Life in Katima and School Hours and Grades

We have to filter and boil all the water we drink. We boil water from the tap in a kettle or pan, leave it to cool and then pour it into the top of this water filter. It then very slowly filters through to the bottom section, leaving the sand and grit behind. We can then drink the water that comes out of the tap at the bottom. Local people don’t bother with this, they just drink the water straight from the tap.

We have had torrential rain everyday for about an hour, at different times each day. Sometimes it is early morning on the way to school and sometimes in the afternoon or  night time. It is very cool today, around 20 degrees, but it was much hotter this morning when we were out doing the shopping (it’s Saturday). 

Yesterday schools finished early because it was Friday, so the children and teachers all left at 12.10. On other days, having started at 7am, they have a half hour break around 10 0’clock and then have the second session until 12.50pm. The younger children in grade zero, grade 1 and grade 2 finish a bit earlier at 11.30. Grade 0 has the youngest children in the school, age 5-6. Lots of children have to stay in the same grade for a second or third year until they pass the test which allows them to move up to the next grade. So children are not all the same age in each grade (or year group).