- I think I’ve already eaten enough peanut butter to last a lifetime…who’d have thought that that would be my staple food in Namibia.
- I keep waiting for the Himba women to burst out in a Bollywood dance. Don’t know why, but it seems like that should be a normal afternoon ritual.
- The more I try to learn Otjiherero, the more my French vocabulary gets better (Madame Heyman would be proud :) )
- I feel like I’ve jumped into a National Geographic photoshoot. With the lush green mountains, women carrying baskets on their head and Himba women walking around with their red ochre all over their skin and hair, it amazes me every day to walk around Opuwo. And makes me miss a little bit of the Vermont mountains.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Thoughts currently swirling around in my head...
Monday, April 18, 2011
And so it begins...
"Peace Corps training is like no other training in the world, having something in common with college life, officer's training, Marine basic training, and a ninety-day jail sentence." (Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle by Moritz Thomsen)
Alright, it's official, I'm a Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia!!! You might think that with this official announcement and change of events that the stars would align and I would somehow become a new person overnight. But honestly right now, I'm still trying to comprehend the fact that training is over and that I now have two years ahead of me as a volunteer. It's a weird feeling. Like a state of limbo...I'm not in training anymore yet haven't really started my life here in Opuwo. It'll take some time to adjust to my new life here but so far it's been great.
Let me back track though to the swearing-in ceremony we had on Thursday. After 8 weeks of training, we were finally ready to become Peace Corps Volunteers. And it was a great feeling to know that an item on my bucket list is actually coming true. I still can't believe I'm here in Africa doing HIV/AIDS prevention work. It's amazing. That feeling of awe was with me all day...
....as we sang both the Namibian and American National Anthems
....as I pledged as a US Peace Corps Volunteer
....as I gave my swearing-in speech in Otjiherero
....and especially when I took a bajillion pictures with my fellow Volunteers
Man, it seemed like I was in a wedding or something with all the pictures we took together. There were so many moments in time that I just wanted to capture and remember forever. It's often impossible to actually capture the feelings and emotions of the moment, but at least here are some pictures of the day you can see....
And then on my last night in Okahandja, my host mom's friend came over and surprised me by bringing a traditional Herero dress that I could try on. She felt bad that I didn't wear a traditional dress for the swearing-in ceremony, so this was the next best thing. And it was awesome! We ended up having a photo shoot all night long!
And to give you a background on the dress.....Cattle is very important to the Herero people, so the traditional Herero dress depicts that. The dress usually has several petticoats to give the dress volume (similar to the Victorian era, Herero women like big butts :) ) and the otjikiva is the headpiece that represents the horns of a cow and is usually made from rolled fabric.
I was so happy that I didn't have to wear that dress and headpiece all day though...man, that dress was hot!
Alright, it's official, I'm a Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia!!! You might think that with this official announcement and change of events that the stars would align and I would somehow become a new person overnight. But honestly right now, I'm still trying to comprehend the fact that training is over and that I now have two years ahead of me as a volunteer. It's a weird feeling. Like a state of limbo...I'm not in training anymore yet haven't really started my life here in Opuwo. It'll take some time to adjust to my new life here but so far it's been great.
Let me back track though to the swearing-in ceremony we had on Thursday. After 8 weeks of training, we were finally ready to become Peace Corps Volunteers. And it was a great feeling to know that an item on my bucket list is actually coming true. I still can't believe I'm here in Africa doing HIV/AIDS prevention work. It's amazing. That feeling of awe was with me all day...
....as we sang both the Namibian and American National Anthems
....as I pledged as a US Peace Corps Volunteer
....as I gave my swearing-in speech in Otjiherero
....and especially when I took a bajillion pictures with my fellow Volunteers
Man, it seemed like I was in a wedding or something with all the pictures we took together. There were so many moments in time that I just wanted to capture and remember forever. It's often impossible to actually capture the feelings and emotions of the moment, but at least here are some pictures of the day you can see....
 |
| Ramsey, my language trainer, and I |
 |
| A few of the volunteers and I with Zorro (one of the trainers) |
 |
| Me giving my Otjiherero speech during the swearing-in ceremony |
 |
| (L to R) Elizabeth, me, my host mom's friend and my host mom |
And to give you a background on the dress.....Cattle is very important to the Herero people, so the traditional Herero dress depicts that. The dress usually has several petticoats to give the dress volume (similar to the Victorian era, Herero women like big butts :) ) and the otjikiva is the headpiece that represents the horns of a cow and is usually made from rolled fabric.
I was so happy that I didn't have to wear that dress and headpiece all day though...man, that dress was hot!
 |
| My host mom's friend, me and my host mom |
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Facts about HIV/AIDS in Namibia:
- In 2007/2008 about 204,000 people were living with HIV while in 2012/2013 it’s expected to increase to 247,000 people.
- 18.8% of Namibians are infected with HIV/AIDS, which translates to Namibia having the 5th highest prevalence rate in the world.
- There are about 39 new infections per day.
- 77% of all new infections are among young women.
- Approximately 5,400 people died of AIDS related causes in 2007/2008.
- The average cost of ARVs (anti retroviral drug treatments for people living with HIV/AIDS) is $200-300 US dollars per person per month.
- In contrast, 56% of the population of Namibia lives below $2 US dollars per day.
Sooo we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. One of the biggest challenges with HIV/AIDS in Namibia is the high rate of multiple concurrent relationships, meaning having more than one sexual relationship at a time. So over these next two days, our training will focus on HIV/AIDS in Namibia and how to teach prevention to community members, especially when we take into account multiple concurrent relationships. And at the end of it all, we’re going to go to a local school and present this information to children using flannel grams. Flannel grams is a felt board that helps to illustrate the impact of HIV/AIDS. It’s a hands on technique which really helps youth and adults better understand the impact that multiple concurrent relationships have on your health and your risk for being infected with HIV. I’m really excited to learn more about it and present it to the youth later in the week. This is right up my alley!
Ooot and aboot in Okahandja
4/3
This week our resource PCVs were awesome. They probably knew how much we didn’t want to be in the classroom so they planned various field trips for us pretty much all day Monday. Our first stop was a visit to a youth center in Five Rand that was in the process of being built. (Side note: Five Rand is an area in Okahandja that gets its name from the price you used to have to pay in order to stay there. Rand is South African currency.) The youth center was so inspiring. The workers that painted the walls and made the bricks by hand are all local people living in Five Rand who received training on how to do these various jobs and now will be able to get other jobs because of this training that they now have. Once the youth center is finished being built, there are a few projects that will be going on. For one, there will be a room for a library where youth can check out books and read. Many Namibians don’t read for pleasure, so it was really great to see this initiative. Another project in the works is an art studio. A group of women will make clay beads, fire them in a kiln then sell them for profit at a few local craft centers. What really makes my heart sing though is hearing that these projects create a relationship so that peers can teach other peers how to make the beads or how to tend to the garden for example. It was just so empowering!
Our next stop was The Ark, an orphanage in Okahandja. Although they called themselves an orphanage, it seemed more like an after school program for OVCs (Orphans and Vulnerable Children) to me. Their philosophy was that it was better to educate the OVCs’ families on how to raise the child rather than The Ark taking care of them. At least then, the children would have a family that raised them. The children’s ages ranged from 7-14 and had the biggest smiles on their faces. The program itself is through Christ Hope International (a ministry working for HIV/AIDS prevention and abstinence based programming). For me, it was really unsettling hearing that their program was abstinence based and yet they were also teaching HIV prevention.
Our last stop was to the Garden Cafe, which is a cafe run by Americans who also run a training program at their cafe. Funny enough, the owners of the Garden Cafe used to work for The Ark before opening up their own cafe. For PCVs, the Garden Cafe is a Godsend. There’s high speed internet, real American food and milkshakes. All the comforts of home. They even baked us Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies and brownies! So sweet :) A lot of us have been frequenting the cafe these last couple of weeks for lunch or even just to check out email so it was cool to hear more about their training program. With the 50% unemployment rate in Namibia, free training is hard to come by. So the owners of the Garden Cafe decided to create a training program that would teach customer service and restaurant service. After people complete the 10 week training program, it makes it a little bit easier to find a job.
This week our resource PCVs were awesome. They probably knew how much we didn’t want to be in the classroom so they planned various field trips for us pretty much all day Monday. Our first stop was a visit to a youth center in Five Rand that was in the process of being built. (Side note: Five Rand is an area in Okahandja that gets its name from the price you used to have to pay in order to stay there. Rand is South African currency.) The youth center was so inspiring. The workers that painted the walls and made the bricks by hand are all local people living in Five Rand who received training on how to do these various jobs and now will be able to get other jobs because of this training that they now have. Once the youth center is finished being built, there are a few projects that will be going on. For one, there will be a room for a library where youth can check out books and read. Many Namibians don’t read for pleasure, so it was really great to see this initiative. Another project in the works is an art studio. A group of women will make clay beads, fire them in a kiln then sell them for profit at a few local craft centers. What really makes my heart sing though is hearing that these projects create a relationship so that peers can teach other peers how to make the beads or how to tend to the garden for example. It was just so empowering!
Our next stop was The Ark, an orphanage in Okahandja. Although they called themselves an orphanage, it seemed more like an after school program for OVCs (Orphans and Vulnerable Children) to me. Their philosophy was that it was better to educate the OVCs’ families on how to raise the child rather than The Ark taking care of them. At least then, the children would have a family that raised them. The children’s ages ranged from 7-14 and had the biggest smiles on their faces. The program itself is through Christ Hope International (a ministry working for HIV/AIDS prevention and abstinence based programming). For me, it was really unsettling hearing that their program was abstinence based and yet they were also teaching HIV prevention.
Our last stop was to the Garden Cafe, which is a cafe run by Americans who also run a training program at their cafe. Funny enough, the owners of the Garden Cafe used to work for The Ark before opening up their own cafe. For PCVs, the Garden Cafe is a Godsend. There’s high speed internet, real American food and milkshakes. All the comforts of home. They even baked us Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies and brownies! So sweet :) A lot of us have been frequenting the cafe these last couple of weeks for lunch or even just to check out email so it was cool to hear more about their training program. With the 50% unemployment rate in Namibia, free training is hard to come by. So the owners of the Garden Cafe decided to create a training program that would teach customer service and restaurant service. After people complete the 10 week training program, it makes it a little bit easier to find a job.
Would you like some meat with a side of meat?
4/2
Saturday was decided to be a stress reliever day. With everyone just coming back from site and probably so overwhelmed with everything, relaxing with everyone was just what we needed. So we went to Von Bach Dam which was just a couple of kilometers from Okahandja. It was a park that had a huge lake/dam area for swimming and a place for braais (BBQs). We went swimming and had a really yummy lunch of meat, sausage, potato salad and rolls--aka meat and carbs. And throughout the day we passed stories back and forth about our sites and just talked :) There’s been so much to catch up on with everyone’s sites that we just haven’t had enough time to talk with everyone!
And some of us have already started to plan trips or at least get ideas in our heads about where we want to travel during these next two years. It’ll definitely be something to look forward to. So far, here’s my wish list:
Capetown, South Africa (maybe for Christmas/New Years?)
Zanzibar (Tanzania)
Victoria Falls
Epupa Falls
Ruacana Falls
Etosha National Park
and of course everyone else’s sites to visit them!
Sunday was just another relaxing day. I spent some time in town with another volunteer from our group then sat with my host mom on the front steps outside eating meat from last night’s dinner. True Namibia way of life. So I grabbed a chair and a piece of meat from the pot and sat down with her to chow down on some oryx meat. After a little while, one of my host mom’s friends, Mango (yes that’s really his name), stopped by. So the three of us just chatted over a good cup of tea. Not as good as a cup of chai, but it’ll do. Through his patchy English, I learned that Mango worked at Meatco, a local meat company/slaughterhouse in Okahandja. What he told me about the company was fascinating. Meatco exports various types of meat to different countries around the world, which still baffles me. It’s scary to think that your ground beef may have come from 3 different cows from a whole other country. So look for Meatco products from Namibia in your local supermarket! haha
Saturday was decided to be a stress reliever day. With everyone just coming back from site and probably so overwhelmed with everything, relaxing with everyone was just what we needed. So we went to Von Bach Dam which was just a couple of kilometers from Okahandja. It was a park that had a huge lake/dam area for swimming and a place for braais (BBQs). We went swimming and had a really yummy lunch of meat, sausage, potato salad and rolls--aka meat and carbs. And throughout the day we passed stories back and forth about our sites and just talked :) There’s been so much to catch up on with everyone’s sites that we just haven’t had enough time to talk with everyone!
And some of us have already started to plan trips or at least get ideas in our heads about where we want to travel during these next two years. It’ll definitely be something to look forward to. So far, here’s my wish list:
Capetown, South Africa (maybe for Christmas/New Years?)
Zanzibar (Tanzania)
Victoria Falls
Epupa Falls
Ruacana Falls
Etosha National Park
and of course everyone else’s sites to visit them!
Sunday was just another relaxing day. I spent some time in town with another volunteer from our group then sat with my host mom on the front steps outside eating meat from last night’s dinner. True Namibia way of life. So I grabbed a chair and a piece of meat from the pot and sat down with her to chow down on some oryx meat. After a little while, one of my host mom’s friends, Mango (yes that’s really his name), stopped by. So the three of us just chatted over a good cup of tea. Not as good as a cup of chai, but it’ll do. Through his patchy English, I learned that Mango worked at Meatco, a local meat company/slaughterhouse in Okahandja. What he told me about the company was fascinating. Meatco exports various types of meat to different countries around the world, which still baffles me. It’s scary to think that your ground beef may have come from 3 different cows from a whole other country. So look for Meatco products from Namibia in your local supermarket! haha
It's April already??
4/1
Believe it or not, it’s April. Man, the time has flown! Today was our first day of training since being back from site visit. It was so good to see everyone again and hang out with them. In the morning, we had a quick debrief and ice breaker about our site visits. It was pretty short though, and I really wish we had a full discussion about it because there was so much to talk about! Everyone’s sites seemed so different! Then later on, I was able to talk to my APCD about more of the specifics with my position. As time goes on, I’ll get a better sense about what my job entails, but for the moment, it sounds like I’ll be doing community outreach and working with HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria prevention in Opuwo. I’m really looking forward to leading HIV/AIDS support groups, planning World AIDS Day events and other things, so yay!
The rest of the day we talked about death (fun, fun!) and then had a session about how your Peace Corps service affects you. The effects ranged from poop stories to falling in love with doing your laundry by hand to not stopping hte movie you’re watching until after all the credits are over. They were hilarious and just the thing I needed to cheer me up. After training, a bunch of us met up with some PCVs that were passing through Okahandja at a local restaurant. Because of the floods in the north, there were about 25 PCVs that were evacuated from their sites, and now they have to be relocated to other volunteers’ sites until the water levels go down. So many of them were passing through Okahandja to their temporary sites. I have to say, it was so nice to catch up with PCVs from different groups and pick their brain on questions I had floating in my head.
Believe it or not, it’s April. Man, the time has flown! Today was our first day of training since being back from site visit. It was so good to see everyone again and hang out with them. In the morning, we had a quick debrief and ice breaker about our site visits. It was pretty short though, and I really wish we had a full discussion about it because there was so much to talk about! Everyone’s sites seemed so different! Then later on, I was able to talk to my APCD about more of the specifics with my position. As time goes on, I’ll get a better sense about what my job entails, but for the moment, it sounds like I’ll be doing community outreach and working with HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria prevention in Opuwo. I’m really looking forward to leading HIV/AIDS support groups, planning World AIDS Day events and other things, so yay!
The rest of the day we talked about death (fun, fun!) and then had a session about how your Peace Corps service affects you. The effects ranged from poop stories to falling in love with doing your laundry by hand to not stopping hte movie you’re watching until after all the credits are over. They were hilarious and just the thing I needed to cheer me up. After training, a bunch of us met up with some PCVs that were passing through Okahandja at a local restaurant. Because of the floods in the north, there were about 25 PCVs that were evacuated from their sites, and now they have to be relocated to other volunteers’ sites until the water levels go down. So many of them were passing through Okahandja to their temporary sites. I have to say, it was so nice to catch up with PCVs from different groups and pick their brain on questions I had floating in my head.
Site visit continued...
3/31
So let me start by giving a quick recap of my actual days at work in the Ministry of Health office. For the most part, it was very low key. My supervisor really didn’t have anything for us to do, so I pretty much just checked my email, Facebooked, and did some homework that Peace Corps gave us about cultural norms and language in relation to Opuwo.
As for Opuwo itself, it’s a gorgeous town. There’s one main grocery store, which has the basic food items and is just a short walk from my flat. There’s also a couple other stores that are very similar to an Aldi store back home. All of the grocery stores in town though seemed to have a lack of good produce, so that was a bummer :( Gone are the days of having to pick which variety of apples I want from a sea of 10-12 varieties. Just goes to show that you never really appreciate all the varieties of fruits and veggies until they’re gone.
There’s also two PCVs, some VSOs (Voluntary Service Opportunity, similar to the Peace Corps but applicants can be from different countries such as England and Holland) and a few expats living in Opuwo. So that’ll be really nice having a support network of people that are going through the same adjustment and culture shock that I am.
On Wednesday, Elizabeth and I were going to take a Ministry of Health car back to Okahandja (for free!), but the ride didn’t end up working out. So instead we took a combi back. At 6am that morning, I woke up to be ready for a 7am ride out of Opuwo. But in true Namibian fashion, we didn’t leave until 10am. With everything going on lately, I’ve been trying to see the positive though. So this slight change of plans gave me time to people watch and just collect my thoughts about what this week at my permanent site had been like. And so I sat in the combi with my guava oshikandela (a yogurt/milk kind of drink) and just relaxed.
Then around 10am, we left Opuwo for Okahandja. Although the combi was full--about 15 people packed in, the quiet ride back to training was just what the doctor ordered. It was so nice to just spend the day with the windows open and the breeze blowing. Plus, the scenery was gorgeous. The green hills definitely reminded me of Vermont. My new home away from home. I could definitely get used to this scenery as my backyard for the next two years. Every so often the driver would beep his horn and I would glance up to notice a bunch of cattle on the road. Oh Namibia. At the same time though, I still haven’t gotten used to this scenery. I never thought Africa would be this green. Throughout the 8 hour drive, I passed by endless green fields of trees, mountains and animals. There were no billboards or even huge skyscrapers blocking the horizon. Just green all around. So nice.
Then when I got home to Okahandja, my host mom came home wiht a delicious pizza from Okahandja Lodge (a really nice lodge and restaurant in town). It was so yummy! Had some olives, sausage, green and red peppers and lots of cheese--so good! Definitely hit the spot.
The down of the day though was the internet. Just as I’ve been getting used to having free internet from 1am-5am, they go and change it with out anyone’s knowledge. Not cool. I had N$220 on my internet stick and it was wiped from my account and kicked me off the internet when I was in the middle of Skyping with my Mom & Dad. I was so upset. These next two years is definitely going to be a rollercoaster ride of emotions. I can already tell.
I later learned that the internet provider did away with the free internet from 1-5am and instead implemented a new promotion. Now you pay N$10 per week and have unlimited internet from midnight-6am. I just hope that I have a good enough internet connection in Opuwo so that I can Skype with friends and family from back home. I guess we’ll see!
So let me start by giving a quick recap of my actual days at work in the Ministry of Health office. For the most part, it was very low key. My supervisor really didn’t have anything for us to do, so I pretty much just checked my email, Facebooked, and did some homework that Peace Corps gave us about cultural norms and language in relation to Opuwo.
As for Opuwo itself, it’s a gorgeous town. There’s one main grocery store, which has the basic food items and is just a short walk from my flat. There’s also a couple other stores that are very similar to an Aldi store back home. All of the grocery stores in town though seemed to have a lack of good produce, so that was a bummer :( Gone are the days of having to pick which variety of apples I want from a sea of 10-12 varieties. Just goes to show that you never really appreciate all the varieties of fruits and veggies until they’re gone.
There’s also two PCVs, some VSOs (Voluntary Service Opportunity, similar to the Peace Corps but applicants can be from different countries such as England and Holland) and a few expats living in Opuwo. So that’ll be really nice having a support network of people that are going through the same adjustment and culture shock that I am.
On Wednesday, Elizabeth and I were going to take a Ministry of Health car back to Okahandja (for free!), but the ride didn’t end up working out. So instead we took a combi back. At 6am that morning, I woke up to be ready for a 7am ride out of Opuwo. But in true Namibian fashion, we didn’t leave until 10am. With everything going on lately, I’ve been trying to see the positive though. So this slight change of plans gave me time to people watch and just collect my thoughts about what this week at my permanent site had been like. And so I sat in the combi with my guava oshikandela (a yogurt/milk kind of drink) and just relaxed.
Then around 10am, we left Opuwo for Okahandja. Although the combi was full--about 15 people packed in, the quiet ride back to training was just what the doctor ordered. It was so nice to just spend the day with the windows open and the breeze blowing. Plus, the scenery was gorgeous. The green hills definitely reminded me of Vermont. My new home away from home. I could definitely get used to this scenery as my backyard for the next two years. Every so often the driver would beep his horn and I would glance up to notice a bunch of cattle on the road. Oh Namibia. At the same time though, I still haven’t gotten used to this scenery. I never thought Africa would be this green. Throughout the 8 hour drive, I passed by endless green fields of trees, mountains and animals. There were no billboards or even huge skyscrapers blocking the horizon. Just green all around. So nice.
Then when I got home to Okahandja, my host mom came home wiht a delicious pizza from Okahandja Lodge (a really nice lodge and restaurant in town). It was so yummy! Had some olives, sausage, green and red peppers and lots of cheese--so good! Definitely hit the spot.
The down of the day though was the internet. Just as I’ve been getting used to having free internet from 1am-5am, they go and change it with out anyone’s knowledge. Not cool. I had N$220 on my internet stick and it was wiped from my account and kicked me off the internet when I was in the middle of Skyping with my Mom & Dad. I was so upset. These next two years is definitely going to be a rollercoaster ride of emotions. I can already tell.
I later learned that the internet provider did away with the free internet from 1-5am and instead implemented a new promotion. Now you pay N$10 per week and have unlimited internet from midnight-6am. I just hope that I have a good enough internet connection in Opuwo so that I can Skype with friends and family from back home. I guess we’ll see!
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