This morning I felt like I was waking up to a Midwest summer….the look of the early morning sun through the trees, the warm, slightly sticky air through the window screen…as I came to, I remembered that it’s becoming Fall now at home….the combination of these two sensations/realizations put the homesickness into high gear.

I’ll be home in four months.

Haven’t written in about four months….

I think I’ll share some short stories:

-Bentu Sarah Henderson

Six months ago was the last time I saw Naimi. She is a friend of mine with whom I’ve worked since last year. She’s got a firery spirit and works harder than most people I know. Big hands, rough from plowing. We’ve exchanged many laughs and smiles, not too many words. The little I can speak in Rukwangali surpasses the amount she can speak in English so we fumble through with one another or rely on a translator. When she got pregnant she asked for ‘leave’ from our garden project. Since then I hadn’t seen her but once, right after her daughter was born. We greeted at the open market and then went about our days. Here in Namibia, babies aren’t given a name right away. The family waits about three months and then usually it’s the Fathers’s family who picks the name. Naimi took responsibility of naming her baby since the father left for Angola quickly after he found her pregnant. Last week Naimi came to my house asking for my middle name to complete her baby’s full name…I wonder if she regretted the mouth full that Henderson brings to the picture :) It was quite the honor….she also wants to give me a goat because now little Sarah is my Kadina- namesake.

-Lunch with Nane Eva

Nane Eva is the head of one of the sewing projects I’ve been working with. A wise elder, a social head of a nearby village. A friend and I went to visit her and the project last week on Monday and in typical Nane Eva fashion she started going on and on about something in Rukwangali. She stopped coming to our visits with a translator a long time ago so our dialogue always resembles a ‘choose your own adventure’ book as I look for body language and context clues while picking up every 8th word or so :) She was telling us about how she paid for concrete to build walls for a toilet outside her shop. She gave the money to the store but they won’t deliver the concrete, she has to go get it herself but she doesn’t have a car!!! This information was on loop for about five minutes and then during a pause I asked to go see this alleged toilet. We walked out back and stared into a hole, I commented on how wild it is that store won’t bring the goods she paid for, and she told me the story again :) We walked back to the front of the house and as I had no idea why we were talking about this, what was going on, or how to add to the conversation (because I’m pitiful at Rukwangali) we were all just staring into the distance. Finally my friend whispered- ‘what are you looking at?’ I giggled and said the garden, then asked nane eva about her garden. More small talk ensued. Then I pointed to a nearby tree and asked what fruit was in the branches. Eva got excited and asked if I liked that fruit:

Me: “oh yes, I like that one and Maguni.”
Eva: “oh maguni! They have then in the inland!”
Me: “yes, I am liking it very much, I want to show her the fruit too”
Eva: “they can bring it to you”
Me: “really? Tomorrow?”
Eva: “yes, they will bring to you tomorrow”
Me: “at my house?”
Eva: “yes they will bring to you”
Me: “ok great”
Eva: “ok, go inside and wait”

…oh shit. Eva then left and Gisele and I sat inside her shop for about 40 minutes. Something was lost in translation :) she finally returned with a huge bag full of the fruit from the tree behind the one I was asking about. It’s from a palm tree and you crack open the shell and chew on the next outer ring sucking out the sweetness then spitting the bits out. It tastes like chewy sawdust :) So we slowly ate this fruit and continued chatting. Finally, when it was time to leave Nane Eva said: So you’ll come tomorrow? I giggled, wondering if I had missed something earlier in our conversation, that maybe I had already agreed to come again tomorrow, so we parted ways with ‘see you in the morning!”

At 7am she sent me a text message asking for us to come visit at 10am. We left the house around 9:30 and arrived at 10 sharp. Nane Eva came around 10:15 and we engaged in some small talk, again, I was not understanding much…. She then said, wait here, and she left for an hour. Gisele had to go take some pictures of the folks from the bike shop so after about thirty minutes she took off and I waited alone. Eva came back around 11:20 and asked me to come wait at her house until Gisele returned. So we sat under a tree for a while at her homestead. Just enjoying the sights, then after a few minutes she walked over to a hut on the far side of the homestead. She called my given name, “Nehafo, wiza!!” and I went to find a table filled with pots of porridge, mutate and chicken, coke, fanta, water, and traditional drink of shikundu and a bucket to wash our hands. IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! And quite the surprise!! I’m sure in some of our small talk she must have said “hey dude, wanna come for lunch tomorrow?!” and I just missed it, but it was all worth it :) We ate together and took some pictures and had a lovely afternoon.

The next day a bag full of Maguni was on my door step. Brought to my house from the folks in the inland :)

-A very happy birthday indeed

Tate Ze is Meme Selma’s husband. He turned 53 on 17 September and celebrated in style with his family and friends. Selma is my best friend here- she and her family have taken me in like a daughter/sister from the very beginning and I feel so lucky to have them in my life. Selma and I met Tuesday at the shop to work on invitations for the birthday party/grand opening of her guest house. She’s an entrepreneur who has built the Muharwa Guest House up from a few one room huts to now a full service 14 room concrete structure that is quite easily one of Nkurenkuru’s pride and joys. Thursday evening was so beautiful. Warm winds and clear skies. The party was held at her place and wine, beer, food, speeches from the Mayor and other community leaders, dancing and endless photos made for a night I’ll never forget.

-Quite possibly the best vacation ever

My cousin Lesley and her friend Dom came at the end of August and we had the vacation of a life time! They went to Etosha, a game park, their first few days in the country then drove north and met me in Rundu. My friend Kerri and I got some beers and chips and sat on a tire outside the petrol station awaiting their arrival. The sun had gone down and we had been waiting for a little over an hour when the bright lights of their truck pulled up to the four way stop and I spotted Lesley through the window. I jumped up and waved them into the parking lot, my heart about to explode!! That night we stayed with Kerri and Ben and their dreadful cats (sorry guys, they were killin us!) then left the next morn for Nkurenkuru. They were greeted with “welcome dom and Lesley” pictures my lil neighbors made and I showed them around town. We met with Ndadi who was as hilarious as ever and then went on a walk to see the hippos. Friday night we had a party at my friends homestead complete with cultural dancing/singing :) then went to the bar and danced till 1am. Next day got up early and drove to the other side of the country and stayed with Obie, a good friend of mine who lives in Opuwo- it’s where then traditional Himba people are so they got to see a new culture and terrain. Had a blast there, partying, hiking, GREAT bird watching, an American style barbque and watching the sunset into the mountains from a fancy hotel just north of Obie’s house! Then we drove north to Epupa Falls where we camped right next to the falls, swam naked in the river and cooked out on the fire. The moon was SO bright that night that with the help of a little reading lamp we played cards with it’s light and drank a whole box of wine just sitting and chatting and enjoying the scene…. Next day we drove south to a little lodge called Palmwag, in the middle of NOWHERE and camped again. Lesley cooked an amazing pot of chilli while Dom and I bonded at the bar setting the scene for another night of debauchery ;) The next morning we drove down the Skeleton Coast and saw a shipwreck, thousands of seals at Cape Cross and wide vast nothingness for hundreds of kilometers, it’s a gorgeous drive. Ended in Swakopmund, a small town on the coast and spent two days there- the weather was shit and we were all on the verge of death with colds and exhaustion setting in but nothing could stop us from endless laughter and good times :) We then headed to Windhoek on the 4th of Sept and they flew out on the 5th….I sent them home with a sliced open finger, ‘broken’ toe, bite marks from an unidentified river creature, two head colds from over-indulging in food/alcohol and deprived of sleep and a whole host of laughs and stories that we’ll be remembering for years to come :)

BEN Namibia Networking Conference (video post coming soon...)

What an incredible experience! The month of July wrapped up in a wonderful way with a week in Ovamboland for the BEN Namibia Networking Conference! Markus, Beatilde and I traveled west for a three day conference with representatives from all of the Bicycle Empowerment Centers (BEC) in the country. This was the first of it’s kind- BEN Namibia was started in 2005 and since then they’ve helped open 13 BECs and by the end of the year they will total 21! Conference participants came from all 13 regions of Namibia, some shops have yet to open but folks were able to learn from others successes/challenges and get pumped up for their projects to get started. Michael and Clarisse, founders and directors of BEN Namibia, have truly created a family through their efforts. It was a beautiful experience to be with a group of people who represented so many backgrounds, cultures, countries- as I said we had folks from all 13 regions which means 13 different ethic groups of Namibians, facilitators from Australia, South Africa, England, Germany, USA, Brazil, and two participants from USA and Canada. The purpose of the three days was to learn and grow together, share strengths and weaknesses of existing projects and connect the mechanics/managers of the shops to the suppliers in the country so that BEN in Windhoek can remove themselves as a middle man and just be more of a support. I was most impressed with how empowering the sessions were. BEN staff shared all of the ins and outs of the project in a way that really handed ownership over to the BECs in a way that said ‘THE SKY IS THE LIMIT!!’ They transferred knowledge and skills that sparked discussion of endless possibilities!! The BECs themselves shared what they are doing at their individual shops and that was inspiring to see what can be done no matter what- village or town, outside funding from another NGO or just independent entrepreneurs rocking out the bike shop :) One of the first BECs is the Okithitu Bike Shop- there they have built three small rooms to rent out as accommodation for when visitors come to the community or when trainers/donors come to see the shop. They also have a partnership with the local school where the top learner each year gets a free bike and a two week training on bike mechanics. One of their latest initiatives is to obtain a computer and teach basic typing skills and computer classes to local community members. Their bike shop is located 18km off the tar road, we drove through a sandy desert until we came upon the shop. I was surprised that they would be able to keep afloat- it didn’t seem like there were hardly any people living anywhere close and so far from town seemed to isolate them a bit. But they reported that the go through bikes like mad and are always ordering more to sell to the community! It was inspiring thinking about our own project- it is in the center of the village/town and close to the Angolan boarder- so many customers in our area and the tar road will reach Nkurenkuru by the end of the year so the project could really explode if we can get in a system of ordering bikes on a regular basis! At the conference Markus and Beatilde connected with the other BECs in our region and the idea now is that they can work together to bring shipments of bikes on a regular basis. They can share the cost of delivery from the coast to our region and also sell or trade parts with one another instead of always looking to Cycle Wholesales in the capital. Markus has a dream to obtain another container and use that as a classroom to start a kindergarten. We’ll be talking with the Town Council and Ministry of Gender and Equality to see if that will be a possibility. At the very least the space with another container can be used for an after school program or out-of-school youth program. These are ideas that were inspired from the conference and I’m excited to help them become a reality!
We'll see how it all pans out....since we've been back in Nkurenkuru we've received another donation of bikes from Bicycles for Humanity Ottawa and that has allowed the gang to get back into the swing of things. Josh and Mark from B4H Colorado visited last month and that was great to have them reconnect with everyone and encourage markus, augustinus, and beatilde to keep up their hard work and build on what they have going here.