Girl, Interrupted

This is a long story, but I promise it’s a good one – and one that’s completely exemplary of schools in Namibia.

My Friday at school started out pretty horribly. After having to completely re-do my stellar grade 12 lesson plans due to a printer malfunction (aka...I can’t print anything here), I went to school early to photocopy several handwritten worksheets for my classes before our staff meeting. Unfortunately, the secretary was late to school that day. As I sat waiting for the meeting to start, I realized about five other things I had forgotten for my classes. Unfortunately, my Friday had no breaks so I felt up a creek without a paddle (and sadly, this almost made me break down).

At the end of the staff meeting I was called into the principal’s office. Already stressed, I headed down the hall not knowing for what reason I was being summoned. The principal told me I would be serving on a panel to interview four people for our tuck shop (aka munchie mart at school) and library assistants. Remember that full schedule of teaching I had on Friday? “Oh well,” I was told. “That’s just how it works. They’ll sit in their rooms while you’re gone.”

In orientation, we were warned that this is often how school meetings function, but watching the day unfold only got more unbelievable.

I went to meet with my HOD who would debrief me on the schedule for the day. Read carefully: you’ll want to remember these times later in the post. I was told to return to the office at 9:30 so the panel could debrief on candidates and interview questions. Then, the interviews would start at 10:00 and last up to an hour, and then we would make our recommendations. I should be back in my classes by noon at the latest.

When I discussed expectations with each of my classes at the beginning of the week, one expectation that was unanimous was that all my classes wanted me to be punctual and not miss classes (this is a very common problem among teachers in Namibian schools). I couldn’t let them down! So, I made a point to visit the two classes I would be missing and explain the situation beforehand so they would understand. Great! Ready to go.

I arrived back at the office at 9:30 and met with two of my colleagues on the panel. We started to gather our papers but had to wait for the secretary to prepare some more. While we were waiting, I sat and lesson planned so my time wasn’t completely wasted. Around 10:30 we headed to the library where the interviews would occur. The five of us sat down and discussed our interview questions and the answers we were looking for, as well as how the scoring system worked for rating each candidate. Around 11:30, we began the interviews.

After our last candidate, we began calculating scores and making our recommendations (side note: for each candidate, we had five questions worth 6 points each. We had to add them together to put them on a chart. I was the only one who could add these numbers in my head and didn’t use a calculator. Dependence on calculators in Namibia is a huge issue). One of the teachers left to take something to his learners, so while we waited we discussed the grade 12 national exam scores from 2010, which had just come in that morning. Around 1:30, we finally started writing our recommendations and at 1:45, we were released.

School ends at 2:00.

So, I missed all my classes for the day. As Hannah texted me that afternoon, “TIA WTF.” Welcome to Namibia, where patience and a sense of humor are worth $100 USD.