The Essence of Time

As you are likely aware, down here in Namibia the seasons are opposite those that I experienced in the States. Here, we are just finishing summer and approaching winter. Although there are no changing leaves or crisp winds, fall is just on the horizon. With the slight drop in temperature and the occasional gray storm, I am beginning to long for the fall season I grew accustomed to in Boston. I wish I could take another roadtrip through Vermont to check out the foliage with my mother. I long to carve pumpkins and pass out candy to giddy toddlers in adorable costumes. I want to anxiously await winter’s first sprinkling of snow. But alas, none of those things are going to happen out here because although winter is approaching, it is not October no matter how much I wish that it was. So while I feel like I ought to be mailing my mother a birthday card (her b-day is October 16th) or running about trying to find a Halloween costume, I’m actually celebrating Easter, wondering how I ought to commemorate the fourth of July, and thinking wistfully about my celebrations of Shakespeare’s b-day with the Shakespeare Society in Boston (for those who don’t know, his 443rd birthday is April 23rd).

So as you can see, time is a fluid and very confusing matter for me here. I frequently forget what month it is and have difficulty figuring out what season it is. Time seems to go by quickly and slowly simultaneously. While it seems like I have been here forever, I’m shocked that the month of April has already approached. On the 22nd, I will be reuniting with my fellow Group 26 PCVs for our Reconnect Training in Windhoek. I’m very excited to be seeing everyone again but cannot comprehend that one-sixth of our service is already complete! Time is just so confusing…

Sexy Bodies

At the end of March I finally began meeting with my Girls’ Club at the local primary school. During our first sessions, the girls were all tremendously shy; they did not want to speak in public for fear of being humiliated by each other. So for our initial sessions, I focused entirely on building group dynamics to make them more comfortable around each other. My patience was truly being tested as I would leave those first meetings wondering if the group would ever become cohesive enough to allow me to progress into discussing personal issues with the girls (such as familial problems, health issues, and perspectives on relationships). But this past Thursday, I had a breakthrough. For the first time, the girls were not afraid to speak in the group and they volunteered answers to my questions (initially they wouldn’t even answer simple questions like “when do you get out of school?” or “what’s your favorite color?”). So I left that meeting feeling pretty elated about things. I know that I have a long way to go with the girls, but I am starting to see visible progress which is absolutely wonderful!

In order to encourage my development on individual relationships with the girls, I gave them all journals to write their weekly assignments in. I respond to their entries to encourage them to continue sharing information with me. I’m also hopeful that their written English will improve as they become accustomed to reading my proper English responses.

Thus far, I’ve only had them complete two assignments. The first one was to tell me about themselves; they could write about anything they wanted but I just wanted to get them writing. I was a bit shocked by some of the answers I got. A few of them wrote “I have a sexy body.” One even elaborated on that statement to say, “I have a sexy body that boys will die for.” A few others wrote that they love to wear really short skirts that rise far above the knee. Now I fully recognize that I’m more conservative than many people when it comes to issues like this, but I was nonetheless completely shocked that the thirteen-year-old girls in my group would write things like that! I talked to Angela, my housemate, about it since she’s a teacher and has lived here for over a year now so she is quite familiar with the crazy things these kids do. She was rather surprised by their entries too but said that the girls were most likely just writing phrases they knew how to say…I really hope that is the case!

How You Can Help!

As indicated in my last blog entry, I will be changing sites due to some unresolvable issues at my first job. Thus, I do not currently know what projects I will be working on at my new site. I hope to form another girls club and possible start the newspaper project at my second site but doing so will depend upon the demands of my next job. Stay tuned! When I get settled at my next site, I will be sure to update this page with detailed information about my new projects.

As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I have limited access to resources and must be creative in my project implementation. Below you will find a brief description of the major projects I am currently working on and how you can assist me with those projects (please send me your brilliant suggestions and ideas!). If you would like any more information on a project, I’d be happy to email you. Also, I will try to update this page regularly to include any new projects or changes to ongoing projects as needed so if you are inclined to offer me advice, please keep checking to see what I’m working on!

Here’s a list of some of my current projects for which I would be very grateful for any assistance you can offer. Scroll down for descriptions on each of them and suggestions on how you can support me.

Girls’ Club
Town Newspaper

Girls’ Club (last updated May 13)
The Girls’ Club is an initiative aimed at improving the lives of local teen girls by encouraging the development of self-esteem and equipping them with knowledge and skills in order for them to make enlightened social choices throughout their lives. To accomplish this, I meet with a group of about fifteen girls twice a week at the local primary school (the girls are between the ages of thirteen and sixteen). We participate in leadership games, do art and craft activities, and discuss topics such as relationships, reproductive health, self-empowerment, cross-cultural exchange, volunteerism, planning for the future and occupations, etc.

I began meeting with the girls in March and have until this point, focused solely on building trust within the group. In the beginning, the girls were extremely shy and did not even want to say their names out loud. Since English is not their first language, they feared criticism for mistakes in using the language and were not at all comfortable ‘being on the spot’ in front of their peers. While it has taken some time (and tested my patience), the girls are finally reaching a point where they feel at ease around each other and around me. So now I’m hoping to move on to bigger and better things with the group.

How You Can Help:

• Immaterially – I could use ideas for: team-building/leadership development games, art and craft activities, and girls’ empowerment films to watch and discuss (the only two I could think of were ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ and ‘Akeelah and the Bee’).
• Materially – If you feel inclined to mail me items to be used in the club, I could use: art and craft activities (ones related to holidays or just regular ones); English vocabulary building games (such as Scrabble, Apples to Apples); small prizes such as decks of cards, birthday party favors, stick-on tattoos, whatever (I give at least one out per meeting as incentive to come and participate); stickers! (I give the girls weekly journal assignments which I respond to and put stickers in their books)
• Financially – Thanks to the generous support of numerous people back in the States, I no longer need any financial support for the club! So thank you to everyone who sent money in!

Town Newspaper (last updated April 14)
I submitted my proposal for a Gobabis Town Newspaper to the Ministry of Youth’s head office in Windhoek about two weeks ago and am still waiting for final approval before I begin the project. My supervisor seems to think that it is a sure-in so hopefully it will be approved sometime soon and I will get the funding required to get it started.

The idea for the newspaper came to me when I learned that in Gobabis, there is no centralized place for job postings. This is a huge problem because unemployment is staggering in Namibia so it is quite wasteful when jobs are not filled quickly. In addition to publishing job listings, the paper will also have articles on health-related issues, town events, interviews with local leaders, and regional news. The paper will be run entirely by volunteers. I plan to train the volunteers to provide them with basic interviewing and writing skills, teach them a little bit about journalism, and improve their computer skills.

How You Can Help:

• Thanks to my mother and Jess, I no longer need anyone to mail me town newspapers from the States (I’m using them as samples).
• What I could use help with though is planning lessons to teach the volunteer staff writers about journalism. So if you have suggestions for me, I’d much appreciate them. Or if you feel like browsing the internet or searching in a bookstore for journalism lessons, you could send me whatever information you find.

Other Projects I’m Currently Working On
Fortunately for you, I don’t currently need your help on any of these but I will let you know if I do!

• Namibian Career Guidance Book
• AIDS Club Visitations