(How’s the situation in America? Everything is good at my home in Ohalushu. The many workshops have finally ended and I am happy to have returned to the village after two weeks in Windhoek.)
Sorry about that... Just felt the urge to practice a bit of writing in Oshikwanyama. More than anything else, writing helps me learn the language but unfortunately there aren’t many opportunities to write Oshiwambo so hopefully my little outburst quells my desire to write and also gives you some insight into the structure of the language.
A brief linguistic investigation (in case you were wondering): Oshiwambo is a Bantu language spoken in northern Namibia which has 8 dialects, one of them being Oshikwanyama (the dialect I have begun to learn here in Ohalushu). Oshikwanyama is spoken by the Kwanyama people – “the meat eaters” – who reside in a circular region containing north-central Namibia and south-central Angola. Oshikwanyama is the most prevalent dialect of Oshiwambo and is one of the two written dialects, the other being Oshindonga. There is a playful debate between the Ndongas and the Kwanyamas over which tribe is the most respected, but secretly even the Ndongas know the Kwanyamas reign supreme.
Okay, enough about Namibian language... Maybe you want to know about what I have been up to??
So in my last blog entry I indicated that I would be headed to Windhoek (Namibia’s only city, population 300,000) for a conference called Reconnect. The conference was two weeks long and we talked about all of the issues that we have faced in our first six weeks at site in addition to planning for our primary (teaching) and secondary (community development) projects for the upcoming year. The sessions were generally helpful: it was very beneficial for me to see how other volunteers were planning their lessons and we received much valuable information about how to begin a secondary project and how to get funding for it. But some things didn’t go so well: the long days took a lot out of us and many of us thought that only six weeks between PST and Reconnect were not enough to get a reasonable idea about the dynamics of our respective communities. In any case, most of us had a good time at Greiters (the resort we stayed at for the duration of the conference). The food was awesome – maybe because we eat porridge every day in the village – and it was fun to hear about everyone’s experiences thus far and explore Windhoek together.
Not much else has happened since my last post. I did, however, get to see the beautiful town of Tsumeb for a few days of work collaboration with some fellow volunteers on the way back to the North. The stop broke the trip into two very reasonable 4-hour drives rather than one of 8 hours and the only drawback was the incessant rains on Tuesday that halted our departure plans.
Now I am back in the village, typing this blog entry to avoid doing any real work (some things will never change). I am having a difficult time grasping the fact that it is mid-December due to these blazing hot daytime temperatures. But with that said, the holiday season is indeed upon us and in a few days I will be headed to Swakopmund along the Atlantic coast to celebrate Christmas and the New Year with many other volunteers. Apparently, everyone and their mother go to Swakop during the holidays so it should be an interesting experience. Additionally, some of us will also be headed to the Skeleton Coast to see the signature sand dunes of the Namib desert. Look forward to some awesome pictures in my next post…
Here are some images:
We stayed at the building on the right for two weeks... No wonder volunteers from more hardcore countries call PC/Namibia "Peace Corps Light!"
A cool stone structure in the hills of Windhoek near Greiters (the resort in the above photo).
Here is a map of my village that I have created after exploring the community for a few weeks. Note the fact that there is one "road" in the village and it is actually just an ondjila, a gravel path. Also note the amount of shebeens (bars).
Peace,
Joe
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