JOHN, JEANETTE AND MELANIE BLACK (back row, from left) pause for a photo with some of Melanie’s students, referred to as ‘learners’ at the school in Ohakafiya, Namibia in Africa.

Black shares her story as a Peace Corp volunteer

Melanie Black, the 25-year-old daughter of John and Jeanette Black of Sparta, departed the United States in October 2004 en route to the African country of Namibia.

A graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Black found the opportunity to go to Namibia to be “an excellent chance to experience another culture.”

After two months of training, Black was sent to the village of Ohakafiya, where she began teaching math to sixth, eighth and ninth grade learners. She noted her students, referred to as “learners” range in age from the average sixth grader to adults in their 20s. Black explained that learners who attend school in the village of Ohakafiya are learning a different type of math than that which is taught in an American school.

“Kids out in the village don’t really deal with numbers at all,” Black said. “They don’t have clocks; they don’t really buy things, so their numerals (are) not the same as they are here. They don’t put together puzzles; they just don’t deal with numbers at all. The math we learn, just on a day-to-day basis, they don’t get. My ninth graders are probably at a fifth and sixth grade level...they just don’t have the common every day experience with numbers.”

The typical school day begins at 7:30 a.m. and ends about 1:45 p.m. and does not include a time for lunch, Black said.

“They tell when they have to be at school by the sun,” Black explained. “They really say, ‘We’re going at this time,’ by the sun.

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