A chronological account of kudu, cuteness, and consolidation.

Oh my, what a week it’s been! It’s hard to even know where to begin… with the most recent things that are freshest on my mind, or with the chronologically first things, before they become even harder to recall? It’s such a conundrum. Okay… let’s start at the very beginning. It’s a very good place to start…

Last week I shadowed a nearby volunteer named Kyla, along with another member of my group who came over from Caprivi. It was a fantastic week! We cooked lots of delicious food, shared ideas on everything from coping with corporal punishment to shitenge tying methods, and planned and taught Kyla’s classes together. It was so much fun! We even Nam-ified the acronym for metric prefixes (King Henry Died By Drinking Chocolate Milk) and changed it to: Kudu Have Died By Drinking Cow’s Milk. And yes, we did create a kudu magnet to illustrate moving the decimal place. It was quite a hit! :)

We also had the incredible opportunity to witness the start of a club at Kyla’s school. Each year, PCVs host a gathering for youth here in Namibia called Camp GLOW (Girls and Guys Leading Our World). It focuses on building leadership skills and talking about issues like HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy and corporal punishment. Three learners from Kyla’s school attended this year, and they came back so inspired, that they asked her to help them start a club to continue talking about such issues at their school. Wednesday was their first meeting. It was completely learner-led, and it was incredible. They started by making a list of problems at their school and possible causes and solutions. It was definitely among one of the most profound moments I’ve experienced since being in Namibia.

Thursday afternoon I traveled back to my site, so that I would be back in time for Lauren’s farewell party on Friday. All of the teachers at my school, a good portion of the learners, and other community members all came to say goodbye. There was lots of food, singing, dancing, and speeches… it was all a very nice way to say goodbye to Lauren, and left me feeling welcomed at the same time.

Thursday night was the first rain since I’ve been in my village! It very nice, and cooled everything off, and I’m in love with the sound of rain on my thatched roof. Right before the rain, the power, water, and cell phone network went out in my village. Which was not a big deal…it’s been happening periodically since I’ve been here. So we continued on as usual.

Saturday I got my puppy! Words can’t describe how adorable she is…so just see for your self… This is Bekah:

The power stayed out over the weekend, and I was starting to really be careful about conserving my water, because it was starting to get low. (Translation: I stopped bucket bathing and reused the water I boiled things in). Sunday night I was notified by the PC that all the volunteers in my region were being consolidated to Rundu, the regional capital, because of the extended water and power outages, and because they had no communication with most of the villages. So, Monday afternoon a PC driver showed up at my homestead and brought me to a campsite where I’m currently staying with 24 other volunteers. Rumors have been flying around as to what happened, but the most dominant and seemingly reliable one, is that people had been taking bolts off of towers at the power plants for some time, and the storm on Thursday knock over 4 or 5 of them. Also, I’ve been hearing they need parts from South Africa to fix it, and the strikes there are affecting how long everything is taking. Recent estimates are that it could be off until next Monday. Rundu is crazy… the grocery store shelves are bare, people are being forced to bring water from the river, things are just getting out of hand. So, tomorrow, the plan is for PC to move all of us to Tsumeb, another city about 4 hours away.

All of this sounds pretty intense, but now that we’re here it’s kind of more like a group vacation. It’s been really great to meet all of the other volunteers, and I got to sleep in my hammock last night! So, things are good. The only really sad part is that I had to leave Bekah at home. My host mom is taking care of her, and I’m sure she’ll be fine, but I’m sad that our bonding time has been interrupted.

So... I'm sure I'm forgetting things that I'll need to go back and add in later, but I've made you all wait long enough for news! Hope you're all doing well!