Being tested
on Marika VSO-ing in Namibia (Namibia), 21/Mar/2010 23:12, 34 days ago
I think this week qualifies as officially the worst here yet. Let’s start when Rani, Manna, Elaine and Jeese spotted a Black Mamba (deadly snake for those who are unfamiliar) at the front gate of Rani and Manna’s house gobbling up a frog. What a welcome and a good way to get to know your neighbour as he came to save the day with his gun and shot it, throwingit into the bush whilst Rani and Mana are quick to get a gardener to clear all the bushes round their house. In typical Namibian style, the gardens here are generally cleared of bush for this reason.Later in the week, Sister Barbara’s (a nun based at Cheshire home but also teaching Maths at her nearby school) brother in Poland passes away from cancer and she is not able to go and join her family since he fell ill. How hard that must be as she has been here for almost 20 years but can only afford to go home every 3 years or so.Then I experience my first burglary on the early hours of Wednesday morning just before Elaine was getting up at around 3am for her 4am ride to Windhoek to find a selectively (!) emptied fridge and freezer with a frozen-stuck draw yanked out to be found at the back of the garden with a tent and an empty lap-top bag. The back door lock and extra padlock was broken and various items missing such us the covering for the sofas and table cloths, wall hanging, spare keys, cool box and most devastatingly my bike! Now those of you who know me, know this is a sore point as it’ll be my third bike to be stolen, where each of the times they were in theory safely locked up. So she woke up the sleeping guard who is supposedly walking round the house to tell him we’d been burgled as he later declared to his bosses that there were 5 of them and he didn’t know what to do.Believe what you will.So after getting up and not getting back to sleep and walking to work (having to leave even earlier verging closer to darkness now as the days shorten for winter) we spent the next two days reporting to the police and ministry, repairing, changing locks and beginning to replace food supplies. This matter was made more difficult as another pay-day for teachers officially passed and yet my cheque is still yet to come, and (this is the best bit!) an elephant dug up the cables at Kongola (roughly 100km from here) resulting in the whole networks being down for a couple of days including mobiles, internet and the ATM’s so after having spent all remaining finances on changing locks, I remain with an empty wallet and minus comfort food.A series of inconveniences then follow, Vivien is at her wits end after it being her 7th burglary since August, a colleague at work continues to try to fob her work onto me completely dismissing my mention of being burgled last night, but I must surely move on to the highlights now. My principal continues to impress me with his supportive words, the security company have said they will compensate financially as the guards continue to sleep during the day and night but with a gun for extra security. David (UK), VSO volunteer based in Opuwo is staying here in the spare room for two weeks as of Wednesday to sort out some ICT issues in schools, has provided much support, even down to being driven around using his unrestricted GRN and much humour to keep us looking on the funny side of things.So to end this impressively awful week, as it is Namibian Independence Day today and we have Monday off school/work, we are holding a house party to drink our worries away (isn’t that how most adults deal with tough times?). Katima is not holding any celebration, as it is the country’s 20th year of Independence, all people of importance are in Windhoek for the weekend and regional celebrations are postponed until next weekend. A walk yesterday to enjoy the sunset at the (much higher now) Zambezi over a couple of beers also makes everything feel alright again. I have become more aware of the noises at night and the beauty of the choirs of insects, frogs and hippos. The sun still shines and children still keep you entertained with their smiles on your walks as yougive them any ounce of attention.On Tuesday (my non-teaching day), instead of driving I managed to get driven by a friendly patient driver who found most my questions and comments about local life, animals very entertaining. The reason being the GRN was over-due for service and it would be his job to take it to the garage after my school visit. At the village school, I came face to face with the little boy of a woman selling the yummy Muzinzila fruit found on trees here (in comparison to the unhealthy fat-cakes the women sell at Mavuluma) who told me he had never seen a white person before. His look of worry confirmed this when I shook his little hand and he checked nothing had come off into his. Whilst making a little detour on the way back, we also got a closer look at the flooded villages and observed as the locals gathered to plant their annual shift. Even water lilies had already grown on some of the flood plains. It reminds you that there are always others worse off and something good will always grow from something that seems like an inconvenience. Lent is a time of being tested after all wherever you are.