One library forward and one house back ...

I took a picture while I was in the library the other day.
It is a difficult place to take a photo of and it
is impossible to get a true representation of
the interior.
The picture may give you a decent idea as to
the transformation that has gone on so far. There
is a before picture in a prior blog article ...
Long term something to do
In the photo you can see that the walls received
a little freshening up. Also, that is the extent of the
book shelves and books at the moment. In the
foreground you can see a few boxes of books
that we've received from a colleague who is in the
process of completing his tour here in Namibia.
The books are of good quality and are a mixture of
stories and educational material. They are a very
welcome and appreciated addition to the school's
library. The books are more geared for younger
students and now there is a big imbalance of material.
A rough estimate is that the books are about 85%
that of for younger than older students. But that is
ok as it brings the challenge to get books for the older
(teenage) students. We will do our best and never
give up and hopefully we will continue to grow the
library and as an end result, the minds of these kids.

It also is the end of another week and it was a good
one, all in all.
We showed a short film on teenage pregnancy at the
school last evening and it was the first time in over
7 months of struggling that they allowed us to do it.
You know this development thing isn't always about
the physical resources. It is more (a lot more) about
the mind. In El Salvador and Senegal it was about the
physical resources. In Romania and here, Namibia, it
is more the lack of mind resource that is the barrier.
Here, there are a lot of things to work with. We have
limited (about 9 hours) of electricity to use.
We have a few computers and there is a person or
two whom are capable of teaching. But ... the problem
is that, for example. The school's principal is not computer
literate and therefore, he has no interest in them. Worse,
he doesn't support a program so as to teach computer
literacy in the school. So, unlike El Salvador and Senegal,
where we could see why we couldn't teach such
things, which was due to not having electricity or computers, it
was understandable as to why not. Well, here, where we just
about have it all ... man ... it can be frustrating. Especially
when the people want their children to learn how to
use a computer but will not take the principal to task on it.
This is just one of about another 10 similar situations with
the same theme.

As I have mentioned in the past, this village/town's biggest
problem is alcoholism. It is really taking out the society as
the youth (especially young men from about 15 to 35) are
virtually totally controlled by it. The only activity they do
all day is to get a dollar or two to go to drinking.
It even got to the point for this one young man of about
23, in which he took the roof off his house and sold it so
that he could get a few dollars for alcohol, really.
This village/town is an old military base and the majority
of it's houses are what could be considered small barracks.
They are of some sort of wood for the walls, cement floors
and the roof is made of corrugated zinc.
The zincs (as they are called here) are a pretty hot item
to sell.
So the other day as I was walking by this young man
who was in the process of knocking down his walls ...
I was thinking, why.
The house was actually one of the better little ones and
it just didn't make sense.
So upon asking and receiving a reply, the word was that
he sold the zincs and that no body knew where he was
going to sleep
Just an example and the most extreme I've seen since
arriving here at the end of April.

Another instance of the damaging effects of alcohol
has to do with what happened to the San Cultural Dance
Troupe. They had gotten invited to the regional dance
competition in a town called Rundu. They actually went
in more of an entertainment capacity. The competition
was more for the Mbukushu people and their traditional
dances.
The San haven't a dance category specifically for their
cultural style. In fact the troupe from here is just about
the only one of the San culture in this region that is
somewhat active outside their village.
So, upon doing their dance demonstration in Rundu the
troupe received N$ 300 or about 35 dollars US.
The group decided to take the money, put it on the side
and later, buy some beads that they would use to enhance
their traditional attire.
Well, what happened was the Youth Officer was given
the money by the event organizers and said that he was
going to hold on to it. He did hold on to it ... for about
the time it took them to return to the village. Then he just
plain took the troupe's money and used it on alcohol. This
was after he went through his own not too shabby pay check.
So now the troupe received another invitation to go to the
National Dance Competition in the Capital, Windhoek.
This is really quite a chance for the troupe itself and also
for the San people in general. I am not sure if they will be
the only San Cultural Troupe performing there but I know
that they will be the only one from the northern part of
this country.
When the troupe heard what the Youth Officer did with
their money they said that they didn't want to go to the
Nationals. I don't blame them for thinking so. But the
person whom should be working with the dance troupe
spoke with them and convinced them to not lose their
big chance to be in front of a full stadium and also the
chance to get some notoriety. Finally they agreed to go
but will not go if the alcoholic Youth Officer goes.
So, again, alcohol comes in to the equation of ruining
something.
So that was the week, despite the setbacks as a result of
the drunken bumbs, there were some progress. But the
progress never comes easy.
That seems to be the end of the week same old song.