Home Again (9-4)

The trip home was long. Sunday I flew from Bulawayo to Johannesburg and then, after four hours at the airport, on to Windhoek. Leokadia had invited me to stay in her house again, which was nice, especially since I didn’t arrive until 7:30 and left at 7:00 Monday morning. Although we aren’t good friends, it was nice to see friendly faces.

Monday morning I took a taxi to the place for getting a combi, a shared van, to Oshakati. I arrived at 7:20, and we didn’t leave until 11:00 because it took that long for the van to fill. Since I knew I wouldn’t arrive back in time to hike, I contacted Wilhelmina to pick me up. She did, and, since she was staying in the village, she brought me home. I was really tired after sitting in the van for twelve hours; so it was really nice to be home. Kowmongwa and Helena came to greet me and welcome me back.

Tuesday was teachers’ work day. I washed some of my clothes before going to school since I know these days are pretty casual. By noon, I was the only one left. I did some work in my room and went home at 3:15. It was good to have time to relax and read in the yard in my chair, which makes me feel that I’m home. 

I enjoyed watching the chickens, as always. The little ones are starting to look like their mothers. There are a couple new groups of chicks as well.

I gave Kowmongwa and Helena some sweets from Zimbabwe and the usual shampoo from the guesthouse. Tuesday morning they came to give me a Sprite and a Coke from a wedding they had attended. I also gave them the dried beef patties I’d been given during our practicum back in January and had forgotten about. That evening they came to give me a big chunk of raw beef for me to cook for myself. Since I hadn’t cooked beef for over 30 years, I looked up a recipe online. Wednesday I cooked it like a pot roast with sweet potatoes and onions. I tasted a bit, but I don’t like beef and could eat only a few bites. But the gravy was good with the potatoes and porridge. I took the cooked beef to school to share with the teachers.

Wednesday was the first day for learners. Basically, nothing happened that day. We had an assembly in the morning because it was the first day. Then I went to class, but the learners didn’t come. I learned that they were cleaning their homeroom classrooms. My next class didn’t come, either. During the next two classes we had a staff meeting. Afterwards, my last class for the day didn’t show up, which was not a surprise. 

But the 8A girls who really like me ran in to hug and high five. When I asked, they moved the desks back in place (The cleaning woman had moved them to wash the floor.) so it looked like a classroom again. Since this wasn’t their class time, we ended out having a photo session, which was fun. 

I enjoy watching them pose and enjoy looking at their photos. Unlike the Thais and Chinese, they like serious poses. 

Several of the boys came in to join us and to just hang out in the back of the room. We all went home at 2:00, which was nice.

Thursday it was back to classes as usual. I’m aware that this is my last semester teaching as well as teaching in Namibia. Although I’m ready for this, it feels strange. There are many things I will miss about teaching and Namibia.

  

Saturday I hiked to town and was lucky to get a ride within ten minutes. Wilhelmina had mentioned the annual Ongwediva Trade Fair that she had wanted to take me to but couldn’t because she had a workshop. So, after purchasing my food, I went across the street to the Trade Fair. There is a large, permanent building that had information displays from various organizations and companies. 

Two large tents were full of items for sale—trinkets and clothes. 

A smaller tent had the cultural items for sale

—mostly things that can be purchased at the open market. There were also stalls selling trinkets outside the tents. I enjoyed walking around for an hour.

I’d been wanting to return to Spur for a quesadilla for a couple months, but the tiiming didn’t work out. So Saturday was a good opportunity since there was no rush to get back to the road to hike home. I invited Wilhelmina to join me and was glad that she was able to do so. We shared the quesadilla and buffalo wings. I was lucky she could join me because she thought she had a workshop but no one was there; perhaps she didn’t pay close attention to the dates and it is next month. At any rate, it was nice to have the time to relax and share the meal.

Sunday the time changed to daylight savings time; so in the future I can stay out later, as it isn’t dark till 7:00 instead of 6:00. It also means I can enjoy relaxing in my yard after school before dinner. Spring is here. Day temperatures are in the 90s; night temps are in the 60s. I’ve used the fan briefly a few times to cool off in the evening and have packed the heavy blankets, using only the light one now.

Sunday Helena’s nephew came to fix the light switch. He replaced all the wiring so that it’s along the wall instead of hanging from the window to the light bulb and put the switch on the wall. After two weeks with no light, it’s nice but a little strange to have light all evening again. I’m not sure how much control I’ll have even with the switch, as they still turned the lights off Sunday night.

The grade10 girls have asked about not having to have the very short haircuts. I think they want to look like girls. This was discussed at the staff meeting, and it was decided that the policy has to remain for this year but that they will discuss it with parents. I learned from Wilhelmina that the policy was made by parents many years ago because they wanted their daughters to be serious about studying and not about spending lots of time fixing their hair.

Some of the learners were not happy with their exam results, especially some who had worked hard but failed the exam. The exams are like the one they will have in October for grade 10 and November for grades 8 and 9. Maybe more of the learners will be more serious this term, since the next exams are the ones that determine whether or not they pass to the next grade.

Sunsets are featuring a big, red sun every night. 

Bulawayo 2 (8-27)

Friday we went to Khami, ruins of a city that was thriving from the 15^th to 17^th centuries. The largest ancient site is Great Zimbabwe, which is older. Reading about Great Zimbabwe had instigated my interest in ruins here. However, it is too far away from Victoria Falls and isn’t easy to get to. In researching, I then learned about Khami in Bulawayo; so along with Matapos that made Bulawayo my destination. It is believed that people migrated to Khami from Great Zimbabwe. As with most of Matopos, Albert had never been to Khami and was very interested in learning the history and seeing everything. I purchased the small booklet about it so we could read about what we were seeing as we walked around. Albert ended out carrying it most of the time and read everything. He made sure we saw everything there was to see. On Saturday he told me that he had told his family all about Khami. When I left, I gave him the booklet so he can use it when he takes them there or with other tourists.

Khami was home to about 9000 people. The ruins are remains of housing and buildings used by the elite. Common people had houses on the plains without the stone walls, which are what remains now. The houses were round, mud dhakas, they typical houses of the region. 

The walls are retaining walls, as the buildings are on hills—both natural and man-made, making them high to show the importance of the residents. They are constructed with granite blocks, some of which have dirt or small stones between them to hold them in place. 

No mortar was used. 

Some have decorative patterns at the top of the wall—blocks laid in a decorative style or a line of black stones. The structures are called platforms, perhaps because they are on the flat top of a mound. 

The museum has a picture and diorama of what a platform would have looked like.

The Main Platform, which is the king’s residence is, of course, the highest and largest platform. 

Like most of the platforms, there are walled steps leading up. 

This one has parts of some of the round structures that would have been meeting rooms or houses.

Nearby is the Cross Platform, 

which has a Dominican cross on top of a large, flat-topped boulder. 

It has been cemented to the rock to prohibit further vandalism. People put offerings of coins in the center, and we had fun looking at the coins from different countries. I didn’t have any coins to add, but there was an American nickel.

We walked to the dam on the Khami River. An interesting item there is the gong rock, a rock that sounds like a gong when hit with a smaller rock. It would probably have been used for ritual purposes.

A platform that is a little different is Monolith Platform which is built with a large monolith on its back side. It is far from the Main Hill; so it would have been for a member of the lesser elite.

Gold was mined in Khami. Europeans came looking for gold and the people traded gold for items such as beads and Chinese porcelain.

We had an enjoyable day wandering around the site. 

On the way back we stopped briefly at a market so I could see it. We also walked around a shopping center that was about 80% empty, as most stores had closed due to the economic crisis. At the end of the day, I was a little tired from the walking in the sun and was glad to return to the guesthouse garden to relax.

Roads, other than the main roads, are in bad condition and have lots of pot holes. The final road to Khami has had the middle repaved; so it’s essentially a one lane road with cars pulling over if there are two. On the road to Khami we saw several donkey carts. There were many people walking along the road.

We stopped briefly at a grocery store where I picked up a drink and a small package of mixed vegetables. I asked the cook to prepare them for me for dinner, and she agreed. I hadn’t had vegetables like that since leaving Ompundja and realized how much I missed them. I had the rest of the veggies Saturday, and the cook surprised me with a bowl of the spinach-like big leaves as a good-bye present. She told me she’ll miss me when I leave.

Saturday Albert and I went to the Natural History Museum. On the way we stopped at a craft store to see if they had a hat since I’d lost mine at Matopos. They did. I also bought a few more baskets since they were much cheaper ($3 compared to $7 or $10) than in Victoria Falls. We spent several hours at the museum. Albert hadn’t been there before and was very interested in everything. I’m slow in museums, but he was even slower. He read every sign and sometimes told me the information. While I might have skipped over some of the exhibits of items I’d seen before, he didn’t skip anything, which was OK since he was enjoying it and there was nothing else on the agenda that day. The first exhibit on the ground floor is live snakes, including several of the really big ones. There are history and cultural exhibits. 

I always enjoy the pottery exhibits. 

An item that surprised me is a stagecoach that was brought from the U.S. 

When we finally came to the carved ivory figure that was pictured in the Khami booklet, Albert was very excited. It is beautiful. He was also excited that we had seen the cave paintings that were reproduced in the museum. Sharing his excitement was worth paying his admission. 

We enjoyed the pictures of what Great Zimbabwe would have looked like since Khami is the same on a smaller scale. It helped us visualize what we saw.

The museum also has extensive exhibits on rocks, shells, and animals—mammals, insects, birds. Of course, we saw all of these very thoroughly. It was another enjoyable day.

Random info:

Cars have their registration and insurance stickers on the windshield. We drove through several checkpoints where the police were checking to make sure these were in place. Also to make sure seat belts were fastened.

Products are made in Zimbabwe. I purchased Zimbabwean sweets for the teachers and Kowmongwa and Helena.

Money is the U.S. dollar. South African rand are also accepted, but the dollar is the main currency. I had read that Zimbabwean currency was withdrawn because of the economic crisis. In Victoria Falls, men on the streets try to sell bills for 1 million or 1 billion as souvenirs. There are demonstrations in Harare, the capital, but the rest of the country is fine and quite safe.

Bulawayo (8-25)

Wednesday was travel day. I had to wake up at 6:00 to be at the bus pick up location at 7:00. The trip to Bulawayo took 5.5 hours. Since this was an Intercape bus, it was reasonably comfortable. I came to Bulawayo to visit two national parks. On the way to the guesthouse, the driver who met me told me he could take me, and I agreed.

The guesthouse is in a residential area out of the city. I had an enjoyable walk to a nearby grocery store to pick up some drinks and snacks. Then I settled into the garden to relax, eat, and read. Photos of the garden were a big attraction for choosing this guesthouse, and relaxing there at the end of each day became my routine.

Thursday morning Albert picked me up and we headed to Matopos National Park. The park is known for its rock formations and cave paintings. Another site there (with an additional fee) has Cecil Rhodes’ grave. As we went through the park, I learned that Albert had been to the gravesite but had not been farther into the park and had not seen the cave paintings. So he enjoyed the tour as much as I did, which was nice. He later told me that he had a good job as a sales representative, but two years ago the white owners closed the company and left the country. So now he uses his car as a taxi to earn some money. His wife is a teacher at a government school, but teachers are not being paid now due to the economic crisis.

When we came to the first stop, I informed Albert that we would be stopping everywhere. This one was the MOTH shrine which honors men killed on Easter 1947. Their ashes are in a memorial there. A sign gave some information, but it wasn’t clear why they were killed that day.

As we drove, I enjoyed the many rock formations. They are reminiscent of places in the Southwest U.S. Albert told me that the word “Zimbabwe” means “stone house.”

There were bundles of elephant grass along the road. Women cut the grass, bundle it, and set it on the side of the road to sell. When we saw some women, Albert learned that they sell each bundle for $1, which is nothing for all the work involved. It is used for the thatched roofs on the huts and needs to be replaced every two years.

The first cave we came to was White Rhino Cave. Getting to the cave required walking up over the rocks to it. The cave is small, but the paintings on the walls are amazing. Even though the paintings are rather faint, it was exciting to examine them and make out the lines of the drawings. A ranger later told us that they are 4000-6000 years old. 

Favorites are the white rhino 

and the giraffes.

When I paid to enter the park, I asked if they have a map. They don’t. So we were on our own. When I saw the sign to the dam, I decided we should go there. It turned out to be a good choice. Before the dam there was another cave—Pomongwe Cave, and there was a small museum at the parking lot. We had to pay to go to the cave, but the ticket includes the Cecil Rhodes gravesite, which I had not chosen to go to. The ranger explained the museum exhibits to us and told us that there is a cave with better paintings after the dam.

 Pomongwe cave is the largest easily accessible cave. It was occupied from 10,000 to 2,000 years ago, and the paintings are 2000 to 6000 years old. Paint was made from ground stone mixed with blood or animal fat. 

They are quite high on the wall because the floor used to be much higher. This we learned from a man who was visiting with his family. He grew up in the area and used to play in the cave. He and his friends found a lot of caves in the mountains. He was visiting to show his sons where he grew up, as they live in London now.

After the cave we headed for the dam and Nswatugi Cave, the one the ranger recommended. The river on the bottom side of the dam has very little water, and there is no water on the top side. 

The turn to the cave was farther than we had thought, and then it was seven kilometers on a dirt road. Once we arrived, we had to walk about a kilometer up to the cave. But, once we saw the cave paintings, we agreed that it was well worth the effort to get there. The cave is smaller than Pomongwe, but the paintings are much clearer. Just as we were finishing, a tour group arrived. We were really glad to have had as long as we wanted to enjoy the paintings alone.

On the way out of the park, I decided that we should stop at the Cecil Rhodes gravesite since I’d paid to see it. The site is called World’s View. Rhodes requested to be buried there because this was a place he liked to visit to relax. The grave is on the top of the mountain; so we had a short walk up to it. It is a popular pilgrimage site for British people. 

The view from the top is spectacular.

With the rocks, cave paintings, and view from the top of the mountain, it was a fantastic day. It was fun to share Albert’s excitement as we explored places that were new to him. On Friday he told me that he had told his wife and children about everything he had seen.