A picture is worth a thousand words.

So it has been a while since I have been on here to update ya'll about my time.  I figure that I can show you what i've been doing all this time a lot better then I can tell you so this is going to be a media heavy blog post full of photos and videos.

Some cool news:  I was helping a group at the Combined School with a Teen Pregnancy Prevention presentation that they were giving in a nearby town for a competition and they got second place and are now going to the regional capital to compete for prizes!  woot woot!

I have been spending the majority of my time with the Union Voices Choir (UVC)

-As a fundraising event the boys of UVC did an all male in female wear beauty pageant:

I call this one "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun"

 

I also spend time at the Combined School.  

This is a song called Jerusalem and I have seen it performed different ways but this is by far the best version of it performed by the Combined School Choir for African Childs Day:

I went to Okahandja to celebrate my host momma's birthday with my other PC sister:

       

 

Otherwise I have been hanging around with my friends:

 

  

 

First Few Weeks At Site!

Hey all,

Sorry for not posting sooner!  I'm at the school which is the only place that I have internet so I haven't been able to post anything so far.

Life here is good.  The people are nice, and getting used to the new person in town.  On top of having really nice people the Kunene Region is BEAUTIFUL! It's amazing to wake up here everyday and look out at the view (corny but true!!)

Clinic life:  I am liking the clinic, but because I am new there is not too much for me to be doing yet.  We did rearrange the office and I checked nutrition levels of children who came in for a visit and that was really interesting.  They use a measuring tape (pictures to follow) that goes around the upper arm and measures the circumference in CM.  In the photos you'll see the tape around my fingers but for more hands on purposes a child (5 years or younger) with the arm circumference of 11cm (which is the border of malnourished and being at-risk of being malnourished is about the size of a ping pong ball and a child with 17cm (which is in the green zone) is about the size of a pool cue.  That was really interesting to learn about and use.  We also went on outreach to the farms around my village and that was a lot of fun too.  I got to meet a lot of different people and played with the children in the nearby Himba village.

 

 

 

Life in general:  Life here is good.  I'm really enjoying my time and I have a good site mate who has been here for two years which has been nice.  He's like my 'tour guide' in my village.  It's getting cooler here as winter in approaching and it has been really great to be back in the colder weather!

I've been using my language here and I have been trying to learn more things and talk to people in Damara-nama where I can.  I will have to pick up on some Otjiherero greetings because there are a lot of Herero people here as well.  It's great cause I get these good mini lessons everywhere I go cause my friends speak mostly in damara-nama when we are together so I have to pick up on some words to know what they're talking about (still half the time I have no clue ha ha.  or I will know that they are talking about a boy cause they say //ib ge ___. but I won't know what about the boy is being said or what boy for that matter.)

Below are just two more photos.  One of me sitting on my counter in the kitchen where I watch media and eat meals (not at a table like a normal person).  and one of the best view in my village!

I hope all is well with ya'll!  I'll check in again soon. (P.S. in case you didn't know you can click on the photos to make them larger.  I make them small so my posts aren't miles long)

Swearing In!

As my PST comes to an end it is bitter sweet.  I’m leaving my new Namibian family, which includes all the PST trainers, PC staff, and (very important) my Namibian host family who let me stay with them for the past few months.  However I know that I am about to start on a great journey and am excited to see what's next. 

I was chosen by our KKG teacher JJ to do the final speech for our swearing in.  Speaking Damara is a challenge on it’s own however earlier the morning of swearing in I found out that the Namibian Prime Minister, who is Damara, was going to be the key note speaker.  It was such an honor to have this very important man speak at our swearing in but an even bigger honor to be able to give a speech in his native tongue.  Afterwards he complimented me on how well I presented my speech. 

During our ceremony we had a great musical group come and dance and sing for us and they were AMAZING!!  I am planning (internet permitting) to post the video of my speech and this amazing musical group!

I cannot thank the people who got me to this point enough.  I’m happy that I have been able to meet such an amazing grouping of people who have become like family to me.  They say that a photo is worth a thousand words so here are some of the people who have been a huge help in getting me to be an official Peace Corps Volunteer!! 

“The great difference between voyages rests not with the ships, but with the people you meet on them.” – Amelia E. Barr

 Jackson, Efraim and I                                     Jurgens and I

 
Rianna and I--------Nicole and I

Ti Dadab Uncle Joe----------Me and JJ!

       

  

 Thenga and I

The Prime Minister, Dr Hage Geingob and I

My Swearing In Speech in KKG My teacher JJ is sitting with the blue shirt and the Prime Minister is the second from the right when my friend pans over to get him laughing.

The group singing and dancing for us. They were AMAZING!

Site Visit: Check

So I just got back from my site visit to Kamanjab!  It was great to see where I will be living for the next two years.  My new village is small and peaceful…yet also rowdy.  Like the sign that says "Welcome to Kamanjab is larger than Kamanjab.  I think that it will be a unique experience to live and work at a clinic in a very small village.  The clinic compound is BEAUTIFUL.  It’s the coolest looking clinic I have seen yet (even cooler than the hospital in nearby Outjo).  My favorite thing to do is sit outside on the Clinic deck and just watch the life and scenes of Kamanjab (I’ll post a photo of my sitting spot in another blog).  Is that too mushy?  In a rural village you have more than enough time to think and contemplate the greater things in life, so I have a feeling that ya’ll will get a softer more thought out view of the world as I see it. 

My flat is GINORMOUS!!  It’s a two bedroom with a large seating area and kitchen.  It also comes with a large back patio, which I have decided to equip with chairs of some kind.  I have created a sofa with the two extra mattresses from the spare bedroom in order to fill my apartment with something so it isn’t so empty that it echoes! I have included photos so that ya’ll can see and I’ll post a video once I get settled and it doesn’t look like I’m a squatter in someone else’s home!

I think I’m going to like living the small village life, and it will save me LOADS of money.  There are only two “convenience stores” and no ATM so I couldn’t even get money if I wanted to!  I’m so happy that Crystal lives so close to me and also lives in my shopping town.  I have to go to her town to do any kind of food shopping (and shopping in general) and, of course, eat at really delicious restaurants!  The other bright side is that with rare access to food and money and having more than enough time I should be able to get my workout on and get ripped with Tony Horton in P90X.  

For now I am happy to be home in Okahandja with my PC family.  It’s funny cause they described PC as taking PCV’s away from family and friends, giving us a new PC family and then they take us away from each other to different areas of the country.  I am not sure what I am going to do when my PC family and I separate.  Hopefully they’ll visit me and I will visit them in return.

 
Nay broke Nicole's chair!!

 
 In Outjo working at the soup kitchen!

 
My back patio------my front door

 

 
The view from my patio-----my dining/sitting room

Got my PHD over night! I live in the doctor's flat!

Site Placements Have Arrived!!

Yesterday we had a practice LPI (Language Proficiency Interview) and got our permanent site locations.  The best way to describe my LPI was that it was on the south end of a northbound cow.  However despite what I thought today they told me that I scored a Novice High (the requirement) and was very surprised that I am at the requirement only half way through PST.  Hopefully this means that I will be able to get better as time goes (maybe even be fluent..ya right… ha ha)  P.S. I’ll be interchangeably calling KKG Damara because it’s a more specific name to the language.  KKG is the label that the whites put to group together the shared (yet different) language of the Nama and Damara peoples. 

So after what I thought was a LPI catastrophe I was in big need of a pick me up…and a pick me up is what I got!  So my placement will be in the village of Kamanjab (phonetically pronounced ka-man-yob or ka-man-job based on accent) in the Kunene region (phonetically coo-nay-nay).  I’m at a health clinic working with HIV and Maternal Health!  SOOO happy that I will be in a health clinic.  I totally stressed in my interview that I wanted to work in the Medical field.

I’ll be living in a flat on the clinic compound with my coworkers.  Can I get an Amen for running water and electricity? AMEN.  There are two other PCVs in my village who are education volunteers.  My BFF Crystal is only about an hour or so away from me, which is going to be totally awesome.  She is placed in Outjo (phonetically ocho). That is the larger town in Kunene.  Jay, who is also learning Damara, will be about an hour and a half away as well.  Unfortunately CJ is closer to Rundu with no water, no electricity, and a half finished pit latrine…

The coolest part is that my family is from Outjo and are so excited that they finally have one of their volunteer children moving to their region.  My family honestly has been the best support for me and have connections everywhere! Ha ha.  The second best part is that Italy told me that there are elephants and giraffes that just wonder around the village!  How cool is that??

I go for a site visit on Friday so I will post more when I return!  Stay tuned everyone!

National Food Day

There are so many different cultures that make up Namibia and each have different foods that are a staple in their celebrations and daily lives.  So by splitting everyone by language groups we were able to eat all different foods.  We killed chickens and ate stomach and Mopane Worms.  Overall it was a good day trying all these different foods.  The Afrikaans had Brae (BBQ) and DELICIOUS Garlic Butter Bread.....I would seriously become obese if I lived at Alicia's host family.  The KKG group made Donkey and Pork feet with some Ash Bread.  Mmmmm....but also not Mmmmm at some times.  I'm not sure that I'll make Mopane worms a part of my daily meals!

Here are some photos!

 

 

 

Me and My Host Family: Riana (my mom) Italiana (my sister) Riaan (my brother) and Italy (my dad)