Banana Circle and Seed Raising

This morning was spent with the kids at Otavi, building the banana circle, and teaching them about raising seeds.  I got them scouting around the school to find old soft drink bottles to use as planters.  There is rubbish everywhere, so this was not difficult.  I wondered how we would cut the tops off, and the teacher produced a knife, which one of the students took, and started to cut the tops of the bottles.  This was perfectly acceptable, nobody even batted an eyelid.  I could just see that happening in Australia (not)!

I taught them how to make seed raising mix and how to plant the seeds.  Everyone planted some of the heirloom seed I'd brought with me from Australia into their numerous punnets that they had made, and watered them well.  They all took them home to look after.  They will bring them back to plant when they are big enough.  This gives them responsibility and ownership and you could see how excited they were.  All the kids chose to plant different things.  They are going to have heaps of plants.  Ellen chose not to leave any seed with them, prefering to promise to give them some later if they raise their plants well.

During a break, one of the girls invited me to her house to see one of her plants.  It was about a 5 minute walk from the school.  We got there and it was a shack built of all sorts of things.  It was neat and tidy inside, but oh so poor and primitive.  Her family and two aunts and their children all lived in the same house.  That girl said she loved school.

As we were about to leave, all the kids wanted a hug.  The teachers wanted photos with me, and one girl bent over and cried and cried.  She was so embarassed, she couldn't give me a hug.  Turns out she was the one who gave me her photo.  The other girls told me she wanted to go to Australia with me.  Its strange, because she didn't stand out to me during the workshops, but I clearly made an impact on her.

I got in the car and started crying myself, I was so overwhelmed.  Later Ellen told me that the girl who was crying was the one who worked so very hard but didn't say a word.  I remember her fairly well now.

A note here on the teachers that were head of our two classrooms of kids.  Miss was a beautiful woman in her 20s who dressed so smartly and Mr was a gorgeous you man in his late 20s.  His real name was Epaphras Cowboy Ndumbu and boy if I had been half my age!  What a hunk.  He is hoping I will raise some funds for some sports equipment like a netball or soccer ball.  [When I got back home to Australia, a colleague at work asked if there was anything he could do.  He just happened to have several pairs of soccer boots that their kids didn't need any more.  I gave him Ellen's address and he sent them to her to give to this teacher.  They took a good 6 weeks to get to her, but she did pass them on to the delight of the children.]

Leonie went back to Windhoek and Ellen and I went back to the lodge.  We picked up our bags and collected a heap of plants that the owners had given us from their own shade-house and paid the bill.  I also gave the owner a download of my workshop sheets.

We then drove to Grootfontein.  This one is harder to pronounce, and not one that I can spell in English.  If you can imagine clearing the back of your throat, followed by a 'hootfontaine' you would get close.

Ellen and Leonie have a townhouse in Grootfontein, and this is where we will be staying now for a while.  I'm sitting at the table and we have just gone out for some groceries and we can cook for ourselves now.  Now we can eat at a civilised time for dinner! 

I cooked a vegetarian pasta and it was lovely.