Farewell in Namibia

 

I put a little video together of my Rugby training sessions with the school team as well as some extra clips.

 

     
         As my volunteering year in Namibia is nearing an end, I ponder about the last 2 weeks that are left before my flight back. I think about what I can still get done, or how the day will be when I see the kids at school for the very last time. Of course, the highlights of the past 46 weeks spent here have also started running through my mind; the rugby sessions and daily kickabouts at school, the cricket tournaments, my Garden Route trip, the holiday in Zambia with other volunteers and etc.. I just wanted to say thanks to my parents for their support in good times as well as bad times. I owe a big thank you to my organisation ASC Göttingen and Weltwärts for having given me this opportunity of a lifetime. Also many thanks to the Berliner-Rugby-Club and individuals for the financial support they've offered as well as the T-shirts and Rugby balls. It's crazy to think about the difference these small donations have made and will continue to make. A special thank you to Mark Temme, Luis Zeller and Family Blume of the Berliner-Rugby-Club. These pictures and the video are dedicated to everyone back home.

Within our first few weeks at school here, I was getting interest
from a good number of boys and a few girls for Rugby whilst just kicking the odd-shaped oval ball around during lunch breaks. Soon enough I had spread the message to all the smaller boys that I'd be giving Rugby training after school once a week. The turn out during the first practice was phenomenal, but also far too big to be able to train properly. With distractions like Cricket or Football training, the amount of boys that showed up lessened gradually, but this meant that I eventually had a group with the perfect size of kids whom I could really work with efficiently. The sort of motivation that these kids have for a sport (Rugby) that is usually really only accesible by well-to-do families in Namibia is incredible, it makes me think about the talent that could be achieved if they would have just any enthusiastic Rugby player guide them from 1st grade all the way up highschool during lunch breaks and even just training once a week. To say the least I was surprised seeing so many kids leave behind the football for this odd-shaped egg of a ball from a sport they've pretty much only seen boys in town play.

I have to focus a lot on passing drills during training due to the fact that many haven't ever been taught the technique of a spin pass. There are a good amount of kids who have perfected most of the basic skills, yet after long holidays or breaks from training I have to basically reteach it to the newcomers, the kids that show up vary and I see many kids come and go. I look at it positively in the sense that I'm glad for there at least always constantly being good turnout no matter how inexperienced some of them are; and I am pleased that there are always new kids coming to look to try out a new sport. By the end of training, I do some exercises that consist of running with the ball and finally finish off with a game on on a small field. I learnt a lot myself through taking responsibility as a coach, I was very frustrated the first few training sessions when some of the kids didn't grasp the concept that they aren't allowed to pass forwards in the game of Rugby; even after having explained it countless times. The problem was the following: I didn't even realize it at first, but for many of the kids, English wasn't their mother tongue. Instead, it was either Afrikaans (old dutch) or Oshiwambu. When the problem became visible, I realized I just had to be more patient and repeat instructions as well as demonstrations more than I had previously. One rule I'm glad they grasped faster than others was that they weren't allowed to tackle above the chest into the next and head area. This ensured that there wouldn't and hasn't been any bad injuries. What was quite funny in the beginning was that these kids were pinching each other in the scrums and mauls, it was just odd to see something like that.

What I admire most about these kids are that they're tough as nails and always happy no matter what. When I mean tough, I can tell you that I've seen some big crunching tackles on the schoolyard when they're all running after the rugby ball during lunch, PE or training. I am amazed by how much these kids but their body on the line to bring down the the opponent with the ball. You can often see kids diving left and right or multiple boys grappling onto one trying to regain the ball.

With our kids from !Nara Primary School, the beginning wasn't easy. It was hard for us to get the kids to respect our authority. When I look back, it's no big wonder. We were just a couple of strangers that had come one day, then stopped the boys from playing soccer during PE and also forced the girls to replace the usual rope jumping games with warm ups and different sports. Through the past months, we've played every ball game we've ever known from when we were kids, tried all sports we had equipment for, had a successful athletic's day, we even did ballroom dancing. I can't remember a day these hyperactive yet also incredibly sweet kids weren't swooping through me or Mona's hair with their hands, jumping on our backs, asking me to kick the Rugby ball in the sky for them or some days just being a pain in the butt when you were having a bad day.. No matter how frustrated and annoyed we've been sometimes, the feeling you get when tonnes of kids greet you everyday and constantly ask you how you're doing or when there would be Rugby training outweighs it by a factor much much bigger. I'm also very thankful towards my organisation ASC Göttingen for having chosen to send me to Namibia. It's really given me the opportunity to grow mentally and see a whole different part of the world. Hopefully I will find time one day to come back and visit this beautiful country and the kind people that made the stay unforgettable.