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Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Miss IST 2009

Usually after the first three months us as Peace Corps
Volunteers have to go to what is called ... an IST.
It means in service training and it lasts for various
amounts of time depending on the country.
At this time my group and me are at our IST. That
is why for the next few weeks the blog entries won't
be originating from the village.
In the picture you can see Ashley near the fire on
(believe it or not) a cold morning. Not like the New
England cold but it would surprise someone whom
thinks that all parts of Africa are warm.
I personally dubbed Ashley Miss IST 2009.
Here are some stats ...
Favorite color: blue
Zodiac sign: Aquarius
Turnoff: willful ignorance
Turn on: big brains and a bigger heart
Hobbies are: knitting, biking, exploring and brewery tours
Most Interesting Encounter: Gloria Steinam
Favorite beverage: coffee
Greatest Adventure: biking around Alaska
After Peace Corps: Medical school (doctor)
Last but not least ... she is working for 'world peace'
in a city in the central area of Namibia.

But joking aside Ashley is just one of the real nice
people who put their lives on hold for two years to
try and make a difference.
One of the aspects I enjoy of being in the Peace Corps
is not only meeting people in foreign countries but also
meeting a different breed of Americans.
Unlike a pageant in which the winner holds on to the
title for a year ... Miss IST 2009 is a one shot event.
Ashley will hold the title for our Namibia group forever.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Shout out to ...

All of you out there that reads this blog entry
from a pre-school/day care center (in the picture) in
Okahandja.
Right now I am in that town on my way to the Windhoek.
I am spending a few days with the home stay family
that I lived with over the first 8 or so weeks during training.
It is first time out of the village in a while and the first time out
of the East Kavanngo/West Caprivi regions since arriving
there around the 20th of April.
It is a time to relax and take stock of the last three months, the
initial ones in the village. I have to say that though we haven't
fallen upon the solution as to why world peace is so difficult to
come by ... we've made some progress and as of now there
is a little more animation and less young people going to bars
all day. We haven't stopped them but we've put a road bump
to slow that down some. The road bump is other activities.
Also, I have to say that I am looking kind of dumb here as in
the last blog entry I mentioned that I had little hope of the people
taking out the remaining tree in the middle of the new proposed
soccer field. While I was in transit yesterday I received a text
saying that they did take out the tree. I have to say to the guys
at the Youth Office ... may the winds of the Skeleton Coast
carry my heart felt apologies for not believing in you. I am
beginning to fear that if things like this (doing what they say
they'd do) happens on a regular basis that I am going to lose
the cynicism that becomes part of almost every Peace Corps
volunteers being. Man, what in the heck would be to complain
about if people keep stepping up? I am not worried about losing
that trait, there will be many more opportunities for them to
let the cynicism flow, I am sure.
The garden again is totally full, the school is starting to perk up
and there could be some good things happening there. That is
if the principal doesn't kick me out first. Every time he sees me
doing something and looking at me like ... what is he doing ... I
tell him that some day he'll kick me out of here. He says he
won't but I am almost willing to bet he will. If he does, then we've
made some crazy headway. In a way I hope he does, but only
sometime in the middle of 2011 after I've finished here.
In my opinion the hardest part hasn't even begun yet. The most
difficult part is somehow to tie in all these activities to
developing leaders and managers. In the sports it will happen
with the establishment of leagues in each of the individual sports.
It has seemed so far that every time that I've talked about it
people have frozen up. I am thinking that they don't understand
what a league is. I am getting the drift that what happens here
is tournaments only, similar to how it was in Senegal.
I am thinking that the leagues would be the activity that would
bring the teachable moments (managing, facilitating) that is so
much needed in the village.
Another thing that may happen is that we may be able to organize
a couple of workshops that will be about traditional San (Khwe)
cultural practices. For example, a week long workshop on how
to build a traditional hut and also other activities such as how to
start a fire using sticks (this is what I really would like to learn)
and other things of that nature.
The people that I hitched a ride with are an NGO that works
in that sector so after a discussion, it may be possible
to collaborate with them so as to make those ideas a reality.
Hopefully, that is going to be one of the coming attractions
and not just an idea that hangs out there.
So, from me and the kids of the day care center, ciao.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Sometimes a little ...

Repair is all it takes to keep it all moving ahead.
In the picture is Thomas and his helper on top
of a ... what could you call that ... not a scaffolding,
nor a tower, nor a ladder. In fact when that thing
they are on isn't used to repair something or help
in trimming a tree, it serves as the place that the
referee for the volleyball games sit.
But what Thomas is doing is repairing one of the
netball hoops right in place with his little portable
arc welder. It made it convenient to not have to take
the pole out and carry it to be fixed.
One of the biggest things about this was that something
was getting repaired, a novel occurrence here in the
village. But he repaired it just in time because the hoop
was kind of hanging on by a thread and now it appears
virtually indestructible.
Tomorrow I am heading out of the village for a week and
a half or so and I am wondering if ... the soccer field will
be totally cleaned out or if the front of the school building
will be totally painted. Not trying to be on the negative
side of life but truth be thought ... doubt it. No problem,
because as mentioned in other blog articles ... that is the
work to try and keep things moving.
The concept of sustainability seems to be a difficult one for
a people like the San (hunter-gatherers) to grasp. Not that
they are bad or wrong or anything but it is just that the idea
of sustaining a project or even a netball hoop is kind of not
the first thing that comes to mind. Again, now that they are
living in one place and not moving around ... the work is
to somehow explain or demonstrate well enough the concept
of sustainability to the point where it makes sense to them.
Seeing as I am going to be out of the village for a little bit of
a long time I am thinking that there will be a little backsliding
from what we've accomplished over the last few months.
So it may be.
Either way, when I return the challenges will be here, the work
will be here and I know that the netball hoops will still be here.
Just hope the motivation we've worked hard to awaken
will still be here. Sure wish that may be.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Face lift

That's what happening on the front of one of the
original school buildings. It was built about 30
years ago and doesn't look like it has been re-painted
since.
The paint was that left over by the visiting Kemnay
school in Scotland. They painted the administration
and teachers office building and there is enough paint
left over to paint at least the front of the building in
the picture and also at least one of the sides.
The paint was donated, I've done a lot of the painting
(with the school's principal) and the question is ...
where is the sustainability in it all? A good question, eh?
The sustainability is on the horizon as today I spoke
to a few teachers about initiating some event fund raisers
to receive money to buy paint which will allows us to
finish painting the outside of the building.
Also, now that the outside will be looking good then of
course next step is, yep, the inside.
It is interesting the path of development. It isn't as easy
as ... shouldn't they know what to do or ... why haven't
they done this already. Most of the times that is the exact
questions to ask but instead of judging, one should search
for the answer and then formalize a solution.
I've found at this school a big dose of demoralization and
an equal amount of lack of imagination. That's usually where
us as volunteers come in. To help animate and stoke the
fires of imagination.
So at the beginning of changing the situation there is some
positive action that is needed. To do it in what would be the
perfect definition of sustainability, people would just be
falling over each other to be the first in line to help. But,
the reason why their not is the reason why there is the
problem in the first place.
My thought is to begin a positive activity and in this case it
is painting (very visual) and re-newing and providing a
spectacle and a topic of discussion.
The students see an adult taking charge and working to
better their environment and also, I've noticed that even
the teachers are more upbeat about what is happening in
the school.
Also, part of my strategy to have invested my effort and
time into the painting project, and with that I have a vested
interest in it and also, a say. Like, hey man, look at all the
work I put in to this and your not going to try and raise
funds to finish painting the building, what ta hey. Arguments
of that nature will be my arsenal in the fight to inject these
people on the most noble path to sustainability.
Will keep you guys updated as to how it will all pan out.

Under the category of ... what are the mathematical probabilities
of this happening is ... the encounter I had this morning in the
center of the village. As I was walking up to the village's only
coffee shop I see these two white guys drinking a tea. They
introduce themselves and I didn't catch the first guy's name.
But I did the second and I want to ask anyone who was a
volunteer with me in the past to guess from which country these
guys are from. Does the name Bogdan give anyone a clue?
Yeah, incredible, these guys are from Romania, the country I
just came from after spending two and a half years in.
We were out there speaking Romanian for over an hour and
it was just one wacky thing to be 45 miles out in the bush
of an African country speaking that language of Romania.
I was surprised to see them and I am sure the last thing they
expected was to meet a person from the States who can
speak their language.
Got to say, I love these type of things.
Now I am wondering if tomorrow I'll be meeting someone
from El Salvador or Senegal in the village. Better start practicing
the Spanish and Pulaar Fulakunda just in case.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Jam session

That's what happened yesterday after the Khwe Youth
Cultural Group finished their official practice.
In the picture you can see two young girls dancing
in the middle of a circle of dancers.
At the beginning of the practice it was only the members
of the group whom are training for their trip to the
regional dance competition sometime in September.
During the time of practice the drums basically advertise
and many people come by to watch. In some cases they
also want to dance, kind of a dancing jam session. The girls
dancing fall into that category. It may be of about zero interest
to know that the girl on the right is wearing a wrap around
cloth with Bob Marley's name plastered all over it.
As a spectator it is just great to see and hopefully the group
will be capable of performing well enough to advance to
the nationals in the capital ... Windhoek.
It is another Saturday evening, the time that I use to reflect
back on the week. It has been another fair week. We've
made progress on the new soccer field and have one more
tree to clear before it is almost ready to go.
We painted some at the school with paint that the visitors
from Scotland left behind. The section of the building that
we are painting isn't finished but that should take at least
a few days total. But there was some progress.
Made a move to a new permanent location and that is
working out good. Just need to get accustomed to the
new environment.
The Support Group vegetable garden is very close to
expansion as any day soon the chicken wire we need
should be arriving. Also there is building interest in
joining and that is a good sign. No secret that if there
was no interest then something was going wrong.
The girls continue to play netball and the guys are slacking
on the volleyball games.
We finally have devised a system to keep control of the
soccer, netball and volleyballs and we don't have to chase
people throughout the village to get them back.
The high point of this week was the beginning of a
cross cultural blog ... thepandoproject.blogspot.com ...
which was an idea that me and a fellow volunteer John came
up with when we were still in Romania last year. It is a
blog that will attempt to bring together several students
and classrooms together from various regions of the world.
Due to timing of school vacations and arriving anew into .
our new posts, it has taken a little time to get it started.
I was fortunate to be able to get a blog entry initiated from
this end in Namibia.
The best part for me was watching the joy and excitement
from the girl (Martha) whom we chose to post the first
entry. She wrote the words and I typed and posted it.
She was just giddy to see herself on the internet and we
also let her post a message on the message board. It
was the first time she ever touched a computer and it
took her 15 very intense minutes to type the few lines.
It is just the beginning of trying to get computer literacy
introduced in the school (of course first we need some computers)
but soon we hope that the school will receive a few.
As a volunteer it is really just a great feeling to see a young person
hugging the keyboard as they search for the letters for their
first time and know that you can be a part of helping
their development. And if you weren't there she never would
have ever touched a computer.
It's a good feeling and that's the reward.
Well, that's about it for another week from somewhere in the
Bwabwata game reserve.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Now I call this development

What I am talking about is what you see in the
photo above.
So what, is in the picture? It is the first coffee
shop in the village and that's what I call development.
It isn't Starbucks but that's ok. It is a lot less expensive
and I know it sounds crazy, but the coffee is just as
good.
For this village where there are virtually more shebeens
(bars) than people, it is a breath of fresh air. To see
something that doesn't revolve around an over
abundance of alcohol consumption, is tremendous.
This humble coffee shop doesn't solve all those problems
but it is a change in the business as usual.
The coffee costs 5 cents USD and it reminds me of the
time the time I returned from 2 years in El Salvador.
In El Sal it was 8 or 9 cents for a coffee and upon
arriving at the airport in Atlanta, I proceeded to a Starbucks
(I think it was) or at least a coffee selling business.
Almost passed out when they charged me $3.75 for the same
5 and 9 cents coffees respectably.
A thought comes to mind and that is that we may be isolated
in the bush but we're probably closer to civilized pricing.
The lady in the picture is named Elizabeth and she is also the
person who makes bread in a hole in the ground. She is
a hard working single mother of 5 and I respect her
initiative to work.
One problem that permeates the village is the alcoholics who
hang around all day and basically try to control (guilt trip) or
beg the people into giving them money or anything.
Those people hang around the coffee shop also and the best
way to describe them is ... VULTURES. Yup, just like the
real birds. They sit there and wait for the people whom actually
work to make the money then they swoop in with their begging
rap for the people's money.
I give the vultures fatherly advice ... work. I even know that
word in the local languages ... in Thimbukushu it is yirughana
and in Khwedam it is djaodi.
Despite having to fend off two legged vultures, it is good to see
that there is something other than alcohol and that there may
glimpses of a change in habits.
But as a coffee drinker I call this big time development, now
I wonder if there will be any ice cream stands coming soon.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Staying in the loop

One thing about being away from the States is that there
at times are challenges to not lose touch with what
is happening on the home front.
Over the years, in rural areas of the foreign countries
that I've been in, the most reliable tool to do that is
nothing more complicated than a shortwave radio.
In the picture is my $15 US shortwave radio that at this
moment is allowing me to multi-task as I am typing this and
listening to the Voice of America at the same time.
Where we are we receive local radio channels only when
the electricity/generator is on. But the shortwave functions
apart from the receiver/transmitter system that the village
has, that again, only works when there is electricity.
Over the years I've listened to the presidential debates
between Bush and Kerry while I was in Senegal in 2004.
Albeit it meant waking up at 2:00 in the morning but it
was worth it.
With the internet, shortwave in the 'connected' countries
are somewhat of a dinosaur's way of delivering information.
In the majority of the rural world shortwave is still the only
way to be able to get outside info.
It has been many hours of BBC and VOA ... a lifeline to
staying up to date.
So, I think that I'm going to hit the one hour sleep timer
on the radio and listen to how the Tour de France is
progressing, ciao.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

New diggs

What you see in the picture is the new diggs or
place of habitation. It will be called home for the
next 21 months. It looks pretty nice and it is
actually a good place to live.
It is part of a mission complex and not anywhere
near what is indicative of the village. I am lucky
to here and have no complaints. It is away from
the center and really quiet ... good place to
meditate.
I am happy to have finally arrived at a semi-permanent
residence. It has been the 5th move in the last 7 or so
months. It has been Romania, USA, Okahandja, home stay
(for 3 months) and now (and finally here). It is pretty ok to
be able to actually totally unpack for the first time in quite
a while.
The things are moving actually fairly well in the village and
not that I am a fatalistic person but it seems too good to be
true.
We have a lot of possibilities and we just have to make it
happen.
The support garden is going along tremendously and we've
attracted young men whom never worked a garden before
or have virtually no experience per se. This is really good
because many of them actually do nothing all day. Hopefully
they are becoming a little motivated to be active. We are
also continuing to struggle for the materials to expand but
there is light at the end of the tunnel as we are inline to
get enough stuff to have it come to fruition. We actually
have a waiting list of people who would like to participate.
Another breakthrough is that of making progress in getting
the toilets at the school working again after almost 2 and
a half years. All I can say is ... don't know how to explain
the longevity of that situation. But they aren't actually functioning
yet but at least the toilets are draining and we are getting
water to enter the system. Just have to get the myriad of leaks
fixed.
The new soccer field is half way finished and by Tuesday we
hope to be finished with the clearing and with luck within
the next week or two, have it ready enough for them to
begin playing. Also, it will be the only regulation sized field
in the near region. It should be a great place to play.
With luck we will be making headway in the area of making
short instructional movies in the health sector in the local
San language (Khwedam). The topics are things like malaria,
TB ... etc. These short clips will be shown at the local health
clinic and it is geared more towards the people whom cannot
read. It may take time to complete them all but I'd like to
get that ball rolling.
The netball girls actually came up with having a tournament
on their own. I am happy that they are taking some initiative.
Don't know what they have in mind as to when, where, how
and all that jazz. Maybe tomorrow I'll get the scoop.
We finally have a coffee shop and I am thinking that it is about
the first one in the village since Namibia's independence in '90'.
So now, it isn't all bars and alcohol only as a place to sit and
socialize. Don't know how it's going to work out but I can
predict that she'll (the same lady that bakes bread in a hole
in the ground) will sell at least one cup of coffee per day ... I am
the consumer on that account.
Also talked to a teacher at the school about starting a debating
club and she mentioned that some of her students asked the
same question just a few days before. For where we are in the
middle of no where, it's a pretty advanced concept as far as
I'm concerned. I hope that that comes to fruition.
The San cultural group has to start gearing up the practices
as they got the nod to go to the regional competition and
if they place then they are their way to the nationals in the
Capital Windhoek. They just need to be getting the eye
of the tiger on this one.
So that is about what has happened and is happening over
the last few days. I am again glad that I will be able to
settle in and get a good base to be able to stay abreast
of what I hope will be a decent pace of progress.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

All about sports

That's what this blog entry is about. Today was one
of those pretty good days that come around every
so often.
One of the emphasis we've been pushing for has been
to create alternatives for the youth (school age included).
As mentioned in other prior articles, there was a real lack
of healthy good activities for them and the results
were that of them spending most of their time in bars
drinking. Which resulted in high risk behavior as it
pertains to contracting HIV and also a very high rate of
teenage pregnancy.
So, with really no funds to work with we had to devise
some way to offer other alternatives to pass the time
away. We found sports as the way. So far it's worked
well with a reduced rate of young people in the bars.
We already had the netball and volleyball courts up and
running for a total cost of about $25 US.
What we lacked was a soccer field that was of decent
quality ... actual regulation size and in a proximity to the
village. Today we received the final ok by the village
committee to begin preparing the field. So tomorrow
morning at 9:00 we are going to begin by removing
about 7 small trees. These we will replace with an
equal amount of mango trees when the rains come in
a few months. The mangoes will be spaced along the
sidelines to eventually provide shade.
We also got the word to bring in the netball hoops for
repair and reinforcement for no cost. One hoop needs
some welding repairs and it has been hanging on by
one rod but I've been concerned that we'd be out of
business if it broke. In the photo is a picture of Lydia
whom is basically organizing and managing the netball.
Also in the picture is Karamena whom is really the guy
that gets the youth in motion when we have work to be
done.
We also convinced the school to prepare another
volleyball court on their grounds and we identified
an area and hopefully soon they will also playing .
There is a lot of work to be done but there is also a lot
of movement. It is about trying to build positive
momentum. In a personal point, I would like all these
projects and activities up and beginong to function as
soon as possible. The reason being is that through
my experiences I've found that building or putting it
in place isn't that hard. It's managing it so that it will
be somewhat continuous and sustainable. And that's
the work and that takes the time.
Already seeing what is happening when we are trying
to organize a simple league of four teams, it seems to
me that it shouldn't be that difficult. But my gut feeling
is that it is going to take at least a year to get that
going with any success, if at all.
Despite a possible scenario of failure, which always
seems to be a snap of the fingers away, we are
riding a wave of euphoria because of the modest
success we've had today.
Got to get to sleep, tomorrow it is out there with the
youth to begin digging and cutting. Also seeing as the
oldest youth is about 30 years younger than me, I
better get to sleep ... toute suite.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

School garden starts

In the picture is a few corner plots of the school's
new vegetable garden. It isn't a new concept for the
school as in the past they've had other ones. But
it has been a few years since the last one so this,
is a good thing.
It is also part of a hands on approach to the subject.
As the San (Khwe) heritage is that of hunter/gatherers,
but now they are transforming into agriculturalists. So, for
the younger generation to get some experience and
knowledge in vegetable gardening, is almost a must.
In the woman's support group garden we have some
tomato plants ready to be planted and we will donate
a bunch to get the school garden off to a quick start.
This way the kids will have a little action in the plant
growing area, right away. We also gave them some
onion and hot pepper seeds that they will be able to
use to start some seed beds.
Hopefully the fence they built will keep the pigs out
but again, that is also part of learning.
To change over to village happenings. Tomorrow we
are going to begin the new soccer field. We would
have started sooner but the majority (or about all)
of the people whom would participate were off at
the bars drinking. As mentioned in other blog entires,
drinking is the biggest problem here. Hopefully we
can at least slow that down some.
There was a Ms. Omega contest last Saturday night
and I missed it. When I asked which girl won the answer
I got was ... a girl from the school. So I asked again, which
girl from the school and again got the answer ... a girl from
the school. Ok I said, does the girl from the school have
a name. The answer I got was ... get this ... a girl
from the school.
So either this was another rendition of the Abbott and
Costelo who's on first skit or the girl actual name is ...
a girl from school. But I held to the sanctity of the old
American pastime and figured that three strikes your
out. So, heck if I know who won.
Other than that it's been a little slow but the woman's garden
is going along pretty well but suffers from too much
shade. I've been getting involved at the school more and
with the main goal of helping them get the maintenance
of the buildings improved.
There are challenges there and also a little slump in morale
but I am hoping that my participation will help that some.
Today we actually talked about some maintenance issues
and did some work. But there needs to be a plan in place
and it looks like that will be something that is going to
require patience.
I guess so far this week it is one of those lulls that one gets
during the Peace Corps tour. That happens and sometimes
all too many times more than a volunteer's liking.
Tomorrow there is a little hope that it will be a little more
active day as again, we will work on the soccer field, get those
tomato plants to the school and search for some cement
to fix holes in the school building walls. We need to repair
them before we put on some paint that the people from Scotland
left.
If all that happens tomorrow then it will have been a good day.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Tom and the school mural

Tomorrow the students from Scotland whom
are here for this week will be heading out. Their
week will be up and despite a little bit of a rocky
beginning, it is ending up well.
The shaky start was due to the fact that it was
their first time here and expectations of two
different cultures take a little time to reveal themselves.
The biggest problem was the procurement of materials
that were needed for the kids to work.
There were a need for various plumbing fixtures and
also paint. The students had only five days to accomplish
their goal of painting a small building, decorating a
wall in one of the classrooms and as you can see
in the above photo, painting of the school mural on
a wall.
The student in the picture is named Tom and he did a
great job on the mural. The truth is that the work
the kids did was really outstanding. But Tom tackled
the mural on his own.
It wasn't all work as also a goal of this exchange is to
the obvious of exchanging cultures. The students from
Scotland played netball, soccer and some even went
inside a classroom and had a discussion hour with the
local kids. To the point that the local kids even kind
of tried to lock the door because they didn't want the
Scottish kids to leave.
But it wasn't without it's uncomfortable moments and
as an outside observer, thought that it was such a
great experience for both sides.
For the people here in this isolated village, any new
information or contact, will just help.
So, tomorrow the visiting students will leave but also
leave their work as a constant reminder of their
time here.
For me, every time I will see the school mural it will
remind me of the one kid that toiled away at it till
he had to work by flashlight so that he could get it
finished in time.
That be Tom and his school mural.