Arrival in My Village (1-20)

Sunday morning at 8:00 a driver from the Oshana Regional Office of Education picked up Abby and me to take us to our sites. We took a different road out of Windhoek that passed a section of shanty huts (tin) outside the city. Then we connected with the same road we took to Oshikunde, which was rather familiar after traveling it twice. About two-thirds of the way, we turned west onto a different road that quickly entered the flat, dry desert. 

At 4:00 we arrived at the meeting point in Ongwediva where Abby’s principal was to meet her. However, she was 40 minutes late, which made the driver quite irritated and which meant that the man meeting me had to wait almost an hour in the afternoon heat, which he wasn’t happy about. But we both got met and taken to our sites.

Ompundja is fifteen kilometers south of Oshakati. The first couple kilometers are paved and the rest of the road is gravel. Off the gravel road, the roads to many parts of the village are sand. Unlike Thai villages and villages in many places, the villages here do not have a central area. Homesteads are scattered with lots of space between them. In fact, there is often not a homestead in site or it is far in the distance. There are several small shops around, but they don’t have much—a few canned foods, some personal care items, and some drinks.

Angel, who met me, is the school’s Head of Department, which he said is like an assistant principal since there is only one HOD. He delivered me to the homestead that will be my home for the rest of the year. When we arrived, my luggage was taken from his pickup to my room. The 50-pound suitcase was put on top of the woman’s head, and she carried it to my room. Wheels are not useful on sand.

My “room” is really three rooms—

a bedroom, 

a living room, 

and a kitchen. The Office of Education provided a stove with an oven and a refrigerator. The men hooked up the gas for the stove, and it works well. I was especially happy to see the stove, as I had anticipated a hot plate like I had in China. Having four burners seems luxurious, as did the oven until I realized that it doesn’t have gas. I was really happy to have a way to cook a bit of food for dinner and was glad I’d purchased a few items as it quickly became clear that I was expected to take care of dinner myself.

The refrigerator was moved to the bedroom because that’s where the only electric outlet is. My room has no electricity. The outlet is on a long extension cord from the hosts’ room. I’ve purchased a plug with three outlets so I can have more than one item at a time receiving electricity. The first night, they turned the outlet extension off when the lights were turned off, which meant that the refrigerator was off all night. I talked to people at school about that, and they arranged for me to pay the electric company N$100/$6 to keep the outlet on always. There are light bulbs in the bedroom and living room that are attached to lines from the hosts’ room, as are other bulbs around the complex. They turn the lights on after sunset, around 8:00, and turn them off between 10:00 and 11:15, and it’s always a surprise when they go out. It’s good that I can use the computer and Kindle without the overhead light.

My hosts are Sark, the short name he gave me when I needed more practice saying his longer name (partly because I have difficulty understanding him), and Helena. They are an older couple and have been quite solicitous. He brought a couple containers of drinking and cooking water as well as a large bucket of water for bathing. He also brought a tub to put water in for washing and gave me matches so I could light the stove. In the morning, he brought a big pan for cooking porridge, which I didn’t have but which is a standard breakfast food. 

When I went for a walk Sunday evening, they came to meet me on the way back, saying they were terrified that I would get lost. Monday evening when I walked toward a shop Helena had pointed out to me, she told two boys to walk with me. Monday and Tuesday Sark made sure I was awake and ready to go to school on time. He asked if I had washed my whole body on Monday and instructed me to do so on Tuesday; so I guess morning washing is the thing to do here. They also stop by in the afternoon to check in with me. He is a security guard at the clinic, which is around the corner. She works at an office having to do with agriculture that is also within walking distance.

The washing area is a separate building close to my room. I think Angel said they had just finished it. It may not be totally new, but I can tell that some work was done on it, and the roof is new. There is a column on which the big tub sits for washing. Water is brought to the area in a large bucket that I refill daily at the tap in another part of the complex. I was glad I had bought a camping kit of dishes that has a small bowl that is perfect for throwing water on my body. And the cup is perfect for brushing my teeth.

The toilet is outside the building complex, as they are not usually in the “house.” It is 150 steps to get there from my door. Needless to say, it is not a flush toilet, but the hole is quite deep and doesn’t smell too much. 

There is a square-shaped concrete seat to sit on in such a way that the body hangs over the hole. It didn’t take long to learn how to sit appropriately. I take my tissue with me. The hosts use newspaper.

The homestead is divided into several small areas. 

These include their outside kitchen, a storage area with baskets to store the grain (millet), a food and wood storage hut, and a few other buildings. 

Another area has the water tap and lots of buckets of water and their washing area. There is also a covered area where their car is parked. The whole area is surrounded by a stick fence.

Chickens run around inside and outside the homestead, and goats are outside the complex but within the fence.

Monday night we had the first rain of the season. A couple people had mentioned that they were waiting for the rain, which was late coming. It definitely cooled things down, especially in the mornings. The rest of the week was overcast, but it was still plenty hot in the afternoon. More rain occurred Tuesday night.