Disclaimer: Everything posted on this blog is solely the opinion of the author. None of the content is representative of the Peace Corps organization.
J= smiley face that didnt copy and paste from my comp:)
Official address
Sarah Buffie
Peace Corps Office
POBOX 6862
20 Nachtigal St.
Ausspannplatz
Windhoek
Namibia
HELLO WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Below are some entries I have had on a word document but have been unable to send because this is the first time I made it to the internetJ enjoy!! And bare with me….
11/6/07
And so, I am here now. Here with my computer- in Okahandja. Sitting on my bed with my roommates, listening to some music while I write. It has been 8 days since I have been gone- 8 days since I used this computer- 8 days since I have used a cell phone- 8 days I have been in one of the most beautiful countries in the world. 8 days I have been here and it feels like a lifetime. A lifetime that I never want to end. Namibia- I am conscious of the fact that I will have hard times ahead, but already I know that Namibia is a place that will be home forever. My heart swells with happiness in this place…IT IS OFTEN HARD TO CONTAIN MY JOY!!!!!!!! J J J
We are in Okahandja which is about an hour north of the capital Windhoek. We are here with 69 of us, Peace Corps trainees and 15 Namibian trainers. Namibians are beautiful people. They are so warm and everyone is always saying ‘hallo” and shaking hands and generally caring for one another. Right now we are kind of in a bubble because we are at training and everything is new and we are walking around in small groups sometimes but my friend Amanda and I have gotten a good deal out into the town and the Location that we’re able to get a little slice of ‘the real world.’
It is hard to write sometimes- I’ve been trying to keep a journal but, I’m telling you- so many things are happening, big and small, that it is hard to wrap my head around or possibly have you feel the same things through my writings. But I promise to try and stay connected. I wish so many of you could be here. Not for me, but for yourselves, and the world. For so long Africa has been shapes on a map, stories in a book, smells and sights in a store, pictures in a magazine or displayed for me by Hollywood. But now, now I am living here. Not visiting, but living, and loving Africa as a place, not a destination.
So, how about some stories?! We are all learning Afrikaans at the moment. Amanda and I are learning a bit of Herero and Khoe Khoe- in a few months I should have at least greetings and simple phrases in a few of the languages. There are 13 Namibian tribes each with a different language.
Today we went on a walk and in the brush there were hundreds of woodchips surrounding 3 carvings. Big carvings from the trees- a giraffe, rhino, and an elephant. - no one is around, no shop, no woodworking place near by- just these carvings. We don’t know who did them or where they came from but it is quite an amazing site.
Another amazing thing: the sky at sundown. You are surrounded on all sides of the sky with bright orange and pink!
Amanda and I have hung out at the trainers’ house a few times- the ladies are hilarious and are so great with answering our questions- whether they are ignorant, profound, about historical Namibia or cultural norms- they are so kind and funny with us.
11/09/07
My English is already a bit silly- you might have noticed in reading this, maybe not, but we are all having a hard time with words and sentence structure and basic speaking skills and thinking and well, everything that requires brain capacity because we are being exposed to SO MUCH and our brains/hearts/minds/souls are a bit on overload. Amanda and I are blaming the malaria pills for some of our ailments….such as the sudden (small yet notable) loss of hearing and the “inexplicable fits of weeping” as mentioned in the medical handbook under the heading of cultural shock. ha! “It fails to mention increased sensitivity to fast typing noises” –bear (my other roomie made a note of that the other night). But you see this entire sentence doesn’t make any sense….what’s to blame? The malaria, the meningitis shot, yellow fever, rabies? Africa? Small children putting old juice boxes on their feet as shoes….resourceful, eh. Shit. I love them. I love this.
Kids writing their names in my little red language book…..ah it seems like this is the only reason we are here. You open to the page they wrote in, each of their names side by side and accompanying their penmanship are dirt smudges from their little fingers. Kennedy is the oldest of the crowd that usually hangs out with us and we’ve appointed him ‘tour guide.’ He’s always showing us where things are and telling stories about Namibia- or just giggling. There are 13 peoples of Namibia- one group is called the San People, Kennedy is a San boy-
BIG NEWS TODAY!!!!!!!!!!
I just found out what region I’ll be going to- Kavango Region!! It boarders Angola and is very close to Botswana and Zambia- well ‘very close’ compared to Ohio or IndianaJ Check it out on a map….Northeast corner of Namibia. I still don’t know what my site will be but I’ll be leaving in a week for Community Based Training and my home stay. We all leave our training site and travel to our different regions- so now we are learning our different languages and I’m learning- officially now, RUKWANGALI!!!!!!!!! So, I’ll have a bit of Afrikaans under my belt but will now dive into Rukwangali.
11/11/07
I’ve been adding to a word document to keep track of some thoughts so when I get to the internet café I can just copy and paste my blog. The café is only open during the day until 5:00 and we are in training between 8-5ish each day. And it is conveniently closed on the weekendsJ and sometimes it just doesn’t have access to the internetJ sooooo if you’re finally reading this it means I skipped lunch to connect with the world!
Time is so crazy here. I feel like I’ve been gone forever and when I think about things going on at home I realize it’s only been 2 weeks.
Yesterday we had a GREAT cultural day. Our trainers come from all over the country to they each have their own traditional customs, ways of preparing food, dress etc. After a discussion about gender roles in Namibia we all met outside in a small field where we started cooking and sampling food from every region. My first food was similar to a bag of potato chips: except it was a plastic bag of 100 tiny dead fish. But they just felt like crisps! Eyes and all…I tried a few and then we actually cooked them up like we were supposed toJ over an open fire we put them in a pot of a little water, oil, salt and stirred ‘em up until they were ready to be put into a pot of spinach. I also ate cow stomach, sheep cheek, cow liver, antelope, beans, porridge (that you can chew because it has sand in it from the way it’s prepared so the enamel of your teeth will erode of you eat a lot, and porridge is a staple around here so you just have to mush it against the roof of your mouth), a drink with fermented somethings- I have no ideaJ we dug a hole in the ground and put the bucket of the drink in there to keep it cool- more sand in the mouthJ what else, I pounded maize, ate fresh bread, and we had some dumplings. Let me make a note about the sheep cheek: A delicacy here is called a “smiley.” That’s because when you cook a goat or sheep head the skin is pulled back tight and the animal appears to be smiling in the pot! So when it is nice and cooked Stanley put it on a plate and took a fork and started digging into all of the meat. By the time I got over to smiley he was digging at the cheek so that’s what I got to taste- delicious. OOOOOhhhhhh and there were two chickens…that we watched someone kill, then we put them in hot water and plucked off their feathers. I was holding the chicken’s legs while plucking and the way I kept moving it around the toes of the chickey eventually wrapped around my arm and startled me! Pwetty punny….so then the chickens were cut up, insides were taken out and washed and yes, everything was eaten.
This is just the very beginning of the foods I’ll be trying, loving, and eventually cooking myself one dayJ And yes, I have had loose bowls since I arrived but no sickness or anything to that extreme…hahaahahaJ
The Location- I mentioned the Location up in the second paragraph- let me explain that: Because of Apartheid racism is extremely rampant around here and separation is no joke. During Apartheid people were separated by ethnic group: Whites live in town, Coloureds live a little bit outside of the town, Bastars live further outside and Blacks live further, in the Location. In 1990 Apartheid ended and Namibia became an independent country. So we are living and working in a country that is essentially 17 years old. After Apartheid folks have started to integrate a little bit more but still every town has a “Location.” The idea is divide and conquer- if the different ethnic groups were separated they would not be able to integrate and learn from each other. I’ll try to write about it in more detail at a later time- it is still hard to wrap my head around everything.
That’s all for now. Feel free to call anytime or email or send lettersJ Saturday we leave for our site visits and I might be out of internet or phone access for a few weeks.
Love and peace to you all.
Sb
