I was invited by Helga to go to a ceremony at the school for the children's academic awards. It was a very nice, if long (3 1/2 hours to get everyone in) ceremony. Awards were given for every subject (about five subjects) in grades 1 to 10 - gold, silver and bronze.
Rev. Dr. Nakamela, a retired Lutheran Minister in the area gave the key note speech. He is the president of the school board. He reminded us that like Martin Luther it is important to be planting seeds even if you don't know if you are going to see them grow, and that the work done in school is planting seeds for the future. There was also a motivational speech from a graduating (matriculating or matric) student and from a student who had graduated last year. They both achieved outstanding scores on the national tests.
It is interesting to me that the schools and government are secular, yet they are not as secular as the United States. Assemblies still start with prayer, scripture is read from the Bible, the Lord's Prayer is often said.
It was a packed house.
The school choir sang both Christian songs and the school song which thanks God for the school and their gift of education. The schools have eliminated Christian education and replaced it with teaching about Religion. Namibia is predominantly Christian but there are minority populations in other religions and indigenous religions. There are people who are upset that Christian education has been removed and say that everyone wants to have it added back. Yet, like the US, I wonder why the churches and Sunday schools are not full on Sundays.
Geraldo got two awards for English and Afrikaans I think. Sharifa also got an award but was not there to receive it since her parents knew how long the ceremony would be (it was shorter than last year though).
Lulu got five awards.
They also gave awards for the students with the highest marks over all in each grade and Lulu achieved that.
What a school and it's teachers and learners, I dream to be part of the achieving school.
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