Welcome to Hoachanas

You would have to look carefully at a map of Namibia to find
Hoachanas (pronounced "Wa-ha-nas"). You would also probably need to
know exactly where to look. It is a tiny, little village seemingly
in the middle of nowhere, but many places in Namibia feel like that
because the country is so vast with such a comparatively small
population. This is where I spent nearly a week working in the local
schools. As you can see in the photo, it is mostly open road and
open sky as you approach Hoachanas.

As I have written about before, I have a wonderful counterpart,
Heidie who is an Advisory Teacher for Lower Primary. I help her with
supporting the teachers in grades 1-4. At the schools I also get to
promote the TRC, present information of promoting a reading culture
in schools, and meet with the principal, secretaries, or other
teachers who are in need of support. These school visits are the
perfect union of working with a counterpart AND doing TRC outreach/
promotion.

Hoachanas surely does not look like much, but I found the school
atmosphere to be welcoming. The teachers and principals expressed
much gratitude for our visit and the support that we were able to
offer the schools. I was able to visit 12 classes with Heidie in
grades 1-4. At PJ Tsaitsaib Junior Secondary School the grade twos
were being introduced to the number 15 in an excellent math lesson
(see photo of kids working in pairs). The grade fours were learning
about culture in Namibia and performed a song that they had learned
in a previous lesson for us. In addition to visiting classes and
supporting teachers at this school, I assisted the secretary and
principal in establishing a system for organizing and distributing
the incoming mail so that information gets to the teachers. At each
of the three schools (2 in Hoachanas and 1 outside-even more rural)
we held meetings with the teachers where each of us presented
information in different areas such as administration, lesson
planning, lesson presentation, classroom management, continuous
assessment, learner centered education, classroom environment, the
resources available at the TRC, and strategies/ideas for improving
reading and promoting a reading culture in the schools.

Unlike any other school visit trips, Heidie and I stayed in a lodge
just outside of town since there was no other accommodation nearby
and Hoachanas is too far to drive back to Mariental each night. This
lodge is run by very hospitable, kind Germans. Besides running the
lodge and flying center, these Germans developed the "Hoachanas
Children's Fund" which provides a percentage of students at each
school with school fees, school uniforms, and materials for school.
In addition, the Germans sponsor the school's textbooks, notebooks,
paper, pencils, etc and food for the kids to have at break time,
usually porridge. For being in such a poor area, it was nice to see
how the folks from the local lodge have reach out to the schools. It
would be really easy for this lodge to just pretend that the village
isn't even there, but instead they have stretched out helping hands.
Many of these rural schools have up to 4 kids sharing one textbook
and there is usually a constant deficit in school supplies. In
Hoachanas the kids all had enough up-to-date textbooks, notebooks,
new pencils, and other school supplies. It was nice to see both the
involvement of the Germans from the lodge and that the resources were
being put to good use at the school.

Hoachanas is probably not on your list of places to see if you visit
Namibia (unless you are German or part of the flying club), but I
enjoyed my time there visiting classes, supporting teachers,
assisting the schools in general, and getting to know the Germans who
contribute to the schools.