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Hannah Russ and Lasse Schneider are our new weltwärts volunteers in Gobabis and have been supporting the project for a year since August. We are delighted by their wonderful commitment and share their first impressions with you:

Although we have only been here for a few weeks, it feels like half an eternity – at least judging by everything we have already experienced. We arrived in Namibia on 12 August and were given a warm welcome by Ulrike Mai (National Coordinator of steps) and Jac-Louis van Rooyen and his family. Over the next few days, he showed us around Gobabis and introduced us to the project. As it was the last week before the holidays, there was a holiday atmosphere in the project and not much was really done anymore. The teachers, Gerald, Angela, Noubert and project manager Henk were all open and friendly. Georg and Sibylle, also volunteers from Germany, helped us settle into the project and gave us ideas for the coming year. So, a Holiday Club was already held in our second week, where we played, painted, sang and did sports with up to 170 children. Although the club only ran from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., you were really exhausted afterwards. Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun.

We used the rest of the holidays for our first trip through Namibia. We visited volunteers in Windhoek and Rehoboth and then travelled with them to Keetmanshoop, Lüderitz and Swakopmund. It was very nice, and we already got many different impressions of Namibia.

But the trip was also good for another reason, because when we arrived back in Gobabis, we somehow really felt at home. Although Jac-Louis and Henk had taken good care of us, at first you wondered what you were supposed to do in Gobabis for a whole year, as at first glance it looks like a small backwater with no real leisure activities. But the other volunteers had the same problems at the beginning. Now we feel really comfortable in Gobabis, have met many people and have already taken part in one event or another, such as a Bike Race.

By now, we Volunteers have taken on many different tasks: For example, in small groups we teach the children the numbers up to 10 or how to write their names. We help in the kitchen with cooking and serving meals, or in the Schutzengel programme and in the garden. In the afternoons, we help the schoolchildren with their homework or give tutoring in Maths and English. The German Class is new; we have been offering it from 2–3 p.m. for the past few weeks.

In the afternoons we meet with Jac-Louis or Louisa, a volunteer our age from Germany who is helping out in the project for three months, or go into town, do sports and chill in the Roundhouse. The last few weeks have passed very quickly and we have almost been under time pressure 😉 If things keep going like this, the year will be over quickly.

The Roundhouse is simple, but we manage well and it is very cosy. Last week, Henk and a few volunteers from South Africa also painted it with sun-reflective paint, which has made it pleasantly cool inside. We also get along well with the host family.

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