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E-Travel Log # 10: So Long from Africa!
Dear students:
Greetings from New York! Lilia and I have finished our tour of Namibia and have flown back to China and the U.S., respectively. In our last travel log for the Africa School Project, we’re sending one last batch of replies to your questions.
QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES
Here are more responses to your questions from students in Namibia. This first batch was answered by third grade students at the Van Rhyn Primary School in Windhoek.
1.
Do you have a bedroom all your own? Some of us do and some of us share
with our brothers or sisters.
2. How many children live at your school? It’s not a boarding school, so no children live at the school.
3. How often do you get to see your parents? We see them every day. (Note from Paul: At boarding schools in Namibia, the children only see their parents when there is school vacation.)
4. What does it cost to go to a Catholic School? Our school is not a Catholic school, but we think it costs about 60 to 100 Namibian dollars per term, depending on the school. (Note from Paul: One U.S. dollar equals about six Namibian dollars.)
5. What do you like to eat? We like to eat meat, Weebix, porridge, rice, fish, vegetables, fruits and cornflakes.
6. Do you have pets? We have dogs, cats, parrots and gold fish.
7.
What kind of subjects do you learn? We have Math, Environmental Studies,
Science, Religious Education, English, Africaans, Handwriting, Bible Study,
P.E. and Arts.
8. How long is your school year? We start school at 7:00 AM and finish at 1:00 PM. School starts in January and ends in December. We have the whole months of May and December off.
9. Do you watch television? Yes, we love to watch TV. We have channels called NBC (Namibian Broadcasting Company), TBA, music channel and religious channel. We like to watch Tom and Jerry and Scooby-doo.
Fourth grade students at the Mokaleng R.C. Combined School provided these replies:
1. How many hours of school do students attend? We have six hours of classes every day, and one hour of self-study time.
2. At what age do students begin attending school? We begin school at 7 and up.
3.
How many years, if any, are required by law? We go to school from grade
1 to grade 10, and then only if we pass the national exam, we can continue
our studies to grade 11 and 12.
4. In the Luo culture, if a man has more than one wife, do the wives et along together or do they compete? In our culture here in Namibia, a husband only has one wife. Although we did read in the newspaper that a man in the northern part of Namibia has 20 wives with 160 children, and he was very proud that all of his children are in school.
5. Who goes to school more often? Boys or girls? Who stays at home more often? Boys or girls? Both boys and girls go to school.
6. What holidays do you celebrate? We celebrate Christmas, New Year, Easter, Good Friday and Ascension Day.
7. What are you favorite foods? We like porridge, bread, fish, vegetable, donkey meat, tea, milk and eggs.
8.
What are your favorite books? We all like to read Harry Potter and our
school library has copies of the first four books.
9. Do you get to watch television? If so, what are our favorite shows? We watch TV together in the dining hall, otherwise we don’t. We like to watch movies and South African soap operas like Generations, The Bald and The Beautiful and Big Brother. We also like to watch soccer, netball and cricket.
10. What sports do you play? What games do you play? We play games like ‘touch’, ‘police station’, hopscotch and ‘snake’. We play soccer, netball, basketball, volleyball and we run.
11. What crops do the farmers raise? We are in the middle of the Kalahari Desert so the farmers here can’t raise many crops. Some people raise tomatoes. In our school garden, the sisters have lemons, pumpkins, tomatoes, guavas and flowers.
12. How far do you travel to school? We mostly live within 200 kilometers from the school, and we travel by motorcars, donkey carts and on foot.
THANKS FOR TRAVELING WITH US
We had a great time visiting Namibia and your partner classes there. Thanks very much for joining us! We hope you enjoyed traveling with us! Maybe we’ll see you on one of our future trips. Till then, learn lots!
Paul and Lilia
Africa School Project Coordinators
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