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Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Year's Eve '12' - reflections

At this time of the year I have made it a
habit to take a few moments to reflect.
I like to reflect back but also forward.
The picture is the view from my back
window. I like just looking out it and
thinking about things every so often. So
I did before I wrote this blog post.

It has been a good year all and all. There
are always things and situations that could
have panned out better but ... as it goes it
goes and that's how it's meant to be.

To say that the world was changed here in
the village in front of our eyes wouldn't be
accurate. But, there has been progress and
that's all one can ask.

The last year's activities were really targeted
towards behavior change and that's really a
tall task if one wants to see 'instant gratification'.
We slogged along and every opportunity that
arose, we took. If it was with sports or culture
groups or just sitting in the middle of the village
and talking one on one, we did it.
The probable biggest success was with the
cultural group. What started out slow and difficult
ended in a bang with the activities of the last
few months.
It was really heartening to hear the mother of
two of the group thank David (group organizer/
leader) by saying that if she had money to give
him she would. She said that her two older kids
give her trouble but the two that are with the
group are good kids that don't give any problems.
She can't thank him enough for what he's done
for her kids.
It was the goal of the group work to help produce
good kids. Hopefully we helped to change their
future, time will tell.
The sports went well but in spurts. If they have a
tournament where there is money, they practice
like heck. If not, no action at all. We tried to
motivate them for the love of the games ... it
improved some but it needs more effort.
The movies we made at the health in 2010
continued to get mileage. They went to a hospital
in the region and the actors from the village got
a lot of text messages from their friends who
saw their work. They are low level celebrities.
Problem, is that we need to make more or at
least one with a good message about alcohol
abuse. It is the leading source of our community's
problems.
One of the smallest yet ' more bang for the buck '
activity we did was with the Youth Office. The
youth (18 to 35) were in a huge need of CV's
or resumes. We worked out a good solid one
that the secretary at the Youth Office put in his
computer. With his support to complete the CVs
at least 15 youth were able to join either the
Namibia Defense Force (NDF), police or
vocational workshops and courses. It was the
largest amount of youth being able to participate
in the above mentioned at any one calendar year.
That was a definitely good surprise to see.

There were also a lot of the small things like helping
out anyone that needed it. I always felt that no
matter how big or small, it adds up. Of course
it does, no revelation there.

Then there is the upcoming year. I have until June
here so the time is getting short and then there
is the sense of urgency setting in. The work here
with the San is really a slow process, the slowest
than in the other countries I've been in. It is the
nature of the beast. So there is a realization that
it is most certain that all things desired will not be
able to be completed.
One real last activity we'd like to accomplish is
to take the Cultural Group to Etosha National Park.
For me it would be a fantastic climax to the work
we did with that group. Of course there are the
normal struggles of resources (funds) and logistics.
But we will try, all we can do.
As mentioned above, one more movie about alcohol
abuse. If we make it, people will watch it over and
over. They've done it with the other movies so
maybe by repetition (on their own choice) something
will sink in. Even if I'm not here.
Electricity is coming so I hope that it is in place long
enough to be able to help a few kids learn a bit
about computing. It is a matter of timing, we hope
it will be in our favor.

I guess that's all for the year end reflections. It was
a good year and hopefully the next half year will
be equally as good.

We'll see if that will be possible ... starting tomorrow.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Xmas Eve

It is another Christmas time and being in a
warm weather climate (it is summer in the
southern hemisphere) gives it a different
feeling.

In the picture you can see my Christmas present.
I've been basically just staying in the village all
the time. Except for going out with the cultural
group on their excursions, being here is about it.
So this is a real treat.

A girl from the village named Mildred came back
for Christmas to visit her family. She brought what
you see in the picture above. Happy Lion is kind
of a Kentucky Fried Chicken place that's in the
big towns.

Mildred had some problems at the beginning of
the year while she was living in the capital. I met
her when I was there and I gave her a little help
and some advice.

With that help she got a job in Katima Mulilo and
is doing very well at the moment.

The other day she SMS / texted me to tell me that
she was bringing the Hungry Lion. She said that
when she had nothing I was there to help her so
she wanted to do this.

Christmas presents are in many shapes and forms.
It is about being happy which is really the best
present of all.The Hungry Lion worked well
... I can tell you that but the present that makes me
happiest of all (this may sound corny) is to see
that she is doing well.

I am also happy that she took the help and made
something with it.

Just helping one person may not save the world
but it will make it a better place, for sure. In the
life of a Peace Corps volunteer it may be 1 or 2
or hundreds that are affected, a lot of times we
never see any results. It happens after we're gone.

But I can say this, seeing Mildred doing well gave
me the best Christmas present ... happiness.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

This is the view ...

The village is experiencing a let down after
the last weekend's tournament. It was really
hopping and people are saying that it was
the best one ever held here. In a place like
this that has no working radio or TV reception,
events like this are the main source of en-
tertainment.

But after the curtains have closed what is there
to do? Especially in this holiday season. A lot
of people have left, a few others are coming
back this upcoming weekend.

So, in between there isn't much to do (here
is where the picture comes in) but sit in the
middle of the village and 'look stupid'.
There is actually a story that goes with this. One
of the goals of a Peace Corps volunteer is to
share our culture with the people we are living
with.
When there is nothing to do I usually go to the
center of the village where there are normally
a few people hanging around. During one of
these times I explained the sitting there looking
stupid statement.

When I was younger I played softball for a local
team called the Seagulls that was sponsored
by the owner of a bar. His name was George
(God rest his soul) and he looked almost like
a brother to Burl Ives and he had that Santa
Claus look going on. George was a great and
funny guy and he liked to drink a bit too.
One day me and my friend Ray were going to
go fishing and we happened to poke our head
in George's bar on the way to the pond. George
asked us what we were doing and he had had
a little to drink at the time. We said that we were
going fishing for a few hours and George looks
and us and says " fishing ... every time you go
by a lake or pond all you can see is these people
sitting there with fishing poles in their hands
and looking stupid".
The funny part was that on the way back we
stopped in for a drink (it has to have been over
21 years ago or more because I haven't drank
a drop in that amount of time) and there was
George, sitting in the same place on the end
of the bar.
So we said to him ... who's looking stupid now.
You're still here and also looking as stupid as a
drunken guy with a fishing pole at a pond.

Not a big deal story but while just sitting there in
the center of town exchanging I told them that
one. So now, whenever we ask one another
what we are doing that day, if it is going to hang
in the center of town, we all say we are just going
to look stupid.

Cultural exchange comes in all shapes and forms.
But one thing I do like about this life is the time
that can be taken to just sit and talk and share.
Many time it is an American, Mbukushu, Khwe,
Xong, Mayee, Silozi, Rukangwali, Subia and
Ovambos just sitting there looking stupid together
sharing stories and ideas.
This is what makes this volunteer gig really
something.

Oh yeah, the picture is the view from the place
where we sit and look stupid.

Old George's opinion stills lives on in our little
village in Africa.

Monday, December 19, 2011

The finals

So they played the finals and it was kind
of funny how they changed the strategy for
determining the winner. First it was by a
point system but in mid stream they went
to an elimination scheme.

Here's how it finally turned out. The Youngsters
beat Mutjiku 4 to 2. Then in the Finals it was
the 'Vultures' from Chetto against the home
village's Heroes.

It was the best game of the whole tourney and
the Heroes maintained and won 2 to 1.

In the picture you can see the teams making an
opening jaunt across the field and back. They
also had to dodge the puddle of water that
accumulated after the big rain.

Final results:

1. Heroes
2. Vulture
3. Youngsters
4. Mutjiku

The field that they played on was actually the first
real project that we did here. There was a prior
soccer field but it was outside the village and full
of thorns. Plus it wasn't very amendable to
spectators.

So after talking for months and getting the backing
of two of the schools better teachers (who have
left) ... we finally found a location adjacent to the
main housing area in the village.

The next problem was convincing people to come
out and work. That took another two months
and it took two more months to take out four trees.
Should have taken three days but the four other
guys kept saying that it wasn't fair that they were
the only ones working. Which was true but I told them
that one day they will see the fruits of the labor.

It took two years as this tournament was the first
one held at this field. It was really just great and
I met three of the guys that were with me doing the
work. They all agreed that it was worth it and
seemed a bit proud and happy that they did
the field.

The goal was to put the field where people would
come and watch. It worked, as at any time there
were at least 300 villagers sitting and enjoying the
action. I was really surprised to see the people I
saw watching the game.

It was about trying to build a nice little community
setting where people could hang out, relax and
enjoy without having to go to a bar and drink
until drunk and become a nuisance.

Also, the best part about this project was that the
total cost of making the field was ... absolutely
zero. Not one red cent.

I am happy because as I watched the people
just having fun, it felt good to see that one of these
projects went as designed.

Now we have to fix that hole where the puddle is.
Should be easy to get those guys out there with
me ... this time.

Through the rain

An update is that they played through the rain with the Heroes winning 3 to zero. Now (in picture) it is the semi final with Mutjiku and the Youngsters. The finals to come.

Rain delay

An hour or so after blogging about the beautiful Monday morning I am looking out my back window (in picture) at a small deluge. That's how it goes out here in the South Africa region during the rainy reason. At the time the rain came the local Heroes team was 1 up over the Youngsters of either Chetto or Omega 3. Will find out which later. We ran home like the bulls were chasing us in Pamplona so what the plan is to finally finish the tourney, is something I have zero knowledge of. Looks like the rain is here for a bit. Again, more to come as it breaking.

Thrill of ... Thrill off

Blogging from the soccer field with an update on this beautiful Monday morning. In the picture you can see the thrill of victory and the agony. The team in the center (on left) of the field are the Vultures from Mashambo and the team on the right in blue, the Mutjiku, don't know their other mascot name is. The Vultures won 4 to 2 and it was a good match with evenly skilled teams. The Vultures are in the finals and they will play the winner of the next game. So forget what I wrote yesterday about points determining the winner. It will be mano a mano. Next game is starting. More to come.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Tourney Day 2 Update

After the rains cancelled two games
yesterday it delayed the finish. Tomorrow
the final games will be played.
The manner of deciding the winner will
be through the point system.With that it
is pretty safe to say that the village Heroes
team, should win. They've won all their games
and have outscored their opponents by
about 21 to 3. So, it seems that they got it.

The Heroes girls netball team did win it all
and they were crazy with joy. Like I've men-
tioned in other blog articles, it's hard to
remember a better victory display than what
I've seen in Africa.

In the picture is nothing much other than a
moment in the game that saw our other village
team (the Hunters) lose to the 'Vultures' from
Mashambo village. The score was 3-1 and it
was a good game but with the loss, they where
mathematically eliminated from winning

In these tournaments there has been a pattern
of some of the teams getting into beefs and
arguments but so far, it's been great in the
fact that it's been really anger free. The only
real anger we saw so far was between an
off duty policeman from another town (who
was best said ... totally drunk) and his wife.
It was a real show but our local police were
there and after a bit of bezerko behavior,
got it under control.

So, tomorrow, the final results to come.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Tourney 1st Day Update

The tournament began at 8 a.m. and they
actually started on time, which was pretty
good.

There were 3 and a half games before the
rain came down in ... seeing as we are in
Namibia, it wouldn't come down 'like cats
and dogs' but more like 'hyenas and cheetahs'.

The first game featured the Chetto A-team
against the Omega 3 A-team with the outcome
... a draw 2-2.

Next up was our village A-team the Heroes
going against Mashambo and the local team
put a bit of a hurting on the visiting team to the
tune of 4-1.

The third game also featured another of our
village teams called the Hunters. They lost
2-1 to the Chetto B-team. In the picture you
can see the goal that the Hunters scored
with about 10 minutes left.

The fourth and last half game before the rains
came was Divundu facing off with the
Omega 3 B-team. It was 5-0 in favor of the
Divundu team before the half and before the
deluge came.

On the netball side the two village teams were
triumphant and I think that they may actually
face off each other tomorrow but I'm not sure
due to the fact that we were running from the
rain before I had the chance to get the info.

But it has been good till now and the village
is really enjoying the event. It is fun to be here
and it is even more fun because people from
the other villages haven't seen me and are
kind of shocked and surprised that I can speak
a bit of their San-Khwedam language ... even
with a few click words thrown in.

So I am going to predict that the finals for the
football will feature our village's Heroes team
playing against the Divundu team. It should
be a great final as the Divundu is really im-
pressive.

I hope to be able to post the info tomorrow after
the finals but if not, then Monday.

Friday, December 16, 2011

Gas and tournaments

I guess that is the best way to describe what is
going on in the picture above ... gas and tournament.

The village is sponsoring a netball and football
(soccer) tournament which begins tomorrow
morning at 8 a.m.
In the background are a few of the girl netball
players cleaning and grooming their court.
The young men went out to the football field and
cut new boundaries and lines. Here the ground
is nothing but sand so it is necessary to refresh
the lines on a normal basis.

There will be 8 football and 6 netball teams
competing so it should be a big weekend here.
It also seems like a time for a reunion amongst
the people from the other villages.

Now the gas part. in the foreground of the pic
are people beginning to queue up to get some
drought relief sacks of dried beans. Each person
that registered got two bags at 5 kilos each or
11 lbs.
So with what looked like at least 500 kilos of
beans passed out, there should be a lot of gas
around this joint for the next few weeks.

In the past they gave out maize meal and that had
it's problems as some would use it to make a
local alcoholic brew called 'tombo'. So getting
the beans is a better option as far as I can see.

Other than that, it is a slow time of the year with
school out. The upcoming project to electrify the
government buildings seem to be on hold until
after new year. But I hope that the electricity is
in place by March so it will give me at least a month
or two to work with people on computer skills.

The cultural group kids performed for a few visiting
people yesterday and it went ok. Wasn't their
best but it seems, and what I've observed, is that
they are as good as the amount of people that
are watching.

With the holidays some people are coming back
to their village. It is my last Christmas here so
I am staying around and hanging out with the
peeps. Nothing spectacular other than spending
quality time with friends I've made over the years,
in another country and culture. Never ceases to
amaze me to be in places like this.

Hopefully I'll have some good reports concerning
the tourney by Monday.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

The Chameleon

Last Sunday the 4th was Chief's Day as
I mentioned in the prior blog article. It was
a pretty ok day despite the fact that it had
a constant but not too strong rain all afternoon.

In the picture you can see the kids from the
cultural group performing the animal song.
The young boy you see is the Chameleon
and he is doing his interpretation of one.
He is actually the brother of one of the older
girls in the group and he also just finished
kindergarten last month.

The crowd just went wild when they saw him
and he was definitely one of the favorites.

The group was the high point of the festival.
When the dignitaries talked there were a few
people. When the drum began the people came
running. There was at least 400 people watching.
The kids were 'troupahs' (as we say back in
Massachusetts) as they danced through the rain.

I have mentioned a lot about the group and their
activities but I don't think that I've mentioned the
real goal behind having this bunch of kids
together and occupied.

None of the kids families are rich or well off by any
means but there is one girl that epitomizes why
we are doing our best to develop the group.
She is actually the newest girl dancer to have
joined. She is also one of the youngest (about 8
or 9 years old) and I think (and maybe I am a bit
delusional with this) that, she may benefit the most
out of it.

Her family consists of her, a small brother of about
6 months, a mother of 27 and a grandfather that
I have never seen standing up. He appears pretty
feeble.

Her mother has HIV, is an alcoholic and really isn't
a bad person, she is just having a lot to deal with.
Last Saturday when we were organizing the kids
for one last practice before going to the Chief's
Day Festival we had to send a girl to go find the
young dancer. She was at one of the shebeens
(bar) watching her 6 month old brother while her
mother was drinking. And this was a 10 in the
morning.

So, the mother to her credit, let the girl go to
practice and we got her away from that environ-
ment for at least one day.

I am hoping that by her participating in the group
that it will give her a chance to see another side
of life. Also, the rest of the kids are good kids and
she has friends that are of good quality and to her,
good influences.

So, working with the group does have a serious
side and there are a lot of the benefits that come
from it, I'll never see the final results as in 6 months
my time is up.

But I know in my heart of hearts that there is a
good possibility that at least one young girl out
here in the bush, might have gotten a chance.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Next Generation

In the picture you can see the probable
next generation of dancers for the Young
San Cultural Group.
Yesterday at the practice I had a chance
to take the picture of these kids dancing
along with one of the songs. It is a song
about going in the veld and picking the
traditional fruits and food in the bush. The
dancers have a portion of their routine where
they spin and bend down to pick something
from the ground. The picture got a few of the
kids doing that part of the dance.
It is one of the goals of the cultural group to
be consistent and continuous in it's
existence. So far there has been two gen-
erations and by the looks of it, the third one
is in the wings.
There has been some success with this as the
young kids look up to the older ones and as
so far, the older ones haven't been in any
trouble (pregnant or going to the bars ... yet)
they are what the kids out here need, role models.

The group was practicing because tomorrow the
4th is Chief's Day (for the San - Khwe) and they
have been invited to perform. They are the only
dance group invited and they have been to two
other Chief's Day and the crowd liked them. I am
going to state that if the crowd liked them then,
they'll love them now. As a result of the month
long training the kids did before going to the
Lodge, they've become even 10 times better.

It has been a good run with working with the kids.
We've struggled for a year and a half to get
things moving and now ... we've been to the Lodge,
the nature park, the fisheries institute and in
a 'what is in the works' category ... a possible
tourist boat trip on the Okavango river.
None of the kids have ever been on a boat so
it looks like it may be that there could be some
impact in the form of a new experience.

In the village the school is out and it got a bit
quiet. But there seems to be some change in the
air. I've lived here for two and a half years and
one gets the flow of life after a while. It seems
like there has been less drinking and almost
no fighting ... is it possible that there is a spiritual
revolution going on?

Strange things can happen ... I've been told.