3/5/2011
Latest news from Peace Corps training in Namibia.....let’s see, well I’ve started to watch the soapies (soap operas) with my host brother and mom and they have been pretty interesting. There’s one soapie that is called “India: A Love Story”. The acting in that show is hilarious. They’re definitely not the best, but it’ll do. I think they also originally film the tv show in another language dubbed in English. So the dubbing sounds nothing like an actual conversation--just sounds like someone reading from a script. The latest episode took place during Holi (the festival where you throw colored powder on people) and it made me miss India so much. In between each segment, they show clips of India and I just go “sigh, I just wanna go back!”. I wonder if in a couple of years I see something from Namibia if I’ll have the same reaction that I do for India now. We’ll see!
Within the last couple of weeks, I found a new mountain to climb and challenge.....quite literally! This past Sunday, I went to hike up one of the mountains in the area with some volunteers. Although I had just done this same hike a few weeks ago, it was still nice to just get out and breathe the fresh air. A little bit into the hike though, we noticed that it was starting to rain, so we had to turn back. We probably only made it about 1/3 of the way before we had to head back. I’m hoping I’ll be able to hike up the whole mountain at some point during pre-service training, because there are amazing views at the top!
3/11
And finally it’s the weekend again! This week has been filled with some language, sickness, language, language and more language. This week I was sick for the first time since being here and boy, it was not fun. When you’re sick, it never feels good, but it’s a whole other sensation to be sick in someone else’s house and in another country. I have to say, after being sick here in Namibia I can really appreciate being sick at home (in the US) now. Luckily after two full days of the stomach flu (or whatever I had), it was out of my system. Those meds in our medical kits that we’re given do the trick!!
On another note, our mid-training language interview is coming up next Wednesday. Boy, it seems like the days are going by fast but the weeks are going by slow. And Friday was no exception. We started our day with language (again!) and that was the last place I wanted to be. Every morning we have about two hours of language before starting on cross-cultural sessions. This morning, it just seemed like vocabulary and verbs were being crammed down by throat...especially in preparation for the mid-training language interview. The mid-interview though is luckily just a check in to really see how we’re doing with the language. It’s the final language interview that I have to be worried about. For the mid-interview, I think I need a beginner’s middle and for the final interview, I need an intermediate low.
After language, our PCMO (PC medical officer) talked with us about TB, malaria, waterborne diseases and all that good stuff. We’ve probably already had a few sessions on TB and all the other common diseases in Namibia, so that was a tad boring.
The next session though was pretty interesting. I might not have thought that food security and sustainable gardening was interesting before this session, but the way that the presenter did it was. The presenter was a returned PCV (PC volunteer) who is currently working for Peace Corps in Tanzania in the environmental program. Rather than just talking at us for an hour, we went to a local farm that was growing organic vegetables, herbs and flowers. It was amazing! I didn’t realize how much I missed fresh fruit and veggies until I saw this farm. Of course midway into our tour, it started to rain. Oh Namibian weather! So we ran underneath an outside canopy area that had a roof and just continued talking. I’m really hoping that I can have a garden when I get to my permanent site, because I’m not in India or the US anymore. Being back in this tropical weather has really made me miss India. And also living with a host family here has reminded me of my amazing host family back in India. In India, I was able to walk to the corner store to get fresh bananas, pomegranates, mangoes, and so many other types of fruit. I remember chowing down on at least two pomegranates a day and knowing that it wasn’t breaking the bank. Here though, it’s all about meat and carbs---very different. It’s just so funny that I studied abroad in a culture that praised vegetarianism and now I’m doing Peace Corps in a culture that praises meat. Two very different extremes.
After that, we quickly ate lunch and then migrated over to our next field trip, this time to the hospital. Although I had no expectations for the local hospital, it was really hard to see the moths on the ceilings, windows wide open--and I didn’t even see any nurses or doctors wearing masks, scrubs or gloves. Very interesting. Factoid of the day though? We learned that University of Namibia just started to have a medical M.D. program last year. Before that, there were no programs whatsoever to train doctors. So all the doctors who worked at the hospital were either not trained or they’re funded through the CDC (Center for Disease Control & Prevention) program and come from different countries.
What was also interesting was the HIV/AIDS program. All family planning items are free--meaning birth control, condoms (male & female), IUDs, etc., which is awesome! Medications for HIV/AIDS clients are also free here. I was wondering how Namibia felt about contraception because on the one hand, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is huge here, but on the other hand, it’s a conservative Christian country. I’m so happy to learn that at least in this hospital and in the local clinic as well, condoms and birth control are given freely.
When I left the hospital, I immediately thought about Medwish. Medwish is a non-profit based in Cleveland, OH that takes donations from U.S. hospitals and allows it to be used in hospitals and clinics around the world. Donations could range from surgical equipment, x-ray machines, gauze pads, hospital beds, etc. The local hospital could definitely benefit from this program. The x-ray machines that a hospital in the U.S. has may only be two years old before they think the equipment’s out of date and new technology comes in. But for hospitals around the world that don’t even have an x-ray machine, the newest technology doesn’t even matter.
Tomorrow is Namibian cultural day. All day long we’ll be cooking local food from various tribes in Namibia. The main attraction of the day will be the beheading of several chickens. It’ll be interesting!
Latest news from Peace Corps training in Namibia.....let’s see, well I’ve started to watch the soapies (soap operas) with my host brother and mom and they have been pretty interesting. There’s one soapie that is called “India: A Love Story”. The acting in that show is hilarious. They’re definitely not the best, but it’ll do. I think they also originally film the tv show in another language dubbed in English. So the dubbing sounds nothing like an actual conversation--just sounds like someone reading from a script. The latest episode took place during Holi (the festival where you throw colored powder on people) and it made me miss India so much. In between each segment, they show clips of India and I just go “sigh, I just wanna go back!”. I wonder if in a couple of years I see something from Namibia if I’ll have the same reaction that I do for India now. We’ll see!
Within the last couple of weeks, I found a new mountain to climb and challenge.....quite literally! This past Sunday, I went to hike up one of the mountains in the area with some volunteers. Although I had just done this same hike a few weeks ago, it was still nice to just get out and breathe the fresh air. A little bit into the hike though, we noticed that it was starting to rain, so we had to turn back. We probably only made it about 1/3 of the way before we had to head back. I’m hoping I’ll be able to hike up the whole mountain at some point during pre-service training, because there are amazing views at the top!
3/11
And finally it’s the weekend again! This week has been filled with some language, sickness, language, language and more language. This week I was sick for the first time since being here and boy, it was not fun. When you’re sick, it never feels good, but it’s a whole other sensation to be sick in someone else’s house and in another country. I have to say, after being sick here in Namibia I can really appreciate being sick at home (in the US) now. Luckily after two full days of the stomach flu (or whatever I had), it was out of my system. Those meds in our medical kits that we’re given do the trick!!
On another note, our mid-training language interview is coming up next Wednesday. Boy, it seems like the days are going by fast but the weeks are going by slow. And Friday was no exception. We started our day with language (again!) and that was the last place I wanted to be. Every morning we have about two hours of language before starting on cross-cultural sessions. This morning, it just seemed like vocabulary and verbs were being crammed down by throat...especially in preparation for the mid-training language interview. The mid-interview though is luckily just a check in to really see how we’re doing with the language. It’s the final language interview that I have to be worried about. For the mid-interview, I think I need a beginner’s middle and for the final interview, I need an intermediate low.
After language, our PCMO (PC medical officer) talked with us about TB, malaria, waterborne diseases and all that good stuff. We’ve probably already had a few sessions on TB and all the other common diseases in Namibia, so that was a tad boring.
The next session though was pretty interesting. I might not have thought that food security and sustainable gardening was interesting before this session, but the way that the presenter did it was. The presenter was a returned PCV (PC volunteer) who is currently working for Peace Corps in Tanzania in the environmental program. Rather than just talking at us for an hour, we went to a local farm that was growing organic vegetables, herbs and flowers. It was amazing! I didn’t realize how much I missed fresh fruit and veggies until I saw this farm. Of course midway into our tour, it started to rain. Oh Namibian weather! So we ran underneath an outside canopy area that had a roof and just continued talking. I’m really hoping that I can have a garden when I get to my permanent site, because I’m not in India or the US anymore. Being back in this tropical weather has really made me miss India. And also living with a host family here has reminded me of my amazing host family back in India. In India, I was able to walk to the corner store to get fresh bananas, pomegranates, mangoes, and so many other types of fruit. I remember chowing down on at least two pomegranates a day and knowing that it wasn’t breaking the bank. Here though, it’s all about meat and carbs---very different. It’s just so funny that I studied abroad in a culture that praised vegetarianism and now I’m doing Peace Corps in a culture that praises meat. Two very different extremes.
After that, we quickly ate lunch and then migrated over to our next field trip, this time to the hospital. Although I had no expectations for the local hospital, it was really hard to see the moths on the ceilings, windows wide open--and I didn’t even see any nurses or doctors wearing masks, scrubs or gloves. Very interesting. Factoid of the day though? We learned that University of Namibia just started to have a medical M.D. program last year. Before that, there were no programs whatsoever to train doctors. So all the doctors who worked at the hospital were either not trained or they’re funded through the CDC (Center for Disease Control & Prevention) program and come from different countries.
What was also interesting was the HIV/AIDS program. All family planning items are free--meaning birth control, condoms (male & female), IUDs, etc., which is awesome! Medications for HIV/AIDS clients are also free here. I was wondering how Namibia felt about contraception because on the one hand, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is huge here, but on the other hand, it’s a conservative Christian country. I’m so happy to learn that at least in this hospital and in the local clinic as well, condoms and birth control are given freely.
When I left the hospital, I immediately thought about Medwish. Medwish is a non-profit based in Cleveland, OH that takes donations from U.S. hospitals and allows it to be used in hospitals and clinics around the world. Donations could range from surgical equipment, x-ray machines, gauze pads, hospital beds, etc. The local hospital could definitely benefit from this program. The x-ray machines that a hospital in the U.S. has may only be two years old before they think the equipment’s out of date and new technology comes in. But for hospitals around the world that don’t even have an x-ray machine, the newest technology doesn’t even matter.
Tomorrow is Namibian cultural day. All day long we’ll be cooking local food from various tribes in Namibia. The main attraction of the day will be the beheading of several chickens. It’ll be interesting!
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