Ngepi?
I know I know, I promised I would have written pretty often but sometimes putting everything that I do, see and feel here is a bit hard but I will try just for you :).
Everyday when I wake up, I realize how completely in love I am with my life. It is really a special feeling that I hope you guys are able to experience and if you are not experiencing it now, I know one day you will. If you asked me one year ago, where I thought I would be today, their would have been absolutely no way for me to even begin to try to imagine that I would be here. Not just physically here in Namibia but also emotionally and mentally "here".
Yesterday on my way back home after a meeting as we were driving towards the sun set, all I could see how absolutely beautiful life really is. Despite everything that goes on in our lives, the troubles, the turmoil, the sadness and the pain...despite all of that there are soo many little things that were created to constantly remind us that life is beautiful. We have the power to ultimately take everything that happens to us and turn them into positives things. Everyday no matter what, the sun rises and sets and for me that is a constant reminder that even if I had a bad day, I am hopeful that tomorrow will be better.
As usual work as has been busy but I absolutely love it. I could not have asked for anything else. I always told myself I hope one day when I work, I hope that I will be happy to wake up every day in the morning even when I am tired. and yep by 5:30am/6am whether I am tired or not I wake up and go to work to try and help somebody somehow.
These days I am not seeing the students as much. They have been doing exams and now they are off for vacation or holiday as they like to call it here. However, some new opportunities for me to keep busy has presented itself. Last week, I was mostly helping with planning for a training for the members of the support group. The training came about because the clinic has been enrolled in a program that will provide support to kids infected and affected by HIV. Especially the kids that are on ART (anti retro viral treatment). This programs recruits volunteers that will be working closely with those kids and their caregivers as well. It is very important that all the needs of the kids are met. It is very good that they are always coming for follow up and for their medicine...but is that enough? I think that this program is very important because their is so much that kids have to deal with on a daily basis here in the village. However they are barely ever given the opportunity to express how they feel. What is also hard and complicated in that situation is that most kids do not even know that they have HIV. So that within itself is another big topic that needs to be addressed with the caregivers of these kids.
Planning for this training drained me mentally. I realized how hard this can actually be. Not doing the training itself but presenting this information and really trying to support these people emotionally. What got to me is that, I am presenting this information to people that are already living with the virus and that knows the hardship of that life. Now I have to try and explain to them how to deal with kids that are infected based just on what I have studied and what I have read. All these thoughts were going through my mind while trying to find best ways to present the information for the training. Thankfully, like I may have said in my previous post, I am extremely thankful for my amazing co-workers. Working with my co-workers and sharing my emotions with them is really helpful. I am very determine to never ever do anything by myself here. So every topic that I was coming up with, I was also presenting them and brainstorming with the senior counselor and the social worker. Being able to work with them to make sure that I am not just doing what "I" think is right is important. Together we are able to take cultural norms into consideration, we shared our ideas and decided what will work best for that group. So by me sharing my experiences working with kids in general and by them sharing their experiences working at the clinic we were able to finalize a program that will help those volunteers be successful when they interact with the kids and their caregivers.
So far the 4 people that we are training are a good group. They are part of the support group and very good to work with. They are very open about sharing their feelings and seem to be receiving the info that we are giving them very well. With that said the training went really well. For the month of may they will just be coming every day to do hands on training then will start their respective task in June.
So what else is new???I have to say this post above was written maybe 2-3 weeks ago and I am just now trying to wrap this post up. I have been in out of my village for workshops and Peace Corps business now for the month of work, I will just be here working...I am looking forward to next month because my social life is looking good because of some other great volunteers that I have met and I will be seeing one of my friend from my group :)
OOO! so I TOTALLY had a breakthrough yesterday with the group of youth that usually meet with twice a week. IDK if I have posted about that group before but I have had some serious sessions with this group that has left me completely defeated and that made me seriously question my purpose here in Namibia. I think what was hard is that when discussing certain topics like (why should a girl carry a condom, or why should a girl initiate sex or why is it ok for guy's to cheat), is that I just dint know what to tell them. I am not here to judge them or to tell them that their culture is bad, that really inst my place nor my purpose here but dang I just dint know what to say I was speechless because 1) one guy said that "yes it is ok to cheat on his girl friend as long as she never finds out then he is respecting her and he is not hurting her and 2) a girl completely and seriously told the whole group that she was only made for sex and if her husband/boyfriend wants to initiate sex and not use a condom then it is ok. so yea I was completely speechless. Ultimately I just repeated the fact that "I am not here to judge them or to tell them that their culture is bad, that really inst my place nor my purpose here but remember that no matter what, you always have a say in a relationship and just as the world is changing there also changes that you need to make for yourself, and if there are some things in your culture that can potentially put you at risk to HIV then you HAVE to take that into consideration and decide for yourself what is right. That day I felt like I was talking to a brick wall, the next couple of times I went...same things were being said, needless to say my patience and my positive attitude were being challenged alllll the time...but yesterday wowzers I HAD A BREAKTHROUGH with them...it was a great feeling. Last week, I started using an HIV teaching tool created by some other organizations and it worked really well. It is basically a movie called "Three and a half Lives of Phillip Wetu", which shows how this guy Phillip has many sexual partners. The good thing about this movie is that it is very interactive and there is a pause after each scene and the audience has to choose what they think Phillip will do next....anywhoo back to the breakthrough. At the end of the film we had a really good conversation about why they thought the movie was good. Some of the guys that were so set in stone about topics regarding sex and condoms, were bringing up the topic of girls carrying condom and were saying that yes it unacceptable for a girl and a guy alike (who has a significant other) to carry a condom and that it is ok for both sex to carry a condom if they are single. It was very surprising to hear them say that because I never thought in a million years that he would even consider the thought. Although some others were still a bit reluctant to completely say it I still think it was a breakthrough even if it was small. I have about one month left with that group so I soooo hopeful that every time they have sex they will think twice about what they are doing and they will choose to do the right thing.
ok I hope that this updates finds you well, i will try my hardest to keep up with it more...
I put some pics on facebook check them out now now!
ps. Hopefully I will start with Thimbukushu language classes next week so more vocab words to come soon lol.
in the mean time...Kare po thiwana
Peace & Love my people :)
...plz excuse my english... there are some errors in my writting lol
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
This weekend for the 1st time in my life...I saw an elephant :) kupi?
Kupi ku kunakyenda? Kunakuyenda ku Katima? This weekend for the first time in my life, I saw TWO elephants...and it was not in a zoo or a circus :). They were just there hanging on the side of the road when we on our way to Katima which is a town about 2-3 hours from me in the Caprivi region. I went there to hang out with my PC peeps and def had a good time, just laughing at nothings and helping another PCV with her yard sale which by the way was my first yard sale experience. To end my fun weekend, we got a great hike from a Namibian UF Gator Grad, my first time meeting a Namibian that has been to FL and Gainesville as a matter of fact. It was pretty cool reminiscing about G-ville, gator nights and those African Student Union friday meetings :) so YAY for a weekend of firsts :).
I like to try and test myself by writing in thimbukushu on here without using my book/notes/ or flash cards. Its unfortunate that I dint get any training on this language from Peace Corps. Its really hard sometimes to just try and remember sentences when I don't even know what i am saying. Like is this word a noun, pronoun or verb idk sigh...I think I am going to start sitting in the thimbukushu classes at the nearby school, one day I am hoping I will understand at least one sentence people tell me when I am walking around in the village lol.
My life these days... just busy with work. Back and forth between the school, the VCT (volunteer testing center) and the youth center. I love that I consistently have something to do. As a health volunteer, consistency is often what we lack of in our work. However, being involve with the school helps me have something to do consistently. That way I know everyday when I wake up, I have a purpose.
This week I was able to finally have a meeting with all the members of the support group. wow....thats was an eye opener. In the sense that, I had heard a lot from other people about the group but being in that meeting made me realize that there are soooooo much challenges to overcome with the group as a whole. Things that seem so obvious to me is not seen by them at all. To me, it should not be a challenge just to do some things. I just kept asking myself why does it seem like this group has forgotten how to use what they have to try and make things work. A big thing that came about is some of the smaller groups were explaining that they need a fence for there garden because animals often come in and destroy there crops. I totally understand that and I totally agree. My concern is that the group do not have no money to build a big and fancy fence for all the gardens so why not just build a traditional wood/stick fence until we are able to generate money for something better. The reality here in countries like Namibia is that A LOT of funding is being cut. Therefore grants that were probably available years ago are scarce now. AND....the grants that are offered now...are soooo difficult to get. Donors are very specific on what type of projects that they will fund. There are soooo many guidelines and requirements. For a project like in my village who has already received a big grant in the past years, it becomes really hard to: 1 explain to them that they will not easily get another grant and 2 help them understand that they have to start generating more money. Thankfully, the chair person and others in charge of the group understands where I am coming from and are consistently working diligently for the success of the support group. So we agreed to just start working asap on the garden here around the hospital, that way we can start generating funds from there. The dedication is there, so I know with time and hard work things will get better.
In other news, the health club at the school has officially started as of yesterday. Imagine that since 2009 when I first came to Namibia, I had a vision to gather selected students from a school to come together to learn about leadership, to discuss health problems in there community, and to learn health related skills (first aid, CPR) and yesterday we were finally able to put the words into action. I can not begin to explain to you how excited I am. What is even better is how great it was to see how the students were already taking charge, leadership and ownership into there health club :). That really made my heart smile. In a matter of an hour and a half we were able to discuss our purpose, our expectations and THEY elected an eboard :). Ladies and gents, where there is a will there is a way. Do not give a child a fish but instead teach him how to fish. Give kids responsibilities, let there voices be heard, give them the opportunity to talk, to express themselves. Create an environment that fosters who they are, an environment that will help them use there mind to think and put there dreams into actions.
My purpose here is not to save lives. I know that when I leave everybody will not stop being infected with HIV, what I do know is that I will try my hardest to teach and to help people (especially kids) realize that there is another world where you can be a nurse, pilot or a teacher. That they have the power to make decisions that will help them accomplish there goals Yes, it will be hard and yes it will take time but you HAVE to try and you have to work hard...if you don't try how will you ever know what you can become.
Kare po thiwana!
Matumero for reading :)...until next time...wear your seat belt, & don't text and drive !
I like to try and test myself by writing in thimbukushu on here without using my book/notes/ or flash cards. Its unfortunate that I dint get any training on this language from Peace Corps. Its really hard sometimes to just try and remember sentences when I don't even know what i am saying. Like is this word a noun, pronoun or verb idk sigh...I think I am going to start sitting in the thimbukushu classes at the nearby school, one day I am hoping I will understand at least one sentence people tell me when I am walking around in the village lol.
My life these days... just busy with work. Back and forth between the school, the VCT (volunteer testing center) and the youth center. I love that I consistently have something to do. As a health volunteer, consistency is often what we lack of in our work. However, being involve with the school helps me have something to do consistently. That way I know everyday when I wake up, I have a purpose.
This week I was able to finally have a meeting with all the members of the support group. wow....thats was an eye opener. In the sense that, I had heard a lot from other people about the group but being in that meeting made me realize that there are soooooo much challenges to overcome with the group as a whole. Things that seem so obvious to me is not seen by them at all. To me, it should not be a challenge just to do some things. I just kept asking myself why does it seem like this group has forgotten how to use what they have to try and make things work. A big thing that came about is some of the smaller groups were explaining that they need a fence for there garden because animals often come in and destroy there crops. I totally understand that and I totally agree. My concern is that the group do not have no money to build a big and fancy fence for all the gardens so why not just build a traditional wood/stick fence until we are able to generate money for something better. The reality here in countries like Namibia is that A LOT of funding is being cut. Therefore grants that were probably available years ago are scarce now. AND....the grants that are offered now...are soooo difficult to get. Donors are very specific on what type of projects that they will fund. There are soooo many guidelines and requirements. For a project like in my village who has already received a big grant in the past years, it becomes really hard to: 1 explain to them that they will not easily get another grant and 2 help them understand that they have to start generating more money. Thankfully, the chair person and others in charge of the group understands where I am coming from and are consistently working diligently for the success of the support group. So we agreed to just start working asap on the garden here around the hospital, that way we can start generating funds from there. The dedication is there, so I know with time and hard work things will get better.
In other news, the health club at the school has officially started as of yesterday. Imagine that since 2009 when I first came to Namibia, I had a vision to gather selected students from a school to come together to learn about leadership, to discuss health problems in there community, and to learn health related skills (first aid, CPR) and yesterday we were finally able to put the words into action. I can not begin to explain to you how excited I am. What is even better is how great it was to see how the students were already taking charge, leadership and ownership into there health club :). That really made my heart smile. In a matter of an hour and a half we were able to discuss our purpose, our expectations and THEY elected an eboard :). Ladies and gents, where there is a will there is a way. Do not give a child a fish but instead teach him how to fish. Give kids responsibilities, let there voices be heard, give them the opportunity to talk, to express themselves. Create an environment that fosters who they are, an environment that will help them use there mind to think and put there dreams into actions.
My purpose here is not to save lives. I know that when I leave everybody will not stop being infected with HIV, what I do know is that I will try my hardest to teach and to help people (especially kids) realize that there is another world where you can be a nurse, pilot or a teacher. That they have the power to make decisions that will help them accomplish there goals Yes, it will be hard and yes it will take time but you HAVE to try and you have to work hard...if you don't try how will you ever know what you can become.
Kare po thiwana!
Matumero for reading :)...until next time...wear your seat belt, & don't text and drive !
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Finding my nitch....
Laziness will destroy you and your life...Sometimes I think about how lazy I can be especially when I have to wake up extra early and the sleep is so good lol. Yesterday on my way back to the hospital from the school, I was thinking about how lazy I was feeling that morning and how I had even tried to think of ways that I could get out of the early sessions that I am doing with the students at school. Yea I know, how could I come that far to Africa and think that lol....but thankfully my good inner little voice made me snap out of it.
I have been keeping pretty busy here and I am loving it. I am trying to find my nitch and I feel like I am able to create a schedule that I can keep.
]
Monday I was able to do a presentation for 200 girls about the menstruation cycle. Thanks to a former teacher Peace Corps Volunteer, Lori and her organization
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Empower-Women-in-Africa/182591221781269, we were able to distribute 600 re-usable pads from http://www.gladrags.com to the girls at the school :)...After we passed them out and told them all to raise the pads in the air to take a picture they alll said ALLELUIA...it was really funny but so good to see them happy like that :).
The main thing that is keeping me busy everyday are the Life skills/HIV prevention program that we are doing at the local school in the village (Andara Combined School). Along with the HIV prevention officer from the hospital, we are facilitating sessions on HIV prevention methods and behavior change (<= mostly grades 9 &10). Along with the teachers however, I am doing primarily life skills sessions with grades 7&8. I enjoy teaching. I think mostly because I get to be around the kids everyday and because I get do it my way lol. There are def guidelines that I need to follow but because life skills is a "non-promotional subject" (kids do not need to pass it to go on to the next grade) then nobody has taken it seriously in the past. It is usually not taught much or at all. So this gives me the room to create a curriculum and lesson plan that will benefit each specific class. This first week went well. Grade 7 students had a harder time understanding me. Language is definitely a barrier and one of my challenges. I really have to speak extra slow and use a combination of words that I would probably not use in the states. We call it "Namlish". It is not right and I try not to use often especially things like "Madame, borrow me a pencil". Some of the students from grade 7 were trying really hard to keep up with me, and they did a good job. My main goal for this week was to establish an environment where they can become comfortable enough to ask me questions so we can elevate the dialogue, I am not a teacher by trade so I am not trying to spend hours a day just in front of the classroom talking. That can def become boring for them. So my lessons will include activities and games and more :). Hopefully, I wont look to silly lol.
You know what though, that other day when I was feeling lazy because I had to wake up extra early, the grade 8 learners surprised me a lot. It is wrong of me in the first place not to have expected that they would know the information. I was very satisfied with the lesson that day. That class was everything I had hoped for. They were asking questions, they were defining the vocab terms before I explained it to them and they even gave me examples and stories about different things. That really re-assured me that things will get better, like always. That's life right? even when things seem one way one day and even when things seem like they are not going to change, someway...somehow something reminds us that things will get better. The grade 8 students did that for me :). They helped me realize to be more patient, to just go with the flow and really let the wind take me away :). Even with the language barrier, even with the fact that some of them are not at a level that they should be for their age, there is HOPE "Once you choose hope, anything’s possible" -Christopher Reeve. So I am choosing to stay hopeful always.
The other hours of my days are spent at the VCT, the Volunteer Counseling & Testing center. Doing outreach, working with the different support group who will start being a bit more busy after the rainy season, so now planning and organizing is at the utmost importance, will write more about "Twayapa Shotuyowe...I am not afraid"support group soon. So stay on the look out for more news.
until next time...
Oshi iwete...
(that is def not the language from this village but the village that I was at before, still trying to get down with Thimbukushu..sigh one day...one day.... hopefully :)
ps.Pics will come soon as well but the net is just so slow, its hard to upload :(. but one day :)
I have been keeping pretty busy here and I am loving it. I am trying to find my nitch and I feel like I am able to create a schedule that I can keep.
]
Monday I was able to do a presentation for 200 girls about the menstruation cycle. Thanks to a former teacher Peace Corps Volunteer, Lori and her organization
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Empower-Women-in-Africa/182591221781269, we were able to distribute 600 re-usable pads from http://www.gladrags.com to the girls at the school :)...After we passed them out and told them all to raise the pads in the air to take a picture they alll said ALLELUIA...it was really funny but so good to see them happy like that :).
The main thing that is keeping me busy everyday are the Life skills/HIV prevention program that we are doing at the local school in the village (Andara Combined School). Along with the HIV prevention officer from the hospital, we are facilitating sessions on HIV prevention methods and behavior change (<= mostly grades 9 &10). Along with the teachers however, I am doing primarily life skills sessions with grades 7&8. I enjoy teaching. I think mostly because I get to be around the kids everyday and because I get do it my way lol. There are def guidelines that I need to follow but because life skills is a "non-promotional subject" (kids do not need to pass it to go on to the next grade) then nobody has taken it seriously in the past. It is usually not taught much or at all. So this gives me the room to create a curriculum and lesson plan that will benefit each specific class. This first week went well. Grade 7 students had a harder time understanding me. Language is definitely a barrier and one of my challenges. I really have to speak extra slow and use a combination of words that I would probably not use in the states. We call it "Namlish". It is not right and I try not to use often especially things like "Madame, borrow me a pencil". Some of the students from grade 7 were trying really hard to keep up with me, and they did a good job. My main goal for this week was to establish an environment where they can become comfortable enough to ask me questions so we can elevate the dialogue, I am not a teacher by trade so I am not trying to spend hours a day just in front of the classroom talking. That can def become boring for them. So my lessons will include activities and games and more :). Hopefully, I wont look to silly lol.
You know what though, that other day when I was feeling lazy because I had to wake up extra early, the grade 8 learners surprised me a lot. It is wrong of me in the first place not to have expected that they would know the information. I was very satisfied with the lesson that day. That class was everything I had hoped for. They were asking questions, they were defining the vocab terms before I explained it to them and they even gave me examples and stories about different things. That really re-assured me that things will get better, like always. That's life right? even when things seem one way one day and even when things seem like they are not going to change, someway...somehow something reminds us that things will get better. The grade 8 students did that for me :). They helped me realize to be more patient, to just go with the flow and really let the wind take me away :). Even with the language barrier, even with the fact that some of them are not at a level that they should be for their age, there is HOPE "Once you choose hope, anything’s possible" -Christopher Reeve. So I am choosing to stay hopeful always.
The other hours of my days are spent at the VCT, the Volunteer Counseling & Testing center. Doing outreach, working with the different support group who will start being a bit more busy after the rainy season, so now planning and organizing is at the utmost importance, will write more about "Twayapa Shotuyowe...I am not afraid"support group soon. So stay on the look out for more news.
until next time...
Oshi iwete...
(that is def not the language from this village but the village that I was at before, still trying to get down with Thimbukushu..sigh one day...one day.... hopefully :)
ps.Pics will come soon as well but the net is just so slow, its hard to upload :(. but one day :)
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