It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since I left the US.
What a year… In keeping with the roller coaster analogy, I can tell this ride
will be over far too soon! From what I hear, year 2 goes by even quicker! I’m
so not ready for that!
Things are going well here in my village. Term 2 is winding
down; exams are just around the corner! I haven’t completely settled in on my
new homestead, mainly because I’m still waiting to move into my permanent hut.
My hut is coming along though! We’ve moved the roof of my
original hut over to my new homestead, and re-mudded the walls. That was a ton
of fun! It’s like making productive mud pies! All the dry mud is collected from
termite hills or my village’s mud pit, and placed inside the hut. Then, we
collected tons of water and poured that onto the mud mound. The task of mixing
up the mud fell to a few of my bigger boy learners. Then, the girls and I began
shaping mud balls! Each ball is then eased between two of the poles (that are
holding up he roof) and smoother into place. You have to be careful to get just
the right consistency of mud (not too wet, not too dry) otherwise it wont stay
in place. I put on some Namibian music on my iPod and we had a dance party
while we worked. :)
For my kitchen hut, I’ll need to start from scratch – new roof,
new poles, more mud. Part of the Peace Corps’ contract with my village is that
the community members provide housing. As my community is made up mostly of
people with little to no income, that’s a lot to ask. We had a parent meeting
at my school last week, and the school board presented my case. I was very
blessed when two of my colleagues stood up to speak for me. They told the
parents that I’m working without pay, and even brought up some of the projects
I’ve been doing! It was like a Hallmark movie moment… but it really did make me
feel appreciated. The parents all agreed to help, and divided up who was
bringing what materials. The grass for my roof started arriving on Monday, so
I’m on my way there!
I recently spent a week in Windhoek (the capital city),
getting ready for the new group of volunteers. They arrive in country TODAY,
and I will be spending a week at their pre-service training in August. I’m so
excited to meet them all! It’s a large group (44ish) of English teachers and
business volunteers.
My dog, Tjida, is growing fast. He follows me everywhere!
Right now, he’s napping under my desk… He comes to school with me every day,
sometimes all the way into the classroom. Giving him a Rukwangali name has
worked out great - I think everyone in my whole village knows his name! I’m
also training him in Rukwangali, and the kids love it! He’s starting to grow
into his maternal collie bloodlines. His new favorite game is to round up any
passing herds of goats… he doesn’t know what to do with them once he has them
together, but he’s getting there. He’s still afraid of cows though, and prefers
to bark at them from a distance… maybe he’ll grow out of that?
Things continue to go well with the library! I’m hoping to
plan some reading events next term to keep interest up! I’ve also started a
small library for the lower primary learners (pre-primary – grade 3) that
rotates weekly It’s mainly simple books in Rukwangali and a few very easy
English books. I’m meeting with those teachers soon to check the progress, and
see how they’re using the books.
My language learning is plodding along... it’s hard to find
the time to concentrate on it, but I still try to pick up new words every day.
How about a quick lesson?
Morokeni (more-oh-ken-ee) : Good morning/hello
Metaha (may-tah-hah) : Good afternoon
Ngurova (nn-guh-roh-vah) : Good evening
Mpandu (mm-pahn-doo) : Thank you
…I’m not so great at phonetic spellings, but that should get
you pretty close! I’ll have to make a video! :)
Well, that’s all for now! I have some exciting projects
planned for August holiday, but I’m not going to jinx them by telling you about
them now! Hopefully I’ll also have some unrelated good news to share soon… so
stay tuned! :)
