This school was inland near the Skeleton Coast in the northeast of Namibia. It takes hours to reach by Land Rover. Here I had only brought a few school supplies. In route to the school, we got stuck in a river for a while. Elephant, poisonous snakes, lions and other animals were in the area. We tried to get the Rover out by all of us pushing from behind. Water and mud sprayed all over us. We would have had it, but the guide stopped pushing the gas because we were getting too muddy. He did not realize none of us cared about the grime. Because of that hesitation, we got even more stuck and now that method was not going to work.
The guide decided to climb the hill right next to the stuck Rover to see if he could get reception on a satellite phone for help. He made us always stay near the Rover in case we needed to jump inside to avoid contact with the animals. On his way up he almost got bit by a poisonous snake and soon found out the phone did not work. He asked us what we were willing to do. A few of us had been in this situation in life. We needed to get sticks, rocks, and foliage to jam under the wheels to give us traction. He was worried that if we went too far from the vehicle and animals came, we would not have enough time to make back. On the other hand, if we did not get the Rover going we would have to stay in there all night and hope the elephants did not find us,as they would find us as a threat and smash the Rover with us in it.
We all pulled our weight. Some of us getting materials for under the tires and others watching out for wildlife. After the first attempt did not work, we added more things under the tires, always pushing from the back and with lots of gas pedal. After a couple more attempts, we finally got the Rover out and cleaned ourselves off a bit. Jumping back in and driving again, we came around the very next corner to find a pack of lions laying down. We were lucky they were resting while we were working.
By the time we got to the school the kids had left for the day. We were able to have some of the school staff greet us and let us look at the school. The school was one stand-alone building and a soccer field next to it. We were able to go inside and look around. I gave them what little I had, and they were very appreciative. We found out they did not have many school supplies and had to share lots of things. This is when I first came to understand just how little schools have in areas like this in the world. The pictures below are from this day.