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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Slow day in town

It was an unusually slow day in the village today.
In fact it led me to ask someone about just such
observation. The reply I received was ... it's the
end of the month. Ah, it all made sense as to the
quiet or less busy nature of the village on this day.
End of the month means payday for those receiving
salaries and as there are no banks or ATMs, it is
the time to blow out of Dodge and get one's compensation.
Despite that there was some progress today as the
final details on the location of the new soccer field
(in photo) were hammered out but to probably be
changed later on.
The village school is hosting about 12 kids from Scotland
who are spending a week volunteering to do some
work to improve one of it's buildings.
The kids are of high school age and they spent a classroom
time with kids who attend the school here. I wasn't present
but heard from the teacher that they were just talking like
kids do and were so involved in their discussions that they
didn't even take time for the scheduled break. This is
good stuff.
For me it was a kind of slow day as opposed to the last
week. But I did accomplish my daily goal of trying to
improve the village daily even if it is only a minute thing.
The small things were starting a seed bed for cabbage and
spending an hour or so cleaning the volleyball court and
around it. But did a lot of talking to a teacher about what
are things we can do to make school more attractive and
fun for the village kids. This is a difficult challenge as most
of the parents either haven't attended school, do not impress
the need or support for education for their kids, or to me
the worst of all, drink too much.
Didn't change the world or the village today but that's ok,
there's tomorrow.
But did have two great t-shirt with writing on them sightings.
One was from one of the Scottish girls and her t-shirt had ...
life is a jungle ... written on it which I thought was a little
humorous and appropriate seeing as we are 70 km out in
the bush.
The other was a village girl's t-shirt that read ... my dad is
my credit card. Just struck me funny.
Well, hopefully tomorrow will be a little more productive
but in this Peace Corps gig, there are guarantees that
it will.
I am keeping a seed packet of hot peppers just in case, at
least I know that I will accomplish another seed bed tomorrow,
at the least.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

One battle at a time

That's the thought that came to mind yesterday
as we were at the village 30 km away playing
netball and football/soccer matches.
The games were for women and young girls ( see
above photo). One team (the women's team) is newly
formed and has been in existence for a little over 3 weeks.
They've all played at other places or in school but up until
the recent organization of a team, they hadn't played in some
time. The girl's team is that from the school and they've
played a bit but hadn't until the building of the new
netball court in the middle of town.
Yesterday's starting time for the activities was 7 a.m.
and I was surprised to see them all there on time and
ready to go. We were concerned that many of them
would have been at the shebeen (bar) the night before
and wouldn't be in any condition to show up. We had
a plan to get other players in case we had a problem.
But, they were there and that was good.
We loaded up about 20 people into a little Toyota
pickup truck and off we went down the road and
at the time the temperature was a chilly 50 Fahrenheit
or about 10 degrees Celsius. It was cold, be assured
of that.
We arrived and in time the games began. The young
girl's team played tremendous and won 13 to 5. After
completing an hour of netball they walked the 20 meters
to the soccer field and proceeded to play another hour
of soccer.
They lost 1 to 0 on a fluke goal but that's how the cookie
crumbles.
Then it was time for the big girls to play netball and our
village team lost 13 to 11 on a really well played game
by both sides.
To make an excuse for the big girl's team ... the fact that
the court has been only lately rebuilt is probably a factor
in their losing. But, excuses are just what they are, excuses.
I am hoping that this will become a motivating experience
that will also help to build character. In fact, as in my part
in this, that is what I am looking for. The winning and losing
is just part of it. I am wanting them to become stronger,
independent, self-motivating and through these sport
events.Eventually to become part of their character.
Here in the village, as mentioned in prior blog entries, alcohol
is really the biggest problem. It has lead to contraction of HIV
and also a way too high rate of teenage pregnancy.
The reason why is that alcohol is the first choice of diversion,
because it was the only option, until now.
All these activities is to try and offer other options for especially
the youth or in fact for everyone.
So far, it has worked and as all Peace Corps volunteers know,
could come crashing down instantly.
So to see all the girls there ready to go, especially when quite
a few are known for their drinking, well, it was really a positive
thing for us trying to bring the options.
It told us that they didn't go to the bar on a Friday night and
that they are giving some priority to the sport and their
teams. Also, I have heard that many of them didn't go to
the bar on Saturday night too. I am guessing that they were
too tired and I was tired from just watching them, run, run
and run.
Like the title above states ... a war is won one battle at a time.
We are thinking that the war is against alcohol and boredom.
We know that we didn't solve the problem or win the war.
It is too soon to make that statement. And it too, challenges
us to keep the momentum going. We need to develop more
activities and programs and we do have a lot of ideas on the
drawing board. Not all sports oriented and many of the
cerebral type. First we just need to grab their attention
and change the route of motivation to that of self development.
So, for at least these two days I am feeling safe to say that
we won the battle.
But, there still is the war and we ain't giving up.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Quarter moon ... Full day

It was one of those days that come by in a Peace Corps
volunteers life, like, almost never.
It was just one of those days that makes it all worth it.
Under the quarter moon I am writing about today's full
agenda. Here's how it went ...
The beginning was at the garden this morning seeing the
people working their plots and in a few cases having a
helping hand by their husbands.Also received a packet
of chili pepper seeds and began a little seed bed with
them. We didn't have any of those types of plants before
so it will add a diversity and in my opinion, a minute progress.
Then it was to the woman's netball court to prod the guys
into removing a tree that was inches away from the line
and kind of a hazard. A whole new group of young men
worked that little project and they toiled to say the least.
They dug down about 3 ft. and cut out the stump and
it was like a mini-excavation project. But now the netball
court is finally complete in all it's detail. It also looks
great and really has a good vibe to it.
Also during that time we were able to finally decide on
the location of the new football/soccer field. Right now
the soccer field is almost a mile and a half away from
the center of town and really isolated. It actually takes
out the enthusiasm for going there and usually no one
knows when or gets to see the players in action. So there is
no activity for the people and virtually no support for
the players. But we've solved that today and now the
new field will be about 100 meters from the center of
town. It also will be available for the school which
doesn't have a field at this time.
Yesterday I went to a city called Katima Mullilo and
was able to buy some rope that was needed to complete
the recouping of an old volleyball court that wasn't
used since the South African military left almost 19
or so years ago. Over the last few days we've cleaned
it off and cut down two old light poles that are now
being used as supports for the net. The problem we had
was that we needed some rope to be able to attach the
net. I brought that back yesterday from Katima and this
afternoon young men were playing volleyball (photo above).
It was really incredible to see all the positive activity
going on. Men playing volleyball and the women
playing netball and there had to be over a 100 spectators
total.
The goal of these activities is to try and give the people
and especially youth, something to occupy themselves with.
The biggest problem in this isolated village is alcohol.
It also is one of the leading factors in the spreading and
contracting of HIV.
When I arrived all I heard was that the youth have nothing
to do and so for that, they go to the shebeens (bars).
One project I am going to be involved in beginning this
week is to collaborate with a teacher to work with the
young girls in school whom are mothers. I am not sure
of the total but in the village itself there are many, many
of young or should I say, very young girls, totting their
babies around tied to their backs.
The only way to begin to address this issue that I could
think of was through sports. The people just love to
play sports and the San (Khwe) people can run and run
and run. Almost forever it seems.
On the volleyball court were three particular young men
whom everyone told me would have definitely been in the
bar at that time. On the netball court were four girl
students who are mothers.
One person told me to look in the direction of the bars
and tell me what I saw that was peculiar. I didn't get
what he was driving at but he said that for the first time
that he could remember, he didn't see anyone in
front of the bars on a Friday afternoon.
I got to tell you that this last week has been hectic
and the pace has been almost that of what life in
the States was. But, again, it was all worth it.
Can't say that all the problems are solved or that
this momentum to get balance back from the alcohol
driven society, will work out. In fact, only time can
answer that.
All I can say that it was just a great felling to sit there
this afternoon and see everyone having fun and
laughing and there was no alcohol involved.
So yeah, it was a full day and tomorrow we are
going on the road to the next village about 30 km
away to play netball with two teams.
Next week we are going to try and organize a
woman's netball league and a volleyball league
or two (depends on if women want to create
a league too). That should fill next week up with
that and the preparing of the soccer field (need
to cut down 4 little trees and moving goal posts).
Looks like another week ahead of full days, I'll
take as many of those as I can.
Maybe we can make this place and people's lives
better.
It's what this is all about.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Took over half a century ...

To finally get that picture that you always think
... where's the camera when you need it.
You are looking a just such a picture in the above
photo. Also, I am wondering if you can figure out
exactly what is going on.
If you can make out a guy laying on his back with
his legs wrapped around an approximately 4 ft drum,
and playing his heart out, then you are right.
This picture I took at the dance festival a few weeks
ago and kind of had a hesitation to post it on this blog.
At first glance there appears to be hints of perversion
permeating or reeking from the snap shot. But after
debating between delete or posting it, I came to the
conclusion that the world needed to know that there
is a guy in the southern Africa region of the world
who is passionate with all the percussionist fibers of
his being.
I was actually extremely lucky that I could take the
picture. It was taken with a cell phone and per chance
at the time of viewing a text message I had just
received. I happened to be able to kind of see it
from the corner of my eye and was able to activate
the camera function before he decided to return to a
perpendicular posture like the rest of us.
Yup, is about all I can say besides, after all these
years, when you think you've seen it all, join
the Peace Corps. You'll definitely be in a position
to ... think you've seen it all ... almost on a daily basis.
Hopefully won't have to wait over another half century
to be able to actually take that ... where is the camera when
you need it shot again.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Blue Monday turns Rosy

Yeah, this blue Monday had one heck of a start but
in the end, it was a pretty decent day.
It actually started with waking up at 5:30 a.m. due
to a knock on the door from a person that I've been
doing some computer work with. He needed to go
to his office to download a document that was sent
to him. It was an itinerary of activities of receiving a
pretty high up visitor.
So, off we go to his office and in a rush I might add.
To the point of putting that cup of coffee off with the
idea that we'd be finished by 6:30. This would give
me enough time to get to the garden while the water
was running.
But first, on the way out I wanted to check to see if
the next door neighbor (aka the 'mess' family, mostly
due to bad life decisions as opposed to what is
shown in picture above) brought back the pot that
they borrowed last evening. They did bring it back which
was good (pot isn't mine, belongs to people I'm staying
with) but as you can see, they made porridge in it and
didn't clean it (inside pot, outside is from cooking fires).
It was very clean when they took it. Porridge cooked
in a pot and left to dry overnight is like trying to clean
cement.
So, the 'mess' family struck during the night and it took
45 minutes to bring the pot back into a usable condition.
Then we get to the office and the main computer has
viruses and doesn't want to function. We were able to
power an old computer (one of the dinosaurs) and
eventually download the document and just when we
placed the flash drive into the computer that has the
printer attached, the generator shuts down as a result of
some malfunction. This is at about 8 a.m. and the person
had to leave the village without the document and we lost
2 and a half hours.
Then went to the garden and found that someone took the
key and it took another hour to track it down only to find
that there wasn't any water as the people in the morning
used it all to water their plants.
On the docket was also to plant two poles that would be
used to get the volleyball court up and running as we
promised. Only problem was that the youth office people
that were going to help get this thing going, were up to their
rearends in work as people were coming to have them help
fill out application forms,
At this point, nothing is going right and there was a real
meaning to the term 'Blue Monday'.
That's how it goes sometimes in this crazy Peace Corps existence.
In fact I thought, I am going home, pulling the covers over
my head and power up the iPod Touch and play Sodoku
till the battery needs recharging.
But first, it was clean the pot to be able to make dinner, so
the pot came back to life. After eating, the youth office guy
contacted me and said we were going to work the volleyball
court till finished.
The lady who is basically the netball organizer came around with
new ideas to repair the netball hoops and also maybe start
a netball league. She also had a girl that was willing to be her
assistant. To get anyone willing to lead here is like pulling teeth.
Also, a woman whom never gardened before asked me to
help her get started and we planted some tomato plants. And
the nurse at the clinic called me in a panic because her computer
was a little on the fritz. Fixed that in a matter of minutes. Also,
a milestone in a personal sense, was that after forgetting my
little LL Bean windup flashlight at the house, was able to find
my way back in almost total darkness with only stumbling
over some type of objects twice.
So, what started off in the blue zone ended in the rosy zone.
Volleyball court is ready and we came through with our
promise. We are building some confidence that I hope will
result in more participation and I know that it will help turn
this village around. If we can get the kids on the positive side
of life, then who knows.
This Blue Monday just came out ok in the end. Hopefully
turquoise Tuesday ends up half as good.
Just can't let the 'mess' family borrow the pot, or maybe
having a cooking pot with cement in it was some form
of crazy good luck charm.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Junk or gold mine ...

One of the things that I enjoy about this village
is that it is full of useful junk.
As mentioned in prior articles this village was
a South African military base. It's been at least
20 years or so since it was last used as such but
there is still a lot of things hanging around.
Every time I walk through the village I am finding
these pieces of wire or old hinges or pipes or
pvc tubes. All things that with a leatherman, hammer,
nails and a small dose of imagination, can become some
cool little gadget or solution to some need.
This afternoon I decided to go out in the bush to look
for sticks that I could use to support the tomato
plants in the garden. What I came upon (in photo) was
an old fuel dump about 50 meters from the landing strip.
Just assuming that it was for planes.
Also noticed an old portion of a fence around it with
regular and barbed wire. Could be useful when we
expand the women's support group garden.
One of those old fuel drums looks like it has a solar
oven potential transformation in it's future. Just need
to get a piece of glass and some type of insulation.
But that's just a matter of time till I stumble upon those
items.
For me it is just a fun thing to look at some interesting
piece of junk and think of what are the possibilities
of making something with it.
I like the having to rely on the wits to come up with
new things that will make life easier and re-cycle
or clean up this place a bit.
When I was in El Salvador and Senegal we would
have died to have this type of access to home
improvement goodies.
I guess the true question is, is it junk or is it a gold
mine. I think that it is a gold mine of parts that
allows limitless imagination.
Looking forward to more jaunts in the bush, wonder
if I can find and poles for basketball and some
pipes for the kids mini soccer goals and ... who
knows what other junk ... er ... I mean gold is out there.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Old Skool egg delivery service

Those eggs that you are looking at in the picture
are actually delivered the old skool way. Yup,
straight from the chicken's rear to a spot about
1 meter (or 3 ft.) from the cooking fire that is
located in the center of the cooking hut.
There are no fancy tricks here, just a huge stroke
of luck to find that this particular chicken has chosen
a spot that doesn't even require taking a step
to place the eggs into a boiling pot of water.
Variety in foods here is a challenge. We are
as mentioned in prior articles, 70 km from
anywhere and despite the fact that it is an
agricultural based village, the choice of
different foods are very limited.
So, last week when I went out in the morning
to heat up water for the coffee and noticed
that there was an egg there, well, it couldn't
get any better. Since that time the chicken
has old skool delivered 9 eggs with 8 of them
making the transition to the hard boiled nature.
It is something about this experience of living in
a remote African village that makes something
as simple as a chicken laying eggs, interesting.
I remember those dreaded mundane days of
shopping in the States and taking for granted
the cooler with the eggs stacked up, in what
comes to mind as I write this, from floor to
ceiling.
This experience brings one back in touch with
reality and the enjoyment of the simple things
in life. Life is actually better by being here and
living with less. The degree of enjoyment and
appreciation is so much greater.
Through the 8 plus years there have been many
of these situations but having fresh eggs delivered
almost into the pot, is the first.
I always leave one egg in hopes that the chicken
won't forget to deliver the next one. Don't know
if that is a known strategy or not but so far it's
worked.
Who knows it may end tomorrow, but when your
out in a village, you take what comes. So I am
appreciating the donations the chicken has made
so far.
Humm, those little things, huh?

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Bar raising

I wish that the garden you see in the
picture was the one that I've written about
in several prior articles. But the truth is ...
it isn't.
This is a community garden in another village
about 30 or so kilometers up the road. I
couldn't get the whole garden in the photo and
it is even better than what you see.
Today we went up the Kavango/Caprivi strip
and stopped in a few of the villages. This one
is noted for it's garden so I couldn't pass up an
opportunity to see it.
What seeing this garden has done is raised the bar
pretty high in comparison to ours in the village. Ours
is OK ... only ... there is actually too much shade
and I've been mentioning that we need to trim
some branches off the trees. It has fallen on deaf
ears as of now.
One of the younger community members had a good
idea. In fact, it is tied in to not passing up seeing
that garden and taking pictures. He said that I should
take the photos and then bring them back here to show
the people what they are doing there. Of course the
reason being to motivate and in my mind ... to challenge.
In this case the challenge is the personal challenge that
we could have to aid us in ourselves raising the bar.
If we do that then we are going pretty well and
everyone would be somewhat happier.
It is difficult to transfer one's passion or intensity or
enthusiasm as in the feeling that I have of wanting to
do better than the great garden that is in that village.
I can transfer the knowledge and technical things
and the such. But the emotion, that is also ... the
challenge.
So tomorrow I will show those pictures to the
appropriate people in hopes that it will do as it is
said ... say a thousand words.
Maybe it is unrealistic to think that the people will get
a thousand words of message out of it ... I'd really
settle for changing one emotion. That is ... darn it, I
want to do better and raise the bar a little higher.
Well, I am going to crash and hope that it will go the
way of changing that one emotion tomorrow.
It would be one great day if it did.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Regional dance contest

Yesterday I went to a regional dance contest
and the village had two entries. One is from
the village school and you can see the girls
in the picture with one of the boys. Couldn't
get the other boys in the photo because they
were off somewhere at the time.
The group are of the Thimbukushu tribe and
that is the general traditional dress.
There were about 20 or so contestants and
they were some real good ones. The Thimbukushu
are noted for their style of dancing which is
with a lot of shoulder movement. It is really
something to see and I have a little video clip
or two that I was able to take. The problem is
that the quality is terrible due to the placement
of the contest area. It was facing the sun and
under a tree that let a lot of diffused light through.
Despite that it was a really great day and I saw
some tremendous dancers and some pretty serious
drummers.
Of the total contestants there was only one from the
San (Khwe) tribe and they were from our village and
organized and sent by the youth office. Even though
they where doing such a different dance style
( a lot more leg movement than the Thimbukushu)
they were still competitive due to the fact that the
regional event is actually open to all cultures and
their styles.
The school group was pretty good but like the San
group it was obvious that they could have used a
little more practice time.
For the San it was their first appearance at the yearly
event and I was glad to have been able to go with them.
Neither team placed to advance to the bigger regionals
but the San did take 1st place out of all the groups
for the most traditional attire. They were totally crazy
when they won that award. At first I heard that they
won 1st place and I thought, how can that be. There
were far more practiced groups. But of course they
explained what the award was. Sorry to not have a
photo of their attire but I have it on video.
Even though, the San may have a chance to go to the
next level because they are the only one of that
culture who participated. If they get the bye, so to
speak, I am hoping that they get to practicing some.
They practiced for 4 days before the competition.
Don't know what the reason for that was but if they
do go on, I'll be bugging them to practice for their
big chance to go to the finals in the capitol (Windhoek).
On the personal side I have to say that it was interesting
being one of the 2 or 3 white people at this event.
No problems at all, just interesting being present at
such a serious cultural event/competition in an
African country. And even though it is my second time
living in a country on the continent, it is not the
same. In Senegal they didn't have these types of
competitions. So it was totally new and really, it was
being present at what you see on National Geographic.
It was a good day and experience and it had a good
ending as the San group sang all the way back from
the competition. They were in the back of the pickup
truck after dark and it was cold. But that didn't
dampen their spirits.
It was such fun to have been along and see the
competition and the happiness of the San group.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Friday in the center of town

The strategy to waken up the center of
the village went really well today but of
course, not without some drama.
We built a netball court a little off the center
of town. Netball is a game played by women
and girls and it is something like basketball
without dribbling. It is just passing only. This
is the first time that I've seen it in action and
it is a pretty physical with a lot of running despite
the passing.
We planned for a few weeks and worked preparing
it for a week and yesterday (Thursday) they played
their first scrimmage. It was better than I thought it
would be. The placed was packed with players and
spectators. I was hoping that it would bring out people
to see some sports or good activities to balance out the
shebeens (or bars) that dominate the center of the
village/town. There is too much drinking here that includes
young people. The idea is to give the people some
alternative outlets and just hope that it can get the positive
and negative forces in some kind of balance.
So, this morning (Friday) we were going to go back to
the netball court to continue to clean it and get it in tip-top
shape. We got it playable but it is about a week away
from being totally finished. As we showed up to work
we see this huge tractor pulling a water tank buried
up to it's axle right in the middle of the court that we've
busted our butts over for the last week.
It's like, did we expect this netball court project to
actually go smooth without a hitch or some drama.
Of course not and the drama began when I asked the
driver ... Hey dude, why of all places in this whole
village are you buried up your axle in the middle of
the new netball court, which is not in the middle of
the road?
Needless to say he got a little angry and was mad at
us (me mainly). He got even madder when I then said
... Man, you are buried up to your rear end in the
middle of the court that we have been breaking our
backs over and then you are mad at us for asking
what ta heck happened. So, in the end I told him
that he wasn't our favorite person, which I think
is pretty reciprocal from his part.
Little did I know that he is the guy that does the
welding and work like that out of the agricultural
shop. He said that he wasn't going to help us out
ever again. I told him that I've lived 57 years
without him and hopefully another 57 more, also
without him. But when I said that I didn't know he
was the guy that did the welding ... etc work.
All I can say is ... oops. I guess I just added to
the degree of difficulty as far as doing projects go.
But in the end it was really kind of funny.
The day wasn't all lost because the San (Khwe)
cultural dance troupe came out in a live dress
rehearsal (in picture) and it was really great. They
are good and totally different than the Pulaars
and Wolof in Senegal. Tomorrow I am supposed
to go with them to a dance display and there ought
to be many different cultural tribes there, should
be good.
After the dancers were done the girls scrimmaged
on the newly repaired netball court and it was full of
people.
The center of town hasn't been this lively on a Friday
afternoon in a long time.
So, despite the drama and emergency repair of the court,
I'd have to say that the mission of animating the village
today was accomplished.
The last week has been full of incredibly long days but
it was worth it.
Also, for the people that I've fallen behind on emailing, I
have to apologize, it's been hectic and all it's been is back
to the house and just crashing for the night after the long
day. I hope to get caught with soon.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Flower Power - a Strategy

That's what I am hoping it will be.
What it is, is trying to transform the center
of the village. It is as drab as drab can be
and in fact, pretty depressing looking. It is
really in need of a lot of cleaning up and a
whole new attitude.
So, that is where the flowers come in. Really
they are the tool that I am hoping to use to
open up the eyes and minds of the people.
In the picture there is a flower that is in a tree
behind the house that I am staying in and not at
all the the type of flower that I am distributing
to anyone who is willing to plant them. Just
thought that it is an interesting flower, that's
why I took the picture.
I don't know the name of the flower that we
are actually planting but it looks to be something
resembling Vinca. It is virtually indestructible and
needs no care at all.They are easily accessible
and free. Also as rugged as can be and actually
not too bad looking. I'll post a picture of them
in a few weeks when a certain spot gets a little fuller.
In fact this morning the nurse at the health clinic
brought a bunch of them to plant in the support
group garden. I planted them and it should really
make that garden look beautiful and uplifting.
That's the key, uplifting and positive which
hopefully sparks a little enthusiasm to make this
village a lot cleaner and nicer.
I also planted a few in front of the Youth Office
building on either side of the entrance. The older
people say that that flower keeps the snakes
away.
I don't know but what ta heck, put them near the
doors I say.
Even Elizabeth, the lady that cooks bread in a hole
in the ground received some today. She's right
in the middle of the center of the village and she
started cleaning up that area so I asked her if
she wanted to plant them.
My thinking is to introduce some color into the drab
world that is the village. I am hoping that it will at
least influence a few people into sprucing up their
places.
So, can flower power strategy work? It can but will
it? That's going to be the topic of another blog
entry. I am wishing that it will be a good positive,
up with the village story.
Another one of these time will tell situations.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Blue Monday - another week

As I am writing this entry I am also listening
to thunder and the sound of the rain drops
making the distinct drumming sound on the tin roof.
It is unusual to be receiving rain at this time of the year.
In Senegal and El Salvador when it was the dry season,
it was the dry season, absolutely no rain at all.
But here we are welcoming it as it will help the garden
project and keep down the dust for a day or two.
The week started out with (in the picture) heating the
water over the fire early this morning for coffee. It
was cold but after 15 minutes the cooking hut was
warming up and it was a decent start to this week's
blue Monday.
Went to the garden and it was full of people this morning.
The most I've seen at any one time. It was really a good
vibe with positive energy. The place is even more totally
filled and as it is like Fenway Park when the Yankees come
to town (or any team), standing room only. They are
making plots where you'd never thought possible.
I am waiting to post a picture of the progress that has
been going on. I think a month from now would really
give time to show it in it's hopefully finest. The little
plants just need to grow more.
There was a meeting for the woman's netball court/league/
team project this morning at 10. Of course no one showed
and I wasn't surprised. They wanted to have a meeting on a
Monday and through my experience knew that it wouldn't
fly. I even mentioned it to the youth officer in charge of
these types of activities but he said that he wanted to get
it going as fast as possible. Then he proceeds to not show
this blue Monday morning.
I was expecting this and really it was no big deal because we
have to measure out the court, cut some overhanging
branches and the people we could do it with where there.
Or should I really say, plan to do it with tomorrow.
Don't know, will show up like usual and see.
But these projects are going to all start like that here in
this village. It's all kind of a new thing and what I'm
thinking here, build it and they will come is the way that
it'll fly.
So, tomorrow it is planning to measure it out and plant the
hoops and block off the shortcut road that the cars
take which is located in the middle of the court.
Then, it is inflate the ball and wait and see.
Also typed up a little cost analysis sheet for the girl
that bakes bread out of the hole in the ground. She really
doesn't know what her profit is. So I made up a little sheet
and enough space to do it for a month. It is not a big
thing but she is a good little business woman and it looked
like a teachable situation.
It was great when I gave her the papers and explained it
to her. Had to be at least 20 people there listening and
watching and commenting (actually don't know what they
said). It sure must of been one of those Peace Corps
scenarios.. You know volunteer with villagers listening
to his every word. Or listening then saying that the
makua (white person) is nuts. It's a thin line perceiving the
moment when you don't understand what they said.
But that was about it on this blue Monday. Wasn't earth
shattering but there was some progress.
I'll take it ... slowly, slowly the water fills the lake says
the Pulaars in Senegal. It's the way this development
stuff works.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Under a full Namibian moom

Well, it's another Saturday night and and as
you can see in the picture, a full moon. You'll
have to excuse the quality of the photo. I took
it with the cell phone and doctored it up a little
with an picture editing program. But I think it
is more of a, this is what I'm looking at, representation.
It's been an interesting week with a lot of things
that went on and with a lot of potential mixed in.
It started with the call from another volunteer who
is working a computer lab project for schools.
The school here filled out a survey form a few weeks
back and I was happy to be informed that they
are in line to receive 20 computers. The school
just has to come up with about 10% of the cost.
That money will be reinvested for chairs, tables
and the like.
I spoke with the principal and all he has to do is
deposit the money into the project's account and
we're off. But, until he does it, any outcome is
possible.
The women's support group garden's water challenges
has been dealt with fairly well. I did the McGyver
thing and a few other ones too and so far there
is enough water. Again, this is a day by day situation.
We will be starting a woman's netball activity. I've
never seen a netball game so I can't describe it
yet but it is a popular game. We picked out a spot
for a netball court and it is in fact almost in the
middle of town. I lobbied for this and this is an idea
taken from my El Salvador tour. There they put the
soccer field right in the middle of town and it was a
good thing because there was always some positive
energy out there. Be it them playing a game, or practicing,
or kids just playing around. So, I am hoping that by
locating the court near the center of town, which is
predominantly shebeens (alcohol places/bars), that
it might kind of start to balance the life style forces.
So I am hoping that the force will be with us on this
one. I am really interested to see how that is going to
pan out.
The hyena researcher mentioned that she had a friend
in the USA that was interested in sending educational
videos to here (Namibia). Don't know the topics of
the videos but I have to say that they are so needed.
Because of our isolation and lack of TV reception,
the people are really in the dark. No one knows what
the EU is and they are going to be getting a visitor
representative some time soon. A lot of funding for
projects comes from the EU. So, anything that can
bring information would be good. Right now there
are TVs but with video players only. All they watch
are movies like Rambo and the such. Nothing that's
going to get any people knocking on the doors of
Harvard any time soon.
A lot of opportunities and to be real, got to see the
computers, videos and netball games before I actually
believe that it happened. That's how this Peace Corps
thing goes.
But if they do come, then I think that we'll be heading
in the right direction with a bullet.
Going to end it here, tomorrow it is at the garden early
to make sure that things are going well then it's off to
the lady who is going to be the main organizer for the
netball activity.
Happily I can say that there hasn't been any days off
since I've been in the village.
That's what I'm here for.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Searching for hyenas

Two nights back a vehicle showed up at the
door a little after dark. Out jumps one of the
villagers that I've been working with. He says
that there is an opportunity to go out in the bush
and search for hyenas with the person in the
vehicle. Also, we would meet up with some fellow
countrymen from the States. So, he asked me if
I wanted to go.
Of course yes was the reply. As I was walking up
to the vehicle, out jumps Lisse (in picture). She's
a South African lady who is on a multi year research
project to find out the hyena population up in this
area of Namibia. Really to be precise, along the
Caprivi strip.
She is an incredibly energetic friendly person. The
definite type to be doing this research project. This
isn't her first project. She's also been involved in
researching lions for years. She basically researches
the predators.
So, off we go into the night down this path/road. After
about 2 kms we're in the bush and continue on for
another 10 km or more until we see some lights from
a British Land Rover. There were 5 students from a
college in Memphis Tennessee with their professor,
and a guide. They were traveling the regions of Namibia
looking for game animals.
So, we met up, made our introductions and then found
out that we were going deeper in the bush to see if
we could attract, dart and collar any hyenas for Lisse's
research project.
Lisse mentioned that there didn't seem to be many hyenas
in the area. Hyenas can move around some and she
mentioned that they could either travel 30 km a day or
during a night.
So, we drive, stop and setup the sound system that
broadcasts sound of hyenas to include a pack feeding.
This was transmitted for about 10 minutes, wait 20,
then move on another 5 km and try again.
The broadcast could be heard up to 3.5 km away or
in a 7 km diameter circle or a rough estimate of about
a little over 30 square kilometers.
It was cold and it is the part of the animal planet shows
that they don't show. The hours of bush time on the
cold nights before an encounter.
So, you can probably get the drift that there weren't
any hyena sightings.
For me, that's ok, it would have been really great but I
actually enjoyed the fact that I saw what really goes on
the majority of time.
It was a great experience, wouldn't have missed it for
the world and she'll be heading back in two weeks and
maybe we'll do it again.
So, for me the hyena sightings are still somewhere out
there in bush on some other night, if it's meant to be.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Little McGyver action

In the photo you see what I've considered
a little bit of a McGyver solution to a situation.
The situation being again at the women's HIV
support group garden and the struggle to provide
enough water to keep the plants alive and
thriving.
The bathtub that is the reservoir/distribution point
has a hole where the drain used to be before it
was removed. What happens is that the water
tap is left open due to the unpredictability of the
time in which the water will flow. With that hole
the water runs out and basically has no impact at
all to the development of the plants.
It has been there staring us in the face for even
before I landed on the shores of this bush village.
But I always felt that there was something that
could be done to add another means of transferring
water through that hole. Or more simply put, get
some kind of fixture that would allow us to hook
up a hose or tube.
The problem was, no fixtures, no wrenches, no money
and the nearest place with anything could be either
45 or 125 miles away.
I have to my disposal ... a leatherman - lite model. I
thought to myself, this is definitely a chance to do a
McGyver impersonation, but with what?
The solution came to me yesterday morning as I was
walking by the myriad of trash piles. What you see
in the picture is the solution. It is two plastic bottle
necks, one into each other. The smaller throated one
inserted into the bigger one. The plastic top of the
smaller one had a hole cut in in. With a plastic bag
washer made to fill in the small void, it actually worked.
Not perfect, I'd guess about 85% of the water gets to
go into various garden plots.
It saves work, waste of good water and helps to fight
the struggle to have enough water to keep the garden
machine rolling along.
This morning when I arrived at the garden I was curious
to see if it'd work. The ladies were taking out water
so there was a little wait for the level to rise where the
water would seep out of the plastic bottle fixture and
through the PVC hose.
Well, it did and it worked just great.
I am pretty tickled with this as it was a good little
challenge to solve but it will also help the ladies
to work and manage the garden.
As mentioned it an other prior blog entry, the garden is
to help provide an improved healthy diet for the ladies
and their families. With HIV attacking the immune system,
the improved diet helps the system to be a little stronger.
It is amazing to be working side by side with these ladies.
Despite their status, many are upbeat and actually pretty
funny with their humor.
With about 2 years left I don't know how many will
still be participating in the garden in the future. I hope
they all do.
I just wish a cure for the virus was as easy as a leatherman
and good intentions.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Buzzwords

Every place I've been has had it's own, well,
kind of a buzzword. Not that they're all nonsense,
because in many cases they aren't. But they are
sured used a lot.
In El Salvador is was 'fijate' or take notice/be careful.
Which meant something not too good was probably
involved in whatever one was doing. For Senegal
it was 'Inchallah', if God agrees. Romania's was,
ce sa facem or what can we do.
Each one I've heard a million times and have also
used them another million or so. It is when in Rome
do what the Romans do that seeps these buzzwords
into one's vocabulary, after some time.
Here in Namibia the word I hear a lot is 'struggling'.
Which to me isn't all that bad because I am thinking
that if one is struggling then one is trying for some
sort of result or change.
There are the struggling to find transportation from
the 70 km away from anywhere village we live in,
to anywhere. Also the struggling to find some
money and so on and so forth.
Of course by living here and not being a citizen of
Namibia, it hasn't made me immune to me having to
think ... man, I'm struggling here to come to some end.
A visual of a struggling situation is right there in the
photo. That is the old bathtub we use to catch and
hold water for the HIV woman's support group
vegetable garden. By the way the garden is really
shaping up and is just plain not much room to walk
around in anymore. It is coast to coast plots in
different stages of growth and development.
What the struggling part of this bathtub is, is that
it's empty. Been empty 2 out of the last 3 days.
Also, it's been asked to hold less water daily over
the last week because of about a 50% reduction
in the water service.
Plus, the times that were like clockwork have become
something like how the arrival of the new millennium
was supposed to be with computers, unpredictable.
Ok, here's the struggling angle.
Had to do some fast thinking to get the women to come
back after the disappearing act of last year's money.
That took a few weeks and a lot of fast talking.
In fact, that is going along swimmingly, to kind
of try and be in the pun flow of words.
Here's the dilemma, the plots that are just planted with
seedlings and the new seed beds are in jeopardy of
going down the drain. So, what do the people do?
Before the water was from 6 to 9 a.m., then from
5 to 6 or 7 p.m.
Lately it has been 6 to 7:30, then 5 to 5:30.
People were getting to the garden, scoop up one
bucket of water (and have 5 huge plots to water),
then the water stops. Then they come earlier and the
water stops earlier.
So, and me included, seeing as I have a few plots of
the favorite fruit called tomato under cultivation, are
struggling away to get the water to keep the joint
hopping in vegetable garden splendor.
This morning, struggled out of bed at 5:30 to get there
when the first drop flowed from the tap. Struggled to
get the fire going to heat the water for coffee.
Struggled walking through the sand to the garden.
Struggled to find the key that someone kind of threw
in a pile. Struggled to get the old rusty lock of the
garden door open.
Then after all that, there was no water running but I
was lucky to be first there and the bathtub was full
from last night.
At that point my struggles were over but as a few
people arrived I could see the look on their face.
The look of, ok, another struggle.
Hopefully tomorrow there will be water so as to
give the garden group a - get out of struggling to
water the garden free card for the day.
But all this has left me with these parting thoughts.
Tomorrow 'fijate' that there may not be water and
if there is none, then 'ce sa facem'. But 'Inchallah'
it will come, so that tomorrow we won't have to
struggle to find a way to water the garden before
it dries up.