Organizational Skills and Social Injustices

This morning I got up and decided to MERVE into action. (Merve is a Walkabout College/Life Skills word. It means to jump into doing something during those times in which you have a surge of motivation. Created by Vic Messic). I shook the dust and dirt out of my sheets and remade my bed. I taped some of the photos I brought with me to the wall next to my bed; Ronan, mom and dad, Gen, all of Walkabout, Bell, Grace, and I, and Becky =) Then I organized all the clothes on the shelves; refolded them, stacked all my books, and put away all my shoes and extra stuff under the bed. I washed and refilled all my water bottles and stuck them in the fridge. Everything looks so neat now! Mom and Dad, you would be proud.

Last night MB, Kirsten, and I talked about the school system here. MB spent the evening with a family of 13 kids, 10 of which are in school. Their mother is hard working and really an excellent parent, MB says, quite the exception from the norm here. One of her older daughters also has an infant, and so she is taking care of that baby as well.

To enroll a child in kindergarten is $100 (Namibian- Which is about $15 US dollars. There are 6.5 Namibian dollars in $1 US dollar.) and that doesn't include the cost of the school uniform or school supplies. Girls can wear a skirt the entire year, but boys need shorts for the summer months and trousers for the winter months. An entire uniform (thats socks, shoes, shirt, skirt/shorts) costs about $200 Namibian ($30 US). And then there is the cost of school supplies. So- $100 for kindergarten school fees. For grades 1-5, the school enrollment fee is $250. For grades 6-11 the school fee is $500. And for grade 12, the initial enrollment fee is $500 for the year, plus at the beginning of the year you have to pay an additional $580 for the grade 12 test. The system insists that if you are going to enroll in grade 12, you must pay for the end-of-the-year test at the beginning of the year, because what's the point of studying the whole year if you won't be able to afford the test when the time comes to take it? All those fees I just listed, let me remind you, do not include uniforms and school supplies.

So, this family has two children in kindergarten, five children between grades 1-5, two children in grades 6-11, and one child in grade 12. That's over $3,500 Namibian dollars to send these children to school, over $500 US dollars. So you can see how, for a mother of 13 with 10 children in school, this could be an issue, especially in this country. Luckily, this mother is extraordinary, and will make sure the children do not drop or fail out of school, and spending this money, or rather, MB/Catholic AIDS Action spending this money for them, will not be a lost cause. Can you imagine the situation when fees are paid, uniforms and supplies purchased, and then the child decides not to go or to cause enough trouble to be kicked out? There are no refunds, obviously.

This is Namibia's PUBLIC school system.

Catholic AIDS Action pays for the school fees and uniforms/supplies for over 20,000 "vulnerable" children and orphans all over Namibia. A vulnerable child is an orphan of whose parents died of AIDS, children of alcoholic or abusive parents, or children with a mother diagnosed with AIDS who cannot hold down a job or support her children due to her disease.

Outrageous.


Hilde is a 16 year old at the center. She just had a baby in November with Gideon, a 21 year old soccer coach of the BNC boys team, and paid worker at the BNC. Their baby's name is Nemo, as in Finding Nemo. Gideon insists that the baby is Hilde's, as if he had no part in the creation of the child. Hilde is at the center 4 hours a day, as is Gideon. Where is the baby? Oh, you know, at home with Hilde's auntie or granny. Hilde acts like she is 10 years old. She cannot read or do math, she dropped out of school years ago, as did Gideon. Both play dominoes all day. And Hilde isn't breast feeding the baby. She claims she wasn't producing milk, or he wouldn't drink it or something. So now formula must the purchased, which is fine, because they have the money and the little Namibian baby won't need it's mother's antibodies and vitamins anyway. I mean, it's not like Gideon is always asking MB for money to buy formula for "Hilde's starving baby" or anything. Yes, the situation is totally under control.



Please note my sarcasm above.

MB thinks that this is a good example for the other younger girls at the center. They can see now, that Hilde is responsible for the child. Hilde has in fact missed pool days and soccer days to stay with the baby. In my opinion, the girls are seeing that she can get away with having a baby and not needing to tend to it on a daily basis. They see that she can still come to the center, dance and sing and have fun all day without worrying about Nemo at home. I don't know. It's an overall terrible situation in my opinion. And Gideon, although improving, still calls the baby "Hilde's baby" and really claims no responsibility. He has recognized that it is his, sure, but I think wants no part of it. Apparently he hangs around Hilde's house quite a bit. In November when Hilde was in the hospital having her baby, it was pool day. Gideon was at the pool. MB asked him where Hilde was, and he replied that she was having her baby. So MB asked him why he wasn't there with her, and he said Hilde was with her auntie, having her baby.


And that's Namibia's youth for you.