Goeie Hoop

Last weekend we went with the School football team to Goeie Hoop (Good Hope) Primary School for a sports day - which, due to lack of any sort of punctuality as per African tradition, was actually a sports weekend. It was about an hour's drive away and we broke down twice - firstly because the trailer disconnected from the back of the minibus, and then because a rock bounced up from the road (a proper African road, no fancy tarmac or anything) and shattered the rear windscreen. Nevertheless, we made it there without too much fuss. This was the view along the road:

Goeie Hoop is situated in the heart of Hereroland, home of the Herero people. Many older women still wear traditional Herero dress - a long, Victorian style dress with puffed shoulders adapted from Colonial days, and a very distinctive hat which seems to mimic horns coming out of the front. Whilst Gqaina has many Herero children who travel to the school and board, most of the learners at Goeie Hoop lived locally, and many of the people we met had lived their whole lives in the region. We walked to the local shop (literally in the middle of the bush) and met a farmer who showed us round his land and was very proud of his water filtration machine, complete with motor. He said that he had never left the area his whole life.
Being so remote, many of the children had never seen a white person before, or if they had, they certainly hadn't seen many. We were watched all weekend, sometimes with suspicious stares, but mainly just intrigued looks. There were some adorable little girls who kept coming near me, but laughing and running away whenever I looked round. It is a strange feeling to know that you're the first white person that a child has ever set eyes upon, and the only one that they'll see for a long time.
Our school only had a football team playing, but there was also netball, and, bizzarely, a beauty pageant and choir contest.We kind of stood out amongst the crowd, so we ended up getting roped in to judging the choir competition. We were introduced by the speaker: "So tonight we have two young men decorating our panel. I know some of you have never seen people with soft hair before, but let's give them a big welcome".
Despite being similar to Gqaina in layout and design, Goeie Hoop is a few decades older, and therefore more run-down. We were treated very hospitably, however, and given food (mainly meat), incredibly sugary tea and even running water, when it was on.
Our team won the football tournament so there was much excitement and song on the bus home.We had slept on a mattress on a classroom floor for the weekend so I have never appreciated a shower and comfy bed so much in my life

Gqaina

We have now been at Gqaina Primary School for almost two weeks. We were picked up from Windhoek by the principal and driven for 4 hours to get here (not actually a very long journey by Namibian standards). Apparently seatbelts aren't mandatory here - they weren't even an option in our case, but we were so tightly packed in with supplies for the school - mainly toilet roll and tinned pilchards - that it didn't matter. We arrived on Sunday and school started on Tuesday. That meant that the children arrived back from holidays on Monday, Tuesday or even Wednesday. Despite having volunteers at the school for years, the children still seemed fascinated by us, coming up and introducing themselves, stroking our skin and, several times, saying "Sir you are very fat, are you eating too much?".
Teaching is a lot harder than expected, and it's especially tricky to take arts lessons with no coloured pencils or PE lessons with no balls. Our imagination has certainly been put to the test, and long hours have been spent at the dining table trying to think up ideas for lessons. It is getting easier with more practice however, but it's a steep learning curve.
Days are long here, but seem to be packed with so much. We have to get up before dawn for a staff meeting at 0700 (or about 10 past by African time). The school day lasts until 1 o'clock, and we teach an average of 5 or 6 periods out of 8 each day, ranging from Grade 1 reading all the way up to grade 7 Arts. Then it is siesta/nap time, when it's too hot to go outside. The afternoons are spent doing maths study or library duty, and before long there will be computer classes too. What's left of the day is spent cooking (which takes an age, our stove is pretty basic) and going outside to play with the kids. They love football, rugby and just general messing about. Bed time is 9 o'clock at the latest.
One thing the kids really love is getting their picture taken. As soon as you take a camera out they are all crowding round wanting to pose for photos. Here are some of the best ones.

Arrival

Despite several obstacles on the way, we have found our way to Windhoek. First off, the door of our plane was broken so we had to wait on a very cramped Airbus in Heathrow for 2 hours. That meant that after minimal sleep on the plane, our connection in Johannesburg was tighter than planned. However, a lovely woman at the airport helped us, until we realised she had put us in the queue for the wrong flight, and it took a surprising amount of exasperated pointing to convince her otherwise. 

So, we had caught our flight to Namibia and the only thing left to worry about was immigration - we had been warned. But we all got through without a hitch and waited at the baggage carousel... Yeah you guessed it, no bags. We left the airport after 2 and a half hours of waiting, went to our accommodation and were reassured by our Country Representative - "Oh, Jo'burg is the worst place to lose your bags. Doesn't matter if you have padlocks, they have all sorts of dirty tricks." Comforting.

The journey from the airport to the city gave us our first glimpse of Namibia. First impressions - flat and orange. Here are my first couple of photos from Namibia - views out of the window of our minibus. 

After a journey into the city today to buy water and sim cards we arrived back at the hostel to the fantastic sight of these in the lobby. Relief.

Apparently the only dirty tricks that Jo'burg baggage handlers played were rifling through Daisy's underwear pocket and stealing Kerry's well-placed fake wallet.

We also had a nice night last night - we were taken out to a sports bar to watch the football. Who would've known that 14 people could fit in a Land Rover?

Finally, we've been learning some of the language - this is local dialect for "light switch"

So the goodbyes have been said and the packing done (albeit yesterday) and I have now started my journey to Namibia. I am currently sitting in Heathrow Terminal 5 for a few hours before our overnight flight to South Africa and arrival in Windhoek, Namibia at lunchtime tomorrow. Not much to say yet, I'll post again once we're in Namibia - if we get through Customs, that is.

A final farewell to sunny Edinburgh

 The North Face better appreciate my endorsement of their red products.