On a new journey... Hello Namibia!!

Wow, it's been a long time since I have added anything to this blog.
And so much has happened since... But I will try to keep it short and sweet.

Morning Hike in Daan Viljoen Park

I have now been to Windhoek, Namibia for almost 5 weeks. Why am I here?
1. At some point, my dad was teaching at one of the public schools here in Windhoek and therefore my family lived here for 5 years - before I was born. Now it's my time to follow their footsteps.
2. I will be teaching German students at the University of Namibia (UNAM) for one year as an part-time lecturer.
3. I will be involved in different community development opportunities throughout the year to continue my mission of making this world a better place - one step at a time :)
4. The weather here is just so much better than in Germany ;)

Since my arrival, I have stayed with the sweetest family, who has contributed so much to the fact that I already feel at home in this new country. I have to smile at the fact of how creative God is in connecting people: The mother of the family I am staying with was one of my dad's students over 30 years ago, when my family lived here!

Katutura - the name of this township means
"The place where people don't want to live"

I am teaching 3 classes at the university here and, unfortunately, the students here show very little motivation in anything. They rather stay at home watching TV than engaging in activities. They rather turn in articles they find on wikipedia than learning from their mistakes. They only show up twice a week because they know, they only have to fulfill the 80% attendance rule. Barely anyone showed up to class throughout the first week of school. As a very enthusiastic teacher, this fact is hard for me to cope with. However, thanks to my education at Calvin College, I introduced the idea of "Kulturpunkte" (culture points) to the German Department at UNAM: Throughout the semester, the German students can participate in weekly cultural events (like German movie nights, dance lessons, board game afternoons...). Each of the events is worth 20 points and at the end of the semester, they have to have collected 100 points. So they can pick and choose which events they would like to go to. The fascinating thing is that last year, only up to 2 students showed up to the cultural events that were offered. This semester with the new structure, I had up to 50 students show up to each of our 4 events so far!!! Let's hope the enthusiasm won't die out too quickly, once the first people have collected their 100 culture points ;)

Evening hike at Avis Dam

In my freetime, I LOVE spending as much of my time out in nature. Going on hour-long hikes through the hills, sitting on top of a mountain watching the sun go down (which is called "a sundowner" here) and I have even been in a bike race - cycling is a big thing here in Namibia :)

Next Wednesday, I will move to my new appartment - which is fortunately very close to the university, so I don't have to spend as much time in this crazy Namibian left-side traffic anymore...
May you all have a blessed Sunday.

Yours,
Kat

Sitting in a dry river bed

Sundowner at Heinitzburg, Windhoek