Tech Squad

Wow, what  Saturday!  I had a blast taking 8 learners from the school to a community center in Babylon (on the outskirts of Katatura) to work on their computer lab.  We started the morning with a tour of the fire station that is next door to the community center.

All of us at the fire house.  They particularly enjoyed seeing all the parts of the fire truck (they called it a "big machine")	The eight lucky 12th and 11th graders who worked all day on computers	Our ministry transportation fell through (big surprise there) so we all piled into the back of Joel's truck.

At the fire station they learned all about the equipment, job responsibilities and life style of a fire fighter.  They were even allowed to shoot water from the hose and play with some of the medical equipment!

After that we spent some time in the computer lab reformatting computers.  We also brought some computers that were discarded by the Ministry as non-functional and were able to get most of them running again. 

The kids had a blast.  We had a nice lunch, played in the stair well of the Indongo building (again) when we took the fixed computers back to the ministry, and rounded the day off with some computer games at the school lab. 

This time I took 8 learners, four of which went last week to work on the labs at the Library and the Ministry.  The 4 twelfth graders each picked one eleventh grader to bring with them and teach everything they learned.  It worked really well, and now I have four eleventh graders that are ready to take the lead next year.

They got to play with the stethoscope, which they (of course) yelled in and tried to break each other's ear drums.	Here's a Namibian ambulance.  I don't have much experience with them, but it looks pretty standard to me.	At the end of the day, we brought the repaired computers back to the Ministry
A well-earned lunch of baloney sandwiches, apples, chips and a sugar-loaded drink.	Walking from the fire house to the community center to start work.	Abram and Aron feeling the tremendous back force exerted by the hose while shooting water at full-stream
Reformatting computers at the lab.  There were ten computers which needed an overhaul after several years of use.	After learning about the insides of computers, these guys correctly diagnosed the problem with this machine: no hard drive!

I really enjoyed working in Babylon.  It was established in 1998 officially despite having had residents some ten years prior. Once enough people setup homes (illegally) the government was forced to put in streets, toilets and water.  Joel, who runs the community center, has done several studies of the residents of Babylon, mostly centered on education.  He found that many of those who live there have never been to Windhoek and some haven't even been to Katatura.  The community is nearly self-sufficient with ad-hoc businesses in every other house.  You can buy anything from produce to a hair cut, even get that dent in your car door hammered out without even leaving the town. 

Babalon_1	Bab_2	Bab_3
A shot of the playground and soccer field, both empty despite the hundreds of kids on the street	A shot of a main street with greater Katatura in the back ground.	Here you can see a "shower" to the right of the closest house.  This is the outer most area of Babylon, which continues to grow each year.

When you drive through Babylon you pass an uncountable number of people, mostly children, out on the streets and sitting in yards.  Community is everything here and no one lives alone.  The kids play in groups in the fields and yards while the teenagers and adults sell goods and hang out at the stores and bars.  According to Joel, there are quite a few wealthy residents as well.  A precious few have made it in the world outside Babylon, landing jobs in companies or government offices.  They continue to live in Babylon because it is their home and also because it is their perceived duty to care for the rest of their family.  One successful family member can support 20 or 30 people on a full-time salary.

Another amazing thing about Babylon is the crime, or lack thereof.  The community center sits at the center of the town and has only a small five foot fence around it.  Even though it's the only building for miles with electricity, water and even computers, it is not vandalized.  The community here understands what it is there for and has a central role in running the programs it hosts.  The community here is very tightly knit.  Everyone knows everyone, which makes crime very opaque. 

There are plenty of problem though.  While mal nourishment is not a huge problem, sanitation is.  The recent polio outbreak is evidence of this.  Several of the victims of the recent outbreak were residents of Babylon.  There is also a lack of education.  Despite the fact that most families value children in hopes they may one day be able to support them, they do not invest or appreciate education.  Again, according to Joel, most parents do not help their children with school work, attend school events nor encourage attendance and diligence.

There are a lot of changes happening though.  One of them is the parks and soccer fields that have been built by NGO's and ministry programs.  I was shocked to drive by a very nice park in the middle of these hundreds of rows of shanty houses.  But what was most surprising was that the park was empty.  Joel says that most kids here don't know what to do in a park.  Swinging on a swing and sliding down a slide were not a part of anyone's upbringing here.  I wonder if someone were to show them if they would enjoy it as kids in the states do...

All in all it was a great day.  I'm so thrilled to be working in an area like Babylon and can't wait to get more involved with projects happening there at the community center.