4-day weeks
on Marika VSO-ing in Namibia (Namibia), 29/Mar/2010 18:59, 34 days ago
We are now in the second of three 4-day weeks and could easily get used to this. Unfortunately, the holidays aren’t very well spread out during the year, and there are significantly less holidays in the second half of the year. Nevertheless, it’s best to concentrate on the present. We have had several people in and out the house which has been well timed and needed. David continues to be here, fixing computer issues left, right and centre, including making it to my school this morning, now leaving me with great possibilities for training the school teachers with some basic ICT skills so they actually start making use of the facilities here at their disposal. Who would have thought I bet you’re allsaying.Marci (Hungarian/Australian) and Jodie (Australian) (friends of Scott) are passing through and staying at our house for a few days this week and the last week. They are doing a year-long journey from Southern Africa up to the North and into Europe and have been great company in so many ways. Kaitlin (ex-Peace Corp), now returned to work on a new project is back from America and after having heard much about her, has been nice to get to know better in person.So I was back on the 4WD for a few days (with added flower power!), making it to another village school, and managed to plan a girly road trip on Friday. Kaitlin needs to go out to villages to find women to participate in her Women’s Rights project, so I jumped at the chance to provide transport and join her and Jodi to two villages past Kongola for a differently natured visit. We had to initially get permission from the village Kuta (equivalent to chief) to allow the women to participate in this project. The community structure and hierarchy is evidently alive here, as the community members meet regularly to discuss issues arising and often Kaitlin’s initial visits have consisted of going there only to find no-one around and having to re-arrange another visit. It was surprising to find, that despite the simplicityof life in these villages there are even people with mobile phones. Kaitlin is looking for women who can read and write English and selecting the women also needs to take into account many factors such as respectability, motivations and so on. Explaining to them about her project is also really interesting as she has to present in a way that does not challenge their traditions and customs that are so contradicting to women’s rights. Namibia is one of only two or three countries with a constituency written about women’s rights, yet the Caprivian practices here can be so awful (I am reluctant to even describe them in writing), it is a big challenge to try to change these. We are hoping that educating some of the women might at least get people talking. Being three female makuwas, seemed to prompt a warm welcome in the villages. On the return journey, we had the pleasure of car trouble,just in time for the afternoon showers, so once again the 4X4 is back in the garage as they evidently didn’t make appropriate repairs the first time round. With all these visits to the government garage and the ministry of works, the workers are getting very familiar with me. They seem to find meincredibly amusing, but this has gone hand in hand with much helpfulness on their behalf. It’s amazing how much the ‘service’ improves if you greet them properly and warmly. Namibians find greetings so important. Even at work, you must give every individual a full greeting every morning, or else it might be taken offensively. This has really helped set the pace for life in general and definitely something I hope to take back with me to the ‘Western’ world and not forget.We topped our record for catering for 12 with the help of Marty and Jodi’s yummy cooking, and nicely timed on the 25th March to coincide with Greece’s holiday. Unfortunately we missed Katima’s Saturday morning (one week later) Independence celebrations as we realised the culture events were mostly in the morning, whereas we had a brilliant morning yoga session ledby Jodi at Rani and Mana’s house backed with lovely Indian music chants and the birds in the background. As our sensitivity to noises is heightened since last week, it’s hard to be impressed every day and night by the animal hidden in the green gardens surrounding the houses. Followed by Mana’s cleansing of our house and a Sunday walk to Stone City (currently under the swollen river water), plus a Friday night drumming session, how can we not be re-charged for another productive week at work.Pay day finally arrived with two months worth of volunteer wages (yipee!), and my passport/visa is said to be on its way this week. Just in time for the long Easter weekend hopefully. Fingers crossed everyone!