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on John and Dinah with VSO in Namibia (Namibia), 13/Oct/2008 14:17, 34 days ago
Prison and spidersNot both at once! I'll start with the prison.We have a charismatic wide-boy called Luis in grade 12. He is about 24 years old and sports a moustache and a gold tooth. I like him very much but was not too surprised to hear he'd been arrested. Something to do with attempting to smuggle diamonds from Angola. A gang of 5 were involved and there had been no sign of Luis since last term so it was a relief at least to know he was alive and well.As it is only a small minority of learners who get up to grade 12 it would have been awful if Luis had been prevented from sitting his exams - which are now taking place. OUr principal Mr Mendai shared these sentiments and worked hard to work out a way so that Luis could write. He was in Rundu jail (apparently pretty grim) and the authorities agreed that he could be moved to another jail near Kanjimi school. Luis is escorted to the school and is writing with the learners there. Far from ideal, and of course it's very hard for him to concentrate in these circs. - but better than nothing. He would have done well and let's hope he at least does reasonably.I was touched to receive a letter from him which I am going to copy in its entirety as it was so special to me. It says "Dearer Mrs Hilbourne Dinah" (Namibians put their names that way round), "The fact of being best parents not only to me but to many others encourages most of us to think much about how good you are. I believe you've heard my private state in the hands of police since the 6th Sept due to the illegal selling of prohibited products. I request your kindness if you would visit me at least this coming Sunday. I wished to see you! Let me not vanish in the world without having any day to see you once again. You've been effective parents to me. A lovely day to you all! Pass my greeting to Mr Hilbourne. God save you! Yours Luis".I think it was worth coming to get that! Although of course I wouldn't wish this on Luis. I can't imagine anyone not visiting and of course we did. We suspected that we would be asked to pay his bail for him. This has been set at N$1000 (about£75) and of course we would be likely to lose this if he jumped bail. We discussed this with Ms Shivute - we were willing to risk that amount to get him out of jail. However,she said we were absolutely not to pay it because it would be very likely that Luis would try and get to Angola (he's originally from there). If he did try and got caught again (probable), he would be in much worse trouble. This argument prevailed with us so we went to the prison with heavy hearts as we thought Luis would ask and we'd have to refuse.However in the event he didn't raise the subject of bail (perhaps he could judge the situation, he is pretty smart). He said it was much better now than in Rundu where it was overcrowded and that he was being well-fed and given the opportunity to study in the jail. The poor guy's face was bruised (apparently he'd been in a fight in Rundu jail). He looked pretty depressed and is obviously worried about it all. His trial is in Nov and he has been given a lawyer. Diamond crime is taken very seriously here and he is not protesting his innocence so he could be facing a grim future. We can only hope that his previous good character and ed. achievement will soften the sentence. I can't help being furious with him too, what an idiot!I hope the picture of the spider is on here but in case it isn't I will tell you that it was the size of a mobile phone and very aggressive. He was under a chair that I was sitting on! (although not for long, I think I may have broken some speed records). He is a sack spider and was living on the terrace at Nico and Marg's house in Rundu where several of us were having a pleasant evening watching a film. Nico caught him with a glass and put him in the freezer so that he would be in good shape to be a teaching aid! Nico is due to speak to the new volunteers next week about dangerous animals here and I expect they will be terrified. However, we haven't seen any dangerous spiders or scorpians inside the house before. We did see a scorpian scampering away when we went camping. This one could really hurt you ie. paralyse your hand - but not kill you so you may feel I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. All I can say in that case try having it 2 inches from your foot!Just so I am positive (v important VSO attribute) and because it is so I have added a pic of a beautiful lilac-breasted roller. They are quite common here as are many beautiful birds so hope to be sending more pics of them.It is now Oct arguably the hottest month of the year as the rains haven't started and the sky is fairly cloudless. We are fine most of the time. As long as we don't have to move outside between the hours of 10 am and 4 pm it's just dandy!We had a staff photo last week and I thought it might be of interest. Mr. Mendai (principal) is holding the football (not sure why) and Ms Shivute, who is our neighbour and good friend is behind him. The other white people are the peace corps volunteers, Alex and Christine, who sadly for us are now near the end of their time here. The only good thing about that is that we may get the palace they live in as our house - and then we can invite people to stay! Hope you will all come.THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS BLOGS ARE THE AUTHOR'S OWN AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THOSE OF VSO