5 minute read
A day in the life of the Africa Millimetre Telescope Planetarium team
As the Kalahari Desert is covered with darkness and the silence so present that it is almost tangible, an alarm clock starts to beep softly. Before the birds sing their first songs of the day, an astronomy student rubs his eyes and wonders where on earth he is today. He opens his eyes, and a sudden rush of excitement comes over him: he is in the Kalahari, in a beautiful lodge (thank you, Gondwana). In the adjacent cabins, his fellow students also wake up. After a quick shower, the first signs of daybreak are here and the stars slowly fade away.
The van is waiting at the parking lot. The team silently packs the van and the trailer and gets on the way to Stampriet, a little village in the Kalahari. While driving on the endless dirt road in an old riverbed, only the ones who manage to keep their eyes open see the pristine sunrise on the horizon. Some doze off, some chat, some sip their coffee.
Arriving at the village, the school kids are wide awake and already on their way to the planetarium, which is being set up in the local hostel. They come running through the dusty streets, where the heat is already kicking in and a prisoner shouts from the police station. The church looms large, and the local bar is already open. This place looks peaceful and raw.
The children look curious but too shy to ask questions. The team continues to unload the car and blows up the dome inside of the hall while smiling at the kids who press their noses against the window to witness everything happening in there. Then, finally, the dome is ready, and the first astronomy lesson starts outside. Questions about the moon, the sun, Earth and black holes that are lightyears away from everything we seem to understand.
It is these questions – and the answers that they get to share with thousands of children, teachers, parents and communities – that keep the team going and make them find their Ikigai: their reason to get out of bed before the world awakes, the reason to study the most difficult questions in life, the reason for long workdays, for all the travelling, for being part of the AMT planetarium team.
The sun rises and stays right above that hostel building in this remote village. Temperatures are rising, questions are being posed, answers are being explained, cookies are being consumed and litres of water are washed down thirsty throats. Only when the sun starts to set, the team takes a moment to breathe. They just packed and unpacked the whole inflatable dome again and set it up in the red desert sand for one last late-night show to thank the Gondwana staff for hosting the team at their lodges and providing lovely food.
People are never unwilling to help the team, and the team is never unwilling to go the extra mile to give back. The stoke is high when the jeeps drive up and down in the desert, while shooting stars above the planetarium make big wishes come true. But first, the team is hoping for a small wish to come true: a good night’s rest… before the alarm goes off again before sunrise.
