Hut-to-Home: Episode 1

Hello I’m Steph Sestito, welcome to Hut-to-Home, a new DIY special that will take you through everything you need to know to turn your hut into a home!

This is my hut!

Now…decorating mud walls is not always easy… first of all there are the wall creatures. Before decorating an area, make sure to always clear away the:

wall spiders

geckos

and termite tunnels.

Also, chase out any particularly pesky chickens…

Okay, now you’re ready to begin. Survey the area you intend to decorate. Is it mostly smooth? If so, you may be able to get away with using copious amounts of sticky tack, as seen here:

If the wall has decided to be some shape other than flat, or if you’d like to create a larger display, it’s time for drastic measures. First, choose some pieces of cardboard, roughly the size of your display. Affix to the wall with heavy duty Velcro (courtesy of Dad!). Then, tape on a piece of paper, giving you a uniform backdrop for future decoration. Next, apply photos with sticky tack. Add more as needed. You should end up with something like this:

Don’t forget to be creative! Have a book that’s falling apart? Cut heart shapes from the pages!

Have a random stick lying around….? Use some string and thumbtacks to create a necklace display.

The possibilities are endless!

Stay tuned for Hut-to-Home, The Developing Kitchen Edition! It might just blow your mind! :) 

A stormy night with a peaceful heart.

It’s a beautiful night in Kavango tonight, there’s a storm rolling in, carrying with it occasional but brilliant thunder and lightning. Storms here are very different than they are at home for some reason. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that even when I’m in my hut, the thunder can be deafening… or if it’s just that when the sky is as big as it is here, the lightning seems to come from all around you. The storm that knocked out the power legitimately scared me a little bit. It’s just so much power… It’s really incredible.

So, it’s been a rough couple of days. I’ve been sick, and just feeling a bit “blah”. But today…I’ve just had reminder after reminder about how awesome it is to be here. How lucky I am to be living side by side with such amazing people. Getting to teach, and be taught, by such incredible learners. Experiencing that deep down feeling of being exactly where you’re supposed to be.

I’ve taken over the classes the Lauren was teaching, so I have English for grades 6 & 7 and natural science for grade 6. I’m really enjoying all of them. I’m starting to get in the groove a little bit better, and getting more ideas every day. Teaching with limited resources is a challenge, but it also opens up so many opportunities for creativity!

The wedding on Saturday was great! It was a long, long day…but it was fun. One of my friends (and coworkers), Mrs. Ngendjo, was also there, so it was nice to be able to ask her questions about what was happening, and just have someone to talk to. It was an all day affair, lasting from about 10 am to 8:30pm.

I’m happy to announce that one of my other friends, Maxima, has agreed to become my Rukwangali tutor! I’m really excited to start meeting with her to continue growing my vocabulary! Even though a lot of people in my village speak English, most of the oldest and youngest community members do not. Also, most community events (staff and parent meetings at my school, church, weddings, etc… ) take place in Rukwangali. So, to become integrated the way I want to be, I’m striving for fluency. We’ll see how it goes!

Okay…that’s all for now. Look for an exciting post tomorrow with lots of pictures of my hut improvements :) 

Home, sweet home

Well folks…false alarm. Last night, just as we were finally settling into the idea of traveling to Tsumeb, the power came back on! So this afternoon I headed back to my village.

I have to say, although the idea of staying in a nice a lodge for a few nights, ordering cool drinks and pizza, and swimming in the pool was beginning to sound appealing, being back at my village only solidifies in my mind how happy I am to be living here. I just finished unpacking some groceries, doing a little laundry, playing with my puppy, and eating a delicious calzone with a nalgene full of peach iced tea (thanks Deedee!). Tomorrow I’ll start teaching! I’m really excited to start getting to know my learners!

One of the things I forgot to write about last post was the flag hoisting I went to on Sunday. It’s a traditional event in my region that takes place one week before a wedding. The bride and groom are both somehow related to my principal (on different sides of the family!) so when he offered to bring me, I jumped at the chance! At a flag hoisting, money is collected for the couple, placed in a metal box, and then put in deep hole in front of their house. When everything is ready, family members carry a white flag on a long pole, amidst singing, clapping and dancing. The flag is then hoisted into the hole, everyone cheers, and the celebration begins! The flag stays there for one year, signifying a newly married couple, and on their first anniversary, the couple is allowed to dig up the money. It’s a really fun tradition! Then there are speeches and songs prepared by friends and family, food and champagne, followed by a dance party. I got to meet a lot of people, make them laugh as I practiced my Rukwangali, and then laugh even harder as I attempted to dance… all together, a great evening! The wedding is Saturday, so I’m looking forward to another day of cultural learning :)

Hope everyone is doing well stateside! I’ll keep you posted about my first couple of days teaching!

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! 

quick update...

Hello everyone!

I am currently relaxing in the Peace Corps Rundu office, drinking cold Coke and eating chocolate! Ah...it's the little things. :) I also received a ginormous package from my wonderful grandparents, so it's definitely been a fantastic day!

News from my homestead:

Friday was International Teachers' Day, and my school hosted a celebration for the area schools. We cooked a TON of food, I got to meet a lot of teachers from the nearby school, and overall, it was a fun (but exhausting) day. Here are a few of the learners, helping get the meal ready...

One of the cats on my homestead had kittens in my cooking hut! They are tiny and adorable! 

The other big piece of news is... I've decided to get a puppy! :) One of my learners has a litter and I've picked one out. I will pick her up next weekend. She is so cute that I've hardly been able to stop thinking about it... I'm so excited! I'll post pictures as soon as possible!

This coming week I'll be travelling to Tondoro, a nearby village, to shadow another volunteer. I'm really excited about getting another perspective and even more ideas to use at my school. It should be a fun time! :) But, I will be without internet for the week - so stay tuned for more news next weekend!

Weekend escapades...

(Written Sunday, September 30th...had a hard time posting the pictures!)

It’s been another quiet weekend on my homestead… I kept myself pretty busy with daily tasks, some crafting, and this morning I took a nice walk around my village. That doesn’t sound like a big deal…but when your sense of direction is as bad as mine is, walking around a new place with few landmarks and no GPS is slightly daunting, haha. But I made it! :)

On the way I found – 

A future hammocking spot:

 Some interesting nests (any ideas Dr. Nation?):

And, of course, plenty of cows:

I also met two 5^th graders along the way and walked with them for a little while. It was fun :)

Other highlights of my day include:

- Talking to my great aunt! I love trying to practice/learn Rukwangali with her! Every time I say something she just gets SO happy and laughs and claps her hands… it’s great!

- These delicious apple crepes I made for breakfast!

Haha…well that’s all for now! If there’s anything in particular you’d like to know about life in Namibia, please comment! :)