I Make It Rain

I know many of you have been waiting to hear all about my new home so here it is. My new home is a small village named Schlip with a population of about 2000 not counting the goats, chickens, or donkeys because I’m guessing the population would nearly double. It is a small farming village in the southern part of Namibia literally in the middle of nowhere. Even though it seems like everyone here went to a remote place in the middle of nowhere given that all I saw was brown earth, trees, and bushes no mans land for a few hours I think that is an accurate description.  It got its name from the two rivers that make up its borders and form a “slip” like on a dress or skirt. At least that is what I am told, even if it is totally off its creative. The two rivers are very beautiful and one of them even has a bit of water in it with a bit of green grass! For the past year there has been a severe drought and one of the rivers is dried up. HOWEVER, as you may have seen on my FaceBook page, my first official day at school was accompanied with over two days of torrential downpour! Everyone was so ecstatic, my supervisor even told me numerous times how beautiful of a day it was. Not only was there excitement about the rain for the sheer fact that there was rain, there as actually a Bible verse that predicted (foretold?) that on the 24^th day of the 9^th month God would bring rain and all would prosper. Say what you will about the Bible however many people here were very happy that even thousands of years later it was still relevant and speaking to their lives accordingly.

Many of the people that live around here either have a farm on the outskirts of town or one or both parents work outside out of town on various labor projects. The village is fairly well equipped having a health clinic, quite a few small stores, two primary schools, one secondary one (where I am), a giant beautiful new police station and 15 churches. Yes, 15, 1-5. Apparently all of different kinds, and some of them very interesting which I hope to find more about to share with you all. (If you have not gotten from previous posts, people here are very religious).

So for only having two small lines on Wikipedia, Schlip is actually a very interesting village.  There are two populations that live here – Nama and Baster. Nama and Basters are two different tribes different tribes of Namibia and Basters get their name from exactly the word you are all probably thinking of – being more white but with black African blood in them. (I will get more into the politics of identity in a later post.) Aside from the separation of identity, there is even a physical separation with the rivers. In general one population lives on one side, and the other on the other side. The Baster side is full of beautifully old run down houses, and the Nama side is the location (slums?), corrugated tin houses, no running water (there are public spouts for water access), and I am not sure about electricity. From what I understand everyone used to get along very well in this small village however in more recent years getting along has not been so easy. Not to the point of unrest or violence, but more just inability to get along and get things done. I know I will learn more and more as my time goes on here so just bear with me.

I am also living with a new host family for the time being. There is a Peace Corps volunteer who is currently here and he is still living in the flat that will be mine. So another wonderful family has welcomed me into their home. There is a mom, a dad, two sons, and a daughter. The father is a brick layer who works away from home but comes home on different weekends so I spend most of my time with the mother and children. The mother is a cook at the hostel at my school and is super sweet. She treats me like royalty and feeds me way too much. I had to tell her to treat me more normal but she still insists. I’m not complaining but its going to be a rude awakening when I live on my own again. The sons are very sweet and polite. The oldest is in 10^th grade at the school I work, I think I increased his popularity a little bit living with his family. The younger one is in 4^th grade and is very shy. Everyday after school his friends come over and they go to their school library and bring back books for me to read to them. I think he has a little crush on me because he has been writing me nightly notes before he goes to bed. The youngest is the daughter. She is very talkative but does not understand a lot of English. For the Afrikaans that I do know, I don’t think  it includes little kid so even though she talks and talks and talks, I have no clue what shes saying. Her mom told me that she thought I was weird or something because I never answer her when she asks me questions. I didn’t even know she ever asked me a question! I am happy to say that this has been my biggest challenge yet. Talking to a 4 year old. Not bad for my first few days…