Alexandra Falls
KILMORE resident Paul Duff has taken a year out of his career and his life in Australia to volunteer in as a teacher in the poverty stricken country of Namibia.
Paul has been working as a volunteer for VSO, a British volunteer organisation, since March.
His work is to encourage schools to enrol children with disabilities. His work also involves training principals and teachers in how to assist special learners.
Paul is now based in the northern town of Ondangwa, a few kilometres from the border with Angola.
His work involves a lot of travel with some schools up to 300 kilometres away.
Many schools in Namibia have limited furniture, few text books, and are without power, telephone, water and toilets.
Schools with 300 and 400 learners are deep in the bush, along narrow sandy tracks that can be underwater for months at a time in summer.
Paul’s blog highlights the difficulties of living in a country where many have so little, and he is begged for money, food, water and aid everywhere he goes.
Clean water and food is hard for many to come by and there are other issues, such as an ongoing belief in witchcraft and the idea that people with disabilities bring misfortune and death.
However, Paul said that most teachers work hard in these circumstances to aid the education of the students who are happy and eager to learn, despite their poverty and hunger.
He also said that by teaching locals to accept the differences of people with disabilities prejudice and fear can hopefully be addressed.
To read more about Paul’s travels and experiences as a volunteer teacher in Namibia check out his blog at <paulinondangwa.blogspot.com/>.
