Getting to Know the Town

So I am sitting in my office not feeling so well today... I think it was a long weekend coupled with a lot of cheese. I never eat cheese anymore (very expensive) and then this weekend we make Macaroni and Cheese, Cheese Bread, Cheese Doritos and Pizza... ugghh can you tell I am training for a half marathon?!?

This weekend was a lot of fun but its nice to know that tonight when I get off work I will be able to go home and relax. I have been working with a group of learners and this week is when the program actually starts so it will be fun and interesting to see how it goes. My job is working with kids at an after school program to give them a place to go. One of the problems here is that there is not much on the entertainment side. Most people just sit in their homestead and drink. The kids do what they can but when they are not helping their parents cook dinner they have nothing to do but entertain themselves.

I will try and paint a picture of most of the kids homes that I work with...
They live in a home stay which is a cluster of mud huts if they are lucky they have a boar hole which means they do not have to walk to the river to get water. Usually this is divided by women on one side men on the other. The kitchen in on the women's side. They have to walk 30 minutes to school everyday where they are in class from 730 until 1pm. They usually have porridge to eat. Porridge is a traditional meal made of maize meal and water that you cook over a fire. There is not much taste or nutritional value to it, but it fills you up and gets the job done. During school the kids are taught in English,their second language, which they barely understand but they try. When they get out of school they will either go home or try to do something to keep themselves busy. It is hard to have a ball to play with 1. because they are expensive 2. they pop because of the thorns and broken glass everywhere. So they take plastic bags and make a small baseball size ball and play with that. They have to get their homework done before it gets dark because a lot of people do not have electricity. They come home and if there is enough food the kids will get a meal. In the culture it is respectful for the older people to eat and if there is not enough for the kids they will not eat. A lot of people have dogs, but not like we do. They are there more for protection not companionship. There are dogs everywhere!

I live in a town so it is different for me, we have modern amenities like grocery stores and electricity, but there is still a lot of development that could be done. We have two tar roads in town and the rest are sand.

This weekend a lot of volunteers came in town from all the groups to prepare for a conference I am helping with. It was also a volunteer from my groups birthday so we spent Saturday at the Omashare Lodge having a cool drink and relaxing by the pool then watched the sunset over the Kavango River and went home and made a yummy birthday dinner. It was very nice and I enjoyed getting together with them. I am starting to forget how to talk. Since English is most peoples second language I have to talk slow and short. This is very hard for me but I am getting better at explaining what words mean to a lot of people. The shorter the better.

I am starting to get to know people. The other day I was walking around town and I got stopped by a few people just to say hello. It is different living in the town because we have a lot of people come in from the villages especially at the end of the month (pay day) so when I see someone they are usually family, a teacher, or another volunteer. It is a great feeling when you walk down the street and you hear your name and turn around and someone recognizes you... makes you feel more like your at home! I have a great support from the volunteers who are here also most of them have been here for over a year so they are really used to a lot of things and help me understand and feel more comfortable.

The search for my permanent housing is still going hopefully it will happen soon so I can be sure I have a place to live for the next two years.