The other day I met the most enthusiastic person in Rundu! I had been told about him, but I didnt know what he was doing and I only thought he was a school PE teacher, and not even at one of the schools I am working with or his relationship with SCORE. so I kind of put it of to see him. I kind of regret that now. He would have kept me occupied during the school break when I was bored!
This man is a PE and geography teacher at one of the schools in Rundu. He has been involved with SCORE is on the board if it is still functioning... When I came to see him he said he had heard about me. Hm... word travels in Rundu! He took me to the pool at the school. This is also the only pool in Rundu (except for that one lodge). The pool is in terrible condition. It is just disgusting and has not been in use for a couple of years. But he was like "Babes, in a couple of weeks we will have this running!" It will be generation money and providing swimming lessons for the children (last week on of the children from that school drowned in the river) and so on. He himself has put in pipes for the water, and is taking averything in his hands!
Later in this day he picked me up and and took me to his hockey practice where he coaches about 70 children, 4 teams (2 different age groups, girls and boys) at the same time. There is another coach but she usually shows up a an hour or so late because she is working or something (?). In addition to this he is responsible and coaches all the sports teams in his school. He is a volleyball fan at heart.
I dont know what keeps this man going or where he gets the energy. It might be the 6-8 liters of coka cola he drinks in a day or maybe the sigaretts or maybe a combo.
All he wants is to keep the children off the streets, and for them to grow up in a safe anvironment. That is why he is so excited about SCORE and we are so excited about him :)
Friday, September 18, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Pictures in no particular order.
Sunset in Opuwo
The view from Rundu over the Kavango River and Angola. I went swimming in the river on Saturday. The river is where the action is on Saturdays. People come to wash their clothes, wash their bodies, play, and in the afternoon and evenings people come to socialize and drink.
Oslo, Gardermoen. The gang pre-departure.
Special Olympics kids. This is also how "normal" people stand in line in Africa though...
My house
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
As the days go on...
I have been here now for 2 weeks, and I have to get out some frustration and say that I am so bored. My work is mainly in collaboration with the schools in the community, and since I have been here they have been taking exams, so there is no PE, and now everyone is on a 2 week holiday! What to do? I keep myself busy by walking to the library where is can use the Internet cheap, walking to the stores, and by sending SMS (you get 100 free SMS every day)! These distances are about 30min walks that normally people would take a taxi for. Taxis here are Namibian $7,50 per person. You might have to share a taxi. That is normal. It will sometimes take you on a round trip around the city to drop off and pick up other passengers on the way, so make sure you ask him/her where they are headed before you get in.
I also try and keep occupied by washing my clothes. By hand of course. My host mom was laughing at me and my poor washing technique, but what can you expect from someone who has never done it before. It is really dusty here and you don’t really see how dirty your clothes are until you see the water after you wash. It’s disgusting, but to change the water half way through is out of the question! Just add more soap! When no one is around though, I change it! :P
I have now become a morning person! It is not possible to sleep than to 7am. At this time the town is wide awake! People will start coming to the door (I will get into this later), music from the houses, and everyone, all 3 people other than me, are up and already left the house. In the beginning I was often in bed by 8pm. Not unusual. So it would only be natural to wake up rested at 6 or 7 am, but since making calls are free between the hours of 10pm and 6am, There is no way I will be able to sleep unless I turn off my phone. During the day, making calls is quite expensive, so sending SMS is the way to go. It is crazy! I have never sent so many SMS before! I go easily through 70-80 SMS a day.
Throughout the day people in the area will come to the door or stop by for short visits. In the beginning I thought it was just friends stopping by, but then I noticed that they were giving my family money… hmm. What is this? I thought the worst: that my family was dealing drugs or something like that or lending out money or something fishy. But I saw recently that my family is having their little business selling Air time! In Norwegian this is “påfylling av contantkort” or recharge or credit (kjært barn har mange navn) for the phone. So instead for the neighboring people to go to the store about 30 min walk away, they can come here at basically any time of the day as long as someone is home! And someone is always home. I think I have been by my self in the house for maybe 1hour altogether in 2 weeks. The “houseboy”, Ndara, who lives here is always here! Doing work, washing, cooking, listening to music, keeping the family business afloat, fixing, and keeping me company.
I have now taken a “combie”. This is a minibus or car that works as pubic transportation to the other cities in Namibia. It works like this: In every city there is a gas station (here they are called service stations) that works as a drop-off/pick-up for the combies. So if you want to go somewhere you meet up at this station, and wait. If you are in Rundu for examble, which is often a staring point for the combies, you find the combie goin to your destionation and wait for the combie to fill up with people. It will not leave unless it is full. And full is defined by all the seats being occupied by adults. The children do not count. So a combie with 16 seats can have the double amount of humans. If you are traveling from a city that is on the way to somewhere else you just have to patient and wait for a combie that is going your way to stop by, and hope that it is not full. There are other means of transportation in Namibia, but if you want to experience the “African way” this is it!
I have not been able to upload pictures yet. This internet thing here is very slow. I have a lot of pictures I want to show everyone, so I will keep working on it!
I also try and keep occupied by washing my clothes. By hand of course. My host mom was laughing at me and my poor washing technique, but what can you expect from someone who has never done it before. It is really dusty here and you don’t really see how dirty your clothes are until you see the water after you wash. It’s disgusting, but to change the water half way through is out of the question! Just add more soap! When no one is around though, I change it! :P
I have now become a morning person! It is not possible to sleep than to 7am. At this time the town is wide awake! People will start coming to the door (I will get into this later), music from the houses, and everyone, all 3 people other than me, are up and already left the house. In the beginning I was often in bed by 8pm. Not unusual. So it would only be natural to wake up rested at 6 or 7 am, but since making calls are free between the hours of 10pm and 6am, There is no way I will be able to sleep unless I turn off my phone. During the day, making calls is quite expensive, so sending SMS is the way to go. It is crazy! I have never sent so many SMS before! I go easily through 70-80 SMS a day.
Throughout the day people in the area will come to the door or stop by for short visits. In the beginning I thought it was just friends stopping by, but then I noticed that they were giving my family money… hmm. What is this? I thought the worst: that my family was dealing drugs or something like that or lending out money or something fishy. But I saw recently that my family is having their little business selling Air time! In Norwegian this is “påfylling av contantkort” or recharge or credit (kjært barn har mange navn) for the phone. So instead for the neighboring people to go to the store about 30 min walk away, they can come here at basically any time of the day as long as someone is home! And someone is always home. I think I have been by my self in the house for maybe 1hour altogether in 2 weeks. The “houseboy”, Ndara, who lives here is always here! Doing work, washing, cooking, listening to music, keeping the family business afloat, fixing, and keeping me company.
I have now taken a “combie”. This is a minibus or car that works as pubic transportation to the other cities in Namibia. It works like this: In every city there is a gas station (here they are called service stations) that works as a drop-off/pick-up for the combies. So if you want to go somewhere you meet up at this station, and wait. If you are in Rundu for examble, which is often a staring point for the combies, you find the combie goin to your destionation and wait for the combie to fill up with people. It will not leave unless it is full. And full is defined by all the seats being occupied by adults. The children do not count. So a combie with 16 seats can have the double amount of humans. If you are traveling from a city that is on the way to somewhere else you just have to patient and wait for a combie that is going your way to stop by, and hope that it is not full. There are other means of transportation in Namibia, but if you want to experience the “African way” this is it!
I have not been able to upload pictures yet. This internet thing here is very slow. I have a lot of pictures I want to show everyone, so I will keep working on it!
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