Cleaner helps teach girls artwork to preserve culture

A CLEANER at the !Nara Primary School at Walvis Bay has made it her duty to join teachers in offering lessons to pupils.

Erica Gauises, who has been helping since 2015, can be found in the traditional life skills classes, helping to teach beading and knitting.

She believes that it is crucial for young girls, especially those who live in urban areas, to learn these skills as they will one day head their own households, and probably also venture into business.

“I feel sad when I see our children getting lost in technology, and just standing on street corners. In our days, we used to sit with our mothers and aunts, learning how to knit, cook, clean and do needlework. Our parents were very skilled in this area. You would then think that a dress or embroidery piece was coming out of a shop,” she said.

Gauises said although the subjects are offered at schools, it carries more value if the older generation imparts these skills.

She thus urged the older generation to volunteer at schools in such subjects to preserve culture, adding that it is not enough to just go to work, finish cleaning and then go home.

“I know I am a cleaner. But in the meantime while I have my breaks, it helps to walk into those classrooms and show a child how to measure salt, or correct a stitch that is faulty.

“It is even necessary to take a group of children who may be standing outside in the neighbourhood, and to give them a few lessons,” she added.

She is especially proud when the girls come back to show her their finished pieces, accompanied by excellent marks and awards.

“The children get excited when they finish a piece. It motivates them to make a new one. Sometimes, you would see them sitting at break time or walking in the street, knitting. That gives me great hope. At least they are not hooked on the phone the whole day” she said.

One of the girls at the school, Madelein Sakaria, said she is happy when Gauises walks into the classroom as she knows that she will learn a new skill.

“I will be sad if she has to leave one day, and the girls who come after us will not have the same opportunities,” Sakaria said.

Jasmine Swartbooi said she is honoured to have Gauises as a teacher.

“There is just something different about her work. She said she learned all of this from her mother and aunt. I am shocked, because I thought she learned through school” said Swartbooi.

!Nara Primary School teacher Memory Rheeder said they appriciate the dedication by Gauises, who is admired by the children.

“I love her ambition. When she is working with the children, age does not matter. She not only shows them how to do household chores, but also leads the school through her Christianity. We ask her for advice when children have trouble with other children” she noted.

Meanwhile, Gauises says she is working hard at making up for what she lost in her younger days. Although she will retire in a few years’ time, she is attending seminars and courses that will allow her to become a pre-primary schoolteacher.