Overdue blog
on John and Dinah with VSO in Namibia (Namibia), 05/Jul/2008 15:53, 34 days ago
Long overdue blogMany apologies to everyone out there for the deafening silence from us. I am very aware that we are hopelessly behind in our blogs. I can only say in our defence that we have been working quite hard and been somewhat bombarded with family matters - not least a wonderful new grand-daughter, Milly born on June 19th,and the on-going saga of the shirts.The big family problem that blew up 3 weeks ago was that my father was suddenly and dangerously ill. I was seriously considering returning but in the end his fantastic background health and wonderful spirit carried him through a nasty illness. He also got wonderful treatment and this was not least due to my sister and brother-in-law, Caroline and Paul, being very well-respected and long serving GPs in the neighbourhood.The news was very fast moving and dramatic. On Sun. he was admitted to hospital. On Tues. night the situation was critical with him needing surgery but not fit enough to undergo it. Eventually they operated at 3am on Wed. morning. He spent the next 2 days in intensive care and then a couple of days on the high dependancy unit and then a few days on the ward. One week after the operation he was returning home where he has been convalescing well. It was certainly great for him to go home as he is a private sort of person (my mother would have known the medical and life histories of everyone on the ward!) and it meant Ma was not exhausting herself visiting when the hospital was a good drive each way (Nothing by Namibian standards!)Let's hope that he is soon completely well. He sounds somewhat traumatised on the phone (suddenly there were half my family round my bed!) He is still easily tired and needing lots of rest but all the signs are encouraging.Meanwhile my poor nephew has been in hospital again. Our thoughts are often with him, my sister and his girlfriend, Jen, who is always very positive by all accounts. It is definitely a downside to doing VSO that you get so many pulls to going home. We expected family life to continue at a normal rate whereas this year has been exceptional. A wedding, a baby, various illnesses and one death (margaret). Add relatively minor events like Luke losing his job (then getting a new one, thank goodness) and Rachel breaking her arm badly so that she has been signed off for 6 weeks and it makes the average soap opera look believable!Life here continues with a completely different background climate. This morning I went to school dress in my (too thin) trousers, socks and shoes (forget sandals), thermal vest, cotton top, cardy, coat, gloves, hat and scarf!! As I write it is now midday and I still have everything but coat, hat,gloves and scarf and it is very pleasant. The sky is a wonderful blue and once again completely cloudless. If I went outside and sat in the sun I would soon be far too hot as the sun is still powerful. Indoors with a breeze is perfect. The people here complain bitterly and I don't think they believe it when we tell them how really cold English winters are. In bed we have a duvet, thick blanket, hotty and I wear bedsocks! Of course there is no heating of any kind and one is literally fearful of having to get out of bed at night! We had hoped to get more exercise when it's colder but it's still a problem as the days are much shorter (it's dark when we wake up at 5.30am and again by about 5.30 pm) We have managed a couple of long walks at the weekend and are planning another for Sunday.They are building a new road down to Tsumeb from here and we want to see if there are any signs this end as this will be wonderful for us. We went there for a long weekend 3 weeks ago. Fri. afternoon we went to Rundu (2.5 hours) then on Sat. down to Tsumeb (3 hours). that was OK but we returned on the Mon. and travelled from about 9 to 4 as we detoured to pick people up. With the new road Tsumeb will be as close as Rundu! We are literally doing 3 sides of a large rectangle at the moment. More importantly we do that every time we go south ie. to Windhoek so it will make everything, including home much nearer in time.The shirts are within grasp at last, after hours of frustration. Please resist any urges you may have to collect unwanted items in the UK which would be useful here! I cannot understand the mindset that obstructs charity by children for children. It is like something out of Kafka. I got a phone call from customs about 2 weeks ago saying they had the fax of the bloody import permit and could release the shirts when they had the actual permit and the paper work was complete!! This after they said a fax would suffice and tons of paperwork had been done. Anyway I set about making arrangements with VSO head office who agreed to do this. I have spoken to them again today and hope it's been done as someone is finally coming up to visit us next week and could bring them. Meanwhile I've had another call from customs to say they hope someone is coming soon as the shirts have been in customs a long time!!! Whose fault is that? Will I ever get them? I will believe it when I see it.Meantime Leonie (our daughter-in-law) is running a 10 km fun-run to raise money for our learners on Sun. It's great of her and let's hope she hits her target (mine would be to finish)I realised that teachers here use rather draconian methods but hadn't witnessed any corporal punishment until a couple of weeks ago when I saw a learner caned across the palm of her hand. I meant to take it up with the teacher concerned but he went away the next day and has only just returned. He was absent because his new baby was delivered and so I can't resurrect the matter now. Other than the outrage felt by a Western Liberal, it is illegal here and I feel compromised by being a witness. This teacher sincerely believes that the Bible authorises this punishment - obviously a higher authority than the law or my opinion. He is an interesting man. Very hard-working and concerned about the learners. Bright (he is getting very computer-literate) but even though he teaches Geog. doesn't believe in Continental Drift.More dangerously doesn't believe in Evolution and gave an assembly on 'Charles Darwin: Where is he now?' His answer (not surprisingly) to this question is 'burning in hell' (for the wickedness of suggesting we could be related to apes.) John was considering a debate with him in front of the learners. I fear this could be counter-productive as I'm not sure if learners would follow given the language problems and the complexity of the issue.On a lighter note we had a visit from an ex-teacher this weekend. We asked whether he'd come for any special purpose and he replied he'd come to fetch his cow, which he'd bought while here. On closer questioning he was going to catch said cow (once it had been found), slaughter it, cut it up and take it back to Rundu, where he now lives and works, for his freezer. Apparently this is all sound economics! John would have his own cow but I have refused. He is anxious that we immerse ourselves in the culture and I am a constant brake to his plans!I won't promise to write the next blog sooner but I will try! Best wishes to everyone.The views expressed in this blog are the author's own and do not in any way reflect those of VSO.