A day of firsts ...

Today was the first day that it's rained since I
arrived here in Namibia at the end of last February.
It was getting kind of old the hot dry days.
Here it is two seasons the dry and the rainy.
Namibia is one of the driest countries but we are
up in the northern region where it rains a bit more.
It was really refreshing as the rain cooled us down
and washed away the dust.
It will make gardening a lot easier and turn all the brown
to green. It should be interesting to see the transition which
I heard comes pretty quick.
So for me it was the first day of experiencing rain in Namibia.
But I think that it was also a day of firsts for a lady from the
village. While I was walking along admiring the rain and watching
the lightning bolts, a lady whom went out in the bush to collect
some natural ingredients for her lunch, got struck by lightning.
I doesn't appear to have been a direct hit because she is
alive and they brought her to the hospital for basically, observation.
I am thinking that this was her lucky day, not by getting struck,
but by surviving it.
It is amazing to think that in about the 3rd or 4th lightning bolt
of the new rainy season, someone gets zapped.
I know that I am living amongst the San (Bushmen) people
but is this a 'The Gods must be Crazy part 4 or 5'?
But all joking aside it is good that the lady survived and it just
seems like that's the way it goes out in the bush and it is just
probably all in a day's day.
A funny thing comes to mind. That is, is that there is probably
a better chance of getting struck by lightning out here than
getting a two hour project completed in less than six months.
So today was the day of a few firsts, but out here in the middle
of the bush one always has to be knowing that another first
is just around the corner.

Achieving a Goal ...

Many times accomplishing a project takes more effort
than what is truly required. This is for many reasons,
some due to lack of resources, some for lack of human
motivation and sometimes, just plain bad luck.
So when a goal is achieved, it is almost euphoric. Yeah,
this is the deal in all our lives at one time or another and
it really does demonstrate that despite cultural practices
and other differences, that we are really all the same.
I have found that it is just the degree of motivation and
rate of action that are generally the differences.
In the picture above, it is what it is, a goal post on the west
side of the new soccer field. I've mentioned over the last
few months that we were making a new field, and wrote
of the progress along the way.
Well, it is finished, finally. It took close to 4 months to
complete a job that had about a total 30 man hours.
It really was that easy. Yes, there was a little bull work,
but that consumed about 10 of the 30 man hours.
How does one explain the uphill battle it is just to
terminate a project of that nature? I've been at this
for a while and it is almost always the same. The
need of some catastrophic event to get the ball rolling,
another catastrophic event to keep it flowing and
another catastrophic event to finish it.
Here, it went like this. Everyone wanted a new soccer
field because the old one was so far away from the
center of town. It was also not measured out and was
looking like it was too thin but probably long enough.
It had so much thorns and would basically eat a soccer
ball in no time. Also a few other smaller reasons.
We deliberated for almost a month on where to put
the new field. Finally, somebody came up with a perfect
location. The new field would just about remedy all
the problems of the old soccer field. It would be
close to the center of town. The old one was about
2 kilometers or about a mile and a half away. The
new field is only about 150 meters tops from the
center. There are no thorns at all in the new field.
The new field is also, the official size of 60 meters by
100 meters. Also, with the field's location, it too will
serve as the school's soccer field. In the past due to
the location of the old field, the school didn't have
a field for their sports.
Also, another huge factor to making this what I feel to
be a successful project is it's cost. The total cost for
making a new official size field (the only official sized
one in the whole region) was ... nothing, nada, rien,
hay hunde, nimic, jambe or just plain, the big fat zero.
Yeah, really, we had the old goal posts, we had a
shovel and an ax, we had a tape measure, we had
everything we needed. Except, for one thing that we
lacked most of the time, motivated people.
It was, today at eight in the morning we'll go work on
the field. Only to notice at 9 that no one showed up.
On the odd day, they would come and when they were
there, they worked well.
Now, the argument would be, maybe they were busy
trying to make a living. That would have been under-
standable, but that wasn't the case, they were either
recuperating from an hangover or just plain lazy.
But that's how it goes out here and it just makes the
finishing or achieving of a goal so magnified in it's
joyous state of emotion.
As a volunteer it takes a little bit to be able to adapt
to the way things are done. It really takes a change
of mind as to accepting the rate of how things flow.
It can be pretty stressful if one gets attached to the
outcome of a project too much. I have found that in
the end, it usually all works out to the best it will be.
For me, I just always have a little side project of my
own so when the 8 o'clock in the morning waiting till
people show doesn't pan out, it is, I'm outta here and
off to doing my little activity.
This morning I went out and walked the field and just
soaked in some of the sense of accomplishing a goal.
If the soccer field project would have lasted another
month I am thinking that the instead of soaking in
success, I would have been soaking my handkerchief
with tears of frustration, to tell you the truth.
But, in the end, it will all be a memory and another
legendary village story of how the field became.
Last Saturday we watched as the orphans (OVCs) used
the field while the place was loaded with spectators. It
was a good feeling to know that we were the ones that
made it happen.
In the end, the field should be remarkable. When the rains
come the grass will regrow and fill in. We will transplant
some grass into one of the corners and like we did in
Senegal (an ex-volunteer Pat knows) build a scoreboard.
Also make 4 little red flags for the corners and voila, one
pretty decent bush soccer field.
So, now it is on to the library project that looks like is
going to make the 4 months it took to finish the soccer
field, look like a nano-second in comparison.
Oh well, welcome to the world of a volunteer.

in Namibia

I've kind of written about this in my prior Romanian
blog so it is kind of a repetitive topic. Repetitive as
far the emotion is concerned but despite that it is
really as new as new can be.
I am talking about the thought that comes to mind every
so often when there is just a second or two to think of
where you are.
For someone from another country it is all new and
different and really exciting to be a witness to what is life
out of one's culture and out of one's style of living.
Not all things attached to those differences are pleasing.
Many times there is a degree of stress as part of the
package.
In every country I've been in and when being present to
an event that was so unlike those of my origins, the
reality that, heck, I'm somewhere where not very many
people get to, comes to mind.
In Senegal a fellow volunteer would say ... yes ... it is this
or it is that ... but ... in Senegal. Then the thought would
just enter and the magnitude of the moment of where, would
just make it all, ok.
This morning was like that again here in Namibia.
I went to the church located at the mission in which I am living.
There was a group of young people whom stayed at
the mission this weekend. They are from a town called
Divundu about 70 km away from us out here in the bush.
They are also some of the more exemplary students and
they are so different from the kids out here.
They are a netball team at the best school in their town.
They are the choir at their church and who knows what
else they are.
But this morning, they just energized the village's church
members with their newness of attitude and ways of
doing things. To the point that they even kind of lighted a
little fire under the village's church choir. I never knew
that our choir had any capability or more to the crux,
any life.
It was really the place to be. The young choir just sang
and danced, incredibly. The church members were
actually singing their hearts out. But that was after the
shock of seeing the young group going to town.
It was exciting being present to this activity today.
For me, the thought came to mind. I am experiencing
all this ... in Namibia.
The in Senegal/in Namibia works for good and bad.
There is still another year and a half left, I wonder how
many more times I will think ... in Namibia.

with some sweat it could be sweet ...

That's what this blog article is about, it's about
with the old sweat of the brow ... things like honey
(the sweetness) could be coming to our doorsteps.
The picture above is that of what they call here ...
a bee box.
This is actually an interesting and not an all too
common story in the world of small scale development.
There are two brothers who live in the village, David
and Paulus. They are good guys and seem a little bit
more with it than what is the norm here.
About a month after I first arrived, David mentions to
me that his brother, Paulus, would like to talk to me
about writing a proposal for something to do with a bee
project. Of course I said sure, but with some doubts as
to where it was heading.
It took another 2 months to sit down together to get
something on paper in which they could send up to
the Capital (Windhoek) to see if they could get something
in the works.
As I sat with them and asked them a few questions, it became
apparent that these are about the only guys I've seen in the
last nine years who actually deserve what they are asking
for.
Here's how the story goes ...
In 2005 a small NGO (non-governmental organization) arrived
with, at the time was a bee keeping project. The project was
actually not all that bad and it gave the participants, the
information they needed and 4 bee boxes per to begin in the
world of beekeeping.
The classes were in session for at least a week with a lot of
hands on in the mix of it all. The bee boxes they received at
the time came in from Kenya and cost N$ 400 Namibian dollars
or at today's prices, $40 USD. These were pretty expensive for
the time and even now, for the cost of within the living scale
here, still on the pricey side.
So, these brothers take the boxes and the NGO leaves and
fast forwarding to when I arrive, they guys are working
along with their boxes non-stop for the last 4 years. The side
note here is that ... that usually just doesn't happen. The
normal situation is that they work the boxes till they get
some honey, eat the money (no pun there, just fact) then
lose enthusiasm and the boxes start to just plain deteriorate
into some village historical legend of oblivion.
When these guys told me that they've been at it all this time,
I actually thought that they were embellishing a bit, but they
weren't.
Now, the thoughts of, why didn't they take some of the money
they made from selling a little honey and put it back into
expanding the business. That was my initial thought.
But after doing a little math, there was honestly, no way,
that they could have expanded the business. The NGO
made a slight mistake by giving only 4 boxes and not following
up later to see if the project would fly. Doing a little calculations
it seemed that if they would have had at least 20 boxes, then
they would have had the leeway to invest. They both have
families and mouths to feed, so either the honey or the little
profits, were consumed out of necessity.
So, after hearing their story and kind of feeling their frustration
at having a little bit of a hard time to get this going, I helped
them form a logical, legitimate argument as to why these guys
should get a little support.
Again in the world of small scale development projects like
this, it is just so rare to see people take what was given to
them and use it in an appreciative, honest to the spirit of
the project, manner.
The results were that, the people in Windhoek totally agreed
with our argument. One of the local representatives of another
NGO that works with those types of projects, have basically
given them the support they are looking for.
Now they have 11 bee boxes with another 6 coming soon.
This morning I met one of the brothers and we went out
to look at the bee boxes that are in place and it was a great
opportunity to talk about the status of their project.
I was really impressed with what I heard and saw.
The bees need flowers for they process of making honey. If
not they use sugar as a substitute. Here is a interesting little
tidbit (if it's true) ... is that an expert from the States told them
that using sugar wasn't so good as it had a tendency to give
the bees diarrhea. Really, that's what I was told.
Here in Namibia the seasons are two basically, one dry and
one with rain. So, flowers could be a challenge for supplying
the bees with what they need to make honey in the dry season.
But Paulus told me that they are in the process of preparing
about what would be, an hectare of space dedicated to bees
only. They will plant what is considered a shrub or bush that
flowers non-stop year round. Put up a fence and it should be
really nice when completed.
I wish them all the luck and will help them where I can.
An interesting side story that came about during the conversation
has a connection with this prior article Friday in the center of town.
It seems that the guy that drove his tractor up to it's axle on the
newly finished netball court, lives in the general vicinity of where
the bee boxes are located. So, he goes out and buys a couple
cans of spray and starts taking out the bees.
The brother told me that when he arrived the ground was
literally covered with bee corpses.
The end result was that the guy (named Bumbo but should
really be called Dumb-o) had to pay a fine and restitution and the
brothers are even getting a promise from the regional governor
that he will support their project in the full extent of his jurisdiction.
I think it is one of those decent stories that depict the struggle
that goes on out here in the bush when someone decides to
try and change their destiny.
For me, it is truly refreshing to be around a couple of guys who
get it and it is easy to want to see them succeed.
Plus, having a whole lot of honey around isn't a bad thing at
all. The tea should become immediately of serious quality out
here with that honey.
I'm liking these guys' project.

Blending in ...

The other day while watering some plants I
happened to come across a chameleon (in
the picture). This led me to thinking (not all
chameleons have the ability to change color)
just as this type of chameleon can blend in,
so do we, to be able to thrive in another land.
I am not speaking of the obvious, as a white
person like me will never really be able to blend
in Africa all that well. It is simply because of the
all so apparent differences.
It is more the the blending of the mind that I refer to.
It is such a different life here than where I came
from ... USA.
I am really referring to blending in to the way things
are done and how life is lived in a whole new
environment.
An interesting aspect of the chameleon is that each
eye works independent of the other. So one can
be looking in one direction as the other looks in
the other.
There is a similarity with someone who comes from
a different world. Even though our eyes can't work
like the chameleon's, we are looking in two directions
at the same time. With the ideas and thoughts from
the prior life ingrained into the mind, it is the necessity
to look to the now, at the life in front of our faces.
With this, there are many instances in which we feel
dumb until we acquire the experience and eventually
gain the knowledge to blend in.
This takes a lot of mindfulness and control of the ego.
Things like garden expansions that would take a day,
takes almost a month, with luck. Things like, having
opportunities to introduce educational tools to the
village being derailed by a broken generator which
no one knows when it will be repaired. It is going
on 6 weeks and looks like it is going to continue
counting.
In the prior life this is all unacceptable things that are
resolved either virtually immediately or there is a big
stink until it is all right again. If one tries to raise the
roof here, well, it just don't work and one then stands
out. Probably not in a good way.
So the blending also come in by learning to accept that
things are done a different way. It is essential to have
faith that it will all end correctly eventually. It is also
a necessity to fight the inner fight so as not to have the
notion of jumping off a bridge.
Despite it's propensity to deliver stress to the 'outsider',
it is a chance to learn new ways and lighten up on the
old ones. It can bring a sense of freedom from one's
past norms if they were a hindrance to a feeling of peace.
But it doesn't all come without a price. It takes a huge
effort to make it all natural.
That is one thing that the chameleons have, that
ability to blend in automatically.
For us it is the goal.
When it does come after time, it is such a sense of
accomplishment. It really is totally incredibly neat to be
sitting around with people from a totally other world
and it feeling all so natural.
This may all sound a little out there but that is the lesson
of the chameleon as I have seen it.

It's heating up out here ...

In two ways, as we are rolling over into summer in
the southern hemisphere. I just realized this morning
that I hadn't experienced rain in almost 7 months.
The clouds are beginning to come so hopefully soon
there will be a little precipitation to change up the day.
Also, another way that it is heating up is in the picture above.
Today, me and one of the Romanian guys that are here
in the village made a solar oven. It isn't quite finished as
we need to paint the inside a flat black so as it heats up
better. Also, will probably paint the outside so as to
make it look real pretty like.
But, we've been talking about this for at least over a
month and today just happened to be the day we got
to it. It cost about zero to make only because we
scrounged the wood around the village and the nails
we already had.
We could use a little more insulation around the glass at
the top and we will find something that will work.
This solar oven was a difficult concept to sell. I explained,
drew a diagram, took pictures of one that my colleague
has and ... did I mention something about pleading?
In the end, we made it and have a live model that when
the people see it work, then they have to believe.
My goal in all this is, yes, save wood and resources, but
at this point it is ... open up the mind to new things.
So, we finished a little late and it was around 3:30 pm
when we first put it in the sun. Too late to cook for the
day, but tomorrow is CWS day (cooking with sun) and
I hope that it does the job despite the lack of black
paint.
Another good thing that happened is that we are knocking
on the door of finally finishing the expansion of the support
group garden. All you who have been in villages know
that at times it just ain't easy to get the easy accomplished.
This expansion should have been finished in about 2 days
of about 5 hours of work each. But, it has been 1 hour
here and 1 hour way over there and on and on.
A miracle happened and one man actually stepped up
and is taking a lead in the enlargement of the gardening
area.
It is how it goes out here and after all this time, for me, it
is just, have patience and keep perseverance and go
with the speed of the flow. If not, as many of my ex and
now colleagues can testify to, it will drive ya bonkers.
All in all, it is a pretty good time. We're not breaking any
type of records but there is some building going on.
Building is a sure sign of progress as it takes the mind to
be convinced to get the ball rolling.
So, with the garden becoming bigger and the solar oven
coming online, we can make the food and cook it too.
All good thoughts to end this week on.

Introducing a new character ...

What you see in the picture is another character
in the equation of my life here in the Bwabwata
Game Reserve. In fact the character's name is Spinner
and he is the resident dog at the mission. He is chief
notifier of intruders and even more of a chow hound.
I like the fact that this is the first dog named Spinner that
I've ever encountered and I am admitting that I really
like the name. Why Spinner ... don't know.
It has been another week in the life and yesterday was
a nine year anniversary of the beginning of this trek in
life that has led me from El Salvador to Senegal, Romania
and now Namibia. The memories are many and some as
heart warming as can be and other as intense as can be.
But it isn't over and there is more on the horizon and I
am still looking through anticipating eyes.
What began as a tremendously slow week ended up on
an upside.That's how this always seems to go, one time
frame, activity to beat the band. Another, activity in
the minus column. So, one young man came to me with
interest in beginning a little theater group. It looks like
it will address social issues as it's main objective.
Looks promising and also this morning another young
man approached me with interest in a debating club.
Another really good opportunity and as they came to
me, they could be the more motivated ones revealing
themselves.
Also, decided to get the old body moving and began
jogging/running again. I did this in Romania and it was
a nice place for that sort of activity. Here, it is of course
different and it is more running through beach sand in
95 degree weather. It isn't so bad at it is a dry heat and
have found that I sweat less here at 95 degrees than
I did in Romania at 80. But it's still hot and it is also
running through sand out in the bush. So. it should
be a good training area.
Almost forgot that we are one day away from doubling
the actual gardening area in the support group's garden.
Yeah, the expansion sat there in limbo for about a month
and all of a sudden a flurry of activity and we are
knocking on the doorstep of progress.
This expansion wasn't without some drama as a few of
the village leaders went over to the nurse at the clinic
(the person responsible for the garden project) and
mentioned that they would go to the police because
she expanded the garden without their 2 cents.
What this is also about is money. What happened last
year was that the chairman of the group took the
money that the group accrued. So what we had
to do was devise a new way of managing this without
the temptation of the money hanging around. We did
this by privatizing and there is no money in a pot. It is
everyone is their own little entrepreneur and it has
worked like a charm. People have trust in the system
and so much so that we have to double the space.
What the leaders wanted was to know who was holding
the group's money. Why do they need to know that?
The nurse thinks is that they would approach that
person and pressure them into giving them a loan that
they have no intention to pay back
But we stopped them jokers with the new managing
strategy, there is nothing to take.
It's the same story throughout villages like this (well at
least the villages I've lived over the last 9 years) where
there is this person or group that will ruin any threat
of progress by these types of money taking schemes.
This is where my experience came in and I knew to
make it 'money taking proof'. You have to have money
in a location for it to be taken, isn't it so?
Ha, who's the sap in the end?
Well, on that note, it's time to end this article here and go
give Spinner some chow.