Easter weekend -Χριστός Ανέστη!
on Marika VSO-ing in Namibia (Namibia), 08/Apr/2010 12:39, 34 days ago
I'm in the last 4-day week now, nearing the big holidays. We have had many people coming and going this week, including volunteers from other parts of the country and even those finishing or finished their service, such two of our predecessors from the UK. It's been great having some of the obstacles I am encountering being validated and being able to just have a more objective chat about many things they are also familiar with.Easter week felt like a game of will my passport arrive or not, and my ability to make back up plans is being finely tuned on one hand and on the other, I'm starting to learn to do things the African way. I managed to do another road trip with Jodie and Kaitlin, but this time by hiking (the most common way of getting around Namibia) to relocation camps from villages that have flooded from the rains. The rivers have risen significantly now and the rains continue later into the year than usual (after starting late) having resulted in many villages to relocate into tents help set up by the military for almost half the year, just for them to return to the same land once the water has drained away later in the year. We walked around to see what life was like for them and by talking to the women, again informed them of Kaitlin’s project and tried to get them talking a little. Really interesting.I managed to get hold of my passport on Thursday afternoon but unfortunately without the expected work visa to last me to the end of the year, and one lasting just another 3 months, so I can look forward to doing the whole process again with VSO in two months time. So with plan A in action, I crossed the nearby border to Zambia that same afternoon (literally just over the bridge) to have a bit of waiting time for the bus to Lusaka (capital of Zambia). During this time, I found the well hidden market and managed to get pretty quickly beaten (and it had been a while for me) at a game of chess by a Zambian who seems to spend his days mastering this skill alongside his draughts tactics. Gutted, but still fun. Little did I know that I was in for a completely packed full coach (that cannot cope with more-than-a-day advance bookings even though it was in relatively good condition) and over a dozen stops during the overnight 11 hour journey. We arrive in Lusaka in the early hours of the morning, but a handful of us just stay on the coach while it does its journey to the filling station and wait for it to get light before we venture the streets of Lusaka.Lusaka is a vibrant city but I read, and was told not to expect too much. After dropping my bag off at a backpackers early on, I set off on my search for where to spend Easter. I walked too but couldn't resist experiencing getting on their little blue 'buses' that wait to fill up before setting off, especially as my 2nd and 3rd destinations chose to be about 5km out of the city in opposite directions. I love their simplicity of having just four roads into/out of the city (N, S, E, W), one in each direction of the compass. So with a couple of names, addresses and numbers at hand I walked to the Coptic Church to meet Fr Abraham and Miriam (a short term missionary from London even!) amongst others. From here I was shown to the Missionary Greek Orthodox Church that was absent of any people, and from here I was directed to the other side of the city to find the Archbishop of Zambia and Malawi, Joakim, and a church amongst the grounds of 'Hellenic Association'. What a hidden surprise! Whilst the Coptics had been listed on the internet there is nothing to be found of this hidden Greek community. As there was no hostels nearby to stay and I was keen to attend the morning and night services, the Archbishop offered kindly put me up in a house that was kept for priest but had been empty for the last year a mere few steps away from the Greek Orthodox Church. A reminder of the difficulties he has to even get any support over to Zambia, despite them having accommodated for this.So I was quick to go back and get my things out of the backpackers and abandon my tourist motives for Lusaka. I'm afraid I'm guilty of not even getting round to the market at this point after being tired from the overnight journey and keen to get my things out before the 2pm check-in time and feel less guilty about not staying there after just using them for the morning. Once I was back out in the suburbs, I couldn’t bring myself to journey in and out of the city again and stayed put. I had a lovely couple of days meeting a community of people who were to provide the warmest welcome, hospitality, food and even to share a Greek dance or two. It was quite surreal. The services were very special with a mix ofByzantine chant from the Archbishop and the less traditional, but intimate Zambian choir of women. The church included of two Zambian priests and two deacons needing constant guidance and regularly testing the patience of the Archbishop, and the usual handful of Greeks - just a fractional representative of the 180 families theoretically based in Lusaka (bearing in mind, here if you are even 25 Greek you qualify as a Greek!). This allowed for intimate services, typically increasing popularity on the two nights and my first witness of a brass band procession on the Friday night. The days were spent relaxing, reading, and meeting many. Besides the unique character of the Archbishop, of much interest were the Zambian women who were working under the guidance of a Greek/Romanian couple. On the whole the Zambians were particularly friendly on all my journeys so it was a shame to see that muchof the wealthy, yet seemingly corrupted Greek community seemed to be stuck in the apartheid times, making me feel slightly uncomfortable for feeling like I was in a totally different place mentally. Nevertheless, I tried to enjoy a bit of both worlds and the peaceful bubble adjacent to the chaotic energy of the city centre.I underwent the bumpiest coach ride of my life on the return (somehow exacerbated compared to the inbound journey) as Zambia's reputation for the worst roads I have ever been on is award-winningly upheld. There’s still a plus side though as it was the first time I had driven close to villages at night and felt closer to the fear of living without lights in many cases and just a bit of firewood to keep away the threats of the night. I’m more motivated to find out more about the constellations too.I returned on the Monday morning feeling more encouraged with work and and witnessed an actual visible start to burglar bars being put in at the house by Tuesday. Finally, a sense of urgency has been recognized as we still remain conscious of being alone in the house even though this has luckily been mostly avoided with all the visitors passing through.It is nearing the end of term now, and the exams have begun as of today at Mavuluma. Other highlights include seeing two chameleons in two weeks and playing ultimate frisbee with the neighbourhood's children at sunset. They were literally doing backflips and cartwheels from their excitement. It's amazing how good their motor skills proved to be, even with the littlest ones. They're so cute, it makes you want to take them home with you.This weekend, I will be travelling down to Mariental with Rani and Manna for a week's worth of VSO's In-Country-Training (ICT2). Frustratingly organized during term time to inconvenience all Educators, I will be returning next week just for a few days to mark papers and write up reports/results just to leave again for the big May holiday. I’m in for plenty of hours on the road so any ideas for road entertainment devoid of music are most welcome.