It's sounding like the World Cup heya ...

That's because of what you see in the picture above.
By now I am sure that everyone who has been
following the World Cup knows what it is. It is
that old vuvuzela thing that makes that background
noise endlessly.

I am now the proud owner of the above mentioned
vuvuzela and truth be told ... I am kind of ecstatic
about it.

The story on my vuvuzela and how I came about it
is as follows ... Yesterday a few of my fellow volunteer
group mates came to visit the village on their way
back from South Africa and of course ... the World
Cup. They went to see three USA games and I believe
that the vuvuzela participated along with my colleagues
in each of the matches they attended.

So, after receiving the thing, I tried giving it a go and the
sound that came out was that of a wounded duck. Let
me say that a wounded duck has more volume that
I could muster. Of course everyone yukked it up at
my expense. But after a bit of practice I think I got it
and it is actually a pretty cool thing.

Tonight I think I will give it a toot every time a goal
is scored in the Portugal vs Spain match.

I think that the vuvuzela is unique to South Africa (but
I am not sure). I also received some information that they
are selling them at a food store in one of the bigger
towns. Next week I think that I may be heading that
way and will pick up a few so that we can use at our
soccer and netball games here in the village. I think
that they were selling for a dollar and a half US and
I think that it will add to the fun at the fields.

Oh yeah, how to make the sound ... people have said
it is like playing a trumpet. I just kept fooling with it
till I hit it right, now, it is just consistency.

The crazy thing is ... is that this is the first instrument
that I've ever learned to play in my life. I guess you
can teach an old dog some new tricks after all.

So, I am out of here ... time to go vuvuzeling.

Two out of three ...

That may be deemed the name of the picture if
I had to give it a name.

In the village I live at a Catholic Mission and at the
moment there is a German priest (in the foreground)
and in back of him is a guy who is doing some volunteer
work and he is from the Netherlands. At the time of
the picture being taken we were watching Germany
beat England 4-1. So the priest from Germany was
happy. The guy from Netherlands still has something
to look forward to and me, from the USA, well we
probably all know by now that is where the two out
of three comes from.

Last night we watched the good game between Ghana
and the USA. I had a little side bet with the guy from
the Netherlands just to keep it interesting. So, when he
won I told him that I will put the money in the basket
in church the next day and if he wanted it, he could get
it from there. But, that was just joking and in the end
the money ended up in the church's basket anyway.

World Cup is a big thing here and with it being held in
our neighbor's country it seems pretty close to home.
It is fun watching with people from other countries and
in different places. Out in the bush of Namibia is pretty
different and exciting to be around the people watching
the game.

I guess rooting for Germany seems like a fairly good bet
but my emotions are for Ghana. Yeah they beat the
States but being a good loser leads to a lot less stress.

As far as the village goes the main point this week was
that we tried to get the TV affiliate to come here and
install an antenna so that we can watch the basic
national TV channel. We wrote a solicitation in January
with no answer (so that kind of lead us to believe that
it wasn't an all too popular request) and received no
answer. Last Friday a young man whom delivered
the request went to town to follow up. I text messaged
him for some info as I was really curious about the
outcome. The text I sent went like this ... Tsaka venu
tsaka ve. In San (Khwedam, one of at least five San
languages) it means ... good or bad ... the answer I
got was ... tsaka ve. By the way to pronounce
tsaka ve is like this ... chaka vay. Not good, but I
will see him maybe tomorrow and find out what the
reason for the failure to install was. Maybe (enu ...
in Khwedam) we can try another strategy. The
channel would just make this place develop faster
than anything else anyone could do. But ...

The work this week was slow as we had a tragedy.
A young girl died and it was a needless tragic event
and the whole village basically slows down when
someone passes. There was a lot of sadness, that's
for sure.

Well, that is it for now, maybe next week will be better.

It was a year ago ...

That I went to a youth center called Frans Dimbare with
the village's San Youth Cultural Group to participate in
a cultural dance competition. It is a obviously a year later
and it is that the time is going by so quickly. Hard to
believe that it's been a year.

Just as last year the majority of the contestants were
from the Mbukushu tribe. In fact, every other group
was Mbukushu and our group was the only San group
that performed at this event.

In the picture you are looking at a Mbukushu group.
I think that there are from a high school in the area.
I choose this picture because the girl that you see
dancing was also in our choir music DVD we made
last February. She was visiting her sister in our village
at the time we came up with the idea to make the
music DVD.

It was actually considerably better this year than last.
Not only was the area that they held the competition a
better choice our San group actually bested their last
year's effort.

The Mbukushu have a distinctive dance style which
utilizes a lot of shoulder movement. It is really nice to see
and for a person like me, exciting.

The San on the other hand have a style of dancing drastically
different than the Mbukushu and instead of a lot of shoulder
movement they have a lot of leg and hip movement. Our
group received a lot of attention and applause and not only
did they perform well but their dance style attracted
a bit of attention.

I went along as the picture taker/video clip guy and this
year's video will also have improved from last year's.
We did this year in a different way. Instead of just filming
the dance section like we did last year we kind of made
a mini documentary of the day. We took random
interview clips. Things like, what are you doing today? ...
answer ... we're going to a dance competition. Also,
what are you doing now? ... answer ... we are waiting
for the driver to put air in the tire but we don't know
if the pump will work ... and so on. It was kind of good.
It was all done except for the closing remarks in
this San's Tribal language ... Khwedam. There are 5
San languages if I remember right.

Also, for me it was a better as I now know all the
people as opposed to last year when at the time I
was new and unknown. I have to say that it was just
so much fun and a lot of laughs with the group.

The result was that the group placed third and qualified
for the regional competition in September or October.

To change the subject ... we made another video the
other day. This one addressed teenage pregnancy and
in the village it is about impossible to find a girl that is
16 or 17 years old who doesn't have a child, really.

The idea of the video was not to say, never have a
child. Just wait till your around 23 instead of 13 years
old.

I just burned the movie on a blank DVD this evening
but I had a lady look at it first and she said that the
video told the story as it is. We tried to put a counter
logic to the existing one that results in all these young
girls having babies a bit too soon. Hopefully it will
make sense to these youngsters and maybe affect
one or two.The thing I like is that it the logic is told
by Namibians to Namibians. In my experience it is
the best way. It's more than just language, it is the
language of the culture that people understand the
most. But I do put my two cents in and together
we make it happen.

Also, the drama group themselves are just improving
immensely. They are becoming good little actors and
the group works on the story as a co-operative effort.
It is a true team effort and I am feeling good about
how this has evolved.

Well, that is about it for now.

June Update

Life out in the bush has been going along quite well.
It is really all relevant, isn't it? It just depends on what
criteria we are using as the gauge for success.

After almost 14 months in the village I can see a few
things changing here and there. There seems to be a
bit more activity out of the younger people. They are
playing more sports and participating in cultural groups.

The main goal I have taken on has been that of behavior
change within the community. That really means the
younger generations as the older people are just plain
set in their ways and that's OK. So, the more positive
activities the better chance of keeping them out of the
bars and as a result, cut down the risky behavior.

Another fact that makes me see a little success is that
they are using the fields that we've built when I first
arrived. They had intermittent usage but lately it is
becoming more of the norm to see kids and young
people out there playing some sport.

In the picture you see the updated version of the San (Khwe)
Cultural Dance Group. They stopped in the middle of their
practice today to pose for a photo. They are going to be
going out this weekend to a festival and will be a part
of the entertainment. Usually there are many Mbukushu
(another tribe of people living in the area) dance groups that
perform but a San group at a festival is kind of rare. The
group from the village is about the only one that goes out
to events and it is a good experience and opportunity.

We've also cut a new movie this last week and I have to
say that it is the best one we've made so far. The learning
curve is kicking in and we are becoming a decent group
that works together well. This latest movie is a short 10
minute drama of a true story that happened in the
community. It is about a mother who refused to bring her
child to get polio vaccinations when it was a baby. Later
on, the baby contracted polio and has to live with it the
rest of his life.

So, the drama goes that the child who contracted polio
finds out that the reason is because the mother refused.
He then asks the mother's friend if it was true and she
confirmed it. He then has a part where he is sitting alone
thinking out loud that it just wasn't fair.He then goes to
confront his mother about it.

The good part is that the movie is in a local language
(Thimbukushu) and it is a language that almost everyone
in the village understands. Even the older people who
haven't learned any English can understand and hopefully
they will take action to make sure that their family is
protected by taking the vaccinations.

I like the direction that we are taking the dramas. We are
addressing real situations that have happened in the
village and everyone knows the story. But to see it
again and have the son confront the mother brings the
topic out in the open and reminds people what can
happen to them.

For me, life is actually really good. I have begun to get
serious with the learning of the San (Khwe) language and
it is progressing OK. The only problem is that it is a
language with 4 clicks (but it sounds like a hundred
different ones) and it is nothing like any of the
languages I know. Of course I have killed the click
sounds so far but they are coming. I have one and
half clicks down and they sound pretty good.

The best part I like about learning the language is that
I can start having fun. I can start joking around and
that is one of the biggest reasons why I can say that
life is getting really good. Yes, there are still stresses
from different culture and so on but there is less and
less daily. I guess I am pretty lucky.

So that's about it so far this month.