing centre in location) and came up with a 3 week program in hopes of getting Khorixas tested!
The first two weeks, my colleagues and I, along with New Start (the testing centre), went out into the two are secondary schools to do lessons on HIV testing. We explained what would happen before, during and after a test, what happens if you test negative/positive, how there is hope after testing HIV positive and answered every and all questions they had (and trust me, they had a lot!). I had so much fun being back in the classroom! My responsibility was at the senior secondary school (grades 8-12). I taught almost every class twice in the two weeks, so I was pretty busy, but I loved it. It was great how excited the learners were and how open they were with their questions.
At the end of the two weeks, we split the learners into teams (two classes per team) and each team had a specific color. They all recieved tickets in their color and their job was to use the tickets to get tested themselves (if they wanted) or to go out and promote HIV testing amoung family and friends. They give the tickets away, and then the people they give them to go to the testing centres and turn the tickets in when they get they tested. At the end, we were able to see which team brought in the most people to be tested by counting the tickets.
And the prizes?? First prize for the winning class was a goat! Americans may not understand, but goats are a pretty big deal here. Everyone is obsessed with meat and loves goat! Learners went crazy when they found out about a goat being first prize. Second prize were pens and pencils (also, a big deal). We also had a raffle for those who were tested. They could win 2 springbucks (a deer like animal) and a bike.
We had about 3 full days of testing and had around 95 people tested (which is a lot!). I was so happy! The best part was how many learners went for testing. Everytime I was at a testing centre to see how things were going, a group of learners were there. Close to half of grade 12 was tested! It was a great feeling to see learners walk out of a testing centre releived to know their status.
We ended the testing week with our Day of the African Child Celebration. We had songs, dances, skits and speeches done by learners from the 6 area schools. Then, at the end, we announced the winning class for the testing competition. Grade 12 won! It was so cute to watch them go crazy when they heard they won. They came running up to the stage, dancing and screaming and hugging the goat.
The whole program was a lot of work, but in the end it was worth it! It was great to see so many learners and community members tested. And to see how excited Grade 12 was to win the goat! I was so proud of them for working hard to get people tested.
Here is a little update about what has been going on around here.
Last year, I wanted to do an HIV testing competition at my school, but the timing was just off and we were not able to plan it. So, I decided, since I have a lot more free time and resources here in Khorixas, it would be the perfect time/place to have an HIV testing program. I modeled it after a program done in Erongo region (my old region), made some changes and proposed it to OYO (my new host organization). They loved the idea, so we worked on making it happen!
The idea for the competition was to educate the secodary learners on HIV testing and then send them out into the community to mobilize the community to come and get tested (the learners were also encouraged to get tested as well--as long as they are 16, they do not need parental permission). We partnered with a few other organizations (the main one being an HIV testing centre in location) and came up with a 3 week program in hopes of getting Khorixas tested!
The first two weeks, my colleagues and I, along with New Start (the testing centre), went out into the two are secondary schools to do lessons on HIV testing. We explained what would happen before, during and after a test, what happens if you test negative/positive, how there is hope after testing HIV positive and answered every and all questions they had (and trust me, they had a lot!). I had so much fun being back in the classroom! My responsibility was at the senior secondary school (grades 8-12). I taught almost every class twice in the two weeks, so I was pretty busy, but I loved it. It was great how excited the learners were and how open they were with their questions.
At the end of the two weeks, we split the learners into teams (two classes per team) and each team had a specific color. They all recieved tickets in their color and their job was to use the tickets to get tested themselves (if they wanted) or to go out and promote HIV testing amoung family and friends. They give the tickets away, and then the people they give them to go to the testing centres and turn the tickets in when they get they tested. At the end, we were able to see which team brought in the most people to be tested by counting the tickets.
And the prizes?? First prize for the winning class was a goat! Americans may not understand, but goats are a pretty big deal here. Everyone is obsessed with meat and loves goat! Learners went crazy when they found out about a goat being first prize. Second prize were pens and pencils (also, a big deal). We also had a raffle for those who were tested. They could win 2 springbucks (a deer like animal) and a bike.
We had about 3 full days of testing and had around 95 people tested (which is a lot!). I was so happy! The best part was how many learners went for testing. Everytime I was at a testing centre to see how things were going, a group of learners were there. Close to half of grade 12 was tested! It was a great feeling to see learners walk out of a testing centre releived to know their status.
We ended the testing week with our Day of the African Child Celebration. We had songs, dances, skits and speeches done by learners from the 6 area schools. Then, at the end, we announced the winning class for the testing competition. Grade 12 won! It was so cute to watch them go crazy when they heard they won. They came running up to the stage, dancing and screaming and hugging the goat.
The whole program was a lot of work, but in the end it was worth it! It was great to see so many learners and community members tested. And to see how excited Grade 12 was to win the goat! I was so proud of them for working hard to get people tested.
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