My first months at site

Well I’ve been at my site for almost two months and I am amazed by how quickly this place has come to feel like home. The first three months at site for Peace Corps Volunteers is called phase 2, where we integrate into our community and learn how it works before diving into our projects. My primary project will be teaching at Muyako Combined School, but I will soon be adding on additional projects to help the school fulfill some of their wants and needs such as expanding their library, adding activities and student programs, building a school fence and hopefully bringing computers to the school. 

My teachers' kids love to join hammock time

Muyako village has about 2,000 people spread throughout many kilometers. The school sits in the middle of the village and supports about 350 children from grades 0-10. Most children start school around the minimum age of 6 but there is no maximum so a few of my learners in grade 10 are actually my age or older. My school day starts around 6:30 am and ends for lunch at 12:30 pm, with a 30 minute tea break in the middle. The school year goes from January to December and is spread out over 3 terms. In the late afternoon the learners come back to the school for afternoon study, since most homes do not have access to electricity for doing homework in the evening. I have 17 staff at my school including 14 teachers which I work very closely with. I spend the majority of my time at the school, which is pretty convenient since I live on school grounds.

During the past 2 months I have been observing classes, helping teachers with preparations for exams, marking exams, fixing the printer (that breaks 3 times a week), helping with computers, helping run the library, reading with kids and just hanging out with the people around me. I have been learning so many things from my colleagues, and have been able to share some of my perspectives with them along the way. Although every day presents a new challenge, the school days are starting to feel more and more normal which I hope means I am adjusting well into the school culture. I found out that I will be teaching math, physical science and ICT (Information, communication and technology) next year so I am starting to prepare myself physically and emotionally for then.

Mbili Mbili update: her ears have perked recently

One of the biggest challenges thus far has been the language barrier. The language I learned during training, Silozi is the lingua franca of my region; meaning it is taught in schools as a first language, but is not the mother tongue which is spoken in the village. Subia, the mother tongue is language spoken by all those outside of school and is the only language known by the very old and young who didn’t go to school. Subia shares a few words with Silozi, but it is very difficult to start from scratch learning a whole other language. Despite the language barriers, I am learning to navigate Namlish (Namibian-English), and getting better at picking up the Subia terms used and translating Silozi. I’ve mastered introductions, farewells, and saying phrases like: “its hot”, “I’m going to sleep now”, “this is my small dog, please play nicely”, “I like to eat fish and porridge”, “I come from America and I am a teacher”, “I hate snakes” and “I want to drink water”. Just like American small talk, discussing the weather and food is really all you need to get by here. 

My village has given me the name Voma Mbili Mbili (which literally means mother of pepper; my dog's name). This name has luckily replaced Makua which means white person or foreigner in the local language. Instead of hearing the echos of Makua as I walk through my village from small children in trees, passing cars or behind fences (I still don't understand how people seem to know I am coming, even when I cant see them), I now hear Mbili Mbili! Voma Mbili Mbili! and innocent chuckles everywhere I go. 2 months into site, everyone still loves that my dog has such a silly sounding name. 

My colleagues at the school have been one of the best parts of my time in Muyako so far. During my second week here I was doing an Insanity workout in my hut with the door open because it was so hot outside. Soon enough I had attracted the attention of some of the nearby kids, and then some of my colleagues. At first they just stood outside and laughed at me and the kids making fools of ourselves, but then it started to catch on and so now we have a group of 5 teachers doing insanity workouts every day after school (some definitely take it way more seriously than others, but it’s a start).

My birthday month twin!

At the end of each month, we have a birthday party for staff members who had their birthday, but since we are on holiday in December, they also celebrated mine. Namibians LOVE KFC. It is one of the biggest fast food chains here. Since it is only available in town, I made homemade fried chicken for my colleagues for the party. We played music, danced, ate food, cake and had a great time. It was so strange to me that the party from October was my second day at site. It all felt so strange at the time, but this month’s party felt so comfortable and we truly had a blast.

The school officially closed for the holidays last week, which means all of my colleagues have left the teacher housing to return to their villages until school starts again. Because the school grounds are empty during this time, I will be spending time with my host family in the village, visiting town and exploring Zambezi with my fellow volunteers. It’s difficult to be away from family during this time of the year, but I am surrounded by so many new friends that I am not at all alone!