It was exciting to return to my new home, Enguwantale. This time of course I knew I was moving here for the long haul and knew exactly what to expect. It was no surprise to find it exactly as I had left it; flat, hot, and dusty. It was great to see my new host family again and was surprised to find that my host mother had decided to electrify my house. I was prepared and actually looking forward to living with only one light bulb. However, I do have to admit that the electricity is nice to have especially when cooking food after dark. It is still by no means luxury though; there is no running water and no bathroom. All in all, I am very pleased with my new living situation and am settled in enough to call it home.
Most of my days have been spent at the school which is about a 10 minute walk from home. The days begin at 8:00 and finish at 3:00. As a SEED volunteer my assignment is to split my work between the school and the community. I am expected to work closely with the entrepreneurship teacher at the school and co-plan and co-teach with him. So I have been sitting in on the grade 8 and 9 entrepreneurship classes and trying to brainstorm ways to make the curriculum more practical. At times it is hard for me to keep my eyes open and I can tell the students are in the same boat. There is not a lot of interest in the subject due to the lack of practicality. That is where I will hopefully come in.
Besides sitting in on the classes I really haven’t been doing much else except familiarizing myself with the material. In fact, it has been very boring. Unfortunately, these boring times can wear on the moral and has made me question what I am doing here and how am I ever going to keep busy for two years? There have been plenty of moments like this. However, there are “up” moments that come along and bring me back around. The other day the principal asked me to monitor an 8th grade period that was lacking a teacher. I was reluctant to do so. Just me and 25 Namibian 8th graders did not sound like a real enjoyable experience. However, I went to class and spent the next hour with the students. It was a very eye-opening experience. Instead of just sitting there and making sure they kept quiet, like I was expected to do, I engaged them and we ended up having a lot of fun together. At the end of the period, on my way out the door they were thanking me. For what? I wasn’t sure then but now know that they were thankful that I took the step to get to know them and to let them teach me their language; certainly an inspiring moment. Even though the moments of doubt are more frequent right now, the up moments are much more powerful.
On the community side of my assignment…not much happening there. There is less structure in this aspect of my assignment, so it has been more difficult to get traction in that direction. I am not entirely comfortable spending time in the village alone yet since there is a bit of a language barrier. And as can be expected, the village is still weary of having a new foreign member. But I have met a handful of people who seem to appreciate my presence and are motivated to start working with me. These are certainly relationships I am going to embrace and am looking forward to strengthening.
So that is my first two weeks as a Peace Corps Volunteer in a nutshell. Even though it has had its moments, I am thrilled to be here. Each interaction with a new person gives me new ideas and insight into what my potential is here. I think there is a lot to be done here, and with patience and tenacity this will be a very rewarding adventure.
Commencing the evening round-up
The homestead
Kalinga happy after the cows have been corralled
Sun setting over the homestead. Enguwantale
can be seen in the background
5 comments:
Hey bro - so it looks like in one of the photos that they grow something in the fields? Is that correct, or am I just imagining it? It sounds like you are doing good, and I'm sure that this will be a fruitful expreience that you will remember forever. I will send you a picture of our "cow" (that's what Zoey was for Halloween).
G, have you seen any cool wildlife? Have you gone out and had a beer at the local bar yet? Are their any local musicians you've been inspired by? This thing will pick up for you, I'm sure of it. Keep your head high bro!
I am excited to see Zoey as a cow! From what I gather, my host mother grows millet (which is the staple here), beans, and peanuts. I have a feeling that it is mostly millet though given how much they use it here. It is used for everything...porridge, bread, local beer.
I have seen some wildlife from the road...giraffes, ostriches, baboons, kudu, oryx...there is a lot of wildlife here. As far as around the homestead...nothing but cows and goats. Rumor has it that hyenas come around sometimes, but that is still just a rumor. There was an interesting story in the paper the other day about a dog that survived a lion attack...that is about the extent of the exciting news in the national newspaper.
If by the local bar you mean the tin shack with loud music and semi-cold drinks...yeah, I have swung by a few of the local joints to get to know the people around here. Drinking is one of Namibia's favorite pasttimes, however I am stearing away from too much of the beer to avoid a negative image in my community. The case here is that if you are drinking, you are drinking until you can't stand. The concept of relaxing over a cold beer does not seem to be very prevalent here.
Haven't explored the music scene here too much yet. I don't think it is too vibrant though. Most of the local stuff I have heard thus far is synthesized rap that is quite obnoxious.
You are not alone as a volunteer who had extra time on your hands. One of my favorite volunteers just ended up making up projects other than what she was assigned. She was a gardener and just loved working with the earth. She also taught in the schools (even though she was forestry). I enjoyed the local millet beer and it helped establish some key relationships and then projects seemed to happen. I did avoid the stumbling home drunk because you can imagine it would be even worse reputation for a woman, but drinking the local beer is like drinking coffee in terms of conversations and relationship. At least it was in West Africa. Hang tight - in my estimation it takes a year to build all the relationships!
Hey man we had to put the snow tires on today. Getting ready for the big season! Nothing too crazy here just the usual, I was in the hospital for a couple of days with the worlds largest kidney stones. I had a lithotripsy done which blasts all of the stones in to small pieces so you can pass them. I tell you it was a hell of a lot of fun! Good luck with those damn hyenas. LC & CC
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