Busy Week

Only two weeks until Cape Town! This week we were back to classes, we have one more week of classes left and then it is Integrative Project Presentations, Thanksgiving, and then packing up! But I am getting ahead of myself. Monday and Wednesday was internship, we are prepping the older kids for their Grade 7 exams which start this week, and the last day of school is the 20th, so we are going to have a last day/Christmas party. Tuesday I presented on my internship, and it was also Hour of Power! Hour of Power is a swimming relay fundraiser that I actually knew about last year, because Clark was involved. It is a fundraiser and awareness raiser in honor of Ted Mullin, who died of Sarcoma (a soft tissue cancer). Ted is actually the brother of Catherine, my good friend and one of my roommates here. Proof of how small the world is! It was great to hear about what other swim teams are doing, and to be involved in our own way. The link to the Hour of Power website is here...:
http://apps.carleton.edu/athletics/varsity_sports/mens_swimming_and_diving/hour_of_power_relay/

Wednesday we had what I would say is one of the most interesting classes I've had since being here. With Religion class we went to visit ELCIN, a Christian organization affiliated with the Namibian Council of Churches. ELCIN works hard to provide for those that have recently migrated to Windhoek (usually in an effort to find work) and usually end up living in the informal settlements. The main programs run by ELCIN are for OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children), centered around HIV/AIDs prevention, and income generating projects. We got to tour around to a couple different projects, including a bread baking project and a pre-primary school. It was great to see what religious organizations are active in doing in a developing nation.

We have started work on our integrative projects, Margaret, Anna and I are focusing on the Namibian education system. Yesterday Margaret and I visited two schools, the Steenkamp Primary School in Katatura and a private trust high school in Windhoek. It was very interesting to compare the teaching styles, focus of the schools, and the quality of the education between the two. I was very impressed by the private school, the students were very aware that they were being taught by teachers that were passionate about learning and about the level of understanding, rather than focusing on test scores. The number of children per class was also far less. It is unfortunate that not everyone has access to this quality of education, or to education at all.

Today a few of us attending a talk/discussion on global health, which was given by a professor at the University of Washington and was actually organized through Lizzie's mother. It is a small world! It was very interesting to see how different universities are collaborating and talk about how issues of global health are connected to development, gender, education, and you can go on and on. So you can see that we are finding plenty to fill our days with here, when we don't have work. All too soon I will be home, so I have to fit it all in now!

Hour of Power-ing, unfortunately we are not as intense as some legit teams ;)

The informal settlements, not far from where I intern and where ELCIN runs a bread baking program

Rachel, Ethel, Catherine and me, all dressed up! (Dave came too but was excluded from the group shot apparently)