Initial impressions of the HH weren't great. It was the first time away from the rest of the group and so was overwhelming and scary. After having a meeting with Ngongo (the head of the house) and his wife about our volunteer/host agreements all seemed less worrying. One item discussed was household chores. Ngongo and his wife laughed at the idea of us helping with the dishes and explained "If you were girls, then yes we would want you to, but you are boys!" Namibia is looking good.
The house consists of three buildings. I will discuss two, the guest house where we are staying and the toilet building.
Bedroom
Our bedroom is small and extremely hot. Even writing this I was sweating. We have a fan and a radio and two single beds with mosquito nets. The wall does not meet the roof all the way around and the roof is corrugated metal. I have had a potentially poisonous spider by my bed the whole duration of my stay. Our room is, however, the only in the guest building that has a concrete floor, covered with a loose carpet. The other rooms are all sandy and yet to be completed. Our neighbouring room has people staying there on the floor every so often.
Dining Room
Again, concrete walls with a metal roof. The floor is sand. We are given a tiny table and bring our plastic chairs from our room through to sit on. Still, it's a roof and is safe. The stray dogs often pop their heads through the door whilst we eat.
Bathroom
A separate building to all others. It has a sink, a toilet and a shower but no hot water. This is actually one of the better bathrooms here in Rundu. Others are just holes in the ground with sheets held up by sticks to cover. I have accidentally witnessed a man taking a dump else where.
Residents
The house is on quite a large plot of sand with a couple of trees and a shelter where the women cook. There are always different people here and they come and go, including a dozen or so children. Ngongo has 10 children in total, 9 of them boys (good sperm) and the older ones help with his business. There are three dogs that live there. I asked Ngongo and he said they are his but they don't have names and his ownership of them is based on the fact he found them in his garden. Also one cat. One person is only seen around dinner time when he gets hungry - the rest of his time is spent at the bar. The mother doesn't speak English but we can greet each other in Afrikaans.
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