The little engine that could

This is a follow up of the May 9th article
'Power to the people' . I was able to go inside
the big gray metal building to see the source
of what powers the village.
As you can see in the picture it is an old diesel
engine with the generating system in the back
on the left (in front of person). Behind him on
the left out of sight are two transformers that
take the power from the generating system
and then distributes it to the village.
It is an old diesel and there were two up to
2004 and like I mentioned in the original article,
it went for repairs and never to be seen again.
It leaks some oil and water from the radiator
but they keep filling it up and it just keeps purring
along.
I was told that this village is about the only village
for miles and miles in either direction that has any
kind of of electrical power. So, despite the limited
time per day that the generator is on, we are better
off that the others.
One of the bigger problems is that with limited power
comes limited access to information. There is a solar
powered receiving station for radio but I guess there
is a problem and they hooked it up to the generator.
So the radio is relaying to the village when the
generator is working. But what we really need is
access to a couple of the Namibian TV channels
which broadcast the news like CNN and BBC
among a couple other excellent national stations.
Maybe when the power from the new power lines
arrive sometime at the end of the year, we will be able
to get a TV relay system.
I do have to say that that diesel is really the little engine
that could. Comparing it's size to it's output, it is a
real monster. It does power a lot of things when it
is on. I was amazed when I saw it, I thought that for
what it did it was something a story high or so.
The old boy just needs to keep going along for another
6 to 8 months then it'll be able to rest it's weary bones.

The mixture is

What I hope will vault me into dry season
home garden fame here in the village. The
garden I began a few weeks back is coming
along but, kind of slowly.
So, first here is the excuse. The location where
the garden is, had corn planted when I arrived for
the site visit sometime about 4 lifetimes ago or
really about 2 and half months back. I noticed
that the corn really looked kind of sad and half
grown. I think that the soil is in the tired stage
of it's gardening usability.
The thinking was to put some beans and peas
in the hope that they would help replenish the
what I think is, depleted soil. But also I am trying
to demonstrate a vegetable garden with a low
water consumption.
The are about 30 plants all toll and with placing
water directly into the plastic rings around the
stems it takes about 5 liters or 1.32 gallons
every second day.
Like I've mentioned the plants are going along
ok and a little too slow for my liking and I am
thinking that it is a crime , seeing as I am trying
to feature the merits of a low consumption garden.
So, here enters the 'mixture' (in photo). Many
of you already know about it but as of the many
people I've asked here, no one has seen it
before. The 'mixture' is dried cow dung and water.
I've watered the garden with a 1/5 solution.
One-fifth being that of the 'mixture' with the rest
just plain old water.
It is supposed to work as liquid fertilizer and I,
with it, will be putting my reputation on the line.
Maybe I am just wishing but I believe that the
plants perked up a bit after last week's application.
Tomorrow will be the day to apply another dose.
I am thinking that a weekly watering could help
save the day.
If the 'mixture' can save the day, then I will post
a picture of what I am eagerly wishing to harvest,
beans and peas bigger than our heads.

Basket makers but ...

Those are a bunch of really nice looking baskets but
... they weren't made in the village. They were made
in another one about 30 miles away.
These are somewhat of a unique styled basket made
from what I believe to be a part of the palm tree. They
harvest the material then they color it using organic
sources from which they use to dye the basket weaving
material.
For the darker color which is somewhat of a shade of black
they use an old coca-cola can that's been weathered a lot.
It also has to be some type of a metal that when the
weaving material is is emersed it turns it into the color
they desire.
These baskets are noted to be somewhat of a San (Khwe)
design.
I have to say that the picture doesn't do them justice, they
are really nice.
It was fun being present when the women came literally
running out of the bush with their hand crafted baskets.
It was also fun watching the bartering process and how
animated it got at times.
Personally I was glad that this time I wasn't in the middle
of it.
For the women it is a source of income and if they don't
sell they don't get paid. So, it is understandable the
emotions could get a little animated.
Only now I am thinking if the village that I'm living in has the
capability or the interest to make something similar.
Looks like that will be tomorrow's quest, do some asking
and see what is or is not possible.
I'll start asking first thing in the morning while working in
the women support group's garden. Looking for another
two birds with one stone moment.

A lucky day

Today was a really lucky day here in Buffalo.
As I am writing this, I am listening to several
hippopotamuses making grunting sounds in the river.
It is the ultimate moment before darkness arrives
and the park's nocturnal animal world springs
to life.
During the day it was lucky occurrences of
animal sightings. We sat near a large path close
to the Kavango river and was treated by the
appearances of Kudu (in photo),water bucks,
bush bucks, wart hog family, water buffalo, puff
adder and impala.
We also took a walk and saw recent elephant
tracks and leopard droppings.
Last evening we saw hippos in the river and
heard them walking right outside the guest hut.
In another month as the dry season matures the
river will recede and there will be elephants
migrating in from the bush and become more one
of the regulars. The water buffalo will cross and
the predators will come out, lions and hyenas
and maybe others.
Hopefully I will be able to return at that
time and see the river and it's wildlife during
the '09' dry season.
But as of now it has been a great day and it
was non-stop sightings.
They were along the ridge across the way and
crossing the fire break on the left and the
hippos in the river on the right.
Definitely a very lucky day.

Order in the court

That is where yesterday's meeting with the village's youth was. It also is a functioning courtroom in which trials are held. It is an every so often thing, how often? Don't know yet but I will look into it. The room is inside the building (picture in yesterday's entry) and also serves as a host for small meetings. The meeting went very well but it was the beginning only. Another humble start to what I am hoping will be a gradual growing of a solid youth program. They spoke of sports, theatre, choir and volunteering for community home based care. I would be not telling the truth if I wrote that things went exactly perfect. There wasn't lines of kids knocking the doors down but it was a small but quality group. We're starting from zero so it's challenging us, the leaders/organizers as well. I went by the women's support group garden this morning and it is in the standing room only category already. Hopefully we can start scrounging some materials to expand it next week. I have to say that I'm pretty happy with goings on here on the activity/project side. But that can all come crashing down in a New York minute. Going to be shuffling off to Buffalo tomorrow morning (really). There is a fellow volunteer (nearest one) at a village called Buffalo and I am planning on visiting. Best part is that this is where the game animals are. I was told of hippos eating right outside the hut and lions passing through the compounds during the night. With luck I am hoping to be able to be blogging about sightings from my own two peepers. Time to pack a bag. Don't want to be late for the Buffalo shuffle.

This is where today's meeting is

Going to be held at 2 in the afternoon. It will be a meeting with some of the youth in the village. There is an office for youth development in that building. I think that this will be the first meeting of it's type in the village. I know that the girls and boys soccer teams and a youth theatre group should attend. If it is the kids first meeting it could be either chaotic or absolutely no life a all. Will fill you in. Girls soccer team is a little like a ship without a rudder at the moment. The coach is kind of occupied at this time. A side goal in this team is to work and support younger community members to become the next generation of leaders. This takes time and the finding of the right people. I thought the coach would be that type, but now? It is just how this stuff goes and why it usually takes a year to smoothen out the rough edges. On the other hand, the women's support group garden is already to the point of having to make it bigger. It took 3 days only. I guess the entrepeneur spirit lives. So that is the problem there, but a good problem. But the privitization movement is in full force. An ex Peace Corps volunteer colleage of mine from the Romanian days emailed me about not taking the socialist road with the garden. So, I must now change the privitization tag to something more like, hoping for an evolution into a Co-op world of harmony. If that happens then the trust is back. So thanks John for helping me to look at it a little more clearly. Also that 'co-op' has some of the old Romanian ring to it. I wonder if it will fly here in Namibia.

They were dancing

In the street, well almost. They were really dancing in the garden, in the women's support group garden. They were hesitant to return for this dry season's gardening cycle. They had a good reason not to because of the disappearing funds from last year's garden. That was a problem. How to rebuild their trust? The only idea was to privatize, yep, privatize. What happened was they would sell, put the money together collectively and who knows where it went. The actual reason or purpose for the garden is to provide a healthy diet to help boost their immune systems. The only way I could think of to get this going again was to eliminate the collective side of it. The idea now it is their private plots in which they can control it as they see fit. From the work to the consumption to the selling. It is their call. It also eliminates money doing a disappearing act. Because there isn't any laying around. I am thinking that it's goal is for the betterment of each woman in the group, first and foremost. If the individual is strong, so will the group be. The reality is that the concept of building in a group way, will not work here at the moment for lack of trust and rightfully so. But in the back of my mind in time we may be able to slowly build some confidence back. Either way it is good. The group is functioning again. You can see how they reacted to the privitazation idea. They started dancing and singing, so I am guessing they liked the idea. It looks like a new beginning. We just have to make sure it doesn't end the same as last year. The typical challenge for a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Life line to bloggersphere

That little solar charger is what's keeping me connected to the outside world. Besides the cell phone that is. With the generator situation and limited amount of plugs, this little charger is finding itself more usefull than was first anticipated. It actually stores energy so as to be there as a backup if need be. In the picture it is converting the Namibian sunshine to energy. It is 11:30 on a blue Monday and so far, the person in charge of the computers has mentioned that they will make a plan to manage them. The girls' football team will scrimage tomorrow. The theatre group will have a meeting on Thursday (first one in over a year). And the women's support group will be finally getting together this afternoon at 2. This is one hell of a blue Monday morning if intentions were the measure of success. Each one at this point has it's challenge. The computer management has never been done in this community. So there will be some growing pains. Girls' team, is to try and get soccer balls. The theatre and support groups existed but stopped because of management problems. The garden group due to last year's disappearing fund. Trust must be rebuilt (have an idea on that). The theatre group kind of petered out. Don't know why but hopefully Thursday's meeting will give the info on that situation. I like that these activities are happening early in my tour. I've found that it could take up to a year to get the mangement of a group going in the right direction. I'm lucky that at least they are willing to try or either start or restart. Hopefully in these cases the road to hell won't be paved by good intentions. With the solar charger I'll be able to get to keep blogging the updates on these activities.

Dinosaur sighting

The village is in the Bwabwata National Game Reserve so the sight of animals would be expected. But what about the dinosaurs you can view in the picture. Those are considered dinosaurs in the computer technology world. They were given by a hunter about three or four years back. They stayed in their boxes until last week when someone asked me to look them over. There were five all toll given to a village based organization. Only those two are functioning because over the years a few rats made them their 'cribs' and chewed up the cables inside. Probably in their effort to remodel, but, it made two of computers beyond repair. There were three at first but in less than two hours someone (who didn't know a thing) deleted some system files. So, back in the box it went. The computers are running Windows 2000 Professional, have no cd drives, no recovery disk or even one diskette to be able to repair what they did. That third computer took me two full days of ripping out cables, hard drives and memory and replacing in what I considered to be a mix and match orgy. Despite their turn of the century origins, they ran great. Well now two are in that category. I guess two out of three should make me happy. But after the years of doing this type of work/activity, I can honestly say I am numb to those types of things not going exactly the best it could have. A humourous thing is after asking me to get them running, no one knows how they should be managed. Oh well, it gives me something to write about. I am wondering how much longer the two remaining village dinosaurs will survive. Time will answer that, I'm sure.

Pulling for progress

So in the picture there is this tractor with a few guys on it. What are doing? That's what I asked when I arrived at the scene. It actually was a no brainer due to the fact that the tractor was working on an unused soccer field. The question shifted to, why were they doing it. The reason was that now that there are girls playing soccer, there was a conflict in scheduling last Sunday morning for field time. So the team's coach talked to the tractor driver and a few hours later I was taking this picture. I have to say up to now that the girl's soccer team project is showing potential. One of the biggest problems with being so isolated is the lack things for the youth to do. So what the majority of them do is go to the 'shebeens' ( a bar ) and drink. One of the goals of this project was to offer to the young girls an activity that would be something other than the bars. Alcohol consumption is a big factor in the spreading of the HIV virus. People let their guards down and aren't apt to protect themselves as readily. Many of the girls on the team were shebeen goers. I've asked a few people if these girls are frequenting the bars as often as usual. The answer I got was, no. They weren't there as much or at all on the days they played. Of course it is early and we're struggling to keep equiped with soccer balls. But so far it has shown that it could work and bring the result we are looking towards. So as the tractor was pulling the attachment to clean the field, I felt that there is some progress. I'll say that this is one of the good days.