Paula in Okakarara

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Volunteering in Namibia

Hi! I'm Paula and I've been in for a month (since 19.01.2022/XNUMX/XNUMX). okakarara. Along with Julius and Johanna, my fellow volunteers, I will work at steps for children in Okakarara for the next six months. Okakarara is a very cozy place. People greet you on the street and ask how you are. That makes me feel very comfortable here. I also really enjoy the project.

Because we work with children and young people between the ages of 0 and 19, there is a wide variety of ideas and activities that we can implement in the project. I like that the most so far. Every idea you have can somehow be incorporated into everyday life.

Namibia Volunteer Service

8:00 a.m. in the morning Sport is popular with young children up to preschool age. They dance to songs, jump, balance, play catch and imitate animals. Each day there is a different group.

If between nine and nine-thirty When it is breakfast time for the children, we three volunteers can take some time to clean up or plan. We recently received a large donation of books. We've spent the past week sorting them by age group, labeling them by different categories, and putting them in lists. Since I was recently ill and am not quite fit again, that was my job even while I was doing sports. After breakfast, most children are free to play. When we find the time, we make art with a group. My favorite project so far has been when we colored the children's feet and let them run barefoot across the paper.

Art classes in Namibia

For the preschool we are running the program again mousebook one:
Every second morning we work with the preschool children to patterns and rows to recognize a later one relation to numbers to find. We started the whole thing this week and I find it super exciting to work with the children and teachers and to try out new things.

The rest of the morning we use to our program for the After school care (ASC) to prepare. After the lunch break, the school children come to help with their homework. We are responsible for the students from the 5th grade onwards. While one half does their homework, we give the other half tasks we have prepared. You can get yours 1×1 driver's license develop or write an essay where they see themselves in 20 years.

When everyone has finished their tasks, we play together. Sometimes we set a game, sometimes the children can choose something themselves. After cleaning up, there is the popular one at the end CookieTime. Each child has the opportunity to get hold of two biscuits if they correctly solve the mental arithmetic problems we have set. It's always a very fun ending.

Already on the first days we were given a lot of creative freedom. We worked out a lot on our own and with tips from former volunteers. When browsing around, more ideas come to mind on how to organize everyday life for the children. It's just so much fun. I knew beforehand that there was a lot of room for creativity in the project, but I'm surprised at how many directions you can think in here.

In addition to the supervision, we focus on the projects game preparationGuest House and  Sewing divided up. I am responsible for the latter. At the moment, a lot is also about design: the so-called showroom, in which the sewn products are presented, has to be re-equipped and restocked. Especially at the beginning, the to-do list seems huge. But working through it is a lot of fun because, for example, I can design the price tags myself or arrange the products according to my own ideas. After that, accurate accounting must be carried out, how many products are still there and what was sold. Writing down the strict numbers is a good change from time to time. In all of the projects, we always have to coordinate with each other, with the other teachers and with Sonja.

Book donation in Namibia

In my opinion, the cooperation works really well, so that the joint planning and development is a great support. That's because of the language barrier also super important. The kindergarten children can hardly speak English and some school children still have problems. As a result, it is sometimes not so easy to bond with the children and break the ice. However, there is always a supportive teacher nearby and step by step we can find access to the children. Overall I am super happy with the project. It is very diverse and everyday life remains varied. I'm already excited to see what kind of development we can see in the children and in ourselves at the end of our stay!

Dear Paula, how nice that you are with steps for children in Okakarara and that you are making a valuable, sustainable contribution with your work on site. Thank you very much for your commitment as a volunteer!

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