If you build it, they will come...

I nearly bit off more than I could chew with this project. It took much longer and was much more time consuming than I originally planned. But alas - I am finished. Estoy terminado. Na mana.

The whole idea started when our principal asked me to build a playground for the students out of the tires they had acquired. I asked how many tires they had and do you know what she said? Four. Four tires? I explained it would be a bit difficult to build a playground with four tires. This led me to dive into the project head first with the hopes of making the biggest and best playground in Namibia. Is it actually the biggest and best? I certainly think so and most likely is. Very, very few school actually have playgrounds, and I have yet to see one that is even close to being as big or as nice as the one I built. So easily, it could be the biggest playground in the entire country! Either way, the students absolutely love it and now the kids of Mayara will be able to play and swing their little hearts out for years to come.

The students waiting to take their turn on the monkey bars.

Swinging like that freaked me out. Luckily the top bar has proven to be strong!

The scene that ensued once we unleashed the kids on the playground for the first time.

No Place To Play

The noise of the saw cutting the metal echoed throughout the village, so whenever I would work there was usually a crowd of kids/adults watching - probably thinking that I was crazy for spending so much time building something for kids to “play” on. It was very difficult to convey the idea of what I was even doing. Most of them had never seen a playground like this, certainly not with a bridge or monkey bars, so painting the picture in their heads of the finished product was no easy task. When I tried to explain what I was doing, I was often met with a blank stare of confusion. “Ohhhhhhhh”, they would reply. But no, they didn’t really know what I was talking about. And how could they? Playgrounds are not a thing here. 

A panoramic view of the main part of the playground

The first part we got in the ground before we left for Malawi back in April.

I have read from several different sources that more or less, playgrounds in Africa do not exist. Adults here often see playing as a silly or frivolous activity that exists solely to pass the time. However, a playground gives children a place to (I know it sounds cheesy) “have fun, relax, socialize, create, explore, and is vital to the metal health and social development of a young mind.” It makes sense though. In America, I have never seen a school without a playground, so our society obviously believes in the importance of play. Maybe this playground will start a new trend here?

The construction crew.

Also, school is over for the elementary kids about 2 hours before the rest of the school. So, when they are released from the classroom, they run around the schoolyard like banshees - screaming, chasing each other, throwing rocks, looking through windows and yelling at the other students still in class...... Ahhhhh it was incredibly distracting for everyone! I don’t blame the kids for being crazy, I certainly was too at that age, but they needed a place to contain their craziness away from the rest of the classrooms. Hence, I built the playground back behind the school, far away from the rest of the classes to help keep the noise down and the distractions off in the distance. So now when the kids are released from school, they bolt straight for the monkey bars and away from the classrooms.

Some kids helping me carry tires

Challenges 

I have never worked with metal before, never welded, and certainly never built or designed anything of this size. I figured if I could put a set of Legos together, then I could certainly build a massive playground right? Well, there were several factors that made this task very difficult. The first was transportation. How do you get nearly fifty 6 meter metal beams, 10 bags of concrete, and 15 planks of wood out to the village? I talked to the owner of Buildit (kind of like The Home Depot in Namibia) and after a bit of convincing, she agreed to bring all of the materials out in a semi-truck for free. Luckily she really likes Peace Corps Volunteers. The shipping cost of that alone would have broke my budget. 

I also had absolutely no tools. Luckily again, a super cool teacher at another school let me borrow all of his, including the all important saw and welder. He never once asked for them back and just told me to let him know when I was finished. There was a few times when I ran out of welding rods or the saw blade broke, which would bring all work to a halt until our next venture into Rundu to buy more.

The absolute hardest thing though was actually cutting the metal. I had an electric hand saw and was cutting on the ground, so every single cut was just a “little” off. Whether I cut pieces a little short, a little long, or slightly slanted when they were supposed to be straight, nothing was perfect on the first cut. This meant I had to shave down nearly every piece with the saw to get things to fit. It took forever, especially the 45 degree angles on the larger beams.

I had also never welded before or even touched a welding machine before for that matter. When the teacher dropped off the welding machine, I literally laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of the fact that I didn’t know a single thing about welding, and that I had designed and already purchased all of the materials for a playground where hundreds of welds were needed. I figured it out, but it was really frustrating at first considering the only instruction I was given was - “Melt it in the cracks.” My first few welds were absolutely terrible and incredibly frustrating, but I slowly got better and better and now I am confident the playground won’t come crashing down one day. 

Some acrobatic welding.

I want to give a huge shout out to my former employer, Gorrondona & Associates, who donated some money which went a long way in buying the materials. Also, Nathan Murray, another volunteer, who helped me get the ridiculous amount of tires we ended up with (we got all of the big tractor tires from a prison in Divundu - weird right?) Lastly, I want to thank Geri Kemper, another volunteer again, for helping out so much with everything and Dongo for letting me borrow all of his tools. I couldn’t have done it without you guys!

This is from an English assignment that Lindsey gave. I guess I am a builder of official places!

I am certainly proud of this playground and am incredibly relieved to finally be done. I haven’t even cracked a book in the last three months, but now that my afternoons are free, it will be nice to relax again.

COS Conference

Lindsey and I giving our speech.

Two weeks ago our entire group went down for our week long close of service conference in Windhoek, and it was honestly amazing. The Peace Corps put us all up in a lodge called Roof of Africa, I suppose as a final treat before we leave, complete with all you can eat buffets for breakfast and dinner. Each morning I probably ate around 8 scrambled eggs and each night feasted on 3-5 steaks (not joking) which included oryx, kudu, and eland - all delicious game meat. I don’t think I have ever eaten so much food. 

Besides the ridiculous amounts of food consumed by our group, we had medical checkups and several sessions about adjusting to life back in the US. This might be hard for you to believe, but it is usually much harder for volunteers to make the transition to life back home than it is to adjust to life here in Namibia. Being here for two years certainly changes you, and a lot of volunteers find it very difficult to “fit in” back at home. I don’t think Lindsey or I will have to big of a problem - as long as I remember that I can’t pee anywhere I want to....... 

The two of us posing with our Peace Corps "diplomas".

Overall, Lindsey and I are both completely healthy and ready for our next big trip. I weighed in at 17 pounds less than I did when I arrived, so I am about the same weight that I was when I was 15 years old. Interesting. Most of the guys lost at least 10 pounds, but some lost between 50-70 pounds! I guess a combination of constant sweat and hardly any protein has definitely taken a toll on us physically.

Our entire group after the ceremony.

We had a closing ceremony the last evening, where we all got “Peace Corps Diplomas” and posed for pictures with the Peace Corps Namibia Country Director. Lindsey and I were elected to give the thank you/goodbye speech, which we actually turned into a clever little poem. Anyway, it was great to see everyone in our group for one last time and we wish you all the best in the future if you happen to read this.

Also, Lindsey and I leave Namibia on September 3rd for Indonesia. It still blows me away how fast these two years went by.

Until next time.

Peace,

Tim