An American volunteer teacher based in Namibia, Zack Wales, has been fired by his organisation after a local newspaper published an article he had written about a visit to the northern part of the country. The American-based Word Teach organisation confirmed that they had fired Wales because he had broken a contract which does not […]
An American volunteer teacher based in Namibia, Zack Wales, has been fired by his organisation after a local newspaper published an article he had written about a visit to the northern part of the country.
The American-based Word Teach organisation confirmed that they had fired Wales because he had broken a contract which does not allow him to make public comments about local politics or publish articles without the organisation’s permission.
Wales’ article, published in the “Namibian” newspaper on 10 January 2000, was about his visit to the northern part of Namibia at the end of last year. The article was a travel piece and not political in nature. His visit took place shortly after the American Embassy in Windhoek had issued warnings to U.S. citizens not to travel to the northern part of Namibia because of several violent incidents in the area attributed to the on-going civil war in Angola. World Teach, however, in an interview with the “Namibian” newspaper denied that the U.S. embassy had pressured the organisation to fire Wales. However, speaking to MISA, Wales confirmed that the embassy had called the local director of World Teach, Lisa Demas, to express anger at the fact that Wales had travelled to the area despite warnings from the embassy for U.S. citizens to avoid the area.
