Orientation and Edundja

Thursday, June 5
Tongue Tied
Today we went to the US Embassy for a security briefing and discussed the fact that in Windhoek and in our villages we will stand out and our actions will be noticed and discussed. We discussed safety and how to not provide opportunities for thieves. Namibia is a very safe country and most crimes occur because the opportunity exists. Not because there is gang activity, not because people want to hurt others. Dave, our contact with the Embassy, talked about being careful to not put your i-pod or phone in the small outer pocket of your bag or backpack. He discussed keeping items close at hand, weaving on the sidewalk, changing our routines and not providing opportunities for thieves.

He also told us about a news story concerning a local woman who had gotten kidnapped in Windhoek and that this was unusual, but that high food and fuel prices put pressures on everyone and that crime is bound to spike. The next day a story broke in the paper about how the woman had fabricated the story because she had been caught shoplifting and paid off an officer to let her go. Unfortunately for the woman, her husband sent out an email warning others and the story spread, then got picked up by the newswires and what do you know, she made it all up. She’s currently being charged with perjury due to the police report that she filed (This added on 6/12/08).

For dinner we went to a traditional Herero restaurant and had a blast! We sat outside at several large round tables and got the chance to get to know each other a little better. Dinner was buffet style and consisted of 2 types of fish, liver, spinach, potatoes, salad and Smiley. Smiley is a goat head. We had several Smileys and quite a few people were daring enough to eat the eyeball. Some people had the brain, the cheek. I tried the tongue and it was surprisingly good. I am sure that if I did not know that it was tongue I would have wanted more. It tasted like a fatty cut of meat and looking back, I really enjoyed it. We all had beer, wine and at the end of the meal, we passed around a clay pitcher and ladel to try milk that had been milked and then left to sit for about 12 hours. I had a hard time bringing myself to try it. I’m glad that I tried it, but I did not like it. It was curdled, smelled funny and tasted like sour yogurt. I have plenty of pictures of this meal and hope to post a few.

Friday, June 6
It’s Possible That All Namibians Know Each Other
One the things that we have heard from Jocie and Maggie is that because Namibia is such a sparsely populated country, many people know each other and Namibians may assume that all Americans know each other or that we know famous Americans. For example, two of the popular Namibian rappers/singers are The Dogg and Gaza and many people in Namibia know them or one of their relatives. More on this later…

So today we took a bus tour around Windhoek and each of us had a question that we needed to get answered by interacting with local Namibians – a sort of scavenger hunt. We saw the new state house that is being constructed and is funded by the North Koreans. Interesting, right? Then we went to an up-and-coming black neighborhood (Klein Klasse), an upscale white neighborhood (Klein Windhoek) and then toured Katutura and some of the tin structure settlements in Windhoek. Katutura is definitely closer to what you think of when you think of communities in need, but the settlements are shocking. Thankfully we did not stop in any of the settlements or make a spectacle of touring through. We stopped in two different markets in Katutura. One was called Single Quarters because it used to be housing and each stall in the concrete structure was a living space. I am not sure what the other was called. But, there were local people selling a variety of things. There was butchering and cooking of all kinds of meat, fat cakes (which are similar to cake doughnuts, but a little lighter), spices, dried worms and other things. There were also lots and lots of braid shops. We all walked around and sampled some of the food items.

Maggie bought a bagful of the worms for us to pass around and try. I was all set to give it a try and when the bag made it to me and I looked down into it, I just could not bring myself to do it. They just looked too Fear Factor-ish. I did hear that the worms were not good, but I still wish I had not chickened out.

There was a group of school girls in the market and one of them touched my hair and told me that she liked it. It made me feel good, since it hadn’t been washed in a couple of days J As we wandered around the market, we bumped into one of the girls that was part of the Tswana dance group. Namibia is a Small World #1.

As we were getting onto the bus and heading to our next destination, we heard shouting, turned to see who it was and saw that it was one of the guys from the Capoiera group getting into a taxi right across from where our bus was parked! Namibia is a Small World #2.

Unfortunately, when we got off of the bus at the first market someone hadn’t closed one of the windows and the window was right above the wheel well, so someone’s backpack was stolen. Luckily it was just some personal items and her journal, and not her id, passport and money. Luckily this was a relatively painless lesson for the group and I am sure that people will be much more aware of their actions.

In addition to the markets, we went to a government run hospital for a health discussion, but it ended up being a bit of a cluster. The doctor that we were supposed to meet with had to cancel and one of the health inspectors met with us – 5 at a time in his office. When my group was in there, he tried to tell us that anti-malarials are not needed in Namibia, even in the North. Maybe so, but I’m not willing to chance it.

After dinner at the hostel, a group of us (who else, but Dana, Laura, Cat, Eric, Brian, Monty and Pat – the “drinkers” of the group) decided to go out on the town and experience Windhoek nightlife. Magge had recommended a place called El Cubano, so that’s where we went. At first, I was reluctant to go – as I don’t like clubby atmospheres that much and that’s what I thought it was. It actually was a really cool spot and I’m glad that I went. There was a good mix of local Namibians as well as people that looked to be expats, volunteers and NGO staffers. There was also a pair of drunk Scotsmen (reminded me of Desmond f/Lost) and some South Africans. While I was elsewhere in the bar, Dave from the Embassy spotted Dana on his way out of the bar and stopped to say hello. Namibia is a Small World #3. If we’ve been here for 3 days and have already crossed paths with 3 people we’ve encountered, it is possible that all Namibians might know each other.

Saturday, June 7
The Thieves Come Out on the Weekend
Today there was a noticeably different vibe on the sidewalks of downtown Windhoek. While eating a sidewalk café, a street vendor approached Cat and I, with a really great approach, and tried to sell us a palm know carved into a keychain. He opened the conversation with by greeting us and introducing himself as being from Damaraland and demonstrating the 4 clicks of his language. Although I knew that he was going to try to sell me something, I wanted to hear him speak in clicks. When the business owner, a white man, realized what was going on, he approached the guy and told him that he could not sell to his customers and that he must leave. The two continued a very polite, yet still heated exchange that ended with Cat quickly bargaining the asking price of N$30 down to N$10. She did not really want to buy anything, but I think that she was too polite to say no. The white business owner got the click man to leave, but he left his keychain carving. The white business owner collected N$10 from Cat and followed the guy to give him the money. Shortly thereafter, the click man came back upset that he had sold the keychain for so cheap and insisted on returning Cat’s money and getting his carving back. Cat gladly made the exchange.

Later Cat, Brian, Eric and I were walking down he sidewalk and I was carrying my backpack over my left shoulder with the double zipper closet to my side. I noticed a guy in a white shirt coming towards me from my left and felt a tug on the zipper of my backpack. I immediately stopped and said that someone had just tried to open my pack as I quickly zipped it back closed. I saw the guy snaking off down the sidewalk. After the incident I realized that I had been aware of what was going on as it happened and felt lucky that in all my travels abroad I have yet to be pick pocketed. Once we got to our afternoon session, I learned that another volunteer had a similar incident in which she avoided being pick pocketed.

If only it ended there. At the end of the day a group of four of us decided to walk home. Two of the other girls in our group were also walking and we invited them to join us, but they said that they wanted to go to an internet café on the way home. As we walked, it started getting dark and by the time we realized that we should have taken a cab, we were close to home and kept walking. We made it safely with no problems, but unfortunately the other girls did not.

Apparently the internet café was closed and they continued walking home. When they were literally around the corner from the hostel, a couple of guys jumped out of a car, grabbed one of the girl’s backpacks, pushed her down and then they left. The other girl was untouched. The girl that was targeting is thin, blonde, very American looking and was wearing a short denim mini. The other girl was wearing jeans and a T-shirt and not as conspicuous. Not that any of us blend in, but that reinforced the idea of not calling unnecessary attention to yourself.

Tonight at the hostel we had a Braai, which is a BBQ. It was nice to sit outside, drink a few beers and socialize – oh, wait, we’ve been doing that every night. But it was still fun. Maggie’s boyfriend and some of his friends came by to hang out and eventually the beer-drinking group ended up going over to Maggie’s to check out her place. It was a really cute condo. Two of the Namibians that were there are cousins with The Dogg and with Gaza. I only found that out after the fact, but it lends to the theory that Namibia is a very small world.

Monday, June 9
New Start Centre and More New Cuisine
Today we visited an HIV/AIDS testing and counseling facility called New Start Center. It is funded by NGOs and encourages the community to come in for free HIV testing. They conduct pre- and post- test counseling and can do up to 35 tests each day. The results are ready in 15 minutes – so people are able to come in, receiving counseling, take the test and get their results in the same day. Unfortunately, close to one-third of the people tested test positive for HIV. It is also unfortunate that they must turn away people everyday for lack of capacity and that many people do not come to get tested because they cannot afford the N$7 taxi fare (equivalent to $1).

This evening at the hostel our dinner was antelope steak. It was probably one of my favorite meals since I’ve been in Namibia and it tasted similar to chicken fried steak, except that the meat was not dipped in batter and fried.

Tuesday, June 10
Now I Know Why There is Now, Now Now and Now Now Now
This morning the 20 of us that were headed to the areas surrounding Ondangwa and Oshikati were up and ready to go (or extremely close to it) at our planned departure time of 7:30a. However, our transport was not. We were supposed to all be going on one large bus. But there was a mix-up and one bus that seats 20 people (no room for luggage) and one bakki (basically, a pick-up truck) for our luggage arrived. By 8:30a, we knew that the people dropping off the instruction manuals that we are all supposed to take to our respective schools had gone to the Ministry of Education instead of the hostel and were on their way. By 9:30a we had divvied up the manuals that had arrived (they are actually not finished being produced, so only school that have computer labs were to take 20 each of all 4 booklets) and were still waiting on a second bus. Finally, at 10:30a, we were on the road -the Ondangwa crew in a small bus with the bakki following behind with the luggage and the Oshikati crew and their luggage in a second bus.

When we reached Ondangwa, there were 10 of us that were getting rides with either our principals or regional transport. I thought that I was meeting my principal, Michael Kavungo, and then getting dropped off at my homestead. As it turns out, I had a regional transport. Nestor – he was extremely conversational – he mentioned that he wants to go to DC, he asked if I drank, and wanted my number. I would have given it to him, but when we got to the homestead it was pitch black and a little chaotic – between meeting the principal, the school admin and a handful of family members in pitch darkness and managing to unload my bags and make sure I got everything.

We had to stop to ask for directions to the village on Edundja several times and I started to get really concerned about how remote the place where I’ll be living for the next two months is. For most of the way from Windhoek, we were on the B1 highway (it goes all the way to Oshikango and into Angola), which starts out as a 4-lane road. At some point it became a two-lane road. When you turn off at Oshikango it becomes a 2-lane dirt road and then turns into more of a sand path through the brush.

When we got into Edundja village, I noticed that it is no more than 12 little concrete structures – mostly shebeens. Shebeen are shady looking bars, many with a pool table and quirky or nonsensical names. On the B1 I saw MacGyver Bar, which I thought was funny. There is also an RDP building, which I thought was odd. RDP stands for Rally for Democratic Process or something like that and is a relatively recent political party formed in opposition to Swapo, the ruling party that has been in effect since apartheid ended in 1990. In 2005, Sam Nujoma, the first President of Namibia stepped down and Pahumba took office. Anyway, Swapo is the party of the North and the North has the largest population, you get the idea. RDP was founded by someone that fell out of favor with Swapo. Namibia’s elections are a couple of years away, but it could be an interesting one…

When I arrived at my homestead at 7:30p, I was greeted by a whole group of people – the Meme (a term of respect, the woman of the homestead), Maria and Else, two of my colleagues at Edundja JSS and some of the older boys that live on the hostel. As Else and Maria gave me a tour, we went over by the fire where the children were eating. None of the younger ones would talk to me - they were too shy. There is one in particular, Shangila, that does nothing but giggle if I look at her or talk to her.

Here’s a list of the people that live in my homestead: Meme, Tate, Else, Maria, Patricia (another colleague), her sons Joe and Stephen (2 months old), Shangila, Rosaria, Elias, Anna, Victor, Jason and Peni and Franz. I am pretty sure that this is everyone.

The homestead consists of many structures – the main house has the kitchen and a sitting room and this is where Else’s room is. There is also a store room and several other bedrooms, which I have not seen. There is a structure for the toilet and shower, which has no sink or toilet paper. There is a ground pump for drinking water. And numerous other structures for the other people that live here. My room has electricity and is in concrete structure. Maria is my neighbor on the right and Rosaria is the neighbor on my left.

Mr. Kavungo, the principal, is letting me sleep in and said that someone will come get me at 11am to show me how to get to JSS – @ 800m from the homestead.

It’s 10pm as I am writing this and I think that I am hearing roosters crow. There are also chickens, goats and two dogs…

Wednesday, June 11
Color Is No Problem
This morning I slept in as long as I could and was awake before 7am. I stayed in bed until two of the teachers that live in the homestead knocked to ask if I was headed to school with them. Since I was up, I decided to go ahead a take a shower. I was expecting only cold water, as when Else gave me a tour last night she mentioned that Meme could turn the hot on if I wanted. I said that would not be necessary. Since I was able to take a hot shower, I enjoyed every second because you never know when the next one might be.

After the shower, I organized my room a little more, got dressed and left my room. Meme and Peni asked if I was cold last night and I said that I was fine. They offered me a blanket and I said that I was fine with my sleeping bag and the small blanket that I have. Lost in Translation Moment: Apparently, as I found out after dinner, they thought that I had slept in my clothes bag – one of the children was laughing and Victor told me what she was saying.

Meme took me to one of the other structures on the homestead and introduced me to Patricia, the last of the three teachers that live on the homestead. Meme picked up a tray with several canisters and plates on it and motioned for me to follow her. We went back to the main house and she set a place for me to have breakfast – it was bread, butter/peanut butter, instant coffee, tea and sugar and creamer. She would not let me do the dishes.

Since there wasn’t much else to do and it was 9:30a, I decided to head to school and Peni walked me there, since it was my first time going to the school. Mr. Kavungo was surprised to see me so early and he was excited to show me around. We chatted in his office for a while and he told me the history of the school. Edundja Junior Secondary School was started in 1997 by the parents in the area because there were no secondary schools close by for their children to attend. In fact, the circuit that my school is in is made up of Edundja JSS and 3 primary schools. Parents and corporations donated money and cleared the land and built the school structures. There is an administration building, teacher’s housing for 3 people, and 3 separate classroom structures.

Over the years it seems that the school has received many donations, but many of the things that have been donated are either underutilized due to service requirements (a printer that uses cartridges that are difficult to get) or out of date. In the computer lab, Mr. Kavungo showed me some spelling programs donated by the US that were on floppy disks (called stiffys here). Although there are about 20 computers in the lab, only 5 are operational. And one of the five is in another room and can’t be used for teaching a class. The computers are old enough that they do not have USB ports. However, Mr. Kavungo and the school admin have new computers that are Windows based (rather than the Linux in the lab) and I believe that there is one other computer in one of the offices that is not currently being utilized.

After my tour of the school, we had a brief staffing meeting in the staff lounge. They prepared a desk for me and put a computer printed welcome sign on it J I spent the rest of the school day in the computer lab checking the computers and preparing things for the beginning of the teacher training, which will start on Tuesday.

Wednesday is extracurricular day – the boys play either soccer or net ball and there is a choir that happens to be made up of all girls (probably because the boys are all doing sports). So I went to observe choir practice, as next week there is an AIDS Awareness Day and the girls will be singing. At the end of the practice, the group sang and danced around the room in a circle and the three teachers who went to watch and I joined in. We then went to watch some of the soccer game that was going on. Our school team was wearing yellow generic jerseys and the other team was wearing white Pirelli Tire jerseys. The other team was not from another school – it was a team made up of drop-outs and those that could not continue on to 11th or 12th grades for whatever reasons. I assume that they got a sponsor for the jerseys… Also, at least half of the players on both teams were without cleats (or boots as they are called) and were playing barefoot.

We left midway through the game (the dropouts won 1-0) and on the way home Else and Joolokeni, another colleague, asked about the tribes that we have in America. I explained that because America was settled by immigrants from other places, that we really do not have tribes per se. Else made dinner for me tonight – it was farmer’s sausage and rice. Else, Peni and I ate. Meme and Tate were not home and no one was cooking for the kids. So Else gave the children our leftovers. Else, Peni and I ate at a set table in the main living room of the house. The children ate our leftovers by sitting on the floor in the kitchen and sharing out of the same bowl.

While Else was cooking, I brought out the food storage containers and Connect 4. And, first, I have give Marian credit for the Connect 4 suggestion – the children, actually everyone, LOVED it. I gave them the game around 6pm or so and it did not stop until close to 11pm when everyone went to bed. It’s a great gift because I have not seen any toys around the homestead, it’s quick, it transcends the language barrier and it’s good for all ages. When I was explaining the game, I asked if anyone had heard of tic tac toe and no one, adults included, had.

The Gardener’s Daughter is a Mexican soap opera – or soapie – as they call it here – that comes on each night. It’s dubbed into English here and it is so over the top cheesy! Tonight’s episode was about a last minute wedding that was taking place and this man in a floral print shirt showed up with 4 similarly dressed colleagues to decorate the home with bouquets. Another man walked into the room and said, “oh, I didn’t know you were bringing your sisters with you.” Very funny! I didn’t see the whole episode because Tate came home and I had yet to meet him.

Although the children had taken an interest in the food storage containers, I told them that I wanted to give them to Meme and Tate. So when they came home I explained what they were for and thanked them for taking me into their home. They were both so appreciative of the gift – they were smiling and gesturing – and it made me wish that I had brought more for them. As we were communicating, Tate said, “Color is no problem” and I was not sure what he meant. He elaborated in Oshikwanyama and Else translated for me. What he was saying is that although our skin color is different, on the inside we are all the same.”

Thursday, June 12
You Can’t Get Enough of A Good Thing – Hot Water and Connect 4
Well, I knew it was too good to be true. I went to take a shower at 6:30am and there was no hot water! For now, No Hot Water = No Shampoo. On another note, as I was on the way to the toilet/shower, I heard the sound of checkers being released from a Connect 4 grid.

This morning when I got to school, I asked Mr. Kavungo, the principal, if there were any open class periods where learners didn’t have class. Since there are not, he asked one of the teachers to give me some of her course load. So, starting tomorrow I’ll be teaching Business Management to all 4 sections of Grade 9 – which is 16 class periods per week. And starting on Tuesday, we’ve decided to take half of the teachers on Monday and Wednesday and half of the teachers on Tuesday and Thursday and do 2 computer lessons per week. During my open periods, I’ll be available for one-on-one instruction with the teachers.

Tomorrow, in addition to starting my own classes, I’m covering the Grade 10 Business Management classes. Apparently, three teachers are going to be at the circuit office tomorrow – and when a teacher is out, there is no one to cover the classes. So the learners either do homework or hang around until the next class.

Two of the board members came to the school to meet me today – Meme Kristofina and another Meme whose name I have forgotten. The school board is made up of 9 members – Mr Kavungo, a student, two heads of department and 5 parents. This way the parents always have a majority vote on things. Mr. Kavungo pointed out that they are aiming for gender equality, but unfortunately, there is only one other male on the board.

The Memes do not speak English, so Mr. Kavungo was translating our conversation. I offered to show them the book of postcards that I brought with NYC landmarks and skylines. The pictures are quite a shock to Namibians – Namibia’s population is around 2 million. Windhoek, the capital, is only about 200,000. They can’t believe that such a small area is home to about 9 million people!

The Memes did not know that the US was divided into 50 states (even Mr. Kavungo asked me how many states there are). After he told them, one of the Memes was surprised that there is not a war going on in America. Although the Meme knows about Iraq and the US, she did not understand that Iraq is in the Middle East and that the US is in North America.

I just got home from school about 20 minutes ago – it’s 5:30pm. And as I was walking to my room, a small boy came out of his hut carrying Connect 4. And I still hear the sound of the checkers falling as I type…

Tonight Maria had me over to her room, along with Else, for dinner. It was pasta and some sort of meat. I was told it was turkey – what we eat at Christmas dinner – but I can assure you that it was not.

Around 8pm some of the children – Rosaria, Elias, Joe and Anna – came and knocked on the door to watch The Gardener’s Daughter. Again, there was a hilarious scene with the flamboyant decorator. He threw a snap when he referred to himself as a sister. Even while watching the Namibian newscast, I could hear the sound of falling checkers…

Friday, June 13
To Oshikongo and Back
No hot water again. So I didn’t wash my hair again. I figured that tomorrow I can shower during the afternoon and wash my hair – and today is only day 3 of not washing. Wow, that’s something I would never say at home!

Since Monday is a holiday – Day of the African Child, commemorating the memory of the children whose lives were lost in Soweto fighting for their rights during apartheid, Maria and Else are both going away for the weekend. This morning I mentioned that I wanted to go into Oshikongo, about a 30-minute hike (meaning hitchhike) from Edundja. Else said that they were going to Oshikongo right after school and invited me to come along so that I would know my way (since it was dark when I arrived).

Learners are expected to be at the school by 7:30 and classes start at 8am. Mr. Kavungo locks the gates to the school at 7:30 and does not let late-comers in – in theory. So far, each day he has let learners in. This morning was no different. Apparently on Fridays there is assembly, where @ 7:30 the learners line up by class and section in front of the administration building. They learners sing, one of the teachers says a benediction and then the principal and teachers make any announcements. Today Mr. Kavungo introduced me and let me greet the learners and say a few words, apparently I spoke too quickly for them to understand everything. It’s hard to keep in mind that although the learners speak English, that they are not comfortable using it. Today in class, one of the learners told me that my “pronun” was good, but too fast – it took me a few minutes to figure out that he meant pronunciation and not pronoun.

Anyway, when the assembly started, there were as many learners outside the gate as there were inside the gate. Mr. Kavungo was just a little too late in telling one of the learners to run to tell the teacher by the gate not to let them in to the school.

Today was the first day that I had my own classes and I also covered the grade 10 classes for Joolekeni (a grade 12 graduate that is teaching at the school because they were unable to get a qualified teacher). Since it was my first day with classes, I wanted to learners to get a chance to get to know me and I wanted to have them tell me about themselves. I put some basic questions on the board and had them answer them, then I gave them the opportunity to ask me questions. Many of the learners were too shy to ask me questions and there were a few that had tons of questions. I was asked in two different sections if there are black people in New York City. One of the questions that I had asked students was to tell me something that they knew about the US or New York. Very few students (maybe 5 total) said that they knew anything and shared. When I probed a little bit, it seems that many of them have had some exposure to American music. 2Pac, Puff Daddy (not P Diddy, it was Puff Daddy), 50 Cent, Rihanna, Chris Brown were some of the names that came up.

There are 4 class sessions before the mid-day break (the only break and it’s just 30 minutes) at 10:40a. Classes resume at 11:10. As I was headed back to staff lounge to get my things for afternoon classes, Mr. Kavungo told me that we were knocking off early because of the holiday on Monday, so classes did not resume. However, it was after noon before most of the kids started to head home. I checked my email in the lab, Mr. Kavungo was checking email in the lab (the newer computer in his office is not set up for the wireless network) and I am not sure what everyone else was doing.

Hilya, one of the teachers, gave most of the teachers a ride from school to either the Edundja village or Oshikongo – so there were 8 of us in the back of her bakki (truck). It was a very “I’m really in Africa” moment. Sadly, I also experienced something that we were warned was quite common in Namibia. Not too far from school we came across some of the learners and two of them were fighting. One of the teachers got out of the truck, broke a small limb (maybe it was a big stick, whichever sounds less horrible) and used it to hit one of the boys. It did not seem to be hard enough or violent enough to phase the boy, but I did not want to watch.

Once we were in Oshikongo, Hilya dropped off Maria, Else, Esther (another of the teachers) and me. We walked around that they helped me find the things that I needed. We also stopped and had sausage, chips (French fries) and cool drink (what they call soda). While we were sitting and finishing our cool drink, a mother and her toddler son stopped by our table. She seemed drunk and asked for money. Else and I each had cool drink left and offered our cups to her. At first she seemed disappointed that we were unwilling to give her money, but she took the cool drink. There were lots of mothers with babies on their backs and a couple of mothers that I saw were walking around town while breast feeding – literally breast feeding as they walked.

Oshikongo is literally on the Angolan border. From the Pick and Pay (the grocery store), you can see the border patrol and police station and there are officers in fatigues with rifles walking around. Many Angolans come to Oshikongo to shop and there was a mix of Oshiwambo dialects and Portuguese being spoken. There were many street boys hanging around and wanting to carry your purchases to make money. Other boys were walking around selling slices of deli meat or other food items. According to Else, many boys drop out of school and/or run away from their homes to make money this way. Oh, while in town, I saw two different people wearing burnt orange Texas Longhorn shirts – one t-shirt, one sweatshirt. Speaking of Longhorns, in Oshikongo and I saw boars, donkeys and goats. I also saw cattle and I think Kudu on the way home.

Oh, and I stand corrected on the mystery turkey that I had for dinner last night. I looked at the meat section in Pick and Pay and saw that what I had was in fact turkey. But, I think that it was a drumstick that was butchered in slices with the bone still in.

Else was meeting one of her friends in Oshikongo to stay with her for the weekend in a village that is between Edundja and Oshikongo and she knew someone else that would be driving past the homestead on his way to wherever he was going, so that is how I got back home. This bakki was even more crowded that when we left school. And, at one point, there were two breast- feeding mothers in the bakki – I can’t image breast-feeding while bumping along a dirt path (which is what the road to my homestead is). Apparently, and keep in mind that it’s possible that all Namibians know each other, the homestead where I live is well known. All I need to do is tell the local taxi drivers that I am going to Erikki’s.

Else also offered me the key to her room in case I want to watch TV while she is away.

On the way back through the Edundja village, I recognized Meme Kristofina. We stopped to let someone out of the bakki and I shouted out to her. She came over to shake my hand and say hello.

As I am writing this, one of the small boys (Namlish a small boy is a man in his early 20’s, that is immature) stopped by my room. This is the first “I’m coming to hang out in your room visit” that anyone has made. His name is Jason and he is doing something at the primary school as a facilitator of some sort while someone is out on maternity, from what I could tell from our conversation. Patricia, one of the teachers that lives here, had stopped by earlier to ask if she could make me some macaroni for dinner. I had not finished it and was thinking of eating the rest of it later or giving it to children. When Jason saw it, he asked if I made it and if he could have it, so I gave it to him.

He came to ask what I was doing tomorrow. I said that I wanted to do laundry and go into Edundja village. He asked if he could escort me there. He is going at 10am to watch a soccer game and then he is playing in one at 1pm. It will be a great opportunity for me to meet more of the local people outside my homestead. I mentioned that I needed to start running and motioned to my running shoes. We had a little more small talk and then I went back to finishing the SMS that I was typing when he arrived because it was a bit awkward. As he was leaving, he said that before I left for the US, I had to give him my running shoes. I said that I thought that they would be too small and that I was not making any promises. I sense a marriage proposal in my near future…

And, while I was typing this, I got a very nice SMS from Maria, the teacher that lives next door to me – it says “I like who u a, da way u behave, da way u talk, da way u appear, ur social interaction & thanx 4 being a gud person 2 me.”

I’ve got to run, I want to catch the news and “The Gardener’s Daughter”!

For the record, when I got back from Oshikongo, Connect 4 was in use and was being played up until I went and said that I was going into Else’s room to watch TV. After TV, we all went to bed.

Saturday, June 14
Drink a 40 and Chat with the Minister
Today I went into Edundja village with Franz and Jason. Although we were supposed to go at 10a, I had the feeling that Namibian time was different – and it was. We left a little bit after noon. And the 1pm soccer game actually started closer to 3p. While hanging out with Franz I learned a little bit more about him – apparently he grew up in Rundu and is an orphan. He said that he’s been at the homestead for 4 years now and that the family only supports his schooling. This morning before we went to town he asked if I would help him pay for a hike/food for a soccer game on June 21 in another village (I was very non-committal in my answer). And while were in the village, he said that he was hungry and asked if I wanted to get chips (fries). I bought us chips, sausage and a cool drink (Coke) and we shared it. Although he claims that he struggles, he is one of the best-dressed kids in the homestead. I also found out that he is 19. Oh, btw, he’s in my grade 9 business management class – yes, grade 9.

As it turns out, he and Vincent (one of the other kids) are in the same class. Vincent is 16. Apparently, Vincent was born in Angola and plans to return there after 12th grade. I’m not clear on if his parents still live in Angola or if just other relatives do. He said he goes there for holidays. I think that he’s been in Edundja for all of his schooling and came here when he was 6.

After I returned from the village, I sat outside with Meme while the kids were cooking mahango porridge over a fire. It was dark and getting colder, so Meme asked if I wanted to sit inside. Once we were settled inside, she sent one of the girls into her room and she came out with a cordless phone, but it did not look like what you typically think of as a cordless phone. It was like an office phone and the handset had a coiled cord connecting it to the base, which had large touchtone buttons. The reason it was cordless is that it was not attached to a phone jack. She dialed a number from her cell into the cordless phone, spoke to the male voice on the other end of the phone in Oshikwanyama and then handed to receiver to me. It turns out that it was the Honorable Erikki Nghimtina, Minister of Mining and Energy of Namibia and owner of the house that I am living in. We had a brief conversation and I thanked him for having me in his home. It’s possible that he will come for a visit while I am here, but not sure. I invited him to call me when he is in NYC next – as he sometimes goes for UN meetings, etc.

Meme also had one of the boys bring her a beer – a 40oz – and she shared a beer with me before dinner. Thankfully, Patricia had already made me dinner – fish and rice – and I had an excuse not to eat too much. They ate the porridge with some kind of really salty tasting fish. I ate enough to be polite. After dinner, Vincent and Meme were asking about the US and I went and got the map of the world that I brought with me to better explain. They were unsure if North America and America were the same thing and wanted to know which one George W. Bush is president of. I also showed them the path that I took to get to Namibia.

Tomorrow I am headed to Ondongwa for a Braai (BBQ), the original location was Ongwadiva and for some reason I got an SMS saying the location changed. I’ll be staying the night with one of the year-long volunteers and returning on Monday to Edundja. Hopefully I’ll be able to get to an internet café and upload everthing that I’ve written since I’ve been here!