Coral Pink Sands

Due to popular request I decided to put an official notice on here that I will no longer be posting to this site since I have landed back in the U.S. Good news is I'm now located in Orlando and can hopefully see some of you face to face after such a long separation....please email me shanrussl@hotmail.com so we can catch up if you are in the area.

Thanks for all the support throughout my service!

Shann

I sat up this morning with a quick start after a good nights rest, full of vivid dreams, as is the norm while on meflaquine. Today is my last day in Namibia soon I’ll be able to claim status as a RPCV. This morning I felt a comforting calmness and excitement sweep over me, as I looked right then left in attempt to cross a 6 lane street en-route to the PC office. I’ve been bringing closure to this lifestyle for 3 months now and have said so many good-byes that now it is simply time to go. Because of my preparation for this final departure and devout focus on the task, I feel completely ready for my departure and only now am realizing the amazing sights awaiting me for the trip home…………. I look forward to reconnecting with so many of you soon!

As I’m not really gifted with words to express all the swirling thoughts in my head perhaps Kristin’s last blog http://www.kristin-davids.blogspot.com/ says a bit more, as I was here with her that last restless night.

So I'm really not very good at posting here anymore and my life is very chaotic and my head is swirling as I'm hosting 3 new Peace Corps trainees this week while I also wrap up my life here. Of some interest to you may be the blog of my replacement at the TRC, Beth at http://www.bethnamibia.blogspot.com

At the moment I'm on the 3 week countdown to my departure while at the very same moment 60 new volunteers are far above on their way to the land of constrasts........soon I'll be meeting them face to face though and get to soak in all of their greeness and celebrate the growth I've acquired in my 2+ years here.

So last night I was in my bedroom packing when I decided to open my screened window to let the cool breeze in (yes cool because it RAINED for about 10 minutes). Upon opening the window my door slammed shut only to find it could not be opened again.....yes I was stuck in my room which has durable burglar bars with no way out. Luckily I didn't lock my front door and I always do and knew a few hostel kids were coming over for tutoring sometime now,now (within say an hour or so)...so I sat down texted my lil bro stateside and waited for the learners to arrive which they did and they released my promptly. Just what would have happened if I'd locked my front door? I have the only existing key and it would have been in the door? OH Namibia

While my friends were celebrating fabulous and happy wedding days I was hiking my way back from the deep south. For those of you that know Orlando here’s an analogy of hiking…..I leave from Mariposa St. with a medium size back pack full with a weeks worth of clothes and two plastic bags grocery bags of paint. I walk with my companion about 2 miles through downtown up the ramp to West bound I-4 and down the main drag until we are passed all turn offs to any direction except West. We must first travel about as far as Tampa and then try to hike on further south on another “major” road for 140 miles more. We stand on the side of the road next to the west bound lanes in a spot with enough room for a car, pick-up truck or semi (yes I rode in all 3 on this trip) to pull off and pick us up. We then put our bags down about 15 feet away and take turns standing next to the road trying to thumb a ride, although we prefer the full hand waving from the wrist with palm facing down. Whoever stops first we go with. It’s always an adventure!

29 September 2005

Time is flying by as I was warned it would in year number two of service yet still no one can ever prepare for it. I’m down to the last two months and it seems like only now people are discovering I’m around. Suddenly schools want me to come visit for a week and will figure out transport, that’s the whole reason I haven’t visited more! Truth is many have said I should come even local schools but push come to shove I never get an official invite after throwing myself upon them a couple of times.
Today was the culmination of a what? workshop, surprise! Yet, these two over the last weeks are the ones I felt passionate about being a part of since November 2003, Basic Counselling Skills & Bereavement Counselling. I assisted the regional school counsellor wherever needed and tried to offer up as much as I could when the opportunity arouse. While all documents were in English most discussions were in Afrikaans. Although the content was very important…it was the opportunity to see many faces that I’ve worked with over my time here and begin to say my goodbyes as well as theirs that will stay with me. One teacher from a local school said some thanks on behalf of the group and for the first time somebody GOT IT and gave me a compliment that saw me for ME and not just as the American.

A humorous example of my high profile status was when the caterer of the workshop told me there would be chicken for me for lunch because her daughter told her I didn’t like meat. Who would have guessed that one of the 11 girls form MHS that attended the Southern Girls Conference the past weekend would be the caterer’s daughter. I won out on that one as I had fish today!

The walk home through the sand and dust of Mariental as I’ve done for almost 2 years was a poignant reward of the simple joys of life here. I began the walk with a few colleagues where the conversation included the usual...Ai die sun brandt me, the sun is burning me and then where is your sister, Dani. I then turned right as they carried on forward. I passed the bright yellow door of the one room dwelling of my friend Thrisi, whom I met at my last flat as she cleans my neighbours’ home each day. I stop at the chicken wire fence to greet and ask about the day and then walk on while returning Jessica’s greeting, a grade 4 girl who always hollers “hello Shannon” if I’m within 2 blocks of her…moving on I see a lady climb out of the back of a government bakkie, sure to press her ankle length skirt down between her knees, while greeting me. I only know her from coming around the office for help with her long distance degree courses but she always has a smile as big as her 1.45m body. Silence hits me again only to be disturbed by the single chime of the Dutch Reform Church letting me know its half past the hour. Looks like the 10 minute walk as been stretched out again. Next thing I know I’m singing Depeche Mode’s People are People out loud while strutting home…this is a common problem for me, often vocalizing thoughts/songs without realizing it. Not really a big deal on the broad open streets or in the veld but I think my neighbour may worry about me sometimes…the ventilation windows of her living room open into my hallway :) So my journey home concluded with greetings from a few hostel girls out on the lawn and the neighbours dogs walking me to the door. I prepared myself a cup of chai tea and prepared for the big event …mail!


5 October 2005

The last two days I’ve stepped outside and suddenly found myself in this extraordinarily good mood but why? There are clouds in the sky! I haven’t seen that in 6 months ….who would of thunk the Florida girl would celebrate like this….now if only the Ministry of Works would fix my toilet?????

Alrighty folks I'm back for a day or two in the office and trying to catch up here and there ....So, so much has gone on in the last month or so from The Annual National Educational Tour, a holiday in Lesotho and then group 22s Close of Service conference...anyhow I've borrowed upon my sitemate Dani's words (with her permission of course)here to give you some stories and insight from the last few hectic weeks.

"Despite the chaos of the weeks prior to the tour, it went amazingly smoothly. Shannon and I did the bulk of the preparations for it, and the night beforehand celebrated over a delicious Indian feast before the insanity that was to become our lives for the next 5 days. Early Friday morning, 19 August, I hiked up to Okahandja from Windhoek, where we had been the previous two nights making final preparations for the trip. Our days were full, rising before the sun and working until well after dark. My hike to Okahandja turned out to be better than ever! Within 5 minutes a car stopped for me, and after explaining the situation, one of the guys in the backseat proclaimed, ¡§I¡¦ll pay for you!¡¨ I got in, and he informed me that I was a Peace Corps Volunteer. ¡§Yes.¡¨ You stay (Namibian for ¡§live¡¨) in Mariental. ¡§Yes.¡¨ You know Megan in Rehoboth. ¡§Yes.¡¨ Well, I am her boyfriend, and that is why this car stopped for you. Apparently, I met the guy before, as Megan is a fellow PCV and I do some work in her town. But when I met Aupa, it was very dark outside and it was an extremely brief encounter. Not that I¡¦m trying to say I would remember his face even if it were light out, but it certainly gave me a good excuse!I had them drop me at the Spar (read: grocery store) where I was to pick up snacks for the 4-hour drive to Swakopmund, to the coast, but by the time I got there I was FAMISHED! I had crackers in my bag, and I sat down outside of the shop to munch a little before going inside (as it is extremely dangerous to shop on an empty stomach, especially when you¡¦re on a budget!).Speaking of budgets, I must interrupt myself here. This tour was meant to be funded fully by two separate Namibian NGOs who have always been extremely supportive of PCVs and their efforts. I had secured the money months in advance. However, two and a half weeks beforehand, BOTH companies phoned me on consecutive days to inform me that they were not, in fact, having the funds to support the tour. SHIT. Does that mean we will have to cancel? Shannon and I spent the following three days phoning every single organisation, ministry, NGO, FBO, non-profit, that we could think of, and got turned down every single time. With two weeks to go, we were getting desperate. Especially after we had received the support of all of the ten school¡¦s participating principals five weeks prior. How can you let down a kid like that?Luckily, we had some help Stateside, in a MAJOR way from my absolutely wonderful, fantastic cousins Penny and Harold. Thank you so very, very much. This tour absolutely would not have happened without you.So I am sitting outside of Spar (back to the sidewalk, here), munching away. Most people greeted me, in a variety of languages, and I certainly got some pretty strange looks. There were other people sitting outside of Spar, but it¡¦s definitely considered unusual for a white person (yup, always comes down to race in Namibia) to be caught doing this outside of private residence, in the dirt. One young man, about my age, walked by and asked me for N$10. I looked at this guy as if he were crazy. Here I am, sitting on the ground, eating my six crackers, and he asks me for money?! He asked again. I asked him if he was kidding. He said, ¡§No, I must buy a drink.¡¨ I told him I don¡¦t give people money to buy alcohol. ¡§No, not alcohol, a cool drink!¡¨ (Namibian for any beverage served chilled ¡V this can be alcoholic or not, but normally it is non-alcoholic, like juice or soda.) I told him that cool drinks do not cost N$10. So then he admitted that he was going to buy ¡§a pack of smokes, also,¡¨ and I told him I also do not support those habits.This was getting to become the longest conversation I have ever had with a person trying to beg money!¡§Okay, I will compromise. You will give me N$6 for the cool drink, and I will pay for the smokes.¡¨ Yet again, I looked at this guy as if he were crazy. Then he extends his hand to me, and introduces himself, shaking hands with me in the traditional Namibian handshake. We got through the introductions, and then Mike asks me if he can take me out for a drink tonight. Did he forget that he was just trying to bum money off me to buy a drink for himself?! I told him that I was leaving town that afternoon, so he asked me if I would accompany him for a drink right then.It was quite an interaction. Anyway, he left with my fake phone number and I got the snacks from Spar and continued on to my first home in Namibia, at the Andreas Kukuri Centre where the first month of our PC training was held. They had agreed to lend us a room at the centre for the day, where the kids traveling from the south, the north, and from Rundu could come together. Our plan was to all be there no later than 3pm, so we would arrive in Swakop just after dark. The group coming from the south, however, ended up waiting for THREE HOURS for the last learner, who, it turned out, had been waiting 10 kilometres outside of town for a cab that entire time! They showed up in Okahandja after 6pm, and we arrived in Swakopmund well after 11 that night, had a quick dinner, and sent the kiddos to bed.Note: we had originally invited 30 learners. In the last week of the trip, 3 learners dropped out (not really enough time to invite more learners, especially with the budget problems and questions that I mentioned above) so there were only 27 learners that attended the tour, and 5 PCVs as opposed to the original 6 we thought we would have. One of the kids dropped out due to an alcoholic father who forbid him to go the morning of departure, in a drunken stupor from the night before. And the other two dropped out because they have never left their village before, and last-minute decided they could not handle it.The HIV and AIDS information session was run by Anna, another PCV who works in Walvis Bay (which was still a part of South Africa until 1994) and her counterpart, Lorna, whom I met back in April at a training. They did a phenomenal job! I am always anxious about HIV and AIDS educational sessions, because these kids have it drilled into their heads day after day (although behaviour change, however, is the big drilling that needs to be done), but time and time again it turns out well. Anna and I had spent a great deal of time on the phone, trying to get all of our ideas straight, for the past few weeks, and had even managed to meet up in Windhoek and collaborate a little in person two weeks before. They had the kids split up into 4 teams and have condom races, with one learner holding ¡§Jeremiah¡¨ the wooden penis model and another putting the condom fully on and taking it fully off. They did a quiz game, with learners yelling out the answers, and challenging the answers of their peers.At the end, we split up the boys and the girls, and I led a question-and-answer session with the girls. Now, these are secondary school learners, mind you. Some of them were as young of 13, but others were up around 17 or 18 years of age. Their biggest questions were: How does a girl have an orgasm (not quite in these terms, but a lot of the slang used here is incomprehensible unless you live here)? and: What happens if the condom gets stuck inside you? Lorna told the kids to go to the hospital. AI!
Dune 7 is one of the greatest natural wonders of Namibia. It is not the highest dune, but it¡¦s up there, and it is also well-travelled by tourists, as it is just outside of Swakopmund, the most popular holiday stop. Only three of the learners had ever been there (nine to Swakopmund). The new Country Director (who had just arrived mid-June), and his wife, met us at the lagoon and traveled to Dune 7 with us, and then even climbed up to the top with us! It was a very special treat for the kids as well as for the CD and his wife, to be on the ground with some really appreciative Namibian kids and their loving PCVs. At the top, I settled in with four of the girls and played ¡§find the beetle¡¨, a tiny thing that I at first thought was a seashell because it was all closed into its¡¦ shell. We would take turns burying it in the massive amounts of sand, and then the person to find it would get to hide it again. It kept us entertained for about an hour while the others explored the top of the dune. And talk about a spectacular view! From the top you look out and see kilometers upon kilometers of yellowish-orange sandy dunes, and then if you look far enough you see the ocean, just beyond them. Incredible!As mentioned in the description above, these kids are the ¡§artists¡¨, the writers and painters and draw-ers in their schools. And they completely fit the stereotype. They were quiet, always listening and watching, taking things in as opposed to attacking them. It was so nice to look at these kids and realise that, on a regular basis, are not always rewarded for their skills. But they¡¦re still such wonderful kids, with such inquisitive minds, and so appreciative of this opportunity being provided for them. At the end of the trip the learners wrote thank-you letters to everyone who helped us out with the tour, from our sponsors to our donors to the PCVs who met us along the way. Some really sweet things were said amongst the Namblish:¡
§The happiest moment of my life. I wish it could not last for 5 days. I hope it could last for at least 3 months...¡¨ from Sebastian, Rundu.¡
§I was really overjoyed when I was selected for this tour even if I didn¡¦t know who was organising it... I appreciate every bit of this trip and I¡¦m really happy that I got a chance to travel this far... We were so lucky to get this opportunity as they are rare here in Namibia...¡¨ from Fenny, in the north.¡
§... I hope this opportunity happens again even if it is for other kids...¡¨ from Anzilla in the Omaheke region.¡
§... But the learner which was here were not from the same school, we were all select from different school, but we were all talking English...¡¨ from Kaupa in the Omaheke region.¡
§... Well I can¡¦t believe that this is the last day. I really enjoyed it and I didn¡¦t want to go home. I keep begging Dani, Shannon, Laura and Peter to add an extra day but to no avail...¡¨ from Helvi, in the north.¡
§... In this couple of days I learned alot of things like making friends, seeing new places and learning about cheetahs. Although I sacrificed my Matrix farewell to come here, I now see it was worth it. Really!¡¨ from Donevon in Karasburg. The Matrix Farewell is like the senior prom in the U.S. However, it also acts as a graduation, even though it is at the end of the second term instead of the third term, because there is no graduation ceremony. Once the Grade 12 learners find out if they passed their exams, they just go to the school to pick up their diploma, without any official ceremony. Donevon¡¦s was on Thursday night, 18 August, and in order to attend the tour he had to take the overnight train from Karasburg to Windhoek, leaving the night of his Matrix Farewell.¡
§... I never dreamed of getting to go to the beach, but I guess It¡¦s a dream coming true I guess...¡¨ from Hileni, a learner in the north.
Some of the kids thanked people for their ¡§sport¡¨ instead of ¡§support¡¨, and other kids requested photographs from the people they were writing to. All in all, it was very cute.The learners came from all corners of the country: 2 from the big city life of Karasburg, in the ¡§deep south¡¨, near the S¡¦African border; 8 from the farm schools in the Omaheke region, where Gobabis is, on the border to Botswana; 1 from Rundu up in the Kavango region near all of the witchcraft; some from the big cities of Ondangwa, Ongwediva and Oshakati in the north; the rest from the small villages in the north. This brought about a variety of languages, including almost all of the ethnic languages spoken in Namibia: Khoekhoegowab, Otjiherero, San (the ¡§real¡¨ clicks like in The Gods Must Be Crazy), Oshiwambo, Rukwangali. The language where everyone met was English. One of the rules on the bus was that they must sit with someone they had not spoken to yet, every time they got on and off the bus. The kids were pretty good about it, although on that first night Henock, an Owambo boy from the north, complained that they Oshiwambo-speakers were excluding some of the others. The most interesting part was that the boys from all over the country really connected, while the girls kept to their ethnic groups. That is a complete change from the ¡§normal¡¨ culture of Namibians, with the women who welcome outsiders into their homes with open arms, while the men usually stand back and let the women do it. Maybe it¡¦s a comfort, home-turf thing.My personal favourite moment of the trip took place on one of the bus rides. I was sitting near the back of the bus, minding my own business, when suddenly (how could this happen?!) I found myself eavesdropping on a conversation going on behind me. Some of the older boys had somehow congregated back there, and they were comparing phrases in their languages. There was Donevon, with a Nama background, Josua and Precy with Owambo backgrounds, and Sebastian with a Rukwangali background, learning the different ways to speak in each others¡¦ languages. Later, with their deep voices they taught each other traditional songs, getting louder and louder to compete with the girls¡¦ version of popular R&B songs. And that last night, over the campfire, I overheard them attempting to make plans to meet, the four of them, coming from three completely opposite sides of the country. ¡§No, mon, Windhoek... it¡¦s such a travel from Oshakati.¡¨ ¡§Well, how about Okahandja? It¡¦s only a day¡¦s travel for me.¡¨On the way from Swakopmund to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, we passed through Otjiwarongo where we had scheduled to pick up the thigh of an oryx (a large animal with a deer-like body ¡V only bigger ¡V that is also commonly referred to as ¡§gemsbok¡¨) for our braai the following night as our going-away bash. There was some confusion as to where we were going, and this occurred right in the middle of the location, after dark, a large school bus pulled over on the side of the dirt road, trying to figure out where to go. We stopped at a woman¡¦s house and Shann, Peter (one of the most special to me in PCV-world) and I hopped out and handed over N$350 in exchange for a large, heavy, black plastic bag slowly dripping a red liquid.On the game drive we were able to see some oryx, and Peter told the kids to look out for the three-legged one. That evening the kids were able to picture what they were eating (is that a good thing? I don¡¦t know), almost all of whom it was their first time seeing one, much less eating one. One of the girls informed me that she does not eat new foods without her parents around. I told her I would eat her share. She came back for thirds just like the rest of the kiddos.The activities that took place at the Cheetah Conservation Fund were phenomenal! Namibia is indeed the Cheetah Capital of the world, and the area that CCF is in has the highest concentration of cheetahs in the world. They have some really fascinating educational stuff set up there, and the kids got to do it all! On our way there, a 1-hour drive out a 40km dirt road after dark, the kids started getting worried that there was no electricity (it must have been the city kids, because the village kids are used to this kind of thing), so I told them, fully of jokes to freak them out a little, that we were camping by the fire. Little did I know I was going to be correct! In the dark we set up camp in the tents provided, with the 3 torches (read: flashlights) that we PCVs had brought, and cooked dinner for 33 (27 kiddos + 5 PCVs + 1 driver, Mogotsi, who ROCKED!) over the open fire. There were two burners, but one didn¡¦t work and the staff at CCF informed us that they prefer us not to waste gas. The kids helped, different ones each night, and they had each brought along their own dishes and utensils, so we were good to go!That first night, however, Donevon announced that he was going to sleep. I asked him, ¡§Did you wash your dishes yet?¡¨ No. ¡§Well, who is going to wash them so you can use them in the morning for breakfast?¡¨ The girls will. Wrong thing to say! I made a rule right then and there that the girls were NOT allowed to wash anyone¡¦s dishes but their own, although the boys could wash the girls¡¦ dishes if they were requested to do so fº I¡¦m not sure if anyone got it, though. Later that evening, as Shannon and I were cleaning up around the fire, we found a few dirty dishes that actually were ours, and therefore we knew who we had lent them to. So Shann walked back to the boy¡¦s tent, and woke them up. Donevon happened to be sleeping in that same tent, and she said he laughed the entire time they were getting dressed and putting their shoes back on.Recently I read The Healing Land: The Bushmen and the Kalahari Desert by Rupert Isaacson, a gift for my departure from my lovely friend Sarah, who shares my love of books. The book takes place mainly in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana, so I can fully relate to a lot of it. On page 154 there was a really nice quote that I wanted to add in here (does this mean I need a bibliography for this email?!): ¡§The cheetahs do not hunt people. But they are notoriously inquisitive, a trait which has led them to become an endangered species, for once their curiosity is piqued they will show themselves more openly where more wily cats, such as leopards, lions or lynx, never will. The old adage of ¡¥curiosity killed the cat¡¦ applies firmly to cheetahs.¡¨On the last night we played Telephone around the fire, and the messages that were being passed around were things such as, ¡§I¡¦ll miss you,¡¨ and, ¡§Do we really have to leave tomorrow?¡¨ as well as more educational aspects of the tour, like, ¡§Cheetahs are the fastest animals on earth.¡¨ The trip was so, so incredibly worth it; never in my wildest dreams would it have been so successful. On the way back to Otjiwarongo, Peter and I talked about what we¡¦ll do next year (besides applying for money before March!) for the 3rd Annual National Educational Tour, 2006. I suggested Victoria Falls, but there could be a problem with taking learners over borders...It was not a particularly exhausting tour, nor was it overly-chaotic. On Tuesday, 23 August, we dropped off the northern learners in Otjiwarongo, and then everyone else in Windhoek. The last one¡¦s father came to pick him up at 4.45 pm, and then I headed over to the American Cultural Centre (run by the U.S. Embassy) to pick up the keys. After dinner, Shann, Laura (one of the PCVs on the tour, whom I also spent a great deal of time with over the December holiday in Gobabis, as well as visiting her farm-town mission school during that time) and I met Kiwan, another PCV, in the conference room of the ACC to begin the set-up process for the art gallery. All of the winning works were hung (60 inches on centre) in the conference room for the opening the following day. We stayed there until 1 in the morning, colour-coordinating, getting the names correct, giving each piece backing, and then returned again at 8am to finish. By 11.45 we were done, and at 12noon the guests arrived.It was an opening of a featuring video on an HIV and AIDS project done by traveling musicians from the U.S. as well as for our learners. Unfortunately, only 2 of the learners were able to attend the opening, but it was a really nice afternoon for them. Izel is a big-city girl from Karasburg, and she is the learner that we waited for for three hours at the very start of the tour. She definitely came with an attitude, and was the only learner to become demanding at times. But when she walked into the conference room and saw her piece, hanging just as you walked inside, her hand clapped to her mouth and she just kept saying, ¡§Oh my God, oh my God,¡¨ over and over again. The press was there, both from NBC (Namibian Broad Casting ¡V the local television station) and from the Republikein, an Afrikaans newspaper. Izel and I sat next to each other during the Ambassador¡¦s speech, the Country Director¡¦s speech, and many others, and she just kept smiling, giggling, grabbing my hand. Some people got to meet ¡§the artist¡¨, and she was just completely overwhelmed with happiness.One of the reporters there turned out to write for the southern region¡¦s Republikein, and was ecstatic to have a southern learner there with her work. He had a bunch of questions for her, which she fielded shyly (who was this new girl?!) and snapped some photos of her with her work. What a day for this attitude-stricken girl! And what a change I was able to see, in such an immediate period of time.Us PCVs had a celebratory night out on the town, with a phenomenal Indian meal (seriously, this place, Taal, down in the Eros end of Windhoek, has possibly the BEST Indian food I have ever eaten!) followed by a quiet, chill night at a bar and a couple of glasses of wine. The following day Shann and I ran around town, closing up all of the Annual National Educational Tour 2005¡¦s business, before heading down to Mariental with Betsy, another PCV, for our well-earned holiday."