Dinner Time - 25/10/11

This is my first post since arriving in Rundu. Just after my previous post my counterpart had to leave the programme due to personal reasons, however, I have now been paired with a new one. He goes by AM since his name is far too difficult to pronounce (no doubt spell).

Our host home, which I will talk about in detail in a later post, provides us with a meal every evening - cooked by the women of the house (even the thought of the men cooking in Namibia is laughable). On the first night we were called to eat and we were presented with a plate of 'porridge' - a maize based sludge - and a pot of a beef stew type thing. I was offered a knife and fork but also offered to learn the way of their culture - I opted for the latter no doubt. Hands are used instead of cutlery and our teeth are our 'natural knife' AM assures me. How we should spread butter on bread I don't know.

The technique is to pick at the porridge, squidge it to make it more compact, then dip it into the stew. The dishes the stew and porridge come in are shared by all those eating. Luckily for us this is only AM and me - the children of the house are less fortunate and share between half a dozen or so, all around one pot. To eat the chunks of meat simply take with your hands and rip with your teeth, just like eating KFC (which I have had plenty of practise at). Certainly more fun than UK dining but at the same time more sticky and much less hygenic despite the bowl of water provided to splash your hands in before starting.

I have spent around 9 days in Rundu now and 8 of them I have had porridge with some sort of meat dish. Extrapolating this data shows I will almost definitely never want to see maize again after these three months. Still the meat pot varies and the food is tasty and, most imporantly, present and edible.

One evening I went into their living room and saw dinner before it was cooked. There in a tub on the floor was a cows head and trotters. Here they use all the animal, none goes to waste, something I agree with entirely. The cold water is kept in the fridge with the naked carcasses of many animals.

The only part of their way of dining I am not joining in with is the drinking of water. In one large cup (imagine a large in starbucks) the water is provided, with a smaller cup to drink from. Just one. If you wish to drink you poor the water into the smaller cup, finish it, and return the cup for the next user. I've chosen my flask instead.

So far dinner has been cow, goat, fish (I ate the eyes - apparently it's good for the brain), chicken and other unidentifiable animals.

I will soon post about the home, the climate, the kindergartens in which we work, taxis, and how to pick up women - Namibian style. Hopefully a few of these will go up this coming weekend.

Arrival and Training in Windhoek - 14/10/11

With training finished and still a couple of days left in the capital, Windhoek, before travelling 7 hours to get to Rundu on Sunday, I have had a chance to find an internet cafe.

Totalling over 15 hours of travel time to get to Namibia it was a relief to step off the plane despite the blistering heat. Windhoek is where we have been staying with the Namibian volunteers. I have already seen a monkey and many, many stray dogs. The sighting of the dogs rang alarm bells and almost every UK volunteers mind went "Rabies, rabies, rabies..." but of course that was initial first-furry-animal-visual-panic.

We have now been paired off with our counterparts - the Namibian volunteer we will live with in the host homes - and our work partner, the volunteer we'll be on our placement with. My counterpart is a very curious guy, Salomon. Even when I had a shave he quizzed me about it until I offered to let him watch. He explained how he's always gone to a barber and asked if he could try and so I walked him through his first shave. Another one of his fascinations is how hairy the UK men's legs are. He plays with the hairs without touching the leg and asks "Can you feel this?". This is then repeated several times at various distances from the skin. Out of all the things he could ask about he chose this.

Other than that the Namibian volunteers quite enjoy touching the other girls hair. All of them are very friendly and lots of culture differences have been high on the conversation. Despite the diversity everyone is getting on great.

Only one minute left on the internet cafe so I am having to finish here.

Newspaper Street Collection Snippet - 11/10/11

Here is a bit from the Bridgwater Mercury about how much I raised in the street collection.

Departure is upon us - 09/10/11

It is finally here. Tomorrow morning I will be getting a coach to London and meeting the UK members of my team. Then on Tuesday at 21:20 I, if all goes well, will be taking off from Heathrow and eventually getting to Windhoek, Namibia's Capital, at 14:00 the next day. The last time I flew out of the country I managed to lose both my boarding pass and passport by putting them on a chair then walking off. Hopefully I have learnt from my mistakes and I will leave important items with someone more responsible - most likely a female. They are organised. I trust them.

Having Namibian dollars in my pocket and an 85 litre bag packed for 6 months the trip seems that much more real. Rehydration salts, water purification tablets, anti-malarials, diarrhoea tablets, sun cream, insect repellent, bite ease, after sun and my diabolos are all ready to travel with me the furthest south I have ever been.

This may well be the last chance in a while I have to post on my blog but I will be keeping a journal and will update it when possible. Hopefully lots of photos will be appearing.

So bring on the next 6 months!!