De Duine boasts with successful educational cultural programme

Octavia Tsibes
Raina Samuels

Under the leadership of the principal Mr Van Wyk and Mrs Van Wyk, Mr Appolis and Mr Sakarias, De Duine took ten of their learners to Rheine in Germany. The group departed from school early morning during the first school holidays. This was made possible through partnership between Euregio Gesamschule and De Duine. The Duregio partnership which was founded almost a decade ago allows learners from Namibia to visit their sister school in Germany and vice versa. This was the second group from De Duine who had this opportunity.

The zestful team took off in the plane in the late evening and from the time they boarded the adrenaline rush was high and it was evident that this once in a lifetime experience was what they were waiting for. They landed early the next morning at the gargantuan Frankfurt airport. Having been on the plane for nine hours it was another four hours before they reached their destination. The group arrived later afternoon at the train station in Rheine, where they were welcomed by their eager counterparts together with their parents. Soon after they were allocated to their host families.

Under the theme, "sustainable development, one world – one garden", the two week program commenced with a leadership camp in Heppen. The camp was facilitated by two trainers from ENSA – the primary sponsor of the entire exchange program. At the camp, the Duiregio learners did various team building activities and majority of the seminar centered on discussions about sustainability, climate change and wealth distribution across the globe.

The Monday it was time to go to school; the Euregio Gesamschule is a huge school with grades from five to thirteen. The Namibian guests received a warm welcome by virtue of a thrilling performance by sixth graders who were just as hyped up to have the honour of welcoming the guests. Despite the language barrier, the learners attended lessons with their hosts every now and then.

The Duiregio members had the privilege to visit the Saerbeck Bioenergy Park. Here they were enlightened and learned about renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy. This was well in tune with their theme of sustainability. For most of the learners it was awe-inspiring to stand close to a wind turbine, see the inside of it as well as all the machinery. The 150 metres tall structures with three rotating blades of fifty metres provides a considerable amount of energy to at least more than half of the town.

The highlight of the tour was the visiting tour to General Electric (GE) a huge company which employs about 900 employees in Germany and over 300 000 others in about 150 countries. GE is a manufacturing giant where the gigantic wind turbines are processed and assembled.

In addition, there is a training centre where wind turbine operators are trained young students pursuing studies in mechanical and electric engineering, completing their internships at GE. In fact, the tour was guided by students doing their internships – they also gave presentations to the Duiregio entourage.

There are a variety of career opportunities at GE from the engineering geeks to business management enthusiasts. To expose learners to various opportunities and encourage them to spread their wings, is one of the many goals of this partnership.

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end, but there was one more thing to be completed and that was the honour to meet the mayor of Rheine. Dr Kurt Gribl. The Mayor gifted the Namibian team with free entrance into the Rheine Natuer Zoo, which marked the end of the encounter.

The entire program was a thrilling experience with excursions and leisure days in between, and the Namibian team the opportunity to discover and see the world from a different perspective and engage in global conversations. De Duine looks forward to receiving their guests next year in the harbor town of Walvis Bay.