Reflections on My First Official 6 Months at Site and 8 Months in Namibia

So for a while I have been compiling a list of things that I have not had, or done since moving to Namibia. Some of them were pretty obvious at the beginning but are now just part of my life. Others I really had to think about. I am sure I am missing many more differences but I think this is a good beginning.

Reflection on the past eight months living in Namibia

• I have not used a hair dryer
•  I have not used any hair product aside from shampoo
• No straightener or curling iron either
• All coffee here is instant coffee, and not nearly as good as something brewed.
• So that also means no specialty coffee
• While I am close to the capital and can realistically acquire most foods I desire, its never the same. Many pizzas here are made with just “tomato sauce” which is essentially ketchup. Not nearly as satisfying.
• No meat without bones. Namibians say that if it is not on the bone it is not meat. Some of them also don’t believe chicken or fish is meat.
• Cheese options: Gouda, maybe cheddar if you are lucky and in a big town. Also possibly cream cheese or mozzarella for a “high” price. This is sad L
• No fruit aside from apples and oranges, or the seasonal melon. No berries, grapes, etc
• I did just find out that seasonally there are other fruits available for example Mango and my favorite pomegranate (which comes straight off my coworkers tree. Apparently he cant eat them all himself, oh darn)
• No Netflix
• No Pandora
•  No personal vehicle. I am at the mercy of nice people who do not mind giving me a ride or picking me up on the side of the road.
• I use the same bar of soap to wash my body, my face, and my laundry. I could also use it on my dishes. Sometimes if my hair is really dirty I use it on my hair because it cuts through grease and oil wonderfully. Just think of how much money you spend on purchasing a separate product for each of those things. It’s a lot of money and packaging.
• No vacuum cleaner – this is surprisingly went unnoticed in my life for quiet a while until my friends realized that their carpeted flat (very rare) has been full of dog hair for the past two years. They had a dog at one point for a few months and it looks like it never left. Even without carpet though, the amount of dust and dirt that comes in is difficult to manage with an old broom and old fashioned mop.
• There really isn’t a “fast food” sector here. There is what Namibians call “take away” where you go into a market or shop and in the back is a small kitchen which will sometimes sell traditionally prepared meals or chips, chicken, Russians, or fish. In other words, soggy French fries doused in vinegar and spice, hot dogs, fried chicken (some places will literally sell half a roasted chicken for 30ND which is about 3USD), and fried hake. On a Friday night you wait in line for about 30 minutes or more, so it is certainly not fast. Occasionally restaurants in towns will also offer take-out but there is absolutely no such thing as delivery anywhere except the capital. Just the other weekend, my friends and I were in the capital and wanted pizza but it was too late to walk there by ourselves, we were disappointed we had not thought about it sooner until someone reminded us that they delivered. Needless to say, we were ecstatic.

Reflection on the past six months living in Schlip

• I have not had a shower – only baths, mostly in a bucket because I am too lazy to fill the whole tub
• Just beacause I cheated while I was living in Okahandja and used my host families washing machine, I have not had a washer or dryer in 6 months, just my bathtub and the African sun
• No TV. Some people here do have large flat screen TVs but no cable connection. So they all own like 15-20 mini USB sticks and watch movies
•  Only organic meat. Feed here is really expensive so most livestock eat what comes out of the ground outside my window. If I want meat I either purchase chicken that may or may not still be bleeding or I find someone willing to sell me parts of their sheep or goat. The same sheep or goats that I look at everyday grazing on the plants around Schlip. Ground meat may not be as organic but it is not as “pink” as it is in the US, more of a darker realistic color.
• Eggs are local and might come with little baby feathers on them. None are white shelled and they are all a rich color on the inside.
• No heating or cooling. No air conditioning unit anywhere. And no heating. This doesn’t sound like too much of a problem but when you prepared for “Africa” and didn’t bring many warm clothes, not having a heater kinda hurts sometimes
• Your choice is limited to what is available. If you go to the store in the village late, supply may be limited, also they may randomly not have what you need. So for example, if you really need milk for something, good luck. You may have a better chance of purchasing beer.
• No microwave. You don’t know how much of an integral part of your life a microwave is until you don’t have one. I’ve gotten by pretty well heating food up in the oven or on the stove but when your mom send you Easy Mac because she knows how much you love it and then you realize there is nothing easy about making it without a microwave.
• Transportation in Schlip consists of me only being able to go to town if I prearrange about a week in advance, check to make sure the driver is still going everyday and then coming back whenever they are. I have to work completely around their schedule, which may or may not be adhered to. I could “hike” out of town by standing in front of a small shop and seeing if people can squeeze me in somewhere, however coming back I would then find myself standing 50km from anything waiting for a car to turn down the road I need without any shade. No thank you, I will be at the mercy of other people’s schedules.
•  I have not sat on a couch since moving to Schlip, however this does not include the couch in my Peace Corps office. Many people own random pieces of furniture and most often, a bed is used as a couch.

Why Do You Do What You Do?

Dear Outside World,

           

            I am sorry for being absent most recently. There have been many reasons including shotty internet service, being swamped at trying to figure out teaching, battling being seen as just another person to pick up the slack, and probably the biggest, attempting to figure out exactly why I am where I am. Everyday brings new challenges and there are difficulties that are come with teaching especially with where I am. There is the everyday battle with controlling a class, the battle with seeing myself as a teaching adult and not as a student, the battle with coworkers that don’t take my suggestions or comments seriously because I was not trained in teaching and therefore have no idea what I am talking about, and most seriously – the battle with people who you feel just don’t care.

            I debated whether I wanted to write a post like this or not. I wondered if explaining my struggles would look bad on my community or country. But as I think about everything more and more, and talk to others about my current struggles I have begun to realize that the stuff that has gotten me down recently is not an isolated thing. It’s a universal one, and it’s the challenge of dealing with people who seem not to care.

            When I was a ripe old age of 18, just having graduated from high school and about to begin my university career in the international relations field I had a summer job working as a teachers’ aid. This particular summer all I was tasked with doing was making copies in the morning and then sitting around trying to entertain myself while simultaneously trying to ignore the other kid who’s entertainment was lets-see-what-we-can-do-today-to-irritate-Shannon. At one point he asked me what I was planning on studying. When I told him international relations, he asked why and I told him because I wanted to help create a better world for the future. I don’t remember quite how the conversation went but he challenged me asking why I do good things. I thought about it, and responded that it was probably because I wanted to help to make the world a better place and I believe good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. He then came back to me with the conclusive argument that I was selfish. Because I wanted good things to happen to me, I did good things to others. Needless to say, I was quite peeved at that. Someone I did not know was calling me selfish because I confided in him my deep personal thoughts. This idea absolutely stumped me and continued to do so until this weekend. So thank you Doug Johnson for planting this seed inside of me 5 years ago however, this weekend I came up with my answer.

            Recently I have been struggling at school with trying to implement change for the better however I am often met with “Great idea! That would be wonderful. Go ahead and do it.” Then I sit there like “Well we ALL have to participate for it to be successful.” Especially with me only being here for two years the last thing I want is to do all these things and in two years, no matter how much success there is, it stops. Throughout all of training we learned that sustainability is key, it you are not teaching someone to continue what you start, you will not have the effect you want.

I am constantly met with the excuse “Well you don’t need two people to do that job, you can do it yourself” “You can’t ask a senior teacher to do that, they are our superior so you can’t expect them to do something they don’t want to” “I have too many things on my plate” (this is quite legitimate as half the teachers here work also at the hostel, manage family farms, or have children to care for) or my personal favorite “How can you ask that of me when I have many other things going on in my life like church choir!” I find myself having to bite my tongue more often than not to suppress my urge to yell “Well its your JOB!” The disappointing part of this is that most of these excuses have come when I bring up that the student’s safety, security, or academic success is at risk. It is frustrating to wonder that if I wasn’t there would that kid have died? Or If I do not take this time to make myself available to give a student a make up assignment, will they fail my class and then the whole year (if a student does not pass English or Math then they are held back to retake the whole year again)?

It’s a sad fact of life that there will always be those people who cannot be bothered with something you care so deeply about. It is a struggle that is faced all over the world, in all industries, by all people. However, doesn’t it become something more when children are involved? This past weekend was the culmination of all my frustrations.

It was out weekend for the hostel meaning that all the kids were to go home on Friday afternoon and return on Sunday evening. It is the only time in the whole month when the kids get to go home and see their parents, get more money, and not have to answer to a teacher which is why I was shocked when 2 boys came to my door at nearly 7 at nigh asking for something for a teacher who lives/works at the hostel. They said they didn’t know where their ride was and that they were trying to convince someone to drive them a short 50min south or 30 minutes to the highway. No such luck in the previous 5 hours. I asked if they had dinner and they said no because they had no money and thought they would have been home by now. I told them to come back in a bit if they were still here and I would make them dinner.

At that time also, the shops were closing making it impossible to get anything even if you had money. I began to worry and texted another teacher asking if I should make the kids dinner. He said that would be very much appreciated and that there were a total of 14 of them. What? There are 14 abandoned teenagers with no food and no money and no one made sure they had dinner? I was met with a host of excuses as to why it was not a problem but what it came down to was that my students should be at home with their families but were not and instead were in a deserted hostel and hungry.

We ended up managing with some rice and canned veggies to make stir-fry for those who did not get a PB&J. They also devoured the last of my candy cane stash. The whole meal, feeding all 14 of them cost about $50. In USD that’s just $5. I didn’t need it when I asked someone for a reimbursement – I was more so curious to what they would say, giving them the benefit of the doubt that maybe they were just unable to help the kids but were grateful that someone did. This person actually stared at me like I had pulled a gun and shot them and told me that feeding the kids dinner was my choice so I wasn’t getting any money for it.

I really was not upset about the money, it wasn’t a lot and I got to hang out with some of my students outside the classroom, some of us watched Despicable Me, and some of them cleaned my house. I really couldn’t complain, but I was baffled that I was the only one to step up and for lack of a better phrase, come to their rescue. So then I wondered to myself, why did I do that? Why did I just help these kids? It would have been a good life lesson in budgeting for all of them. A bowl of popcorn, Frozen and a nice adult drink alone would have been good too. So am I expecting something good to come out of this? No. Am I turning into my mother doing whatever I can to help people even if it means giving up almost two weeks worth of food? Hopefully! But really, why? I even posted it on Facebook and am now writing a super long blog about it. Do I want gratification for my good deed? I mean I am already in the Peace Corps. Am I really actually selfish? Oh god!

Have no fear though, I had a revelation in the bathtub.

So Doug Johnson, this is for you. Is doing good actually a selfish act when you hope for good karma to come? Maybe for some people. And you know what, that is okay. At least you are doing good. James Madison also taught me that man is inherently selfish so naturally I would expect nothing less. BUT is it still selfish when you do a good deed for the betterment of the world? Or the future? Or even just one person’s life? I didn’t want anything from these kids, or their parents. Some kid asked if his mom could buy me chocolate, and I asked him why? I didn’t feed them dinner for chocolate, I can go get myself some chocolate whenever I want. What I realized, and hoped, would come out of this sad situation was that hopefully these 14 kids would see how easy it is to help someone and that they would then do it one day to another. Hopefully their parents would realize that there was someone out there that helped their child when they could not themselves and maybe one day they will do it for another kid. SO does this make me selfish? I don’t think it does one bit.

Yes this is the textbook idea of “pay it forward” and there is a strong sense of community here so how does this change anything? Maybe it could help people realize that the generosity that you have with those you love and that are part of your community can be extended to anyone. The tone that I got from those who did not choose to help the kids was fear of greed, abuse, and setting a precedence of certain expectations. This fear is not irrational, just the Monday after I was trying to ask a girl to stop talking in my class. She interrupts me to tell me that the government vehicle did not come until 1 in the morning and so the next Friday that there is an out weekend her sister and her are just going to come over and have me make dinner for them. Um no you’re not dear… But is fear of these kids and parents expecting me or anyone to do this again for them reason to not help? Yes – there is a lesson here to be learned about self-sufficiency, these kids are like 15, 16, and 17. They weren’t going to die. Is it good enough to let them go hungry though, or to turn your back on them? Its debatable, and depends on what is important to you. For me, what was important was showing my students that I cared about them.

So can I make these other adults care about and act on all the things that contribute to the success and well being of these teenagers? No probably not, they all have their reasons, and there will be many more situations with more reasons. I can however show these people, and the kids, and their parents that it is possible though, and quite easy. You know what, you might even get a cleaned flat out of it.

I Have No Idea What I Am Doing - The Woes of the First Week of School

Pretty Much Sums It Up

Being able to adapt in any circumstance is a very important quality in a Peace Corps Volunteer. Case and Point: The First Week of School. Now let me quickly detail how school begins back in the US (from what I remember). You choose your classes the previous school year and turn them, allowing the administration plenty of time during the extended holiday to create schedules, adjust for people who move, and any other moving variable. In high school I remember you then arrive a MONTH before school begins to officially register, pay your fees, make sure the schedules are okay. Teachers then are officially required to come to work a week or two before school begins to prepare classrooms, seating charts, lessons, technology, etc. On the first day of school for the students, everyone attends every class like they would every other day and thus the school year begins when it should and the number of teaching days are extremely close to the number of days actually in school. Well let me just say, that is not the case here.

Day 1 Monday: Only teachers arrive today. My instructions were to just hang out and get ready for the year. My response “Okay! Where is my classroom?” “Oh its not ready yet. We have to find the key, and clean it up and set up your projector. So you can just hang out in the library” “Oh okay, are you sure there is nothing I can do” “No Ms. Riley its okay” Well crap, what do I do with my time? I bugged my coworkers

Day 2 Tuesday: Students finally are here….but only for registration…They come, pay for the school year and possibly for last year if they didn’t pay their outstanding dues, register for the hostel and prove what grade they are to be placed in. Seems simple enough, not so much. This was the first day I noticed a bit of a Catch 22 occurring and the beginning of complete chaos. If at the end of the school year a student does not turn in all text books or has other outstanding fees that they owe to the school, the school withholds their report card until they get their money. Makes sense right? That’s what happens back in the US, at least at my schools. If you didn’t pay, your advancement in the registration process for the upcoming year was halted until you did. Especially in a situation like here where textbooks and school supplies are very valuable resources you should be held accountable if you loose or destroy something. On the flip side though, many of these people cannot afford, well anything, let alone school fees which come on top of very expensive uniforms and in many cases, hostel fees. Also, the Ministry of Education, and very rightly so, demands that a school cannot deny a child an education so therefore cannot withhold the report cards that will prevent them from attending school the following year. Both sides make sense and unfortunately the school is caught in the middle. There are parents who bring all the money they have to get their kid into school and there are parents who send their kids alone to school with no money. So what do you do? It’s a really hard situation to be in and I am sure it happens all over the country every year.

            Oh and my classroom still isn’t ready, they took a projector out of an unused classroom and had to figure out how to put it in mine. IT was also still dirty, having been closed up for the past two years. So I sat in the library again twiddling my thumbs.

            Another factor that added to the chaos was that this was one of the only opportunities that teachers were able to see and speak with parents. While there are a version of parent teacher conferences, the attendance rate may be somewhere around 5%. Mostly because parents don’t have the time or money to come into the village to speak with teachers. During home weekends at the hostel the kids hike in and out of the village on their own, or  few key parents rush in at 1pm and kids, run, grab their bags and are back on the road in 20 minutes. So registration is the only opportunity to see parents and discuss with them their student’s behavior or schoolwork. The parents are definitely interested because they actually ask to speak with certain teachers but when that happens, registration comes to a screeching halt as a 20-40 minute private conversation occurs. As a teacher I would jump at any chance I got to speak with a student’s parents but at the same time, registering 3 kids one day took two and a half hours. I counted.

Day 3 Wednesday: It is finally the students first day! But only half the students are here. This is for various reasons like transportation, some people can’t get rides into the village in the middle of the week, or take work off to get their kids to their new school. Also, as you will see in the following two days, things are still not in order and classes are not held so many people don’t make it a priority to arrive when they should on the official registration day. I wouldn’t rush either if I knew I would be sitting around school bored for the next week.

            So it is the students’ first day and they are divided into their registered classes. I am not a registered class teacher so I did not have students to take care of. The problem with this was if they showed up and still had not received their report cards they were defaulted into grade 8, mostly because they had no way of knowing if they passed or not. SO without knowing how many kids were in each grade there was no way to start making a schedule of classes.

            My classroom is ready for me now, but I have no idea how many students I have to organize desks or arrange them. I also have no idea the skill level of anyone because half the school is new kids from other schools so I can’t exactly pull out their exams from the previous years and analyze their strengths and weaknesses.

Day 4 Thursday: Still more kids are showing up, there is a better idea of how many classes there will be, the schedule can start to be created, but it isn’t a quick process. Lessons will begin on Monday. Today they begin handing out text books and notebooks for the kids. (Please keep note, not all kids are here yet though)

            I have students from last year coming to visit me in my completely empty classroom saying how bored they are. There is nothing I can do, most the school is sitting around waiting for the rest of the kids to show up, which is all they really can do right now.

Day 5 Friday: I don’t think anything happened on Friday still. I just try to make lessons and hang out in the library because it is much cooler than my new classroom. To pass the time I organize books.

Day 6 Monday: Now I get nervous because I have no idea what to expect, today is my first day in front of all my students alone. Ohmygod I am going to throw up. I get to school in a super cute outfit, I have read all the books the Peace Corps gave me, I am ready to make an impression. I get to school and Oh…the schedule isn’t done because the internet reception isn’t working and so the schedule cannot be downloaded off a program. Well that was anti-climactic Okay I will just be super prepared for tomorrow.

            Also, I ask for class lists, to make a seating chart, make the popsicle sticks in a can to encourage class participation. They weren’t done yet because they were still expecting more kids and technically registration wasn’t going to close until mid February. So I wasn’t going to get one anytime soon. Okay I’ll make my own when I have kids in class

Day 7 Tuesday: I finally have kids in my classroom! I introduce myself during the shortened class periods but of course only after I send half students each period on a witch hunt for more desks and chairs because the 36 that I had set up was not enough.  The bells are also irregular today so one class I had for nearly 90 minutes and I missed another one. We also go over classroom rules

Day 8 Wednesday: Today was my day to have kids fill out a survey so 1) I could have all their names, 2) so I could see who have trouble seeing, hearing, not talking, etc., and 3) so I could get a sample of their writing. I made a copy for every student. There was a scheduled staff meeting which couldn’t be after school so we were told that the classes would be cut short. Okay no problem I can do that, oh but on Wednesdays I don’t have a class for the first 4 periods and the classes are not cut short, we just don’t see our last three periods. Whelp there goes that day of regularity.

Day 9 Thursday. FINALLY A FULL CONSECUTIVE DAY but my classes are on different “lessons.” I was ready to do the survey I had printed off the previous day only to find out that almost 100 blank copies were now missing. Okay they can rip pages out of their exercise books and copy the questions from the board. Unfortunately I find out that half the kids in all my classes have arrived periodically throughout the week and thus do not have text books, exercise books, or even an available desk in my classroom. Off for the hunt again but only after I convinced them that it was okay to rip a page out of their notebooks. They were oddly very hesitant to do that.

Day 10 Friday: I was finally going to have all my classes on the same page, and present an excellent lesson on how to write a paragraph. I was so excited, this was going to be awesome, I would then have my footing to prepare lessons over the weekend it was going to be great. I do my first class, it went over great, it was perfectly timed, its about to be break time, its Friday life is good. Oop, students are called at break time for an announcement. Guess what at 10am everyone is to go home, change into athletic clothes and we are all going to go clear the field so track athletics can start on Monday. I.WAS.SO.MAD. Now every single one of my classes was on a different lesson and I was dumbfounded. I stormed up to my principal and asked how was I supposed to do my job when the kids aren’t even in the classroom half the time. I was told I just had to be flexible because this is always how the year begins.

            An hour later we go out to our sandy, rocky, thorny, soccer field armed with about 8 rakes and 8 shovels and two wheelbarrows and were told that the kids must get the rocks and thorny grasses off the measured tracks. Of course this essentially meant that the girls stood there while the boys worked. I was not having that so I ran around the whole place channeling Amy Irvine and Kati Campbell telling the girls that they were not incapable of helping the boys and that they had the single greatest tool to use which was their fingers. If the boys were raking they could at least bend over pick up the bigger rocks with their fingers and get them out of the way.  It got to the point that when I walked up girls either ran away or immediately bent over picking up the rocks. I did catch a group of 6 girls “going to the bathroom” and pulled the line that if they had been sweating enough they wouldn’t need to go to the bathroom.

I did have one girl though that took advantage of the opportunity of throwing rocks and chucked one strategically at a guy who apparently was teasing her. He keeled over I pulled her aside and made her pick up rocks be herself while I stood over her for 15 minutes. It sounds harsh but I couldn’t give her a time out, then I would have every girl throwing rocks at boys, wanting to sit down in time out. Questionable punishment: maybe. Successful: She did not hit another guy and neither did any other girl that I saw.

So although amidst all the chaos, I began to appreciate my ability and that of my coworkers to just adapt to anything that is thrown at you. Sure, plenty of it could be avoidable, but then I would't have nearly as cool a blog post for you all.

A Narrative of A Peace Corps Parent

As a Peace Corp Parent you experience a range of emotions when your child is nominated to serve. First of all you are proud of the fact that you actually raised a child who has such an open mind, adventurous spirit and giving nature and is willing to give up their comfortable suburban existence to live in the third world. You are anxious for them and maybe fearful of what leaving home will be like for them, knowing you can’t protect or comfort them when they are thousands of miles from home. Or, if you are like me you’ll think “Cool! My kid is going to live in Africa and I finally get to go there!”  You see, since I was a kid and saw the movie Born Free with Elsa the lion I dreamt of living in Africa and raising orphaned  lions, (not children) . I even convinced my parents to take me to the Lion Country Safari in Florida just to see lions, and once there was a “get your picture taken with a lion cub” at our mall so of course I convinced them to do that too.  SO, fast forward about 40 years and here is my opportunity to live vicariously through my Peace Corp kid and travel to Africa.

Now, another thing that is interesting about being a PCP (Peace Corp Parent) is people’s reactions to your child’s service. Everyone is very interested in learning about the Peace Corp and thinks it’s a wonderful thing to serve , however the “ I could never handle my child leaving for that long/go that far” is a pretty common statement.  A side note, most men have a very strong reaction to having a daughter serve, an emphatic “I would NEVER let me daughter do that”, which I find interesting and somewhat chauvinistic. Would they “let” their son serve? Realistically can we stop our children from doing anything?  Reactions to my travelling alone to Namibia were the same from men, “ I would never ALLOW my wife to go  alone” …hmmm…anyone who knows me knows that the words “ allow my wife” wouldn’t fly at my house!

So, as quickly as Shannon got her assignment in Schlip, I began to plot our Mother Daughter Namibian Adventure. Armed with a travel book and the power of the internet I was able to plot out a 10 day trip for us. What I was most excited about was spending 10 days with one of my kids, just the two of us.  As any parent knows, as your children get older you spend less and less time with them, and certainly one on one time is a rarity if you have more than one child, so this was a great opportunity to just be together.  I was eager to see what kind of life she really was living, and although I was pretty sure she was happy and safe, it was good to see that for myself!

I arrived in Windhoek late at night in the middle of a thunderstorm and there was Shannon waiting at the gate for me, which was completely unexpected and since we are so restricted in airports now it was fun to see your loved one right there at the gate! Our first night was spent with two of Shannon’s fellow PCVs, Derek and Rochelle. It was great to be able to be a “Mom” to all of them , watch their sheer joy as they ate Christmas cookies and listen to their PC adventure stories.  Our trusty Toyota Corrolla took us through rocky roads and a dried up riverbed  that had actually turned into a river and we arrived in Schlip on Christmas Eve in time to check out the village and meet some of Shannon’s families.  We got to visit the family farm and learn about goat and sheep herding and witness the first hand the pasture to table path an unsuspecting goat takes.  The best part of Christmas, besides the fantastic  Christmas Day feast that I completely overindulged in, was going to one of the small churches in the village with Aunti Tina.  It was a very small congregation, so right away everyone in attendance knew we were somebody new! Whenever I hear Christmas carols I get kind of weepy;  I’m not a particularly religious person, nor do I attend mass on a regular basis, however  I think hearing  Christmas carols just  kind of takes me back to being a kid, and all the memories of Christmas past, and it is nice. So hearing Christmas carols sung in Afrikaans really got to me; with tears streaming down my face I thought “ How can it be that I am sitting in a little church building, in Africa, with Shannon, and she actually lives here?” It was all so surreal, and soon we found ourselves the center of attention, being recognized as honored quests, and being prayed over by the folks in this tiny community, who in their generous spirit assured me that as a community they would watch over my child and care for her, and that they were thankful God sent her to their town.  This generous and welcoming spirit was what impressed me most while in Namibia. Everyone was so kind, and courteous and giving, leaving me with a really good feeling that Shannon was in a great place. Especially when the congregation broke into a rousing rendition of Felize  Navidad , in English, just for us!

Our adventure continued as we made our way North to Etosha with a stop in Okahandja to stay at the Sylvanette Guest House, where Flip, the owner told us that Namibia was the equivalent of “Africa Lite” because it is such a  tourist friendly country. I couldn’t agree more! We ventured to the craft market with money tucked in our bras and a plan to negotiate our way to the best deals possible to fill up my suitcase with treasures. We were quite successful with our “good cop/bad cop” routine, when Shannon let the crafters know she was not just a tourist, she was a local!  And after throwing out a few key phrases in the local language, we were on a roll! I assured them that if we were offered a fair price I would be sending her back for more goods…mission accomplished!

Our next night was spent at what I call the “Peace Corp Hotel” in Otjiwarango.  We stayed with some of Shannon’s fellow volunteers and had a fun evening of me “interviewing” all the kids there and them dutifully answering my questions…”where are you from, where did you go to college…why are you here…where do you live…do you have enough to eat….do you have a toilet….” The usual Mom kind of stuff! We dined on chicken patties, French fries, salad, cheese and cookies, all foods that most PCVs cant really afford on their living stipends, so I was happy to be able to treat them to a feast, Peac e Corp style!

The highlight of our adventure was visiting Etosha National Park and staying at the Taleni Etosha Village. By chance I found the Etosha Village on the internet and it was everything I had hoped for. We were greeted by the Village’s general manager, Hein, who I had been emailing about 100 times with 100 questions about our visit and game drives.   The village is made up of 40 private campsites and then a main dining area and pool. It was absolutely beautiful , with a large air conditioned tent to sleep in(yes AC in a tent!)  and an outdoor kraal style shower, toilet and sink, as well as an outdoor kitchen and patio area. Using the “facilities” under the stars was awesome!

Our Kitchen

Hello Kelley

We chose to not prepare our own meals, so each day we dined on different game meats, like Zebra and Impala, which made us a feel a bit guilty after seeing the animals in the park, but not guilty enough that we didn’t enjoy it!  Our game drives were incredible and we got to see rhinos, zebras, giraffes and much to my complete joy, lions!!!  I had told Shannon that when I saw a lion I would probably cry and or pee my pants with excitement.  I’ll admit to crying…. When we saw the first lion he was about 100 yards way lying under a tree, just peeking out as if to say, “Hey, Kelley, glad to see you finally made it here to Africa!” The next day we encountered two large males, one within 50 feet of us and it was magnificent! I could have sat there all day and just stared at him. We also saw a lioness and two nearly grown cubs, and got to see another lioness casually saunter past a group of very frightened Impalas as she made her way to a water hole.  I could never get enough of just watching  all these animals, in their habitats, and how they interact with one another. What an experience!

We had to leave Etosha on New Year’s Eve and travelled back to Windhoek for my flight out the next day. We rang in the New year watching the Namibian equivalent of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin Eve, on TV, which was occurring downtown just 10 minutes away  from us but we weren’t motivated enough to check out. Actually, it was nice to have a quiet night, talking about our adventures and talking about future plans for the New Year.  It was really hard to get in the cab and leave on New Year’s Day, thinking I probably won’t see Shannon until the end of her service.

What started out as a fun opportunity to travel with Shannon also turned into a very enlightening experience.  I’ve come away so thankful to have had the opportunity to fulfill my own personal childhood dream, and most importantly, to have had the privilege of experiencing my child’s personal dream of living in a different culture.  I know there are probably very few Peace Corp Parents that get to travel to see their children’s new home and meet people they serve with, it’s truly an overwhelming experience to get to do this.  It’s  also a very eye opening, meeting people from half way across the world who have such a curiosity about the United States, who ask really good questions about our social and political systems, who probably know more about us then we do of ourselves! We may view them as cultures and countries that need help to live a better life, and in lots of ways that is true when you look at it from an economic perspective.  It’s made me think more about how people in other cultures live their lives, and what is truly important no matter where you are from.  The generosity and curiosity of people from what we view as a Third World Country  is inspiring, and something we in the First World need to perhaps be more aware of;  to take the time to look beyond our comfortable lives and explore another culture and realize that there are more common bonds that could unite us, instead of separate us.