Physically Active Youth

After arriving Sunday, I had one night to set up, unpack my luggage, and meet our partners with the Namibian Institute for Democracy (NID). The NID is an organization that implements civic education, civil society development, socio-political survey and research and anti-corruption programs in Namibia. A part of our preparation for the trip was choosing a Non-governmental organization (NGO), many of which were partners with NID and located in the city of Windhoek, that matched our experience and interest. I found the perfect fit, an organization by the name of Physically Active Youth (PAY). PAY’s educational model is to engage students academically through after school programs while offering different sporting events. During my first visit/tour I remember thinking to myself wow I am here, I am in Katatura at PAY, this is where I will spend my next three weeks. I made a few mistakes when while there on the first day. The first mistake I made was bringing hard bottomed dress shoes that were extremely uncomfortable, the next one was assuming that my role would primarily be to teach students math and English, the biggest mistake however was to think that I had my life figured out. After one day I felt myself lose the disconnect between feeling American in another space and started feeling apart of the space so much that their issues became my issues. I worked closely with a 10th grader named Rafael which I later began to know him as Buffa which is short for buffalo. Buffa is a genius, a student that was awarded a scholarship to attend a private school in Windhoek.

Buffa walked an hour each day to the nearest bus that took him to school. His home had no running water and electricity. Despite all these obstacles every day after school he was studying at PAY. Rafael would not let his circumstances dictate his future and this was a common spirit among all the students involved with PAY. It was then that I started gaining more of an appreciation of things I take for granted daily. I realized the privileges that I grew up with that these students did not have. During my tour the Director of PAY Ms. Ursula said something that stuck with me the entire three weeks, she said “Our students have countless volunteers coming in and out of their life believe me they do not need anyone’s pity”. Her words inspired me to leave with them something that they can use even when I am gone. I decided to create a University prep guide that focused on admissions applications, applying for Financial aid/scholarships, high impact practices, and recommendations that I wish someone would have shared with me as I prepared to attend a University.

As the days continued, I began to feel more and more connected to Namibia and mostly the students that I worked with. In the next few days we went camping and made huge fires for smores; visited the art and history museum that captured countries fight for independence; ate native food (Kapana) in the single quarters of Katutura; visited an elementary school that was so overpopulated that students had to share computers and each teacher had around 30 students; we drove to Swakopmund on the coast of Namibia and literally on one side was the ocean and the other sand dunes as tall as 8 story buildings; each one of these visits gave me memories that I could talk about for days but nothing compared to the quality time I had with the students at PAY. I was so focused on what I could provide for them while I was there that I did not even realize how much they had changed me. I was more driven than I have ever been, more focused on completing tasks, more appreciate of the privileges I had, and ultimately, I felt like I had found my purpose in life. In those moments I realized the key to my happiness is not in what I own, or the accomplishments that I have achieved, or traveling and exploring. In those moments I knew I was truly happy and that that happiness came from sharing my luxuries, knowledge, and experiences with students who needed it more than I did