Just a Toothbrush: Frans Frederick Primary

Yesterday was a pretty amazing day. I learned that there's now a Namibian named Jill and I heard from one of my favorite GLOW learners, Zumbureeke. Then, as if I didn't feel great enough going two for two, I got to watch Lorain and Isabel conduct their very own dental outreach at Frans Frederick Primary School. It was incredible to watch these two dedicated ladies run the entire show.

Together, they reached about 400 learners, and provided them all with toothbrush and toothpaste thanks to your kind donations. (I just got to watch.)


Frans Frederick Primary School (This was probably the most difficult picture I've ever had to organize!)


Pre-Primary


Grade 1s


Grade 2s


Grade 4s

I have to admit I felt a real sense of accomplishment on the ride back to Khorixas. Although I never expected to make preventative oral health care one of my primary projects as a health volunteer, I did hope to find energetic and passionate people to work with in my community. My goal was to reach Namibian children with limited access to care.

And that's exactly what we've done.

Over the last year, we've conducted workshops at 11 schools and reached nearly 3,000 learners. Our tiny town was named number one for dental outreach in all of Namibia. And last month, the National Oral Health Day was hosted in Khorixas, by none other than Lorain and Isabel.

I'm happy because they started it with me.

I'm proud because they finished it on their own.

Jill-Tasha!

There's now a real live Namibian Jill!



My friend Natasha, the one who recently had a baby, named her new daughter after me. (Or, perhaps more accurately, after us, since the little one's full name is Jill-Tasha.)

She said she wanted her baby girl to be ready for America.

I say that's the nicest thing anyone's done.

Ever.

The Pot is Broken. We Can All Go Home.

There’s an old Mexican saying that when the pots have been broken, we can all go home.

Earlier this week, the remaining members of Nam 27 got together at a four star hotel in Windhoek (with hot showers, real beds and huge buffets) for our Close of Service conference. We talked about what we would do in our last three months of service.

We talked with RPCVs about adjusting to life back in America. We filled out as many exit forms and as much paperwork as we did to get into Peace Corps. We talked about resumes and grad school applications, the most memorable moments of our service, and the reasons why, even when things got tough, we decided to stick it out. We said goodbye. And then, we broke our pot. The one we’d signed and decorated and filled with our hopes and aspirations nearly two years ago.

And now, we can all go home.


Nam 27

It’s hard to believe that in three months my time in Namibia will be over. Two years, said and done. And while I’m certain I’ll be able to recreate something similar to my former life back in NYC, I know that recreating this experience—the friendships I’ve formed, the adversities I’ve overcome, the personal growth I’ve experienced and the tragedies I’ve faced will be impossible.

It’s a "once in a lifetime".

And one I’ll be eternally grateful for the opportunity to have had.


Celebratory Springbok Shots Before We Say Goodbye

Oh! The Places You'll GLOW: Discovery Day

Discovery Day is all about putting the lessons of Camp GLOW into practice and preparing to say goodbye to facilitators, campers, and PCVs. It helps campers process the new ideas they’ve explored and new experiences they’ve encountered before returning home.

For many learners, this is the first they’ve been away from home, outside of their villages or interacted with peers from other tribes and cultures. Finding closure is the easiest way to insure they transition smoothly back to life as usual. We want them to return to their villages with a new sense of confidence and achievement, prepared to overcome obstacles and share the Camp GLOW experience with friends and classmates back home.

Kids began the day by making a spider web of friendship with the people they’d spent the past seven days getting to know. Each team was given a ball of twine and campers and facilitators held tightly to the string as they tossed the ball to someone who’d helped to make their week perfect. After reminding their team why their new friend had been so important, the next person would throw to someone else who’d had an impact on their time at Camp GLOW.

By the end, each team was connected by a spider web. Pieces of it were cut to remind campers of the connections they’d formed with people of different cultures and tribes over the course of camp.


A Web of Connections Made in Just One Week


Aly Cutting One Team's Web


Spider Web BFFs

We reminded kids about the stereotype mountains they’d made on day one. These mountains illustrated all the assumptions and misconceptions that stand in our way when trying to make friends with people outside our tribes. Learners took turns crossing off stereotypes they thought were true at the start of the week, and explained why, just seven days later, they knew those stereotypes were false.

Whether it was the friends they’d made or a new person they’d related to, Camp GLOW showed learners that, no matter our background, our race, our tribe or our religion, we have more in common with one another than we think. It’s only when we move those mountains, and tear the stereotypes down, that we are able to see a person for what they truly are.


Ashley in front of the Stereotype Mountain


One Learner Crossing Out a Stereotype from the Mountain. Once every learner had removed one stereotype, teams worked together to move the mountains by tearing them down.

Learners and facilitators were presented with certificates for their important contributions to Camp GLOW.


My Learner, Rosa, with Her Certificate and Book


The Kids of Khorixas. I've never seen them look happier.

Finally, campers lined up to “pack their backpacks” with the tools and skills they learned during a week of Camp GLOW. From an open mind, to tolerance, to confidence and motivation, every learner had something positive to take with them in the place of the indifference, stereotypes or lack of self-esteem they left behind.


Vincent Working with Learners to Brainstorm What They'd Take with Them from Camp GLOW


Learners Packing Their Back Pack. Each slip of paper has a sentence about what the camper learned at Camp GLOW and what they will take with them to their communities, schools and villages when they leave.

That night, we ended camp with a talent show, complete with songs, Kwaito dancing and some hilarious dramas.


Jeremy and Charisma Singing Lean on Me


Perfect Harmony

It brought to a close what we hope was a memorable week of fun and friendship for these 80 learners from across Namibia.

And for me, it brought to an end a year of planning and preparation for one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my Peace Corps service.

Oh! The Places You'll GLOW: Future Day

Camp GLOW teaches learners a lot about leadership and character, but it also provides them with an opportunity to realize their potential and plan for their futures. On Leadership Day, learners are introduced to new possibilities—career options, university studies, political activism and life in the big city. But unlike classroom learning, which offers education in the form of books and lectures, Future Day gives kids a first-hand look at all that lies ahead.


Zoo Park

Campers start the day with a trip to Parliament. For most learners this is their first time in Windhoek, and seeing where decisions about their country are made is powerful stuff. Learners march up the same steps as their representatives, and sit in the same chairs as the president and his council. The experience makes what once felt far away and impersonal, instead feel very tangible and real.


Learners Line Up In Front of Parliament


National Council


Inside Parliament


Zumbureeke, the Littlest Learner, Sitting in the President's Chair


New Friends. Future Leaders.

Afterwards, they tour Polytech University. For these kids who have spent years in hostel schools with inadequate classrooms without enough texts books, desks or supplies, seeing a fully-accredited college is a truly eye-opening experience.


GLOW Goes to Polytech


Campers Filing in to a Polytech Classroom


Inside the Classroom. Kids Were Amazed by the Technology and Resources Students at Polytech had Access to.

Polytech’s library shelves are full of books. Their lab has actual computers. Classrooms have new desks and enough chairs for everyone. And learners here come from every part of the country. It’s incredible to see how the experience of walking though a university helps campers to feel like the possibility of attending one could indeed become a reality. They asked honest questions, and walked wide-eyed through the strange hallways, which we hope one day, some of them will call home.


Campers on Their Way to the Library


Inside Polytech Library. This is the Tallest Building Many Learners Have Ever Seen.

In the afternoon, professionals from across Namibia came together at Camp GLOW for a career panel, where learners could explore new possibilities and prepare for their futures. It was a chance to ask questions and seek advice from nurses, pilots, tour guides and teachers. Campers wanted to know about courses of study, income and (believe it or not) health benefits, too.


A Peace Corps Employee Talks to Learners About HIV/AIDS Work


Two Reporters from The Namibian Talked about Careers in Journalism


Everyone Was Excited to Talk to the Pilots!

For learners who have never left their village, never voyaged beyond their region or to their country’s capital, Future Day is about visualizing their potential and realizing their dreams. It’s about exposing them to possibilities, and about helping them prepare to be the future leaders of not just their schools and communities, but of Namibia as well.

Oh! The Places You'll GLOW: Leadership Day

Camp GLOW is all about leadership, which is why we have an entire day dedicated to helping these 80 promising learners become leaders in their schools and in their communities.

Leadership Day focuses on identifying the qualities of a good leader, using teachers, friends, relatives and community members as examples. This year’s learners came up with a long list of impressive character traits—like good listener, ability to admit when wrong, organized, kind, enthusiastic—without much trouble. I think that may have been because so many of our campers embodied these qualities already.

Much of the morning was spent emphasizing the importance of good public speaking and practicing a passage from Nelson Mandela with team members. Facilitators read the paragraph a variety of different ways—too fast, too slow, no eye contact, too much movement—to illustrate the wrong approach to public speaking before showing them the right one. It made the kids aware. But it also made them laugh. (A good thing, considering how nervous some of them were to perform!)


Robert Practicing Nelson Mandela's Speech


Clinton Giving it a Go

Afterwards, campers joined up into tiny teams and practiced the passage in front of a small audience. They provided positive feedback, as well as points to improve upon. We were all impressed by the learners’ ability to take Nelson Mandela’s speech and read it as if it were their own. With pride in their voices. With perfect eye contact. And without much hesitation.


More Practice!!

Once they had practiced the speech of someone else, they were asked to write one all their own. Learners stood before their teams and told the story of their future. Where they would be in ten years, how they got there, and the challenges they faced.


Peter Telling His Life Story to His Team

Two representatives from every team (a boy and a girl), stood before the entire camp and told their stories in perfect form.


Charisma Volunteering to Tell Her Story to the Camp

We were especially impressed with one learner, Raymond, a tiny Nama boy from the south. He’d been silent all week. He’d barely spoken to his team and hadn’t really talked to us. But on Leadership Day, he stood before the camp, and in a booming voice, told everyone how he’d attend university, work as an accountant, and when he retired, open two shops in neighboring towns in the south. We were all amazed by his composure, his projection, and his pride.


Raymond

But being a good leader is about more than public speaking. It’s about being a good example. That’s why outstanding learners from last year’s Camp GLOW were invited back to discuss what they’d done with the skills they gained, and how they’d improved their own communities with their new knowledge. Speechless, a facilitator in 2007, talked about how GLOW had given him the confidence to seek out new opportunities in volunteering. He went from working in his own community, to working in Windhoek, where he helps young kids learn about self-confidence, health and character through sports.

Jeremy, an outstanding learner from last year’s camp (who can be seen on the Camp GLOW video), discussed how it’s up to learners—not just adults—to identify problems in their communities and solve them. He’s started work at the orphanage in Khorixas, teaching kids there to read. He also taught himself a new language so he could communicate with two of the kids there. He charged GLOW campers with making their world a better place, and the power of his speech made us volunteers want to do the same.


Jeremy, Richel and the Khorixas Learners Discuss How They'll Take Camp GLOW Home to Improve Their Community and Schools


Kim Helps the Kids from Okongwati Plan Their Post-Camp GLOW Projects

Oh! The Places You'll GLOW: HIV/AIDS Day

Learners in Namibia are used to getting information about HIV/AIDS. The prevalence rate here is just over 17 percent, and in certain parts of the country (particularly along the Caprivi strip), that number can skyrocket to about 49 percent. HIV/AIDS is a serious problem here, just as it is most of Southern Africa. And while the government has done its part to implement educational programs like Window of Hope from Grade 1, much of the focus is on memorization rather than application. For instance, any primary school learner could tell you the ABCs of safe sex (abstain, be faithful, condomize). But few can actually explain what those concepts really mean. How far does abstinence go? How do you use a condom properly? And who decides whether to use one at all?


Paddy's Male Condom Demonstration.

Despite the efforts made to reduce infection rates, there is still a lot to be done. A lot of misinformation. And a lot of unanswered questions. For that reason, an entire day of Camp GLOW is dedicated to furthering learners understanding and knowledge about HIV/AIDS day. We give them a chance to learn about the disease using games that emphasize application and comprehension rather than memorization. And our gender-specific informational sessions provide a candid, comfortable forum to pose questions they might be too shy to ask teachers at school.


A blindfolded learner makes her body from playdough. This session taught campers about self-imaging and gender identity. It also generated a lot of discussion.

This year we added a power point presentation (advanced, yes?) about the science of HIV/AIDS. Some of us worried the information might be too much for some learners. But the kids were excited to understand the roots of the disease—where it came from and how it spreads. It made making connections while playing games like Sharks and Minnows and Baby Elephant later on, much easier.

But general information just isn’t enough, and this is one of the things that makes HIV/AIDS day at Camp GLOW so unique. In addition to educational sessions and break out games lead by facilitators, a representative from the New Start Center, a free testing clinic with locations across Namibia, confronted the fears of testing in a very real way. She used the Handshake Game to illustrate how quickly HIV/AIDS can spread among the population, and later explained the mechanics of testing. From pre-test counseling to post-test support, she talked openly about what New Start clients can expect when waiting for results. For many of the learners, this is their first exposure to information like this.


Our New Start speakers talks about testing and the importance of knowing your status.


The games and sessions are fun and informative, but it’s Jackie, our HIV positive speaker, that truly humanizes the disease. So many of the GLOW learners (and volunteers, too) know someone who is living with HIV or someone who has died of AIDS, but few have met a person who is as open and honest about the disease as Jackie. One learner from the Caprivi was impressed by her story, but refused to believe Jackie was actually HIV positive. He assumed we’d paid her to come and talk as if she were living with the disease, because in the village where he stays, no one would ever admit to being positive.


Jackie talks to learners about living her life HIV positive

For most learners, this is a first. And it’s empowering to see a woman who is open about her status, and despite being positive, still really living life. They get to ask questions, and for the first time, they get real, honest answers. It’s an eye-opening moment for these kids.