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.
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