Everyone Knows I Went to Okahao

I successfully slept until 8am again! Whoo-hoo! Once everyone was awake, we finished the cake and had fruit for breakfast and then we started to get ready to make our way back to our respective homes. Steve generously offered to give us (all 6 of us that were leaving) back to Oshikati. Once in Oshikati, Katie, Kathryn and Dan headed off and Cama, Jen and I went to Spar for some groceries with Steve. Steve then dropped Jen off in Ondangwa, Cama in Okatope and me in Oshikango. We all paid him for the ride, but it was great to not have to be crammed in a taxi the entire ride. I would have gladly taken a taxi from Steve’s town, which is about 10k before Oshikango, but Steve said it would be no problem for the ride to Oshikango.

He dropped me off at Omatala and waited with me to get a ride. It only took a couple of minutes, but while we were waiting Else’s friend Ina walked up and asked me how Okahoa was. She did not come in the same bakkie, but we chatted for a minute before I left for Edundja. The bakkie was headed straight down the main dirt (sand) road, so he dropped me off just before the village. As I was getting out of the bakkie, the Take Away Tate was driving by and stopped to say hi, unfortunately, he was not headed into the village. As I started walking through the village, I saw one of the elder men of the village – a former pastor and teacher – sitting and having a beer in front of one of the cuca shops and stopped to say hi. He invited me to sit with him and share a beer (one of the 40 oz). As I was sitting there Jason (I found out he has a nickname, Takataka) came by to ask how Okahao was. I also chatted with Theodore, who gave me a ride a couple of weeks ago, and he seemed to know I had been to Okahao. I also saw one of the teachers at my school, Isaac. After an hour or two in town, Jason walked me back to the homestead. And, it turns out that he lives in one of the homesteads that I walk past each day on my way to school.

As it turns out, the former pastor and teacher is the Headman of Edundja. From what I can tell, it must be like the mayor or something. Ronnie Headman is acting headman of a village very near to where I live, so I guess that one day soon I will have to pay a visit to Ronnie Headman and find out what a Headman actually does.