Primary School Children April 2012

Read all the latest news about each of the older children who live here at N/a'an ku se, including how new girls Andy, Imencia and Christina are settling into their new Primary School and an exciting adventure for Josephina.

Anna: In early February Anna went to visit her family at their farm just a few km from Gobabis for a few weeks. She hadn't seen them in such a long time, she was very pleased to spend time with her Aunts, Uncles and cousins again. Whilst she was there she helped them milk the cows and cook up lots of nice dinners of meat. She loved catching up with her cousins and had a great time. 

The children here really missed her, they kept asking when she would be back and the day she arrived they all ran up to her and gave her a big hug. Nico missed her in particular as Anna is very much his second Mum. He follows her everywhere and cries whenever she's not around! Anna is now so confident and works on her own in the Clever Cubs school when Theoplitine is not around, and she observe the children very well.

Andy: Andy started her new school in January and is really excelling in this environment. To begin with she found the early mornings a little hard to get used to - our schoolbus leaves at 5.30am to get all the children to school ready to start at 7am. Her father Johannes, who is Farm Manager at N/a'an ku se, would call her name to wake her up in the morning and would receive nothing more than a "hmmm" in response from Andy. Now she has got used to it she is the first one to get up and makes sure the bus does not leave her behind! 


Every Monday to Thursday she receives homework from her teachers, such as practicing numbers and letters or a short reading text that she needs to read every day. She always sits with her mother, Theoplitine who works at the Clever Cubs School, and helps her with her homework. She gives Andy a short test and makes sure she understands the work she's doing. Andy turned 7 years old on 24th March and was given a teddy bear by all the other Clever Cubs.

Bettie: Bettie was glad to go back to school in January and has done very well this term. Bettie and the rest of her class went out with their teacher (Ms Botha) to learn about plants recently. As traditional hunter-gatherers, the San Bushmen have a unique and extensive knowledge and understanding of plants and their properties for nutrition and healing. Sadly we have seen that this knowledge is not being passed down to the young generation these days. With her classmates, Bettie looked at several different plants and flowers and she has learned a lot from the experience. She also got to plant her own bean plant and observe how fast it takes for it to grow, she was so happy to see the results. She also painted her favorite plant - a green and red rose.

Christina: Christina found the move to Eros Primary School a big adjustment and told her parents she wanted to come back to Clever Cubs School. It's a huge step for such a young San Bushman girl and so it's inevitable for her to feel overwhelmed. However, with motivation and support from her family and Hilma, she felt better and settled in. Christina has to do homework for the first time in her young life, which Hilma helps her with. Sometimes she needs to practice writing, reading or learning numbers. She's doing well though so we're confident she'll have a good first year at Primary School. 

Christina's Grandmother sadly died earlier this month (her father's Mum). Her Grandmother was a significant person within the Bushman community, very well-known and respected, and so most of the Bushmen from our village traveled to Gobabis for her funeral. It was nice for Christina to have this support around her.

Chrisjan: Chrisjan continues to impress us with his dedication to school - he always looks forward to each day and never misses a school day even when he's not feeling well. He enjoys Maths particularly and he practices hard for his weekly spelling tests, which he's very skilled at. Chrisjan is looking forward to seeing his progress report which he'll get at Easter. He enjoys playing hide and seek with his best friend Benjamin during break and lunch times. Chrisjan loved the Fun Walk the school held on 20th March - a 5km walk around Windhoek collecting money for the school along the way. The young San boy got to see and experience lots of new things in the big city as it's a big difference to the farm at N/a'an ku se which he's used to!

Dina: Dina arrived back on the farm 2 weeks into the school term after an extended holiday with her family over Christmas. As such, she had a lot of catching up to do at school and missed out on some key learnings. We were concerned about how the 7 year old would cope, but she promised both Hilma and her class teacher that she will catch up with all the work and she did keep up to her promise. She's particularly enjoying a project the class has been set at the moment called A Namibian Leader. She chose to talk about Hendrick Witbooi, the Deputy Prime Minister of Namibia. 

Dina has a new friend at school, called Mulla, who she spends most of her time with. She is speaking much more English and Afrikaans because of her friendship with Mulla which is great for her vocabulary.

 

Imencia: Imencia is so happy to be at Primary school in Windhoek, yet she is still finding some of the work hard especially the reading, which is normal for someone that has never been in school before. Her writing however, has improved greatly and teacher Hilma is confident that with time she will improve. Because she is older than most of the other children who start Primary school, age 9, she has moved into Grade 2. In this Grade there is more homework like math sums, writing paragraphs about their family, reading and studying for a spelling test every Friday. 

She has a big project to present to her class soon which is about A Namibian Leader. She's extremely nervous but speaking in front of her classmates like this is a great lesson in building her confidence. 

Josephina: Josephina is incredibly excited about a photoshoot she is taking part in - in Thailand! Josephina has modeled in a few photoshoots where photographers wish to capture the traditional San Bushman culture. Gregory Colbert, who worked with Josephina on his Ashes and Snow collection (www.ashesandsnow.org), asked her to help him again on a new project. He is bringing children from different cultures all over the world together in a multi-cultural event. But she won't be alone - her brother Dabu is also going to model with her and Hilma will accompany them both throughout the trip. The 3 are counting down the days until they set off on the plane! It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for this young San girl to visit another country and meet youngsters her age from different cultures all over the world. We hope this will be a wonderful education and eye opener about the world for her.

Josephina says she feels like a celebrity at school as all the teachers and students keep asking her lots of questions about the trip. She is still working hard at school and is very proud to have passed most of the tests she has written so far.

Kanna: Kanna was recently given an MP3 player from one of the staff (Dana), and he was over the moon with it. He listens to it whilst herding the sheep and goats and sometimes gets so absorbed in his music, he forgets to keep an eye on the sheep! His favourite musicians are Namibian rap artists Tate Buti and The Dogg. When he listens to his music he sings so loudly and dances like crazy! Kanna also loves the new shower blocks that we have recently built at the Bushman village and said that he will not miss a bath ever again now that they have hot water. 

 

Martha and her best friend Bettie

Martha: Martha initially found it quite an adjustment moving into the Hostel at Eros Girls School and being away from her home at N/a'an ku se. She missed all her friends and felt very far away from everyone, but once we told her she could come back for weekends and visit her family, she felt much happier. Now she has settled in and made friends there, she's much more used to her new living situation and seems to be doing very well there. She likes the freedom of being able to go into town at weekends and do some window shopping (like most 15 year old girls!). Living in the city is such an experience for this young San Bushman girl, seeing all sorts of buildings and different types of shops. At school, Martha has recently started playing netball and athletics at school which she really enjoys.

Maria: March was such a sad month for Maria and her family as her Grandmother passed away. She went to her funeral and her family are remaining strong together. Maria understand very well why she is repeating the same grade over and has put a lot more effort in her school work. Hilma is giving her a lot of extra help too, to make sure she passes this year. Maria is a bit nervous about a presentation she has to give to her classmates but she needs the oral grades. She's worried she might forget what she has to say, but delivering presentations is a great skill she should learn. Her presentation will be about Dr Sam Nuyoma, the first Namibian President.

Sofia: Since Josephina returned to N/a'an ku se farm, it is just Sofia and Martha together at the boarding school. She really misses her friend Josephina but it's great that Martha is now there with her and the two girls get on great. Sofia's been a great support to Martha, helping her settle in and make friends. She loves it when she comes home for the weekend because she gets to spend time with her family and friends and she spends the whole night telling them all sorts of stories about things that have happened at school. 

Willemina: Willemina is doing well so far in Grade 2 and tries very hard, particularly with her Math sums. She passes most of the tests her class is set and we expect her to do very well in her Easter End of Term Report. She mostly enjoys reading, but she's quite shy and doesn't like to read aloud in front of the class. Willemina loved the Fun Walk the school held on 20th March - she paraded around the town with her big smile on her face, entranced by her new surroundings. She said she can't wait to do it again next year!