Camp Kapolo (10-16)

It’s grade 10 national exam time. They started their exams last Friday and continue until the 26^th. They have exams in English, Oshindonga, agriculture, physical science, life science, mathematics, entrepreneurship, and history. English and Oshindonga have three exams and a couple other subjects have two. These exams were set in Windhoek and will be marked there. Their final marks are also calculated in Windhoek. These include their continuous assessment in class as well as the final exam. However, because we are in the North and learners are perceived to be not very good, we had to reduce our CA marks by 10; if we didn’t do that, the people in Windhoek would look at the higher class marks and the lower exam marks and reduce the former.

So that the learners have ample time to study well, they camp at the school for the month. Two large tents were set up—one for boys and one for girls. 

Inside the large tents, they have small tents for individuals. 

The learners wake up at about 5:00 AM to study before washing and breakfast. Exams start at 8:00 following a time to pray together. On days with no exams, they can study. They study all day, with breaks for sleeping and hanging out. They study at night until 10:00 or later. The evening session begins with hymn singing and a prayer. 

I hadn’t realized until last week that this is their only national exam; they are not allowed to repeat grade 10 and try again. So, this is really serious. If they don’t pass, which a few won’t, their education is stopped. They can enroll in distance learning and take classes for the subjects they failed. They study on their own and then take an exam in those subjects. When they increase their total points to passing, they can enroll in grade 11.

While they study, learners dress casually. One day they had fun having photos taken. I especially enjoyed the boys who wanted to pose with the truck. They wear their uniforms for exams.

The teachers have a private shelter for bathing. The learners use the toilets, placing a tub of water on top of the stool and standing to wash in the stall. 

They wash their clothes and hang them on the fence to dry.

Mothers come to prepare meals for the learners. One entertained herself between meals by weaving a basket. Four teachers stay here overnight. We all take turns according to a schedule, all of us having a total of six nights. 

A large tent was set up in the staff room for two women. One teacher brought her own small tent and set it up for a few days. My turn to be on duty was Friday to Wednesday nights. Since I live across the way, I could go home to sleep, which was nice. Four teachers are too many, as we just sit around in the office most of the time. If a teachers’ subject test is the next one, s/he is available for questions. Prior to the English exam, I had a few learners come for special grammar review and a few who took reading worksheets to do for practice. Only one brought them back for me to go over with her.

We also take turns invigilating the exams. There are two clocks on the chalkboard ledge to display the time during exams; however, neither has working batteries. Some teachers set the clock at the beginning and there the time stays; others change it at 9:00. Very few learners have watches to monitor the time themselves. Since the clocks didn’t work, I wrote the time on the board every half hour and then every twenty minutes. I guess other teachers don’t do that, as I waited for the person in charge to do something prior to writing the time, but nothing happened. 

Last Saturday we went to a wedding reception nearby. One of the people who got married is Angel’s cousin. We missed the arrival of the bride and groom, who came from another village where the service took place. So it wasn’t very interesting to be there. We sat down and were served drinks. After about fifteen minutes, a woman served our food—boiled beef, potato salad, coleslaw, and macaroni on a paper plate. Wilhelmina ordered one without beef for me; so I had a huge pile of coleslaw and potato salad. After eating, we sat for a short time and then left, having been there for less than an hour. I think we were there mostly for Angel, as Wilhelmina and Bertha spoke to only a few people. Wilhelmina’s husband went with us, and it was nice to finally meet him. It was interesting to compare this wedding with the other one I went to. The other was at the home of a wealthy family while this one was a modest homestead. It has about seven huts and no concrete buildings. The food at this one was much simpler, and there were fewer people attending. It was good to get away from the school for a while and do something else, and it was an opportunity to wear my Owambo dress again.

Weather is hotter. Temperatures hit 100^o daily.  Not conducive to afternoon studying. Learners usually take a nap in the mid-afternoon. Nights are also warmer—in the 70s; so I’m glad I have my fan, as my room is hot. It rained for about ten minutes one morning—a good rain but not enough. This was the first rain since February. Sunsets are lovely.

The national teachers’ strike finally started on Thursday. This was talked about for a few weeks. The union and the government laid out the rules for the strike in case they didn’t reach an agreement, which they didn’t. On Tuesday, a man came to discuss the strike plan. The government is giving all employees a 5% increase, but teachers wanted 8%. They have not had an increase for four years. For a few days it looked like there might be a compromise, but that didn’t happen. So the national strike began Thursday and continued on Friday. Saturday an agreement was reached: teachers will get the 5% increase this year and 9% next year for all government employees. They are happy. This was the first legal strike in Namibia. The president made a point of stating that the union followed all the rules and did everything correctly. Wilhelmina was quite proud of that.

Since teachers were on strike, the national grade 10 and 12 exams for Thursday and Friday have been postponed. Striking teachers met in town where there was a large gathering. Non-striking teachers were to be at school. The only other teacher here was a contract teacher who is not a union member. The secretary and cleaning woman are members of a different union; so they were also here. Learners were sent home; some had stayed home anyway. Grade 10 learners were also sent home to return Friday evening.

At home, there are two new groups of chicks. One hen had fourteen, now down to twelve but still an unusually large group. 

It’s really fun to watch them run around.

One morning as I was getting ready to leave Kowmongwa came with another man. The man wanted to spray inside my house for mosquitoes. I didn’t have time to put things away and I wasn’t sure I wanted my house sprayed; so I turned it down. As I was leaving, I saw him spraying the various fences in the homestead. When I asked at school about what the purpose of the spraying was, I learned that it was DDT they spray each year to prevent mosquitoes. This is offered by the government once a year.