Namibia News

Highfield Humanities Duke of Edinburgh Award Visit to NAMIBIA

Welcome to the NAMIBIA TRIP NEWS PAGE

Click on the More information button at the bottom of this report for EXTRA news about this visit.

Photographs of the Whole Visit  www.highfieldhc.com/nam1.htm

Turn the clock back 2 full years!   http://highfieldhc.com/dofe06.htm 

Miss Rimmer will give Mr Westhorpe regular updates via satellite phone which will appear here within 30 minutes:

      Namibia time is the same as ours:

Pete Westhorpe's e-mail address is This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  

Parents -If you get any messages or calls from your son/daughter while in Africa, please forward them to me to put on the website to keep other parents up to date with the visit. 

UPDATES:

Tuesday 15th July  Whole team in school today looking good and making final preparations.  New transport arrangements to London Gatwick now in place and Miss Rimmer looking more relaxed.  A real buzz of excitement building now! The Evening Gazette want photos on Friday at the set off - we may bring whole school out to see them off!

Wednesday 16th July  Mr Evans has to pull out following his broken foot.  Pupils in school today - Miss Rimmer gives live interview to Radio LANCASHIRE! The 'buzz' increases and the whole school starting to talk of nothing else! Everyone gets behind the visit and wants to help!  Two days to go!!!

Thursday 17th July Preparations complete - the team look forward to a restful night before the big adventure! The day is almost here!  People can't believe it after 2 years of planning and fundraising!

Friday 18th July Team set off on time with parents and friends waving them off! The adventure begins. The Gazette are trying to get the pics into tonight's edition - may happen but it will be tight.

Update- 15.59 Friday - Virgin train slightly delayed - group now at Clapham ready to get Gatwick train - plenty of time - flight not till 11.00pm ish...  Miss Rimmer reports group in high spirits.

24 hour contact with school - 01253 310925 DAY / 01253 315112 EVE

Departure Photos www.highfieldhc.com/namibia.htm

Saturday 19th July - Text message from Penny Rimmer 19th July 10.24 - They have ARRIVED in Namibia and are travelling to WINDHOCK (Windhoek) - 5419 miles from Blackpool - they crossed the equator overnight while we slept. Miss Rimmer reports the group to be in very high spirits despite their tiredness!

Update- 19th July - Text message from Miss Rimmer 19th July 17.31 - "The group have arrived at their hotel and settled in.  They spent 1000 (Miss Rimmer did not specify pounds or dollars) in the builders shop - what an experience - we are just about to have a BBQ then off to bed 9.00pm.  Group setting off to the project tomorrow."

Windhoek

Sunday 20th July - Group have left hotel 8.00am on route to project school.  The drive is 3 hours long. They have been told they will be met by the school choir.  The school is out of signal for mobile contact so we will just have to see how we get on with communications over the next few days.

Monday 21st July - No word from the group in the past 24 hours - they are currently at their project school (Nossop Primary School).  Their tasks will include plastering, building a climbing frame and adventure playground and painting educational murals.  I have been asked to direct you to the school on Google Earth:  The school is in the village of Witvlei.

Link     http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl 

School Location  www.highfieldhc.com/wn.htm

Search for Witvlei    

You may have to zoom out a little.  This is the village where Nossop School lies - it is very small.  Nossop is the river's name you can see on the map.

Update – Monday 21^st 9.50 am – (from Nick at Schools Worldwide Travel)

"Hello Peter thanks for your email. Our agent has sent me an email saying that he met the group safely and they were all in high spirits, despite feeling tired. I also got an email from the owner of their accommodation in Windhoek saying: "The Highfield group was a delight".  I will be trying to speak with the Headteacher at Nossop either later today or tomorrow and will provide you with an update as soon as I have one".

Update- Monday 21^st 2.00pm  (from Nick at Schools Worldwide Travel)

"Hello Peter I have just spoken with Penny and the group are having a great time - working really hard and very motivated to get all their tasks completed.  They are going to send you a fax from the school to provide you with a full update as soon as they have a spare moment to put pen to paper, hopefully later today / tomorrow). Best wishes - Nick."     

Nick is the Schools Worldwide Travel Contact in the UK and is able to speak to the group via satellite phone.

Tuesday 22nd July  20.34  no news today from Namibia - I expect they are all working too hard. Although school breaks up tomorrow I will still be updating this site until the team return.  This site will then link to a photographs page so parents can see exactly what was done during the visit. So, to keep your interest, here are a number of facts and questions about Namibia you may find interesting:

http://www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/9-for-10---Namibia-162975.html

Wednesday 23rd July Phone call from Penny at 8.30 am

Summary of conversation:

Penny has returned to Windhoek to buy more supplies - she set off before 6.00am this morning.

The children are all well and having a fantastic time, full of new experiences.

The children have found the visit to be very humbling as the local people have been so friendly and grateful for the help they are getting. 

The pupils are very highly motivated.  They have been working both inside and outside the school. 

Miss Davies has been working on the murals. 

The nights are VERY cold! The day temperatures are a very pleasant 26C-28C.  The sky is always blue and Penny described it as lovely.

The kids in the school speak good English and have been playing football with our pupils. The change in food and environment has brought about an epidemic of constipation!  The opposite of what we expected - and Penny tells me there in now a competition as to who can hold out the longest!

Food has included Spag Boll, Rice, Meatballs and tonight it is the famous African dish Spaghetti Carbonara 

All are happy and relaxed.

The Namibian people are lovely.

They were met with posters showing logos from both schools.

They had bought £1000 worth of paint and it has just run out!!!!!!!!! 

So WOW WOW WOW !!!!!!!!

Thursday 24th July - No update from namibia today.

The Gazette should publish an article abourt the visit on Friday or Saturday.  Keep watching......

Friday 25th July - 12.19 pm 

Text message from Penny – received 12.20 pm Friday 25^th July 

“Finished at Project. Amazing kids, worked really hard.  On route to Etosha.  8 hour drive.”

Google Map of Etosha - click on map for information.

Saurday 26th July - Telphone Call from Chloe Henderson to dad Russ who has e-mailed me:

Hi Pete,

Just to let you know Chloe phoned home yesterday Saturday 26^th to tell us how good the experience was, she also told us at the water hole they stayed next to they saw Elephants,  Black Rhino, Giraffes and Meercats she said she was missing home but the experience was brilliant and the Namibian people were really nice. Chloe also said she was so glad she went.

Chloe said she has got lots and lots of pictures so if you want me to e-mail them to you when she is back I will do it gladly.

Regards

Russ Henderson.

Thanks Russ I will put as many pics onto the web site as I can - so yes please!

Peter

Sunday 27th July - 7.30 am The group have now left Etosha and are on route to SWAKOPMUND a seaside area on the Skelton Coast. While in the National Park the group saw Elephants, Rhino, Giraffe and much more.

Click here for details of SWAKOPMUND.

Reminder - Parents are asked to be at Blackpool North on Wednesday 30th at 11.00am.

Monday 28th July 08.57  No news from the team today as yet - however, I thought I would put this on - its very nice to be appreciated - thanks Carol  

Hi Pete
 
Hannan did ring on Saturday she was fine and looking forward to seeing the sights and doing the activities planned for the rest of the trip,
 
My main reason for writing is to say a massive THANK YOU for keeping us up to date with everything that has been going on. I have actually enjoyed switching my computer on (not like me at all), excited to see if there was any new info.
 
I hope you have a restful holiday and if you see Ian pass on my regards and I hope he is feeling alot better.
 
Looking forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday
 
Carol Ramsden

Bonjour Mr Westhorpe

jst fought id say that iv heard from chloe, she sed she is having fun and glad she went! but missing her electical appliences lol.. ben said hello too lol hope she has got some good pictures and some funny stories!

mikey

16 pupils and 3 staff will travel to Namibia on Friday 17th July. Going to Namibia, Africa for 12 days, to refurbish a Primary school, tasks include building a sports field, painting the inside and outside of the school, fixing windows, re plastering, painting murals, and education displays. Pupils have been fund raising for 18 months; this has included cake sales, bag packing, sponsored events, grant applications, writing to companies for donations. We leave on Friday 18^th July and return on the 30^th July. 

Virgin Trains and Northern Rail have very kindly sponsored our travel to Gatwick Airport. Many thanks to both companies. We also need to thank everybody else who has made donations and contributed to the target of £30,000.  Highfield Humanities College are very much looking forward to setting up a global link with Nossop Primary School, we hope this trip is the first of many. 

On our return we hope to educate others about our experience in Africa and teach them about other cultures.