Photos from my overland trip from the Atlantic Ocean (Luderitz) to Zanzibar via Livingstone, Lusaka and Dar es Salaam
Please login first to post comments.
The 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps was March 1. Instead of having a party at my house in honor of the thousands of Volunteers who have served and are currently serving I went to bed. I later found out I was coming down with a nasty infection. But after a few courses of antibiotics, [...]
With a name that begs insults to be hurled at it, the Nissan Hardbody truck is one of the most common vehicles that rental companies loan out in Namibia. The other contender here is the Toyota Hilux. After taking a 4,000km trip in a double cab Nissan 2.4L 4x4 I thought I would offer some [...]
The man who spearheaded the creation of the Peace Corps under John F. Kennedy died earlier this week at the age of 95. I recently read his biography and was amazed at all he had accomplished. He built and ran many organizations and programs many famous for their successes while others, a good idea that [...]
School is back in full swing! Grade 6 is going great and computer classes for grades 1 and 2 will begin shortly. Updates from my Southern Namibia trip will be coming soon. Happy New Year to Everyone!
Seeing that my old website hardly ever gets updates I thought I would just redirect you to where all the (sometimes) action is. Now you can go to www.bradrollans.com and it will redirect you to this blog. Fear not, the old website still exists it's just resting for a while.
Here is a short video clip of the computer lab complete with grade 1 Learners.
Not only is it Thanksgiving but today was the last day of school for Learners at Diaz Primary School. The school year has ended and now there is only paperwork to complete. I'm thankful for finishing all my test marking today!
Next week, on November 11, exams begin for all the Learners at my school. We have spent all year preparing for them. In the Namibian Education System your final exam counts for a full 50% of your grade. Exams are written at the same time for all the schools in the country the only difference [...]
For all my World Wise Schools Teachers and Students I'll be answering your questions as best I can. Do you have a question for me? Simply leave it in a comment and I'll answer it in a short video or audio clip. Alternatively you can email me your questions
Tips on Traveling by train in Namibia If you look at a map of Namibia train tracks snake across the country. For tourists and travelers the thought of taking a train across Namibia sound wonderful and it is, but it might not be exactly what you expected. Having taken a few trains here I'd like [...]
On September 23 2010 after months of work we gently rolled out our improvements to the Luderitz Public Library. We are well on the way to making it one of the most accessible and technologically advanced libraries in the country. Some of the days highlights included: 50 new first time library users registered Over 40 [...]
What's a photo of an extremely dirty Brad doing here? (Good question) Did that shirt ever wash clean (mostly)? What kind of Dirty on Luderitz..gossip? (nope) Brown is a nice color. It's the color of the river dirt mixed with elephant urine, the color of chocolate and the color that sand turns when it rains. [...]
A few weeks ago I traveled to Keetmanshoop, 325kms away from Luderitz, to give the first of three refresher classes for BEN's Namibia. Bicycle Empowerment is an organization that helps community members earn an income through the sale and repair of second hand bicycles. The people are trained in bicycle repair and basic entrepreneurship. My [...]
I have started teaching basic computer classes to grades one and two at Diaz Primary School. The classes are held once a week and so far we have gone over the parts of the computer, how to use a mouse and a keyboard, and class rules. All of my learners are very excited about learning [...]
Exams have started for term two and I have just completed grading 140 papers. I only have 140 left until I am finished .... I realized that I posted photos of my empty classroom but here are a few of my classroom full of learners. We also received all new activity textbooks, 96 of them, [...]
Most of my time is spent working on my Primary Assignment, Teaching, and Secondary Projects. Every so often I do take advantage of my sea-side location to go swimming. The water temperature never gets much warmer than 14 Celsius or 57 F. Check out the photos
I've been incredibly busy these past few months, training people in bicycle repair, installing a database at the library and getting audiobook listening stations setup. At Diaz School I have also started teaching Computer Classes to grades 1 and 2!! Lots of Audio, photos and updates are coming...
FYI my roof is an excellent place to read books in the sun!
This is a list of all the things both man-made and natural that attempted to block our path while touring around North West Namibia and the Skeleton Coast.
Glass Bottles-both 750 ml 330 ml and 340ml (Tafel)
Elephants
Giraffes (behind a very short fence)
Kudu
Oryx
Eland
Springbok
Warthogs
Guinea Fowl
Zebra
Small Boys
Old Men (3)
Large rocks, various sizes
Dogs, numerous breeds and sizes
Goats, in the thousands
Cattle, [...]
Renting a car in Namibia is similar to renting a car in the states right? Yes and No.
In the US you can get all of your insurance covered by a major credit card or pay extra to have all damages waived. This is not the case in Namibia. Here ,most people don't accept American Express [...]
I have not posted much over the past few weeks because I have been in training and on vacation. Here are a few photos of our adventures that took us from Swakopmund up the Skeleton Coast and on to some of the most picturesque backroads I have ever had the pleasure of driving- angry desert [...]
Check out the video to see all the crazy celebrations!
Most of us remember the clapping games we played as kids. Following up on the posting a few weeks ago of playground songs. Here is a short video of one of the more difficult games.
On March 21, 1990 Namibia gained independence from South Africa. It took over 30 years for Namibia to become and independent country and the struggle garnered support from around the world. Twenty years later and Namibia has undergone many changes but some things still remain the same. Namibia has one of the most forward looking [...]
Last week was National Peace Corps week and as part of doing my part to celebrate I kept doing my job as a Peace Corps Volunteer. 2010 marks the 49th year that Peace Corps has existed and Peace Corps has seen many changes over the years. Many of the changes have happened internally but in [...]
The Stanford Library Website has a wonderful collection of links from organizations offering information about Namibia. If you are planning on visiting Namibia, a potential Peace Corps Volunteer who has been assigned to the country, or researching the country you could do worse then starting here.
http://library.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/namibia.html
Following last weeks post on the State of the Music Industry in Namibia I spent some time hunting down Namibian Music on the web.
Nambeats: Is on of the newest sites around, officially launched in January of 2010. The site is trying to get both established and up and coming artists to stream their music via [...]
(For full disclosure, I have worked in the entertainment and music industry as a musican, tour manager, booking agent and artist manager: any slant given to the article is unintentional).
For a country so large in geographic area and yet so small in population, Namibia manages to have quite a wide and varied assortment of musical [...]
After weeks of exercise and a few doubts the Yellow Team came from behind and whipped the field clean. In an upset victory we won the top spot with coming in with the highest number of points. Yellow Team cheer was out in full force and everyone sang, yelled and clapped their team mates on. [...]
A short video testing out the new editing software I'm learning. It's not polished but it does show you my view walking to work every day (as well as a few random photos from my time here). And that one tree... that's actually a rarity here.
Today I spent a few minutes recording the learners as they did clapping and singing games. Some of them might be familiar to listeners while others will be very new. The standard answer when asked "where did you learn them from" was "other kids". Names have been assigned by me with my students input. Enjoy!
Diaz [...]
Inter-scholastic athletic events are coming up this Friday and for the past two weeks the entire school has been training for the match. But first, we have to compete against each other. The Blue Team and Red Team are slogging along showing a disgusting amount of team spirit almost epic; while the yellow team, the [...]
This week I am in Windhoek for additional training for a volunteer supoort network. In conversation with my fellow volunteers we have all realized that those of us who live in the South have a completely different experience then those living in the North.
Historically, under South African rule, the far north of the country was [...]
The United States is known as the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. Namibia too has its own motto: Namibia, Land of the Brave.
History of Namibia's National Anthem
Namibia's National Anthem is entitled Namibia, Land of the Brave. Shortly after Namibian Independence on March 21, 1990 the new government asked for submissions for [...]
Unlike in the United States where public schools are generally free of religious expression, Namibian schools actively practice religion during school. Each day the students start with a group prayer. Namibia is almost completely Christian, and though Christianity is the dominant religion freedom of religious expression is allowed (though publicly slightly frowned upon). Luderitz in [...]
Namibia, though small in population, has a wealth of cultural diversity. From its music to its people the plethora of culture is amazing. Language wise there are 28 different languages spoken in Namibia, thought many are in the same family. While in training I asked a few of the other volunteers to have a quick [...]
January 13, 2010 was the first day of school for learners in Namibia.
Walking to school through town and out towards the location I saw a
mix of excited learners and parents hurrying to the school. The normal
throngs of people walking to work where present as well, dock workers, fish factory workers ,security guards, policemen and women, [...]
The Okahandja Youth Choir is one of the best choirs that I have heard in a long time, and that is not even considering that most of their members are under 20!. Conducted by Gerson Phiri, the choir performs both in the capital Windhoek and their hometown Okahandja. I had the pleasure of hearing them [...]
A few students dancing Kwaito during a ceremony at my school. Unfortunately, my battery died on my camera or I would have filmed more. Namibian Kwaito is different then South African Kwaito and more information will follow in later posts.
Just a quick video of some of the learners at my Primary School. In total there are over 850 students at the school in grades 1-7. This coming year we are opening up a pre-primary school that was built with the help of the Luderitz Rotary Club.
Every day for two months Peace Corps Group 30 came together for language and cross cultural training. Each morning we began with songs. For your listening entertainment I have recorded a few of the songs we sang. Though we are not professional singers I hope you enjoy them. The songs are a mish-mash of tunes [...]
How many entries are we showing above?
For now, we are showing up to 50 entries on each page. Entries that
are too short are filtered out. For more entries, please use
archives.
|
Connect to Peace Corps Journals
About the Journal
Contact Us
Disclaimer:
| |
| Copyright (c) 2010 |
