November 2012: "Dawbies in Africa"

This past week has been an unusual one. The school teachers of Namibia called an immediate strike for higher wages & the strike is now into its sixth day! Like most workers in this country, teacher’s wages are quite poor compared to many of their contemporaries around the world. The strike was sudden & comes only a few weeks before the students end of year exams.

For the past two months we have also been working with a Namibian NGO that supports people with disabilities. This organisation commenced in 2001 & has the following aims:

# To provide an holistic service including residential, day & community based rehabilitation programs for people with a range of disabilities.

# To give people with disabilities the skills to live as independently as possible within their own communities.

A number of people have expressed to me that I must be missing much of home. Surprisingly there has not been as much as I thought when leaving Australia in early September, but there have been a few things.