Namibia Namibia is currently home to 16 Australian Volunteers - the largest number of any country in Africa. Over a third of Namibia's population of 1.7 million people are under the age of 15. This drought prone, desert like country echoes our outback - rich in revenue earning minerals and diamonds, but deprived of water and arable land. Namibia is only a decade into independence, following two centuries of exploitation, brutality and regional stagnation under short-lived British rule, German imperialism and finally the depredation of the South African apartheid state.
Education is one of the long-term means of tackling such a problem.
Australian Volunteers have been making a substantial contribution to the post-colonial educational development of Namibian youth in secondary schools and vocational training centres. Currently, some 15 Australian Volunteer teachers and vocational trainers work in the north of the country in Ovamboland, Rundu and Caprivi. The fledgling university UNAM produces only five maths graduates a year and a similarly low number of graduates in physics and biology - many of whom are snapped up by private enterprises. The demand for Australian teaching expertise in such subjects, as well as the new official language, English, and other subjects such as accounting, development studies and geography remains strong. Our volunteers have developed strong friendships with their 'learners' and colleagues and many have personally supported learners through school to university.