SOMA guest blog!

Hey guys! So, as you know I'm currently in Senegal attending a malaria boot camp through Stomp Out Malaria in Africa. I'm having a great time and I had the opportunity to write about it for Stomp's website. Check it out!

http://stompoutmalaria.org/boot-camp-day-2-its-a-movement/

How I get from here to there...

Today’s nam milestones –

            received my third bee sting
            saw a second dog be hit by a car
            coaxed my fifty-seventh baby into thinking white people are cool
            was hit on obnoxiously for the millionth time

Pretty full day, huh?

And now, I’d like to delve into a topic I’ve been saving for a rainy day…. transportation.

Transportation in Namibia can be…challenging.

First, everything happens on African time. Not that it’s always a bad thing. If you can get yourself adjusted to it, African time can really work in your favor. But to the stereo-typical American brain, it’s inconceivable that a 65 km trip should take 2.5 hours. And yes, sometimes that happens.

Next, there aren’t that many people in Namibia. About 2 million, actually. And not many of them have cars. Unlike some other volunteer organizations, Peace Corps does not allow volunteers to drive vehicles. So, sometimes we have to creative…

Here are our options – public transport (usually a combi, a van-type vehicle) or hitch-hiking (or, as we refer to it here – hiking). Now, both have their merits. As this is a public blog, I will refrain from supporting either whole-heartedly…rather I will attempt to amuse you with anecdotal tales of both types.

How I get to Rundu (my shopping town) from my village: 

- Walk to the road

- Find a shady spot, and watch the horizon for matua (cars)

- Whenever one meanders by, flag it down using a variety of moves (my personal go-to is the "dribbling the basketball")
- When a car/combi does pull over, discuss where I'm going, and how much money I have

- Hop in and go! 

But, as simple as that sounds, there are always complications. To sort some of those things out…here is the glorious first edition of my Rules for Nam Transport!

Rule # 1: Leave early. You never know what’s going to happen between point A and point B. Examples: your combi/public transport car may take anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours to fill up. You may receive a ride from a friendly man who needs to make a “quick stop” and end up chatting with his wife over tea for a few hours. There are always stops to be made, errands to be run, and plenty of cows, goats, and donkeys on the road. As an estimate, take the number of kilometers, multiply it by one million, and you should be pretty close.

Rule # 2: Always bring a book, an ipod, or some other form of amusement. When hiking, you never know how long you’ll be on the side of the road. If possible, bring a friend and invent new dance routines to help get the attention of passing cars. Also, always wear sunscreen (that’s for you, Amanda!). Especially if you’re as pale as I am.

 Rule # 3: Pay attention to your surroundings. This rule is especially important when you; a) live in a village, b) have no sense of direction, or c) both. I’m not too proud to admit that I have, on three occasions, accidentally passed my village. But really, let me break it down. In the 65 km between my shopping town and my village, here’s what you will find – cows. goats. donkeys. small children. huts. trees. and the occasional shebeen (bar). After a while, it all starts to look the same. So rule 3.1 – don’t get too engrossed in your book, 3.2 – don’t have such awesome conversations you forget to look for your landmarks, and 3.3 – don’t SMS excessively. :)

Rule # 4: There is always more space. I’m not sure if this counts as a rule, or more of a principle… but either way, when you’re traveling in Namibia, it’s very true! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a vehicle and thought to myself “there is no possible way another person could fit in here,” and less than two minutes later the driver has decided to prove me wrong. I usually end up making a game out of it and keeping a running total as we pick up/drop off passengers. I think my personal record is 24 on one bakkie (pick up truck), cab and bed included. Obviously, I was abiding by PC rules and riding in the cab. But yes, it happened.

Rule # 5: Enjoy yourself. It can be difficult. Sometimes you’ve spent all day walking around grocery shopping and sweating constantly and you just want to be done. But while transportation is a challenge, it’s also an adventure. Greet the people in your vehicle. Try to impress them with your language skills. Play with the small children. Count the cows. And if all else fails, conjure up some super sweet background music and imagine that you’re in a movie.

So there you have it... five simple rules to keep you sane while you get around in Namibia. Now come visit me and try them out! :)

Rambling thoughts from a combi...

Spring is everywhere these days... You can hear it in the way that all the trees whisper in the breeze, and then fall silent, as if holding their breath in anticipation. You can see it in the scores of new baby goats, their bright markings gleaming in the sun. You can smell it when a faint, sweet scent drifts your way from tiny blossoms that cover a few bushes. You can feel it as the sun beats down on your shoulders, reminding you that summer is just around the corner. Yes, spring is here - however brief it may be.

I leave on Sunday for the Stomp Out Malaria bootcamp in Senegal! All the last stubborn details are falling (or being dragged) into place, and tub it's off I go! I'm so excited about this opportunity!

Before I leave, I'd like to take this opportunity to ask for your help, on behalf of my friend Olga. But first, let me back up...

Teenage pregnancy is an astronomical problem in Namibia, particularly in my region. More than 30% of 12-19 year olds in my area will fall pregnant. Once that happens, their future is significantly impacted. While they are permitted to attend school after delivery, many of them aren't able to, for financial reasons.

My friend Olga is one of those girls. She is in 7th grade, and now has a beautiful 3 week old daughter named Indi. Olga's grades were very good for term 1 & 2, even in the late stages of her pregnancy.

Through some visits with her, she's expressed a desire to finish grade 7 and attempt to apply for grade 8 at a nearby school. Together, we've found a young woman in the village who is willing to care for Indi during the day for the price of N$300 (approximately 30 USD) a month, for the remaining 3 months of this school year.

So, here's where I ask for your help. Is anyone interested in sponsoring a bright young mother as she works upwards finishing her education? This is the first step of many, to be sure - but finishing grade 7 will make her eligible for secondary school, and open up many future possibilities.

I hope you'll think about it today, and consider helping. Thanks guys!

Village Chillage

While my original holiday plans fell through, I managed to have a pretty great tome the past week and a half! 

My friend Sachi, who is a volunteer down in southern Namibia was able to come up and hang out in Kavango for the week. It was really great to introduce her to the culture, language and villages of the north! We spent some time here in Rundu, my shopping town and then headed out to my village, along with fellow Kavango volunteer, Andre. 

It's amazing how life in the village (especially during holiday) can seem so slow, but at the same time the days just fly by! We shared meals with my host family, sat around the fire and played an impromptu game of sand pictionary with my siblings. Loads of fun! 

We happened to be in my village just in time for my youngest brother's first birthday. So, of course we baked cookies and brought him a teddy bear stuffed animal. There is, however no word for "bear" in Rukwangali (not surprisingly) so he's learning to love his new stuffed "mbwa" (dog!). Not long after the birthday festivities, we were all able to witness his first steps! Not to brag, but they were towards one very proud big sister :D

We also managed to watch a lot of Friends, make friendship bracelets, and cook delicious lentil tacos. Overall, successful village chillage time. 

Now I'm wrapping up holiday by making use of the internet, getting lessons together and planned for term 3, and getting ready for my trip to Senegal. I also will have the pleasure of hosting 2 trainees in my village next weeks. They've been in Namibia for a little over a month, and will be shadowing me to learn more about a volunteers role at school! 

That's all for now! Enjoy these photos, compliments of Sachi! :)

Here's my dog, Tjida with his Uncle Dre! 

Showing off my neck muscles... 

My little brother, Junior with his mom
(just moments before he took his first steps!)

"Adversity, we get around it"

Perhaps one of the most important lessons I’m learning as a PCV is how to deal with failure. This has been especially true over the past few days, as both of the projects I had planned to do this school holiday unraveled. And while I’m disappointed that things didn’t go according to plan, I can only hope that through these failures I’ll learn some things that will make it more successful next time, and rejoice that I still have the time in my service to make multiple attempts.

Until then, I’m planning to use my spare time to get super organized for term 3, and allow myself some time to organize my new hut. Also, my PCV friend Sachi is up coming to visit, so I’m excited to share my village with her!

Also, the big news I hinted at a few posts ago has come true, so I’m free to share it! I’ve been selected to attend a conference in Senegal hosted by an organization called Stomp Out Malaria! It’s an intense nine day training event focused on malaria, prevention techniques, and behavior change methods to help my community eradicate the disease. Obviously, I’m incredibly excited about the opportunity to not only gain so much useful knowledge but also see another piece of Africa!

This also means I’ll be missing a lot of school, so the other thing I’ll be working on this holiday is planning lessons and assignments to leave behind for my learners. I’m working with my school to find someone willing to take over my classes while I’m gone so they don’t fall behind. I’m happy to report that my term 2 exam scores were reasonably high, and by the final exam I hope we’ll make even more progress.

So… I’m off to practice some useful French phrases! :) Hope you’re having a great day!

To the days that make it worth it.

Note: I wrote this a few weeks back and never got around to posting it. But, it's still very true! :)

One of my favorite things about living abroad is the way that good things, no matter how small, always seem to be amplified. Good days, classes, or moments are really good. By the same token… when things are bad, they’re pretty bad…

I spent all day in bed yesterday, really sick. Running stomach, fever, headache, and sore throat. And it was awful. To make matters worse, the electricity was out. As a girl with a dead laptop whose primary coping mechanism when sick is to watch too much TV (in college, when I was confined to my dorm room with swine flu for a week I once watched 10 NCIS episodes in one day…) this was hard to take. Also, it meant I couldn’t heat up water in my kettle, and therefore couldn’t enjoy hot tea (coping mechanism #2). So… I slept. A lot. I read a little. I lay there feeling miserable.

And today, I’m feeling better. By tomorrow, I’m sure I’ll be back to normal. My host family has been awesome. Maxima made me gargle salt water, and Omama made me soft porridge (a lot like cream of wheat – essentially Kavango baby food!). They chastised me for not wearing a sweatshirt and shoes once the sun went down, and fussed at me for looking thinner.

For all the crazy ups and downs, I’m so glad the good outweighs the bad. When I get to the end of every day, week, and month, I can look back and say: there was a lot of good, and a lot of bad… but when I add it all together, it comes out positive. Always. Little things, like Chicken City’s ice cream machine working when I go to Rundu, or my learners asking me “what’s up?” outside of class. When my dog cuddles with me at night, or when my little host brothers smile at me. When I learn a new word in Rukwangali, or teach a new word in English. When I look up at the stars, or watch the sunrise. Good always comes out on top, if you look for it.

So, to sum that all up, I’ll say this. Some days, you will poop your pants on your way to the latrine. But most days you won’t. And those days make it worth it. :)

updates (huts, pups, and more)

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! :)