Driving on the other side

Here in Namibia they drive on the other side of the road as opposed to the States. It is similar to Britain. This is the first country I've lived in that does it. I took a picture of the location of the steering wheel in hope of giving you an idea of what it's like. I am still getting used to which side of the street to walk on so as to be walking against the oncoming traffic. For those of you who haved lived or live in a country that uses the British road protocol, this is nothing new. But I can only say that after driving over 40 something years, that it is kind of awkward sitting on the what is the passenger side of one of these cars here and not have a steering wheel in front of me.

A traditional dress

Yesterday I was in town and saw a few women
wearing traditional dresses. The dress is that of
the Herero women.Namibia is made up of
several of what they call, tribes.

Some other tribes are the majority Ovambo,
then Kovangos, Damara, Nama, Caprivian, Bushmen,
Baster, Tswana and Himba. Also a few others that I
don't know the names of.

I do hope that in the future I'll be able to post up
others pictures of traditional dress.

Okahandja Home Based Care

Yesterday, as part of our training we went
to see the Okahandja Home Based Care
facilities. It is part of becoming aware of
the different types of services that exist in
certain areas of Nambia.
The lady on the right in the picture is the founder
of such facility. It has been in existence since
2005.
Okahandja Home Based Service works with HIV
and AIDS patients and it is actually on a volunteer
basis. They service approximately 145 people at
the moment and feel that they have a capability
to function with up to 200. If they had sufficient
funds.
Their services include a soup kitchen that has only
enough resources (through handouts and some grant
money) to provide a noon time meal on Monday,
Wednesdays and Fridays. It is necessary for people
taking their Anti-Retro Virals to eat something or
they will feel sick.
The Service also goes out to the AIDS patients
that are incapable of getting out of bed.
They also take people to their hospital visits if
they in need of help to walk ... etc.
HIV/AIDS education is also part of their activities.
As is convincing people who are suspected of having
HIV/AIDS to go for testing. Many don't want to go
because they don't want to know or because
of the stigma that comes with having HIV/AIDS.
As I mentioned, it is done on a voluntary basis
and a few of the staff also have HIV.
I asked the lady (again, in the picture on the right)
why she does what she does without any pay.
She said that she is doing it because her 3 older
sisters died from AIDS and that she wanted to
do something about it.
I also asked her if she got tired at times from
working with no pay and in an emotionally
difficult situation day in and day out.
She mentioned that she did get tired. She would
also hear it from her family about going out and
working for free when the family didn't have
enough money to pay their electric and water bill
for the month.
But she did say that despite the economic
hardships she faces, there is some form of
divine intervention. Either someone or something
seems to come just in time and with just
enough to keep them functioning.
So far, during my limited time in Namibia,
I would have to say that she is my Hero.

Homestay activity

During training we live with local famillies. An almost across the board nightly activity in each household that hosts us ... is ... to watch the soap opera ' todo sobre Camilla '. Which is a Spanish language telenovela and the name translates to ' all about Camilla '. Every night at 7:30 we are glued to our seats in anticipation of the next captivating episode. I really like watching it as the girls in my homestay familly really get into it and are extremely animated at times. Also, Camilla is a telenovela from 2006 or so. It is the first time that it is shown here. If you've seen it, please don't tell me how it ends.

Basic greeting

As I mentioned in an earlier posting the language that I am
learning is called Thimbukushu. Raymond the teacher (in picture)
is the grandson of the head chief of all the Thimbukushu people
in Namibia.

Following is the basic greetings in Thimbukushu ...

Ngepi (how are you)?
Thiwana (good/fine)
Awo (and you)?
Thiwana (good/fine).

If the person is leaving, then the person leaving would say ...

Kare po thiwana (stay well).

The reply of the person staying to the person leaving is ...

Yende po thiwana (may you go well).

And that is the basic greeting of the Thimbukushu people of
northeastern Namibia.

A recipe

Here is the first recipe that I've posted on
this blog. If you look at the picture you'll
see that the main ingredient is.

A lady named Namutenya was walking by and stopped
to show us what she had in the bucket.
I thought it would make an interesting article.

Here's the instructions I received as to how
to prepare them ...

-Heat a pan of oil till boiling.
-Add salt, pepper, chili and another spice that they
called chip-chop (don't know what that is).
-Also, add a little onion.
-You could also add other spices as desired.

Once the oil is boiling just throw them in
and cook for from 10 to 15 minutes. Basically on
the lower side if you'd like them a little moist.

I've had a few before and they actually very good.

So there you have it, a first recipe from Namibia.

They call it Blue Monday

Maybe they call it the same in other parts of the world (maybe even the USA) but I've never heard it refered to by that name. But for me and my colleagues it is a Blue Monday at the half way point in our training cycle. The picture is of a student heading off to school on Blue Monday 23 March 2009. What does Blue Monday mean? That feeling we get 52 times a year as we head out the door to do our businesses and thinking that we need an extra cup of coffee.

This Sunday morning

I went to church with the mother of the homestay family that I am staying with in Okahandja. The name of the church is 'Universal Church of the Kingdom of God' and as I was at the service a thought of the other churches of different religions that I have seen over the last 8 plus years, came to mind. From the 6 different churches in the village I was in with a population of 350 in El Salvador. To the Mosque of the village in Senegal. And on to the Orthodox churches in Romania. I have seen the uniquenesses, with each as interesting as the other. But this 'Univesal Church' is the newest new church experience for me. What was different here was the church choir. Here in Namibia, choirs are popular with each school usually having one. There are competitions and I have heard that they pretty formidable at that. The 'Universal Church' choir consisted of 15 teenagers and they were really great. Their tremendous voices were used to sing in the Rukangali language. They had a traditional drum which was about 3 feet or 1 meter tall. Also the dancing style was different than what I had seen in Senegal. Here, there is more of what I can describe as 'leg stomping'. It looks powerful and it reminded me that I was in a different place. It also reminded me that for the opportunity I had to be there, that I was a lucky guy.

Tomorrow is Indepence Day

The 21st of March will be the 19th anniversary of Namibia as a country. This makes it one of the newest countries in the world. The sense I've gotten from my limited time here, is that there is a right mindedness as to in which direction the country should go. It does have challenges to face but I feel they will be fine in time.

A few facts

Just a little random information ... The water in Namibia is drinkable out of the tap in all but a few places, that's a good thing. The cell phone I use to write these articles is a Nokia 2630. And the language I am learning is called Thimbukushu. It is part of the Bantu language. The majority of the people in my new village speak Khesan (not sure of the spelling). So here's a greeting in both languages. Thimbtkushu - ngepi (how are you) thiawana (good). In Khesan - bamba , chaka which means the same. More to come.

Morning greeting over Okahandja

After leaving my host family's house this morning at 5 minutes before 7 and turning right as I needed to proceed in the direction to meet a few fellow colleagues ... I was presented with the most magnificent rainbow. Till this point in my life, the best I've ever witnessed. The colors were so vibrant. Thoughts of being small in a vast world instantly entered my mind. It was a great gift for a Monday.

Sunday morning at homestay

During our time spent in training we stay with a family. I am staying with a really nice family of 6 ( 7 including me ). It is Sunday morning around 10 and it is 82 degrees, sunny and just a glorious day. I am just hanging out with the family, taking it easy. Depending, it is either Saturday or Sunday which is the day clothes are washed. As you can see in picture today was washing day. From left to right in the picture is Maria, Selmi and Helena. They are 3 of the 4 sisters at the house and really great kids. The electricity is off for the day so I took out my little LL Bean transitor radio and we're listening to R + B from the States. So I will this end this article here, put down the cell phone I'm using to blog and just sit back and listen to the music.

View from a combi

As I mentioned in yesterday's article we would be taking a combi (mini-bus) for the second and final leg back to the training center in Okahandja. We had to wait 2 and a half hours to have enough people to fill the combi, 15 total. It is at least a 10 hour ride. I am sitting in the middle of the 3rd row of seats. The picture is of what I am looking at while I am writing this article. So on we go.

Heading back to training

The site visit is over and it's back to the training center for 5 more weeks. Namibia is the second least populated country (per area) in the world behind only Mongolia. Where me and a few of my colleagues are there isn't many people. Not too many people, not too much public transport, if any. So most of the time it is using the old educated thumb. The picture is that of the 3 other people I am traveling with in the back of a semi-trailer. In fact I am writing this article as we travel down the road. Tonight we will stay in a town called Rundu. In the morning it will be 10 more hours to the training center in Okahandja. But we are planning on taking a mini bus or as they call it here, a combi. So it is many miles before we sleep.

Omega, soon to be new home

I've just finished spending a week visiting my new site. It is called Omega and has a population of about 4000. The majority being the San people or better known as Bushmen. But all toll there has to be at least 6 or 7 different peoples speaking their own languages. There isn't any internet there but I've been able to configure my cell phone to allow me to post articles to this blog. The picture you see is of some of the San that I was hanging out with a few days ago. I also must mention that it is 45 miles in one direction and 50 in the other to any town. It is in the middle of a game reserve. The name which I can't spell at this moment. I will post the name later on. We did see an elephant on the way in and of course the battery on the phone died ( also has a built in digital camera ). But there will be more opportunities within the next 2 years to get that shot, I'm sure.