11 more days until I am in Africa!

In just 11 days, I will get on a plane and take about a 17 hour plane ride to Africa. I can't believe it's almost here. It feels like I have been waiting for a long time to go to Africa. Here are some of the things that I know about my trip:

• I will be teaching high school English and Math.
• I will be teaching at a school called, "Mangetti Combined School"
• I will be living in teacher housing close to the school.
• The name of my village is Mangetti.
• They speak English and Rukwangali in the village.
• There is no electricity in the village. Just imagine no lights, no AC, no heat, no microwaves, no tv, no computers. Anything that needs to be plugged in or switched on, I will not have it at my village.
• I am not sure how clean the water is, so I might need to clean it myself by boiling it, just so I can drink the water.

Those are all the details I know right now. I will be sure to write more and put pictures on this page when I can. Check out my other website, http://leatoto.blogspot.com for more info from me in Africa.

Sending all my love and holiday wishes.

Mr. Butler

MY PLACEMENT!!!

This is from a letter that I received from the field director in Namibia. I'm really excited about this opportunity! It'll be a little different from Winn, but still very cool!

Dear James,

Greetings from Windhoek! I hope you are getting excited for you year in Namibia. As you know, after much consideration, I have decided to place you at Mangetti Combined School. Mangetti CS is a combined school teaching grades 1-10 with about 360 learners and 14 teachers. It is located in the southern part of the Kavango Region in north-east Namibia. The local language of the area is Rukwangali and you will learn a bit during orientation to get you started. You will be the first WorldTeach volunteer at the school.

Currently, you are slated to be accommodated in teacher housing on school property. I did talk to the principal today, though, and indicated again that you are very interested in becoming involved with the community, which he was happy to hear. In fact, the school is overjoyed to receive a volunteer and the principal even said that the staff "jumped from excitement" when he told them. Mangetti is a very rural school, quite far from other towns. Therefore, it seems that the school and community feel somewhat marginalized. I think that your presence will do a lot to lift the morale of the school and community.

The two closest major towns are Grootfontein and Rundu. The principal says that many of the staff go to Rundu on the weekends and so it should not be a problem for you to get there for grocery shopping, etc. (There will be four WorldTeach volunteers in Rundu next year.) There is also a small shop at the NDC where you can find some basic needs. As I indicated, there is not electricity connected to the school at this time, though the wiring is in place and, this being Namibia, it could happen at any time or not at all.

Mangetti CS is interested in having a volunteer teach English and math Grades 8-10, and they say that your interests will be valued. I cannot emphasize enough that your assistance is greatly needed as they have difficulty attracting and retaining quality teachers due to the school's isolation. I am sure that you will be an amazing help and advantage to the school staff and be able to start many other projects and extracurricular activities that interest you.

See ya later, Winn Elementary!

On Friday, November 7th, I will say "See ya later" to all my friends at Winn Elementary. It is going to be a very sad day for me because I have spent the past 6.5 years at Winn. The faculty, staff, and especially the students have been my family in Austin. I will miss them all dearly, but we will be in touch through this website. I plan on posting pictures and stories from my adventures in Africa.

You can see from my awesome Patrick Starfish countdown ticker that I do not leave for Africa for awhile, but I am going home to Ohio to spend time with my family. My actual departure date for Africa is December 30th, 2008.

In the meantime, you can leave me comments on this site by clicking below this post where it says "comments". I hope you will consider leaving me comments to let me know how you are doing, especially when I am in Africa.

I love you all very much and I'm proud of you. Keep working hard, stay in school, and dream big! As Barack Obama showed us all on Tuesday night, ANYTHING is possible.

Peace. Love. Respect.
Mr. Butler

WELCOME WINN STUDENTS AND FAMILIES! BIENVENIDOS ESTUDIANTES Y FAMILIAS DE WINN!

Thank you for visiting my site! Please take a moment to check out the video and read about my trip. Feel free to leave me a message on this site, too! :) Just click on the "comments" link at the bottom of each posting.

Gracias por visitar mi "website." Por favor vean el video sobre mi viaje. Me pueden escribir un mensaje en este "website" tan solo picandole en los "comments" en el parte debajo de cada parte.

Never Give Up

I was supposed to teach in Kenya next year, but that program was canceled due to violence in the country. I was very excited about that program in Kenya and felt like I was going to do something that I had been dreaming about for so long. I was disappointed when I found out that the program was canceled, but I never gave up on fulfilling my dream of teaching in Africa. We all encounter tough times in our lives, but it is extremely important to keep persevering. Don't let anybody/anything hold you back from something you want to accomplish. You might need to be flexible at times, but always keep striving to achieve your dreams!

Mr. Butler is going to teach in Namibia!

This site is going to be used to communicate with students while I am teaching in Namibia. I don't know a lot of the details of my trip yet, but I will keep you updated. Here is some information that I do know about my trip:

• I will be a volunteer teacher in Namibia. This means that I will be teaching, but get paid very little money. Volunteers are people who work and do meaningful things for little or no money.
• I will be teaching younger kids, around the same age as elementary school. I am not sure what I will be teaching yet. I do know that I am going to teach some type of AIDS Awareness class to the older kids and adults in the community.
  
• I will most likely be living with a Namibian family.
  
• I leave the United States in December 2008 and will be gone for at least 1 year.
• I will have some access to the internet, but I am not sure how often. I will write to you from Namibia and post pictures so you can share in my experience.
• I also hope to set up "Pen Pal" opportunities so you can write to kids at my school in Namibia and they will write to you.

I want all of my former and current students to know how much I love and appreciate you! I have learned so much from all of you. You have made an amazing impact on my life. I am going to miss you all dearly, but I look forward to keeping in touch with you while I am gone. Keep respecting yourselves and others, keep doing your best, and keep your head up no matter what happens in your life. You are all amazing people and I admire you!

Note to all students: Thank you for visiting my site! If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me or leave a comment on this site. I will get back to you as soon as I am able.

Peace and Love.