Julie in Namibia

2008-02-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

Fish Pond August 2007

Year 2

2008-02-10T10:37:00.002-07:00

Whoops! Its been 5 months since i’ve updated my blog. My apologies to anyone who may read this. Rather than try to fill you in on the last 5 months, I’m just going to jump right into my life in February, 2008. You’ll get the jist.
As you may know, I was able to go back to the states for a short visit in December/January. I had an absolutely amazing time seeing family and friends and feel refreshed and rejuvenated for my second year of service. Its amazing what a different feeling this year has. I’m really excited for it. I feel so much more comfortable here now. I think my community knows me and will take me more seriously when I try to accomplish things. Its amazing what time will do when it comes to the attitudes and trust of people to a Peace Corps Volunteer.
I’ve also made a pact with myself that I will not purposefully make my life any harder than it already is. Last year I had this idea of what a “peace corps volunteer” should be and the notion that I had the duty to embody that stereotype. The reality is, Namibia is not the typical Peace Corps experience. I have a whole different set of challenges and I should just be OK with it. For that reason i’ve decided to abandon the idea that I have to be “hard core” and just enjoy myself. Thus I am entering my 2nd year with a laptop and plenty of movies, a functional but leaky washing machine, a very slow personal internet connection, a couple of cheap and uncomfortable couches and a shiny new toilet seat. I plan on forking out the N$5 extra dollars for a taxi ride if its too deathly hot to walk or splurging on a trashy magazine or the “nice” peanut butter if it will make me happy. Life is short...why suffer?
As for my projects, things are finally rolling. The nutrition class is still functioning weekly on its own without me. Attendance has decreased a little due to the weather and the pediatric malnutrition program still needs work. Nonetheless, the class is there for the people who need it and for the time being, i’m happy with that.
Despite the fact that my counterpart somehow managed to spend 8,000 Namibian dollars during the 3 weeks I was gone, the fish pond project is happening. I was feeling a little discouraged when I returned to find all of the money gone and nothing to show for it but a giant hole in the ground. Then, just like that Toto song, we were “blessed by the rains down in Africa”. Several all-day downpours turned a dry and dusty hole in the ground into a vast body of water. The aquaculture extension team gave us the go ahead to fertilize the water. The support group and I spent a cheerful afternoon elbow deep in goat manure flinging 20 wheelbarrow-fulls of fertilizer into the water. A few weeks later the pond had blossomed with algae, plankton and other natural food for our little fishies to eat. Next week we plan to introduce 3000 tilapia fingerlings into the pond and begin the growth process.

I’ve begun a new project also which i’m really proud of. Its called VIP (volunteers in partnership) and its a collaboration with the other Peace Corps volunteer and the World Teach volunteer in Oshikuku. We’ve arranged for grade 12 learners at the secondary school to volunteer at the community library on the mission and in the hospital. Last term, we announced the project to the learners and had an overwhelming response. We received over 50 applications and conducted almost as many personal interviews with the learners. Last week we selected 32 volunteers for the library and the hospital and shifts have begun this week. Uniforms (red polo shirts) were funded by donations from Canada (the World Teach Volunteers organizing). The first shifts were a huge success.
Many of the learners aspire to be doctors and nurses but have no idea what that really entails. Not only did the application process give them valuable job interview experience but being in the hospital will help them consider and achieve their career goals. In the hospital, learners are based in different departments. In the pediatric ward they will bring books and games (from the library) and read to kids admitted there. They will act as porters bringing patients from the outpatient department to the wards. There are also volunteers working in the TB clinic, the pharmacy and administration.
Volunteerism is a concept that is not well understood here. I did receive some blank stares (as I often do when I suggest something new) from the staff of the hospital when I introduced the project. They have already begun to come around after seeing the learners in the hospital for just a few shifts. Nurses were putting the volunteers to work teaching them about wheelchair operation and were even showing them how to take blood pressure. The importance of reading to children is also a concept not well understood here. Once the children gathered around the volunteers and smiles and laughter were abound, the nurses and mothers started to see the point.
I’m excited to see how this project progresses. Teachers at the secondary school have expressed interest in the project so we hope we can get it to continue once we leave. I expect more hospital staff will request volunteers once they realize the benefit they will have to the hospital, the community and the learners themselves. It feels great to be part of a project that is so instantly rewarding.
In other news, we are in the midst of the rainy season and boy is it rainy. People are saying they haven’t seen this much rain in 20, even 50 years! Northern Namibia is experiencing a lot of flooding. To make matters worse, Angola has opened dams into Namibia letting more water (and apparently crocodiles) into our already flooded plains. Many homes are damaged, schools are closed and there have been several drownings. The rains came late this year and show no sign of letting up yet, which will make the mahangu harvest interesting this year. This is Africa...there’s always something.

Yay pictures! Its about time...

2007-09-10T07:14:00.000-06:00

This is the mission in Oshikuku where I live. It is pretty much paradise.

You can call me Angelina Jolie. This is me with a bunch of Himba children. They are all sons of the 70 year old headman and his many wives.

This is my friend Eva dancing.

This is me on Dune 7 in Walvis Bay. It was really freakin windy but the view from the top was totally worth the climb.

Himbapalooza

2007-09-10T07:08:00.000-06:00

The newest travel adventures of Julie involved a week long excursion to the Kunene Region in Northwest Namibia. This area is known for its mountainous terrain, horrible roads and traditional Himba people. The Himba are one of the last tribes in Africa to have retained their culture despite the rapid changes around them. They still live in mud huts, raise cattle, follow their own unique customs and wear traditional dress (which includes coating their skin with red ochre, wearing animal skin skirts, no tops and lots of symbolic jewelry).
Traveling to Epupa Falls (on the Angolan border) was an interesting experience. We traveled for hours on a horrible unpaved road through rocky mountains covered with creepy dead trees and brush. It was almost eerie to be surrounded by nothingness and come across a lone himba riding a donkey herding cattle. It felt like we traveled 100 years into the past.
We found some Himba to be quite aggressive. They’ve become accustomed to tourists in that area and are not afraid to ask for handouts. We pulled over for lunch and right after I made a comment about how each place I go in Namibia seems to be more “in the middle of nowhere” than the last, we were ambushed by Himba children. Even adults would often get right in the middle of the road to try to get us pull over and give them a ride or take their picture for money or food.
After dusk we pulled into the oasis known as Epupa. All of the sudden a huge clump of green palm trees rises up and the air becomes humid because of the falls. We stayed in really nice tented camps the first night and slept under the stars and palms the next night. The falls were beautiful and there were some nice hiking trails with traditional Himba people all around.
We then traveled south to a rest camp called Camp Aussicht (Auschwitz or Awwshit as we liked to call it). Unfortunately, our little Volkswagen Polo couldn’t quite handle the gravel roads after the previous days wear and tear and we got a flat tire. This time we were REALLY in the middle of nowhere. We changed it quickly and hit the road again. Some other volunteers had told us that the back road would be a better way to get to the camp for a small car. It was not. The road was rutted and rocky and we cringed and inched along as we scraped the bottom of our poor rental car on the rocks. It was dark (since we had stopped to change the tire) and we had no spare (again, because of the flat tire). It was not fun, but eventually we got there.
The camp was built on top of a mountain and functioned completely on solar and wind power and rainwater. The man who ran it (born in Namibia to German parents) was drawn to the area for its minerals and had opened the guest camp for the sole purpose of defraying the costs of living there. He didn’t like people…and he told us about it. Nonetheless, the place was beautiful with rooms built of stones and a dining area overlooking the mountains and sunset.
The next day the owner took us on a Himba tour. We got into his HUGE landrover and traveled back down the mountain and through the bush for about an hour. I’ll tell you, bad roads are made much better when traveling in a ginormous vehicle. We finally came across a Himba settlement deep in the bush. The owner of the camp (our tour guide) had been in the area for 23 years and had developed relationships with the people in many nearby villages. He spoke their language (Otjiherero) and brought them medicines or maize on occasion.
As we drove in, he pointed out a lone hut on a faraway hill. When a member of the village becomes too old to walk, they put the person alone in the hut. They give them a week’s worth of food and leave them there to spend the last days of their lives before giving them a burial ceremony. It’s quite different from our culture. Most of the villagers were out herding cattle. They had many cattle, a sign of wealth. We saw a young girl milking cows in a corral. She would wait until the calf came and then squeeze the milk into a carved wooden bowl. We could tell that she was 19 years old and married with 2 children just by the way she wore her anklets and necklaces. There were a lot of small boys around, naked and completely covered in dirt. Out tour guide pointed out that their bodies have adapted to the lack of cleanliness and they rarely get sick.
We sat with a group of women sitting on the ground. They played with my hair and let me hold a baby. Yes, I did get red stuff all over me. The babies are always strapped to the mothers back. Sometimes even very young ones will just cling to their mother’s backs with nothing to secure them. It’s amazing. The women then did a traditional dance for us. It was a circle dance with clapping and singing. We joined in and of course looked ridiculous. It was nice to be able to take pictures and stare freely. They also enjoyed staring at us and asking questions as well.
We then departed for another village. We again drove through the bush for a long time spotting springbok, elephant droppings and places where elephants had broken the trees, and ostriches. Upon seeing a pair of ostriches, our guide would flip the landrover around and take off chasing them. Man, they can run! It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Sitting in the front seat of a landrover holding on for dear life and squealing with joy while watching the ostriches run right in front of me was exhilarating!
We finally reached another village. We met a man in his seventies who was the head of the village. There were about a dozen small boys swarming around us that were all his children (he had several wives). We met one of his wives who showed me how to apply the ochre to my skin. It’s made from an iron compound ground from a rock and mixed with animal fat. Himba women never bathe, but only apply the ochre to their skin every couple days. We also met a young girl who was 14 years old. Our guide told us that her price was 2 cows and a calf, if we wanted to marry her.
We then had a nice picnic lunch (once again) in the middle of nowhere. We drove to a natural salt deposit where animals come to scrape the rocks with their teeth. We drove the landrover to the very top of a mountain for a viewpoint (I felt like I was in a Chevy commercial or something). Our guide then showed us his mines. He mines for a turquoise mineral related to copper as well as quartz and dioptase. His mines were quite impressive although we had a run in with a swarm of bats, which I did not so much enjoy.
It was a fascinating trip. It was so interesting to learn about such a different culture and to see landscape so different from where I live. The Kunene Region is difficult to see without a car so I’m glad I had the opportunity to visit. The Himba (in the traditional sense) probably won’t be around in another 20 years, so it was a wonderful opportunity to see them. The visit raised some interesting questions. How do we (as volunteers and development workers) encourage people like the Himba to retain their traditional culture and traditions, while still offering them the conveniences and advancements of more developed societies? If they are happy as they are, why should we try to change them? Are they really happy? How do we find a balance between tradition and culture and things like health, education and opportunities? It’s a lot to think about.

Driving through the bush...

2007-07-27T09:46:00.000-06:00

I think one of my favorite Namibian activities is driving aimlessly through the bush. I try to get out into the villages whenever I can. Sometimes it’s with the hospital outreach team weighing babies and sometimes it’s with the TB program visiting clinics and tracing patients. This week it was for the second round of NID (National Immunization Days). When I get to the hospital in the morning there is usually madness with tons of cars and people gathered around someone with a loudspeaker blaring Oshiwambo. I usually just hang out until I hear my name or someone tells me what to do.

The first day I was told we were going to a kindergarten! I expected a cute little school with miniature everything and lots of fingerpaint and bright colors. When we arrived, it was a tiny brick room in the middle of nowhere. “This is it?” I thought. When I looked inside, I found a teacher and about 20 pairs of little eyes staring at me. All of the kids were sitting on the floor or on logs or broken bricks. There was basically nothing in the room, no chalkboard or desks, just one broken chair for the teacher to sit on. We lined up all of the kids and gave them their 2 drops of polio vaccine. The kindergarteners went to play outside while we immunized other children that women brought in.

After a few hours, things slowed down and the kindergarteners came back inside to finish their school day. They lined up in front of me and started singing. About halfway through the song, I realized it was the Namibian National Anthem and it was in English! Coulda fooled me. It was pretty adorable. Then they bowed their heads and said a prayer in Oshiwambo followed by some sort of goodbye song. Then the little 5 year olds grabbed their things and took off in various directions into the bush.

The next day I was placed with another team with people I didn’t know. The Tate and I gathered our supplies and drove to Okalongo to pick up the nurse at the clinic. We picked her up and realized none of us knew how to get to our post. That didn’t stop us of course! After an hour of driving aimlessly through the bush, we found it…a church and a school in the middle of nowhere.

I used to be amazed that Namibians know their way around in the bush. I’ve realized now that they really don’t…no one does. I don’t think there is such thing as knowing where you are going when it comes to the bush. There is just expansive nothingness with intertwining sand tire-marks weaving among shrubs and trees. It all starts to look the same after about 5 minutes of driving. Half of the time you’re just driving on the grass and not even on a “road”. The strategy is to drive until you see a human being and ask them directions. You might see a random person walking or sitting under a tree. You might suddenly come across a small village and see a group of people drinking tambo at the sheebeen at 9am. Ask them directions and they will most likely point in 9 different directions. Choose a direction and drive until you see someone else…or reach your destination. It’s hilarious. After being in Namibia this long, I realize that it’s not worth getting stressed out over things that you have no control over. It’s better just to laugh and enjoy the ride.

The second day, we were at a Lutheran church deep in the bush (as described earlier). We were quite busy and had a fairly constant flow of children all day. I think most of these kids had never seen a white person before, so at least I’m exposing them to something new. They just stare at me and stare at me. One little boy stared forever, then he came up to me, touched my arm and ran away (it was like he wanted to see how my skin felt). It makes sense why some of the kids freaked out when a big scary white thing (me) came up to them wanting to put drops of a strange substance in their mouths. At least they wont get polio, and maybe they wont be afraid of the next white person they see. Or maybe they will…who knows?

NGC

2007-07-19T05:02:00.000-06:00

Last weekend was the Northern Girls’ Conference, a secondary project that I have been working on with several other volunteers. It was a weekend conference for girls in grade 8 and 9 from the various schools in northern regions of Namibia. The conference focused on HIV, women’s health, leadership, self-esteem, body image, decision-making and relationships. The girls were expected to bring the information they learned back to the HIV or girl’s clubs at their schools. The conference was led mostly by Namibian teachers and peer leaders (girls in grades 10 and 11) that we (PCVs) trained a few weeks ago.

Although exhausting, the conference was a huge success and a really rewarding experience. I was partly responsible for a session called “Women and HIV”. We discussed basic information about the virus, how it is spread, and methods of prevention. We did demonstrations of male and female condoms and discussed the biological, cultural and social reasons why women in Namibia are especially vulnerable to contracting the virus. My group worked really well together to present the information and the girls asked great questions. Although I thought the information to be redundant, many of the girls had never seen a condom demonstration before and it turned out to be one of the most popular sessions at the conference.

We held large group sessions on peer leadership and women’s health. We made “menstrual beads”, bracelets containing 28 beads in different colors for the different stages of the menstrual cycle. We watched a documentary about HIV in Namibia and women’s vulnerability. An HIV positive woman came to speak about her story. I also helped organize a career panel. We struggled to find women in the north with different careers and I was worried it wouldn’t be diverse enough. Three women sat on the panel, a Red Cross worker (a friend of mine from the hospital), a teacher and a school counselor. The women were all wonderful speakers and really passionate. They all had overcome many obstacles in their pasts and worked very hard to get where they are today. The panel turned out to be not so much about exploring different careers but about meeting strong, successful women and viewing them as positive role models.

A highlight of the conference was a performance of The Vagina Monologues. For those of you who are not familiar, The Vagina Monologues is a drama written and performed in the US discussing women’s sexuality, sexual violence and other women’s issues. I had seen a performance put on by my University several years ago. It is a very powerful, shocking and risqué performance, at times hilarious and at other times very somber. Two Namibian women were touring Namibia with the show (adapted slightly to Namibian culture) and we were able to secure a performance at the conference and at the College of Education.

After the show, the performers expressed their concern about how young the girls were for the content of the show. They managed to edit the show on the fly, taking out some of the more explicit parts. Nonetheless, the girls loved it. Even if they didn’t understand much of the show, or if it was over their heads, they enjoyed seeing 2 incredibly strong, intelligent and independent Namibian women taking charge of their own bodies. The performance definitely functioned as a platform to discuss sensitive issues about women’s bodies and sexuality. All weekend the girls were talking about their vaginas. They would say, “If my vagina could get dressed, it would wear size 6 red high heels” or “my vagina needs a kiss”. The main message for the girls was to be proud of their bodies and not to let anyone near their vaginas. I hope it works.

The hotel where the conference was held was nice but inexperienced at hosting over a hundred people. There were shortages of beds and shortages of food at times but everything worked out. About 12 PCVs were housed in a room with 6 beds. It’s amazing how we’ve all changed since joining the Peace Corps. We were all like, ”awesome! There’s carpet!”, and had no problem sleeping on the floor. It was fun to hang out with each other over the weekend. As if we didn’t get enough talk about sex, we watched Sex and the City in our downtime and as if we didn’t get enough of 14-year-old girls, we giggled like we were at a junior high slumber party instead of sleeping. All of this added to the exhaustion at the end of the weekend…but it was a good time.

The conference was an incredibly rewarding experience and I hope the information and positive energy sticks with the girls. We tried to empower them to take charge of their bodies and themselves. By the way they were screaming “strong women!” at the end of the weekend it appeared to work. I think it was an effective way of getting at the core of the HIV epidemic. Most kids know what HIV is and that they shouldn’t have unprotected sex. Empowering girls to respect themselves and building self esteem is just another approach to prevention. If we can empower the women in this country to protect themselves, perhaps they can stand up to the men and demand equality (and decrease their chances of getting infected). We hope to start a boy’s conference with the same principles (possibly next year). There are tons of programs targeting women and girls but hardly any that address boys and men. Perhaps if we can instill values in boys before its too late we can turn knowledge into action and successfully change behavior.

NID

2007-06-30T05:35:00.000-06:00

06/29/07

This week included National Immunization Days, which is the Ministry of Health’s campaign against Polio. Last year there was an outbreak of Polio in Namibia and there was a huge campaign to immunize everyone. This year, the goal was to immunize children under 5 and also provide Vitamin A. I volunteered to help and had a great time.
Wednesday, I awoke to more commotion than usual around the hospital. There were a whole bunch of cars and people bundled up milling around. Its winter here now, meaning it’s no longer unbearably hot and although the weather is similar to summer in Montana, I often see people wearing fur coats, hats and gloves. I found my group, a nurse I’ve worked with before and a volunteer whom I thought spoke English, but I later realized couldn’t say much beyond “hello”. We gathered our supplies: 2 coolers of vaccines, a bottle of vitamin A capsules, markers to keep track of children immunized, a bar of soap, a jug of water and a roll of toilet paper. We took off into the bush to find our post, Onaipwakola, which is on the border to Angola.
I’m always amazed how people can find these villages in the middle of the bush. There are no roads, no signs, just sand tire-marks weaving through trees and homesteads. Our method was to ask directions from anyone we saw along the way. We got to our destination in about an hours time. Our post was a church literally in the middle of nowhere. Unpacked and realized we forgot the droppers that attach to the bottles of vaccine. The nurse went to the nearest clinic to borrow some while we waited.
We started immunizing shortly after. We would line up a whole pew of kids and mothers holding babies. The nurse would educate them about Polio and vitamin A. We would then give each child 2 drops of polio vaccine and the contents of one vitamin A capsule. One fingernail would be marked with a black line on each child and the numbers recorded on a sheet. We were pretty busy the first day immunizing almost 200 children.
The following day we returned to the same post. This time the nurse had to drive some other volunteers to various homesteads to monitor immunizations. She left the volunteer and me at the church to immunize for the day. We went through the process for about a dozen children and then the pace dramatically slowed. I stared out into the expansive nothingness on all sides of the church and felt rather isolated and stranded. I was in the middle of nowhere with 1 Namibian whom I was unable to communicate with beyond basic phrases. Luckily I brought a book, and 2 helpers from the day before showed up to keep the other volunteer company. We sat there all day, myself and 3 owambos that don’t speak English. I read. They chatted, sat there or slept. I’m beginning to think that an entire day of doing absolutely nothing isn’t that out of the ordinary for a lot of people in this country.
One more patient came at the end of the day and the car came to pick us back up at 4pm. One of the men helping said he knew a baby that was just born that needed to be immunized. We of course, went to the rescue. We smuggled a 2-day-old baby across the border from Angola and gave it a Polio immunization. That sounds a lot more exciting than in actually was. We drove through the bush for a while and stopped. The people in the car pointed out a “fence” (more like a half torn down wire attached to some sticks here and there) that separated Namibia from Angola. We parked while the man went to talk to the people at the homestead just on the other side. About a half an hour later a small family holding a bundle emerged from the huts and started walking our way. I expected land mines to start going off and soldiers with machine guns to start running after them. They just casually walked to our car, we gave the baby 2 drops, they went back home and we drove off.
I had a great time helping with the immunization days. I think there will be a follow up campaign next month. I always like going out into the field and seeing Namibia. It is so different from what I’m used to and its so interesting to see the way these people live. I’m sure they enjoy seeing a strange “oshilumbu” in their village by the stares I get wherever I go. I like to imagine what they would think if they were placed in the middle of a big U.S. city like New York or San Francisco. It’s a completely different world here. I’m always wiped out when I return from a day in the field. Even if I’m just sitting in a church in the middle of nowhere all day, it takes it out of me. It’s amazing how doing nothing can be exhausting! I slept very well both nights after the immunization days. Nothing like a little adventure to bring on a good nights sleep.

On the homefront...

2007-06-23T09:18:00.000-06:00

Lately I’ve been spending time in my village trying to make progress on my projects. I teach a nutrition class every week. Each Wednesday about 10-15 memes with babies strapped to their backs gather around my display in the conference room in the hospital. Their babies sleep, breastfeed or play with the toys I brought while I talk to their mothers about nutrition. The women are from the P.M.T.C.T. program, that is, they are HIV positive and are taking the steps to prevent the virus from being passed to their babies. With the help of my translator Theophilia, I explain malnutrition, the food groups, balanced meals and the importance of vitamins. We tell them the benefits of breastfeeding and the importance of not mixing breastmilk with any other food (even water can cause cuts in the infants digestive tract allowing the HIV virus to pass into the blood stream). We demonstrate how to make infant formula, how to modify cow’s or goat’s milk to give to the baby, and the importance of sanitation in all of these processes.
Then we demonstrate how to make mahangu porridge adding local foods to increase the nutritional content for babies as well as sick or elderly people. We show how to add an egg, omwayi (a paste made from marula nuts), oufila womaungu (ground up caterpillars) and epwati yeembe (a sauce made from eembe, a raisin-like fruit).
*sidenote: The first time I made epwati yeembe, I left it in a bottle while I was out of town. I discovered a few weeks later that it had fermented and I had created some sort of eembe alcohol (of course I figured it out after it exploded all over me). I debated telling my Namibian friends about it but I figured that the last thing this country needs is another “home brew”.
Anyway, after we demonstrate a few ways to make porridge, we invite one of the women up to practice what they’ve learned. Then we taste what we’ve made and the memes ask questions. Recently we’ve brought leftover food to children in the pediatric ward and invited their mothers to the class. The last few classes there have been so many attendees that we’re going to offer 2 classes a week. The memes have also requested follow up classes to learn more about nutrition and how to cook other nutritious meals. Although I usually can’t communicate too well with the memes and rely heavily on my translator/counterpart, it’s great to know they enjoy the class and hopefully they are learning something too.
My support group is also going well. We have met several times to discuss our fish-breeding project. The group named the project “Mangulukeni Fish Farming” which means, “be free” in Oshiwambo. We have selected a site right outside of town near a traditional leader’s homestead. We’ve been working with the Ministry of Fisheries a lot. Titus, a representative from the Oshakati office, came to give an introductory presentation to the members. He has visited the site several times to see that it is acceptable. One time he brought a crazy Cuban expert named Sylvio who wandered around the field mumbling and taking pictures. Afterwards the 3 of us went to a sheebeen for refreshments. They drank beer but I chose coke to try to stay professional. We chatted and I got to meet Titus’ wife and baby. Sylvio has drawn sketches of the ponds for us. We will have 3 ponds, with a total area of 1000 square meters. The ponds will contain Catfish and Tilapia and we plan to have a small garden associated with the ponds.
Meanwhile, I’ve been trying to obtain funding and make the group somewhat self-sufficient. We’ve drawn up a constitution and will elect officers next week (so hopefully I wont have to do everything). I’ve submitted 3 grant proposals to various organizations (Namibia Development Foundation, The Ministry of Women Affairs and Child Welfare, and the Regional Councilor). I’ve spent a lot of time running around like a crazy person trying to get quotations and submit applications in time, while pretending like I know what I’m doing. Now we are just playing the waiting game. It’s amazing how long everything takes in this country. Hopefully getting money will be the hardest (and longest) part. The group members are really excited about the project and its nice to see them looking forward to something, as that really is the point of this whole project.
Oshikuku is still great. A new Shoprite grocery store just opened, which I think pushes us over the line from village to town. If only there were Internet here…I’d never have to leave! Amber moved into a new house and Jennifer (another PCV) moved in with her from the homestead. It’s nice to have other Americans to hang out with. We’ve had a few Mexican Fiestas, which were awesome. I’m becoming pretty badass at making things from scratch. We are quite skilled at making an all out feast (refried beans, Mexican rice, guacamole, tortillas and toppings) completely from scratch…even after having a few beers at the sheebeen. We’ve discovered that “Club Muya Muya” has a foozeball table, and ive made “becoming good at foozeball” another one of my Peace Corps goals. So that’s the news on the homefront. I wonder what’s happening in the real world?

2007-06-23T09:15:00.000-06:00

06/19/07
Rundu

I apologize for my lack of blog lately. I’ve had a hard time a) finding the time to write, and b) feeling like what I write is worth reading. I feel that a lot of what I write is becoming redundant….traveling…blah….Africa…..blah. I’ll try to get back on the ball and keep you all updated on my life. I think there are some people out there that still read this thing.
In May I took another mini-vacation up to the Kavango Region (North East of the Country). Here are some things that happened on that trip:
-Hitchhiked with an Angolan truck driver
-Got pulled over for speeding and got off for free by offering the cops 2 cases of beer
-Toured Rundu
-Saw fabulous advertisement in Rundu saying “In-Tents: The most affordable, reliable and flexible erections in town!”
-Ate traditional food from open market
-Traveled to Divundu in the back of an open bakkie (truck)
-Had dinner with an angry Polish priest
-Got violently ill from above mentioned traditional food consumed at the open market (shoulda known)
-Sucked it up and pumped myself full of pepto and immodium for the sake of a trip to Mahango Game Park…and a chance to see hippos.
-Took a 2-hour riverboat cruise on the Kavango River. Saw various birds, crocs, baby crocs, hippos and elephants. It was definitely worth it.
It was really nice to see another part of the country and also some Peace Corps friends in the process. The landscape is rather different. The beautiful Kavango river separates Namibia from Angola. There are less palm trees and more brush and other trees than Owamboland (my region). There are still many traditional homesteads but the huts are square rather than round (like ours). The rural areas seem to be even poorer (if that’s possible) than Owamboland. The diversity in this country always amazes me. The national anthem is correct when it says, “contrasting beautiful Namibia”

the good part

2007-06-08T07:05:00.000-06:00

So heres the rest of the story that for some reason didnt show up on the last post. Its the good part.

I made it to Windhoek and stayed the night at a hostel school where some PCV’s were putting on a leadership camp for youth. My plan was to get a free ride to the north on the bus taking the kids home. The bus got me about halfway. When transportation for 15 arrived to take 25 of us the rest of the way, 2 other volunteers and I decided to find our own way home. Two horrible looking combis drove up graffiti-ed, overcrowded, and looking like they might break down at any moment. Each one had “seats” for 2 people and there were 3 of us. We sent the male volunteer in one combi so Tiffany and I could stick together. At the last minute we decided to try our luck at finding another hike rather than spend 90 bucks to sit on someone’s lap for 3 hours.
Shortly, an SUV type vehicle drove up and offered to take us for 80$. We agreed since it was empty, had seatbelts and appeared relatively safe. Instead of waiting for the car to fill up as usual, the driver set out on his way. We joked about our amateur hiking instincts as we texted our friends the vehicle’s information when they file the police police report and enjoyed our “last meal” of jellybeans and guava juice. Meanwhile the driver told me he loved me and said he wanted to marry us both so we could take him to America. This of course was after he explained in broken English that we needed to “make a turn” to pick up his wife and kids on the way.
Make a turn we did, into Etosha National Park where his wife is a receptionist. We drove past the tourists to a little house where 4 very cute kids climbed in the back and his wife took the wheel. She drove through the park on the way out. The kids told us what grades they were in and their favorite animals as we drove alongside such animals. Zebra, giraffe, springbok, wildebeest, and elephants sprinkled the horizon before a magnificent African sunset. We drove by a bunch of cars pulled over on the side of the road and sure enough we saw the ears of a lion sitting in the brush. With the whole family in the car the vibe had totally changed and I felt completely safe. I wasn’t even concerned that the sun was quickly going down and I was hundreds of kilometers away from my destination…I was looking out my window at elephants!
As it began to get dark, our driver suggested that we stay with them for the night since it was too dangerous to get a taxi after dark. Since there were two of us, the situation felt completely safe and car would be going to town in the morning…we agreed. We stopped at a few shops in the village and drove for what felt like hours through the bush as Gideon, the youngest son rapped 50-cent and Eminem in the backseat. Winding through the trees and unlit cuca shops we finally arrived at their traditional homestead.
They escorted us through the stick fence, around the traditional huts to a fire where some other family members were waiting. After offering us some food and drinks the wife showed us to where we would be staying which I’m convinced was their master bedroom. There was no electricity, running water or even a pit latrine so after talking with the family into the night we retired to bed in the cement room. In the morning we had coffee and chicken that we ate with our hands. The kids gave us a tour of all of the huts in the homestead, and the surrounding fields, which grew mahangu, maize, sugar cane, beans, pumpkins and watermelons. All of the kids were incredibly happy, very bright and spoke impressive English. It was really fun to hang out with them. After we took pictures with the family, received hugs, exchanged phone numbers and received the wife’s business cards (good connection with Etosha), we journeyed back out through the bush. After saying our goodbyes we got into a taxi for the rest of our trip.
That last hike may have been the highlight of my vacation. I’m learning that in order to travel you really have to trust people. Just when I was starting to lose faith in people and getting discouraged by all of the horror stories I’d been hearing…I met some truly amazing people. This driver and his family opened their home to a couple of Americans that they didn’t even know. I’m so thankful to have met them and I hope I see them again.

2007-05-12T05:33:00.000-06:00

Whoops, theres more to that last entry (the best part) but I forgot it. I'll locate it and include it shortly.

Hitchikers guide to Namibia…

2007-05-12T05:29:00.000-06:00

05/07/07

Namibia is a ginormous country (twice the size of California) with few inhabitants (only 1.8 million people). Transportation is a big issue. My site is in the north, where most people live so there are plenty of taxis that charge set rates for specific destinations. In the south however, hitchhiking (or “hiking”) is the way everyone gets around. Snagging a free hike is the sought after prize and is easiest for white females..lucky me. Until recently, I hadn’t had much experience with hiking, but my brief holiday south allowed me to try my hand (or my thumb) at sitting on the side of the open road with my backpack and waiting for a stranger to pick me up (I know it sounds sketchy).
After Reconnect (a Peace Corps conference held in the hills outside Windhoek) I soaked up city life for a few days before heading to the coast. It took a little while to adjust to the fast cars, bustling people and flashing lights of the city (rather than gravel roads, goats and donkeys). Restaurants, Coffee Shops and Shopping malls made me very happy believe it or not. It was a nice break from the village.
I joined 3 other volunteers to find a hike to Swakopmund (the touristy town on the coast where Brangelina had the baby). We waited on the side of the B1 for about an hour waving our arms at cars that passed. We got a few bites but no one that would take us for free “because we’re volunteers and don’t have money”. A bakkie (pickup truck) finally flipped a U-ee and came back for us and told us to “get in the back”. The 4 of us sat in the back of the (covered) truck bed and drove through the desert for a few hours. We then suddenly arrived at what seemed to be Germany…in the middle of the desert…on the beach….in Namibia. Swakopmund was beautiful. We enjoyed browsing the artsy shops, eating at good restaurants and hanging out on the beach. We went sandboarding (exactly like snowboarding…but on sand dunes) and dunesliding (plummeting headfirst down a dune on a wooden board at 70 kph). It was a blast, complete with a personalized dvd of our rides and a lunch of beer and sandwiches upon completion.
I spent one night in Walvis Bay with a friend and got free hikes both ways. The first was totally fine ride with a banker commuting home. The second was a little more sketchy as the 2 men continued to comment on my “pretty blue eyes” and question me about my fictitious boyfriend (I need to get my story straight). They offered me a ride all the way to Windhoek (my final destination that day) but I declined after I noticed their fast driving and consumption of beer inside the car. Hiking is all about instincts…I’m still developing mine.

Ruacana

2007-05-12T05:25:00.000-06:00

03/26/07

For Independence Day I went camping in Ruacana with a bunch of other volunteers. Wednesday we awoke to rain but we didn’t let that put a damper on our weekend. Amber and I went to Oshakati to buy camping food and to meet a few other volunteers from her group. At KFC we ended up running into a large group of volunteers from my group as well. We organized 3 taxis to take us to the campsite. Ruacana is in the far north of the country near Angola. Before reaching Ruacana the scenery drastically changes from flat with palm trees to lush green rolling mountains. The area is very beautiful. We were dropped off at the “Hippo Pools Campsite” and were warmly greeted by the staff. We were shown to our campsite just as the sun was going down. The site was amazing. It was secluded from all other sites, with space for dozens of people to camp. There was a fire pit with a large concrete ring around it for sitting. A huge tree bordered the bank of the winding Kunene River. It was gorgeous. There was also a sign saying to swim at your own risk due to hippos and crocodiles.
The next day we walked to the Ruacana Falls. As we were walking down the street we came upon a himba riding a donkey (my first himba!). She was topless with dreadlocks and her entire body covered in a red clay substance. She was wearing a little animal skin skirt, lots of jewelry and had a baby strapped to her back. She was fascinating. We passed the border post, which consisted of a tiny shack with 1 dude sitting outside and an Angola flag.
The Falls were pretty breathtaking. In the U.S., there would probably be a fenced in area in which to see the falls and maybe put a quarter in one of those binocular thingies. Here, the area was completely open. There are 300 cement stairs all the way down to the bottom with rusted, halfway broken guardrails to keep you from plunging to your death. The mist from the waterfall becomes heavier as you descend into the gorge and we were all completely soaked when we reached the bottom. It was like we were in a complete downpour. There was an old building where we put our stuff so we could explore. We scaled some slippery “algaefied” rocks to get close to the river and found a somewhat calm part of the river to swim. I probably contracted Schistosomiasis…I’ll let you know if I start peeing blood.
The next day I explored the falls again with the volunteers from my group. We climbed around the other side of the falls and even frolicked in Angola a bit! It was dangerous and exciting! Ok, maybe not that dangerous…but it was fun. Back at the campsite we were all relaxing, napping and playing cards when some Namibians rolled up. They were colleagues of 2 of the volunteers we were with. They pulled 2 cases of ice-cold beer out of the truck and told us they would be right back with a goat. Sure enough, an hour later they arrived with a live goat. The men held it down while one of the volunteers slit its throat. Then they proceeded to slaughter the goat right there under the big tree by the river using my headlamp for light. We piled the meat by the fire and cooked and ate and drank all night. Normally I find goat a little too “goaty” for my taste, but this was actually pretty good. Maybe it was the kindness and hospitality of our new friends who threw us a braii (Namibian barbecue) for no reason at all that made it better. They kept saying, “You guys wanna see crocs? We’ll just throw a little of this meat into the river and they will surely come”. I kept thinking I was going to wake up to a croc outside my tent with the extreme amounts of dead goat everywhere. We didn’t see any crocs or hippos the whole weekend. Ruacana is such a beautiful place and easy to get to so I’m sure I’ll be back soon (maybe Easter). So there’s always next time to see me some hippos.

What I’m supposed to be doing vs. what I actually do

2007-03-15T08:54:00.000-06:00

As a health volunteer, my job is much more undefined and unstructured than an education volunteer. I don’t have the luxury of a scheduled workday with a syllabus to follow and specific classes to teach. My duties are to implement HIV/AIDS related programs in conjunction with the hospital. It’s difficult to “make things happen” on my own. Everything in Africa happens at an alarmingly slow pace. I find myself spending a lot of my time waiting. I could go about things completely on my own and probably get things done faster but I am trying to create something sustainable and that means involving as many Namibians as possible.
My supervisor is a doctor and the director of the hospital. He is an incredibly kind and caring man but busy often to the point of being counter-productive. There is always a lot going on in any hospital and my other colleagues are usually very busy as well. Setting up a meeting with any of them (and having them actually show up) is an accomplishment in itself. I try to set myself small goals every day and to be content with a lot of downtime. I’ve secured myself an “office” and a computer that sometimes works. I’ve gotten to the point where people in the hospital recognize me and say hello rather than wondering who the random white girl is. I’ve come to enjoy conversations with my coworkers. Maybe right now developing those relationships is as important as actually getting things done. I’ll explain a few of the projects I’m working on at the moment.
Nutrition Class: I will be teaching a nutrition class to HIV positive women in the PMTCT (prevention of mother-to-child transmission) program and mothers of children in the pediatric ward. The class will teach the basic food groups and the importance of good nutrition in general as well as during pregnancy and for people living with HIV. I’ll do some demonstration cooking of nutritious meals with locally available foods. I’m waiting for a counterpart/translator to work with and to complete a training at the hospital in Oshakati. I’ve been learning about local traditional foods. There are a lot of interesting fruits and vegetables that I didn’t even know existed. They also eat a lot of insects (slimy yet satisfying…and full of protein). I’ve discovered some recipes for dishes to make with Mahangu (the staple crop here) that I’m excited to try out. When up and running I’ll teach the class once a month or more if there is enough demand.
Support Group: I’m working with the PMTCT coordinator and the assistant pharmacist in the HAART (highly active anti-retroviral treatment) center on a support group for HIV positive individuals beginning treatment. The goal is to have regular sessions involving psychosocial support and counseling, HIV/AIDS education and prevention, nutrition, as well as an income-generating project. There have been a few meetings with limited members attending. The few who are interested seem to be excited (one meme sang us a song at the end of the meeting). Possible projects include a community garden, aquaculture (a fish pond), sewing, and other smaller projects. There is another meeting this week and we hope to have more interested members. I’ve made posters in Oshiwambo and posted them throughout the hospital. We’ve decided to invite everyone, regardless of status, to hopefully eliminate stigma. I’m thinking about making cookies and bribing people to come.
Research project: My supervisor is interested in the rate of teenage pregnancies in Oshikuku district and attitudes regarding birth control. I have located all of the maternity registers for the last 5 years (random pieces of paper shoved in a closet) and am organizing them entering them in the computer. The records are somewhat illegible, my computer often crashes, and I don’t want to spend my 2 years in Namibia entering numbers into excel, so I’ve been taking my time. I hope to train someone to assist me so I’ll also be transferring some computer skills (and I won’t have to do it myself). I’ve completed 1 year, almost 1500 births finding 14% of these births to teen mothers. After we’ve perused the literature (difficult without internet), compiled the data and analyzed the statistics, we hope to develop some questionnaires to give to girls at the secondary school. It will probably go something like this, “Hi, I’m from Catholic Health Services. Why haven’t you been using condoms?”. Shhh…don’t tell the pope.
I try to make some kind of progress on each of my projects every day but I am quickly learning the importance of patience. I try to occupy my time by being involved in hospital activities; familiarizing myself with the departments, getting to know staff, accompanying the outreach team to the village clinics, attending meetings and workshops, and helping coordinate events such as World TB Day. I also help Catholic AIDS Action make educational toys for orphans, supervise Amber’s library, play with my neighbor kids and take lessons on the djembe drum. I’m enjoying the time to myself at home by reading, writing, cooking, baking, doing laundry, cleaning etc. When it’s not deathly hot or raining I try to go running. I usually attract a flock of small girls and boys who follow me laughing with glee as we dodge puddles and donkeys. It’s been nice to finally get into a routine, after the craziness of training. I’m excited for when my projects get rolling and when I’m a little busier, but for now I’m just trying to relax and let it all sink in.

The Kuku

2007-03-08T01:51:00.000-07:00

03/06/07

I thought it was time I share with you a little bit about where I live, and what my life is like. I have been at site for about 2 months now, and although I have good days and bad days (read: emotional rollercoaster), I love it here. I’ve definitely had to adjust to the slower pace of life in Africa. I think I came into the Peace Corps with pretty realistic expectations about a lot of things, and that has made adapting a little easier. Work is very slow right now but I’m confident that things will pick up later and in the meantime I’m just enjoying the ride.
My village is called Oshikuku and it is in northern-central Namibia. Oshikuku (meaning “chicken house” in Oshiwambo) is a medium sized village. A grocery store is being built and there is a lot of traffic into the hospital so it seems bigger at times. I live in a very modern and nice 1-bedroom flat (with electricity and running water) on the hospital premises where I work. My neighbors are doctors and their families and the clan of small children that hang out in front of my house. The mission is adjacent to the hospital. There are lots of trees and a big pretty church. The sisters and fathers live in hostels on the mission as well as some other volunteers (a Swiss couple with a small son, and Amber, a Peace Corps volunteer who has been here for a year). Also on the mission is a pool. Yes, that’s right…. a pool. Sometimes I feel like I’m at some sort of resort rather than in the Peace Corps. Unfortunately it’s been broken and empty since I got here. I just hope it will be functional again sometime during the 2 years I’m here.
Oshikuku is about 30 kilometers from Oshakati, where I do most of my shopping. My house is about a 15-minute walk from the main (paved) road. There are no paved roads in Oshikuku itself, just dirt/sand roads and paths that turn into lakes during the rainy season. There are a few shops in Oshikuku where I can buy basic things, but I do most of my shopping in Oshakati on the weekends. There are several bars: Tia Monika Entertainment, Hot Summer Face 1 and Hot Summer Face 2. I occasionally meet the other volunteers at Tia’s for a Windhoek Lager and some chips (bad fries) from the “restaurent” or a fat cake. Fat cakes are basically bread dipped in oil and fried. How could you not like them? They are delicious, uber cheap and sold everywhere.
I like Oshikuku because it is large enough to have some things I need and close enough to my shopping town (where I can get almost everything), while still having that “village feel”. Most people live in concrete houses but there are some homesteads on the outskirts. Homesteads are a collection of huts with thatch roofs surrounded by stick fences. Long-horned cows, donkeys, goats and chickens roam freely. Women (meme’s) walk around with babies strapped to their backs carrying huge tubs of things on their heads. Children run around barefoot and yell “hallo miss Julia” whenever they see me.
The landscape is beautiful. There are palm trees everywhere, gorgeous pink flowering trees, baobab trees (gigantic “Africa trees” as big as houses), and trees constantly dropping marula fruit. The sunsets are incredible. The sky is enormous, bright blue and clearer than I’ve ever seen. Sorry Montana but I think Namibia really is the big sky country. Although I’m sometimes frustrated by the slowness of everything, the village is very peaceful and I’ve enjoyed the relaxing break from my hectic life. It’s crazy when the sound of donkeys outside my window, or the herd of goats wandering into my yard starts to become normal. I have to remind myself that this is Africa, and I live here. Its surreal…and I love it.

recap

2007-02-24T04:05:00.000-07:00

Maybe I’ll try to give some kind of update on what I’ve been up to for the past 3 months or so…if I can remember. This could take a while. I left Hamilton, MT on Nov 5th, 2006. Staging took place in Washington D.C. and was a few days of introduction to our fellow trainees and general Peace Corps Policies. It was fun to be in D.C. and see some old friends as well. Excited and nervous we all boarded the plane and took off to Johannesburg, South Africa. It was a 15-hour flight but I have to give South African Air props for making it quite tolerable. After 1 night in Jo’burg at a huge hotel complex that seemed more like Las Vegas than Africa, we took another short flight to Windhoek, Namibia.
Once in Namibia we drove straight to Okahandja, a small town about 45 minutes north of Windhoek. When we arrived after dark we were greeted with singing and dancing by our training staff. It was probably the first time I realized, “whoa… I’m in Africa”. The first 2 weeks consisted of a lot of overviews and brainstorming sessions on flipchart paper. We began each day by singing the Namibian and American National Anthems. They served us 3 meals a day on tables outside under thatch roof canopies as well as 2 tea breaks. We had interviews with the APCD (associate peace corps director) about our permanent site placements. At the end of the 2 weeks we had our language announcements. Languages they currently teach include Afrikaans, Oshiwambo (Oshindonga and Oshikwanyama), Otjiherero, Rukwangali, and Thimbukushu. They used to also teach Khoi Khoi (one of the many clicking languages spoken in Namibia), but they don’t anymore. I’m learning Oshiwambo, and it has its own challenges. It seems like everything starts with O and is about 14 letters long. After much anticipation they finally announced our permanent site placements. They made a giant map of Namibia outside and called our names individually. I was the first one to be called. Standing on ‘Oshikuku’, it was fun to see where my site was in relation to everyone else’s. All of the group 26-education volunteers are placed in the north, where I am. We all share the same 3 shopping towns so it’s pretty common to run into lots of other volunteers on the weekends.
Less than 24 hours later we were each on our way to visit our permanent site for 5 days. People in the north took a bus up to a central location where our supervisors could pick us up. The bus was ancient and it took us 12 hours in the heat to reach our destination. It was not fun. The scenery changes drastically when crossing ‘the red line’ to the north. All of the sudden there are donkeys and cows in the road, women carrying huge buckets on their heads and traditional homesteads with huts in the distance. The visit was good. I love Oshikuku. I’ll explain it further at a later time.
After the site visits it was a “test” of sorts for us to get ourselves back to the CBT (community based training) sites. I took public transportation from Oshikuku to Tsumeb. In front of the open market in Oshakati all of the combi’s (minibuses) meet to depart to various locations. Basically, you find the combi going to your destination, get in and leave whenever it fills up. I got a driver from the hospital to take me to Oshakati. Luckily he knew one of the drivers who was able to meet us at a different location so I could avoid some of the insanity. Things can get brutal at the combi stop. The combi drivers are competing for service and they will do almost anything to get you in their combi. It’s scary. I’ve seen 10 full grown men swarm a woman and try to grab her bags and even her baby right out of her arms. Since I had big bags, I was very thankful to have a little more quiet exchange. Once you’re in the combi, you have to wait about 2 hours for the vehicle to fill past capacity. During this time the driver drives around the parking lot honking the horn and blasting Nampop (Namibian pop music) at full volume. When we were finally full, after picking up various passengers at the neighboring bars, we filled up with gas and took off for Tsumeb. It was a long and hot 3-hour ride with the same 2 nampop songs blaring over and over again. At least we only got pulled over once.
CBT consisted of 3 weeks of technical training and a homestay. I stayed with a very nice family that lived right down the road from where we had our classes. I had my own room and bathroom separate from the rest of the house. My host mom spoke very little English but we got along fine. She constantly fed me, insisting I take whole watermelons and soup to my room incase I got hungry during the night. We watched the news each night (crocodile attacks often appearing) and When You are Mine, the Mexican soap opera that all Namibians are hooked on. I had a 17-year-old host sister and a 22-year-old host brother. My host sister and I enjoyed listening to music, watching MTV and shopping together. I cooked dinner a few times for the family (spaghetti and tacos). They seemed to enjoy it as they had me make garlic bread for many meals afterwards. I helped with chores around the house and they taught me to do my laundry by hand and to pound mahangu. They also had 2 puppies that often followed me to classes.
Throughout CBT we had sessions on various subjects. We did several needs assessments of our community and put on 2 HIV/AIDS workshops for youth and one for parents. The other health volunteers I was training with make up a highly qualified group of individuals. We had doctors, lawyers, nurses, various masters’ degrees and a whole lot of experience to draw from for our workshops. We planned as a group but split into smaller teams for individual sessions. I helped with biology, treatment, and life skills sessions. We also had them build models of the HIV virus and CD4 cell using recycled trash. The workshop was a success and the youth really seemed to enjoy it. I was amazed at how much they already knew, but they were very eager to learn more. They asked great questions and liked debating gender issues and other topics. We gave them certificates and had a reception for them at the end. Afterwards they thanked us all individually with a handshake or a hug and had us sign their certificates. It was very encouraging and a lot of fun.
We also managed to fit in a day trip to Etosha National Park. This was one of the highlights of my time here so far and I can’t wait to go back. In just a morning of driving through the park we saw hundreds of springbok, gemsbok, kudu, wildebeest, zebra, giraffes and exotic birds. We even saw an elephant trying to hide behind a tree. I personally spotted 2 lionesses sleeping in the shade of a tree on the side of the road. We were maybe 20 feet away from them. It was incredible.
After CBT we joined the education volunteers back at the training center in Okahandja. We put on a mini-workshop for them and had a lot of wrap-up sessions. We had our language proficiency interviews in which I scored an intermediate medium. I’m not quite sure how that happened, mostly a lot of cramming. Christmas and New Years were weird but good. I still felt like I was at summer camp pretending to celebrate the holidays. We had a braii (barbecue) for Christmas, which felt a lot like a 4th of July picnic. For New Years Eve we had a toga party and bonfire at the riverbed and visited a few of the local bars (The Jolly Joker and The Purple Blues Club). Those bars would have been pretty dead if it weren’t for the 70 American kids who showed up to buy beer. Lucky them. We also had a lot of downtime, which was relaxing.
Our swearing-in ceremony was a formal occasion at a hall in Okahandja. The ambassador spoke and we were featured in the paper and on the news. We recited the pledge in our target languages and representatives gave thank you speeches in each of the 5 languages. There was also a kick-ass Namibian acapella group for entertainment. It was an emotional ceremony and it gave me a nice feeling of accomplishment. After some mix-ups due to lack of communication I had to quickly pack my things and depart to my permanent site a day earlier than expected. I rode in the hospital’s USAID truck with 3 coworkers and 2 puppies in the bed that I later found to have shat on all of my belongings. The first few days at site were a little rough since funding complications prevented me from getting paid for at least a week. Lets just say I learned to get creative with peanut butter and jelly.
So there you have it, the last 3 months in a nutshell. That’s a very brief summary of what I’ve been up to. I think it might be impossible to share it all. If there is anyone still reading, sorry for the length of this entry. I’ll try to do a better job in the future of keeping up with things. Oshi wete! (Until we see each other again)

Outreach

2006-12-07T07:14:00.000-07:00

I’ve been in Namibia for about 3 months and am just posting my first blog entry now….whoops! It’s been hard with unreliable and expensive Internet access, not to mention all of my moving around. Now that I’m finally getting settled, I’ll try to do a better job. Here goes…
I’ve had a fairly eventful week. I had the opportunity to go “into the field” several times this week. I introduced myself to the outreach team, a group of nurses that travel to villages periodically to provide care and medications. After a frustrating explanation of who I was and why on earth I would want to go with them, the nurses agreed to let me come along. In this situation at home, they would have simply replied, “sorry but the car is full”, but in Namibia that is never the case. Seven of us (5 nurses, a driver and myself crammed into the Ministry of Health and Social Services vehicle and set out with everyone chattering in Oshiwambo at the same time. After making a few random stops (as is customary here) and off-roading through the bush we arrived at the village clinic. In this case, the village clinic was 1 three-legged table underneath a tree in the middle of nowhere.
There were a few people waiting when we got there. We had our lunches and set up the stations. The patients register and pay N$3 (less than 50 cents) to be seen. They then have their blood pressure and temperature taken by another nurse. They can then talk to a different nurse about their symptoms and go to the “pharmacy” (a big box of pills) where another nurse gives them their medication. They mostly give out antibiotics for infections, rehydration salts for diarrhea, pain pills and high blood pressure pills. They also did one malaria test while I was there…it came out negative. Everyone, including the nurses and myself sat on the ground or on a box, or cooler or one of the foam mattresses they brought from the hospital. Even the kuku’s (elderly) were perfectly happy to sit in the dirt. Not a very comfortable or clean atmosphere but I guess it serves its purpose.
I mostly helped out at the baby station. Mothers are supposed to bring in their babies each month to track their growth. A scale is hung from a tree with a harness attached. Little babies sit in the harness and the older children just hang from the hook to be weighed. The babies are so cute. Some of them get a little freaked out being suspended in the harness but the other ones just chill. It’s so fun to see the beads that they wear. Namibian women all wear beads around their waists starting from when they’re born. I’m not quite sure the significance of it all but I want to find out. One little baby had beads around her ankles, shins, waist and neck. It was really beautiful.
All of the children were given vitamin A and any immunizations they needed, including polio drops. People travel on foot from who knows how far away to come to the clinic. They just seemed to appear out of nowhere with their babies strapped to their backs. One woman had a big parcel she carried on her head that she brought to the nurse I was working with. It was a basket of Oshiwambo chicken and Mahangu porridge. She called a “staff meeting” and we all ate the food with our hands. I tell you, my immune system has been treating me well since I’ve been in Namibia. I didn’t even get sick after eating traditional food with my hands at a clinic in the bush! I keep waiting for the time when I get violently ill from eating something weird. It hasn’t happened yet..knock on wood.
The next day we traveled to another village near the border. I saw Angola! (Don’t freak out Dad). I was only a few kilometers away. This outreach point was more of a village. There was a school nearby and an old dilapidated shack we were supposed to use for the clinic. We ended up using the shade under the trees anyway. The nurses said that this particular outreach point is usually very busy because people from Angola come to get medical care. It wasn’t as busy that particular day, perhaps because everyone is working in the fields.
The following day I accompanied one of my coworkers to another village to give a presentation at a workshop for peer educators. He is a nurse at the hospital and the STD and HIV/AIDS specialist, and was giving a short presentation on STD’s to a group of girls being trained to teach their peers about HIV/AIDS. It was a pretty basic presentation. I got the jist even though half of it was in Oshiwambo. Afterwards the girls sang us a very nice song. They were all very appreciative that we were there. He then drove me to see a nearby town, the capital of our region. On the way back we stopped at the Agricultural College (a division of the University of Namibia) because he wanted to buy some fresh milk that they sell. In typical Namibian style we waited for about an hour for them to open the tuck shop only to find that they didn’t have what we were looking for. We then drove back home stopping for a cooldrink (coke) on the way.
I had a lot of fun this week getting out of the hospital and seeing the surrounding areas. Hopefully I’ll get more opportunities like this one. The outreach team seems like a good way to get information to people who live in the villages and don’t have access to the hospital. I may try to get some nutritional information to mothers of underweight babies once I get the nutrition class going. The hospital hopes to get HIV testing and treatment mobilized to reach the villages sometime in the future. The problem is a shortage of counselors and nurses and of course money. I’ve been helping the other PCV in my village with the library she’s opening next week. I’m working with her on a resource center where people can get information on HIV/AIDS, testing, treatment, alcohol abuse, and pretty much anything. I’ve been able to track down a lot of materials from the hospital and it will be nice to put them somewhere where everyone can have access. Things are picking up slowly but surely and I’m managing to keep myself busy. Its still hot here....really hot.

Here I go...

2006-10-30T15:29:00.000-07:00

On November 5th at 5am i'll leave my house in Hamilton, MT to fly to Washington D.C. for pre-departure training. I'll hopefully get to see Yizhou, my long-time friend, who is studying at Georgetown. In D.C. I'll get to meet the near 70 other volunteers also going to Namibia and get aquainted with Peace Corps rules and policies. On Wednesday the 8th we'll get injected with a plethora of immunizations and board the plane for a 15.5 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. After spending the night there, we'll take a 2 hour flight over to Windhoek, Namibia to really begin the training process.

In Namibia, i'll be a health volunteer in the Community Health and HIV/AIDS Program (CHHAP). Volunteers in the program work with various organizations (larger goverment organizations as well as NGO's and faith-based organizations). I may be working at a voluntary HIV testing center doing pre and post test counciling. I may also work in an AIDS clinic or do some home care. I'm sure my job will also include education, outreach and prevention. Whatever it is I do i'm sure I will learn a lot and have the experience of a lifetime. So here goes...

2006-10-17T22:23:00.000-06:00