Day 6: An Assignment!

After I posted my last entry, I got some new information: I know what my assignment is! The three IT guys (two guys and girl) met with Waldo (our supervisor and placement officer). He let us know our options, which were three:
• Taking over a new computer lab from a leaving PCV in a secondary education school. The housing is a duplex, and the neighbor is a teacher at the school. The lab has pretty new equipment and a rough curriculum has been established.
• Starting a new computer lab in an upper-primary school (to 8th grade) and establishing a curriculum. This is a new position, no other PCV’s have worked at this site. The school recently purchased the equipment, so all the computers are brand new. Housing is an individual villa.
• Running a computer lab in a multi-activity center. There is an informal curriculum that is used with out-of-school youth (youth who cannot afford to go on to 10th grade, which is not part of the public compulsory system), and is pretty old. There are a lot of community partners that use or would like to use this facility. Housing is an apartment shared by a health PCV working on an HIV/AIDS program in the same multi-activity center.

So which do you think I wanted? Setting up the new computer lab and establishing a curriculum, of course!! Few things in life are more exciting than setting up a new computer lab in an area that had none before. The kids will be completely excited, and since computer education is not part of the education system in Namibia, all courses are optional and on a privilege basis, exactly the way I like to run them. There is also the opportunity to work with the Ministry on some IT support issues.

So, I was worried when we started the individual interviews that we would all want the same assignment. I made it clear that I would do any of them, because they all were cool in their own rights. The multi-activity center is pretty much a Boys & Girls Club, which I obviously am familiar with. But since I’d done that for five years, I really wanted the new computer center assignment and to work in a school.

It turns out, after the individual interviews, that we each wanted a different assignment! Jay wanted the multi-activity center, where he is really looking forward to working with different partners and collaborations. Kim wanted the existing lab where she feels she wouldn’t have to worry about curriculum. So we’re all flippin’ happy! It couldn’t have worked out better. I’m even more excited now than yesterday!

Tomorrow some of us are planning on going to a church service, which is more a social event than religious. Then we are going downtown to find internet, a laundry mat (we don’t want to fight the crowed), an AC adapter (Namibia uses a plug type that no one else in the world uses- go figure), and some good local food.