The first volunteers in Okakarara are back

Hello, I am Johanna, one of the volunteers at Okakarara. I arrived together with Julius on 08 January 2022, which meant that the following Monday was our first day of work.

What I immediately liked was that a “Hello” here is always accompanied by a “How are you?”. This makes the first encounter in the morning much more pleasant, and it often naturally leads to a nice conversation.

On a normal day we grab one of the kindergarten or preschool groups after the welcoming round and start our sports activities. These include obstacle courses, balancing, imitating animals or doing forward rolls on the soft mat. Once the children have eaten their breakfast, we usually give them a few ideas for free play, draw and do crafts with the children or start preparing for the afternoon.

At 2 pm, the schoolchildren come to the project for afternoon care. First, we do their homework together, then practise their English vocabulary or mental arithmetic skills in a playful way and, if there is still time afterwards, play one game or another. The day always ends with Cookie Time, during which the students can earn cookies by quickly solving multiplication problems.

One challenge that we face every day is the language barrier with the younger children. Only a few of them speak English at home, which is why communication takes place almost exclusively through the teachers or with hands and feet. However, this works quite well, and with the help of translations from our colleagues, even more complicated games can be explained quickly.

What positively surprised me is how open even the older schoolchildren are to our ideas for activities. They take part in almost everything with motivation and enthusiasm, and in this short time we have already been able to build a good rapport with some of them. This is a great joy and motivates us to put even more effort into our preparation.

Dear Johanna, we are delighted that you found your way to the steps project in Okakarara—as one of the first since the pandemic. Thank you for giving us an insight into your daily routine—we wish you an enriching time in Namibia!