July 6-12

I slept horribly again. I have horrific nightmares every other night. I might ask to get on different malaria medication. Anyways, I went to town. I got food, bought hair clippers, bike tires, and then went to the office. I skyped mom, Dad, and my best guy friend too. One of the best things of the day was when a PCV couple gave me three boxes of GIRL SCOUT COOKIES!!! I got the shortbread, thin mint, and samoa cookies! I went to lunch with a World Teach Volunteer at the open market. I walked back to my ride but he wasn’t there. I went and bought some blankets. My ride arrived a bit later. I met another principal of a local school in the car. This trip in the car was not the most pleasant. It took us over four hours to get home. I was worried that the guy sitting next to me had TB too. I had a pretty good conversation with one of my best friends back home; watched Big Bang Theory; and then went to bed around 10pm.

I didn’t wake up or have nightmares at all and I think it was a combination of prayer/warm blankets. I know it sounds weird, but it was such a drastic change. I was in a bit of a down mood today. I went out for a walk to the soccer field, hoping to find some people to play soccer with. I didn’t know that most people wouldn’t be out until 2 or 3 because of church. I have  to say that it is so awesome to walk through the community and have children shout you name from far away. I tried to watch the movie “Flags of Our Forefathers”, but lost interest part way through. I watched Ironman after that and then went to one of the nurse’s places. It was so nice of her to let me hang out all day. She even made food for me! I’ve been reading The Finish, about the hunt and killing of Osama bin Laden. It was such a good book and I found it so interesting! I went home around 515 and played nerf football with the children. They are so cute. When I come home they come running yelling Shee Jay because they can’t say it right. I had a really good talk with one of my PCV friends. For some reason I felt sad later and went into my room early. I watched Big Bang Theory and smsed PCV who is from a previous group who is in the South. I really like her a lot and have clicked with her. I am really looking forward to growing the friendship.

I woke up at 430 on the 8^th and had prayer and quiet time. I ate Girl Scout Cookies for breakfast and it was WONDERFUL! I went and read my kindle on the water tower before work. It was nice, somewhat surreal to look out at the horizon and think that I’m in Africa. I did temperature and weight all morning. I made a few kids cry because I am white, but a few children who were crying for other reasons stopped crying because I’m white. People always laugh when that happens. It is somewhat funny. A child came in with a 39.6C temp; he had malaria. I also saw a child with massive amounts of blood pouring from his wrist. I went to lunch and then returned to my office and read. Then I started getting inspired and came up with a bunch of project ideas. I went home at four, but was really bored. I watched the kids pound Mahangu. It was a bit disturbing seeing them stick their hands down their pants, in their noses, behinds, etc. and then grab the food we were going to eat. I took pictures and videos. Then, I played nerfball with the kids. I went to my room and talked to one of my close friends here. My host brother came to my room at 930 and asked to use my knife. Then I went to bed.

I woke up early on the 9^th; prayed; had devotions; and had quiet time. I went to school and talked to the secretary for a while. We had a really good talk. She gave me some more ideas for projects. We went to tea and had bread and butter. I went and talked to the lifeskills teacher. I went to her substance abuse lifeksills session later. It was interesting hearing her Namibian perspective on drugs/alcohol/tobacco. I went to hang out with my new Namibian friend for the first time. I showed him pictures from home and watched part of Ironman. It is awesome because he is my age and loves to do things I am used to American young people liking to do, such as watching movies and listening to music. He actually makes music too! It was pretty cool to hear! He also has a crazy lifestory. It’s something you only hear about in movies. His mother had to move him week to week to protect him from being killed for witchcraft rituals. His mother had to walk to South Africa from Angola to work, but when they came back, the war was going on. He told me about he saw people attacked by the rebels during the war. He lived in a few different countries until moving to Namibia. He only got his papers in 2010. He was illegal for part of the time. Only 4 of his 8 sisters are still alive. He has to support all of them. While I was there a boy named Ndamba came over. He is a smart kid and speaks English all the time. I am always on the lookout for potential student leaders. My friend escorted me home. It was like I was completely new to the village. People looked at me differently. One lady said I should come and teach in their homes. Then a lady asked us for money. I was surprised because I thought word traveled fast that I was working at the clinic and was a volunteer. My friend said something interesting “They might hear what you do, but they don’t actually understand.” It was so amazing because even having just one friend seemed to help me with integrating. I went home and sat by the fire and practiced Rukwangali. I was able to talk to my host mother about the village. I made sure to ask what she liked first because most of the time people just ask about what is wrong. She did say that the school could use a primary class however. It was interesting to hear how she loved the peace and quiet. Her affinity for the peace and quiet is in direct contrast with many of the young people who have said they dislike being in a village because there is nothing to do. It’s fascinating to see the generational differences. It was a very encouraging day, although I wish more young people didn’t go to Rundu on the weekends so I would have more people to hang out with. I watched Big Bang Theory and went to bed. 

On my way to the clinic on the morning of the 10^th, I saw a big truck filled with maize meal at my homestead. They told me it was a drought relief truck. Namibia is suffering from a drought. In my area alone, 54 families and 293 people have registered for food. One needs to keep in mind, that these are only the extreme cases who could be registered. Many more are suffering because of the drought. Later, I went with some co-workers back to my homestead to announce to all the people getting food that the next round of National Immunization Days was coming up. My supervisor had to leave for 2.5 weeks due to family emergency. I was sad that she had this happen. Another minor issue was that I usually have lunch at her place. I went to my teacher friend’s place, but he wasn’t there, so I went to see him at school. I bought my favorite cream filled cookies called Toppers. It was bring-your-parents-to-school day. It was fun to sit in his classroom and interact with the parents, children, and him. I feel I’m integrating so much more just by being with him. He knows people; the children like him; he’s fun; he’s very intelligent. I hope and pray that I’ll be able to normalize things and feel comfortable in this village one day, way before I leave preferably. I was going to play soccer but didn’t bring the right clothes. I decided to go back to the clinic. On way back I saw mutilated goat with 3 unborn babies on the road that had been hit by a truck. I talked to one of my friends in Israel though facebook and asked about the possibility of visiting her. I also asked her to help me out if I end up wanting to move there. She’s a great girl! I went home and talked with my family while we ate dinner. I facebooked one of my best friends and then went to bed.

I forgot my supervisor would be gone the morning of the 11^th. I felt worried and preoccupied about work all morning. I felt like an awful PCV. I have a major lack of confidence in my professional life and I fear failure quite a lot. I did part of my needs assessment, but it made me feel worse. I smsed some people to vent and seek support, basically. I got some really good help from people. I went to lunch and had Wheatbix and watched CNN at a co-worker’s place. I went to meet my teacher friend, who I’ll call MS from now on in my journals (I don’t like mentioning local’s names in case what I say is misconstrued). I have become addicted to Toppers, and I get two packages of them every time I go to his place. MS and I went to the same place I had just bought the cookies and the twins who run it helped fix his computer. It was so nice to hang around these 3 guys who are my age. I felt happy because we just talked about video games. We went back to the school and hung out in one of the classes for a while. I went home and watched Big Bang Theory. It was so funny when a Namibian asked me for country music. He said something that was interesting “I like white people music.” I got his drift but I wanted to tell him about Darius Rucker, an extremely black country singer. By the way, I hit 40,000 words and 50 pages for my personal journal! 

Today, the 12^th, was an awesome day! I prepped for the parent teach meeting at the school. I washed my hair and shaved. It felt good to not be a grease ball. I went to a store to drop off some condoms, then went to the school. I prepped and read until the meeting started. Of course, it was Africa time, and so we started an hour or two late. The meeting was awesome! It lasted 4.5 hours, but it was productive. I asked them about a community garden, a pre-primary, and clubs. I asked if they would help. It was exciting because they brought up the issue of pre-primary on their own earlier in the meeting. They all seemed appreciative. I helped put chairs away then sat and waited in the car to go Rundu. I felt bad for the guy, who had to wait 4 hours for us. The ride to Rundu was crazy and a bit of an adventure. I ended up squeezed between the passenger and driver’s seat in front facing the people. Benhard was on top of bags in back. We had 16 people in a 10 person car. As we pulled up to the police checkpoint the people got really anxious and told BH to throw bags on top of him and hide. They also shoved a tiny jacket over JUST my head and one shoulder! I was freaking out and coming up with my story to tell the police why they put me under a jacket. The officer asked how many people were in the car. A few people said 6, no 10! What??? There were 16! If the officer looked down through the front window he would see my back or if he walked to the side he would see my arm. He let us through! Apparently, BH had also had to hide in the back and the officer didn’t see him. The officer was also going to the side to look in but one of the teachers distracted him with conversation and blocked the window. Everyone was giddy after that from nerves. It was pretty funny though. I fast walked to get some food and to get to my lodging for the night because I hate being out after dark in Rundu.