Thanksgiving Feasts

Happy Thanksgiving!!

As much as I wish I were at home eating myself into a stupor with my family and loved ones, I’m excited to be here, sharing this holiday with other volunteers who are from all over the US.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a volunteer thanksgiving get together in the south. Our “Nam-Thanksgiving” was a hit. There were some Namibians there and at least 20 volunteers. Being with people from all different backgrounds and cultures who all share similar traditions for this holiday is quite amazing. It gave us a kind of cohesion through all of our vast diversities. Learning the traditions that the other’s miss from Thanksgivings spent with their own families was also intriguing. One of my favorite parts was sharing the history and meaning of Thanksgiving with the Namibians.

This weekend I’m going to another “Nam-Thanksgiving” in another part of the country. I can’t wait! NomNomNom

For the past couple of weeks I haven’t had any work to do... at all… My main job (KAYEC) has been on leave since basically the beginning of November for the holiday season. I attempted to get involved with some different groups around my town but, as it turns out, they are also finished until next year. Sooooo I’ve been a little bored and trying to keep busy. Mostly this entails doing small crafty type things to decorate my flat (you’d be amazed at the things you can create with yarn….). I go on walks. Watch T.V. shows (White Collar’s Matt Bomer is the most devastatingly gorgeous human being that has ever existed). And of course I’ve been reading a lot. Riveting… I know. This is my life.

Other than that, I’m just waiting for my vacation in December! Some other volunteers and I are going to a couple towns along the coast of Namibia and then we’ll also spend a few days in the Capital. While we’re in one of the coastal towns we’re going to go skydiving. I might die. From nerves. Or excitement. I’m not sure which, yet. I’ll keep you posted on that.

I know this post wasn’t the most exciting thing you’ve ever read. But… this is my life. I can’t be exciting all the time. Deal with it :)

 Happy Holidays my politically correct readers! 

KAYEC Bronze 1 Camp

Afternoon Readers, 
This past weekend my counterpart and I hosted a Bronze 1 Camp for our kiddos. "What's a Bronze 1?", you ask. Well, I'll tell you. Bronze 1 is the first level in our program. Every year a kid is enrolled into our program they go up a "level". There are different responsibilities and privileges associated with each level and each one also has a "camp" that goes with it. The Bronze 1 camp is reserved for having fun, while some of the others cover more serious things. Soooo, without further ado, here are some of the things we did with the kids this weekend :) 
The kids have been practicing their dancing skills for Cultural Fest! 

After I gave the girls a makeover, 

It was time to take some random, silly pictures! 

 

 

We tried to do that super cool thing where you all jump at the same time. It didn't quite work out but there was lots of laughter in our failure :)

I taught the kids some gymnastics. They're fast learners! 

WATER FIGHT! 

Trust Game!

Alright guys. It's taking these pictures forever to load but we also had a wet dance party after the water fight, played lots of games, had debates and just acted silly! I will leave you with just two more photos. It's been just a little over a month since I shaved my head and here is the progress. Its growing so fast! 

September 2013

 October 2013

And yes... i realize I look like the "Overly attached girlfriend" meme in this picture. 

"Let's leave skype on so we can watch each other sleep."

Tootles readers. You rock my face. 

Zambia/Malawi Holiday

Okay, Readers. As promised, here is the details on my recent vacation to Zambia and Malawi.  This trip definitely set the bar for all other vacations to come. It covered everything from almost dying while visiting one of the seven wonders of the world to someone literally pooping their pants. We met so many amazing people from all over the world. Not to mention my wanderlust had me starry eyed just from seeing more of the world.  First, I'll lay out the logistics of the trip. I left my site on Saturday, September 21 at 6 am. We finally crossed over into Zambia that Sunday afternoon. We stayed in Livingstone, Zambia for two nights before making our way to Lusaka, Zambia via bus at 4am. We stayed in Lusaka for one night and then woke again for another 4 am bus ride. By the evening of Wednesday, September 25th we were in Lilongwe, Malawi. We stayed here for three days before making our way to Senga Bay, Malawi to see the lake. On October 3rd we began making the journey back home. I officially made it back to Namibia on Sunday October 6th.  Here are some maps highlighting the different African countries I traveled across: 

I obviously started in Namibia 

Then went through Zambia

And finally ended up in Malawi

Okay okay okay. It's story time. 

I call this one: Trapped at the Falls. 

 While we were in Livingstone, Zambia we met a guy who talked us into visiting Victoria Falls. We weren't going to go because the other two people I was traveling with had already seen the falls and we were kind of crunched for time. Our new friend,....lets just call him...Jason, persuaded us to make the time. 

While we were walking through the park we saw people walking across the other side. You know. the side where the falls actually... fall. This was possible because the falls weren't full like they sometimes are. Well, obviously we decided we wanted to walk on top of Victoria falls too. So we went around to the other side and saw a path that clearly many others had taken given how many foot prints were left in the sand. We walked for a long time. Just playing around and taking pictures. One of the girls in our group was having some trouble traversing the rocky exterior of the falls and continuously fell into the small streams of the Zambezi river. This was made all the more hilarious by the fact that she was wearing a dress and kept flashing everyone. 

After almost 2 hours or so of walking some people stopped us and told us the area we were in was restricted, we needed to turn around and... didn't you see the sign?  (apparently we had almost walked all the way to Zimbabwe which is obviously not allowed as it is another country) Well, none of us had seen a sign. We began walking back looking for this elusive sign that (somehow) all four of us had missed. Sure enough, after a mile or so of backtracking: 

oops. 

At that point it was getting to be later in the afternoon and the sun was making it's descent. On our way back to the original pathway we were intersected by a guide who was apparently called by the guards who told us to turn around. Well... as it turns out.... it's perfectly fine to be on that side of the falls and go exploring.... as long as you have a guide. Yeahhhhh.... we missed that memo. It was at this point in our journey that the guide began lecturing us. "Where are you from" he asked. To which we responded, "America". The derision he felt at this was evident in both the scoff he made as well as the disappointed shaking of his head. We were not representing America well.

Now it became crucial that we get back in a timely matter, as the levee is often released at sunset and we did not wish to be swept off Victoria Falls. The girl who was mentioned earlier who kept falling was holding us up. The guide looked at her and said quite emphatically, "And what made you think your friend could make it anyway?!" We all died laughing at this. The guide did not get the joke. 

We had almost made it back to where we were supposed to be. We could see the pathway. The only problem was.... it was blocked. By not one. not two. But THREE elephants. We had to be very careful lest the elephants decide we were a threat and trample us or chase us off Victoria Falls. It took about thirty minutes but eventually the elephants got bored and wandered off. leaving us a clear path to ... the path. 

Here is a picture of the falls :)

Man, that story was longer than I expected. Although I was going to tell a few more stories, I'll leave you with just one more. 

I call this one: A smelly bus ride. 

The night we stayed in Lusaka, Zambia we decided to go to the mall. We had heard there was a Subway there and we were beside ourselves with excitement to eat something so American. As it turns out, the chicken teriyaki was NOT the correct thing to get. I had the six inch. Nicky.... had the foot long. After seeing a movie in the cinema (yeah... that's right) we called it a night and went back to our lodging to get some sleep. We had to be up at 4 am to catch our bus for the next day. 

The next day we boarded the bus at 4:30 am, as planned. However, since things tend to run on "Africa time" here, the bus did not depart the station until after 6 am. It was at this time that Nicky and I both began paining in our stomachs. About 30 minutes into the ride, the pain was becoming quite worrisome. Nicky, being on the isle seat, turn to the man seated in between the two of us and asked, "My friend, do you know when the next stop is? I am having running stomach." She had high hopes that her blunt honesty of the situation would lead the man to give an accurate estimation of time. She was wrong. The man quoted that we would be coming upon a town in the next 30 minutes. We waited an hour and a half. Let me type that again. AN HOUR AND A HALF. Now, I'm not sure if any of you have ever been in this particular predicament, but it is not one you wish to be in for an extended period of time. I was beginning to worry I would not make it to our desired destination: a bathroom, or even a bush, or anything resembling a bathroom or a bush. The pain, at this point, was unbearable. Nicky and I decided that it was time for the bus to stop, and stop NOW. It was a dire situation. 

Im assuming many of you have never taken public transportation in an African country. In that case, let me explain a few things. There are no empty seats. The bus does not leave until every seat has a person in it. Often, many seats will have more than one person. Also, traveling lightly is not necessarily a popular concept. okay. back to the story. 

It was time to make this bus stop. Nicky and I begin making our way to the front of this bus which is crowded beyond belief. I, being in the window seat, was forced to crawl over our friend whose concept of time was far from that of reality. Once I made it to the isle, Nicky and I began hiking over the mountains of luggage and personal items of those on the bus. These are NOT activities you want to pursue when you are worried your bowels are about to evacuate themselves on their own volition, I might add. 

We eventually made it to the front of the bus and made the thing stop. As Nicky and I are walking to the bathroom she informs me that she in fact did not win this race and she had already pooped her pants. I was barely able to process this at the time, as I was still fighting my battle. We made it to the bathroom only to find out that it is three walls without a door and a hole in the ground. and, worst of all....occupied. We did the only thing we could. We walked around it and dropped trou right there. Behind this pit latrine lay the rest of the village. Yup. We pooped in front of, easily, 15 people that day. Thank God Peace Corps teaches us to always, ALWAYS, carry toilet paper on our persons. 

That bus ride ended up lasting for 14 hours. Seeing as our bags were stored under the bus, Nicky sat in her own feces for 14 hours. Yeah... I was the lucky one that day. 

Before Peace Corps I would have been mortified by this experience, and definitely would not have been able to talk about it. Now I'm writing a blog and posting it on the internet so generations to come can laugh. I guess what they say is true. Peace Corps changes you. 

:)

G.I. Jane

I know everyone's already seen it on Facebook, but I wanted to document it in my blog as well.  Before

After

Now, the question on everyone's mind seems to be "Why?" well... here ya go: *I've always said I would do it one day. Today was that day.  *I needed a change *It's HOT *I'm in Namibia... Why not?! *It's been great experiencing this in the Namibian culture with the children I work with. I get the sense that they don't value themselves or feel they are beautiful because their hair is not like mine. I loved showing them how little my hair meant to me *I'm through hiding behind the hair. This is me. I like me. It doesn't get more real than that.

Projects and such

Here’s what I've been doing for the past month or two :)

In a previous post I mentioned how my counterpart and I have been working with our kids on fundraising. Our kids have hosted a soccer tournament and a movie night, sold candy and collected money door-to-door. Also, on Monday’s the kids bring in N$1.00 each to add to the fund. Overall we have collected over N$800 so far (roughly 80.00 USD) We plan on purchasing  matching KAYEC t-shirts for the kids with some of the money, and the rest we will continue to save and use when we need things for events/activities.

My counterpart and I have also been working on putting together a weekly movie night on Fridays for the community kids. We noticed that many of the kids go to shebeens (bars) on Friday nights and drink alcohol because they have nothing else to do. This behavior can lead to unprotected sex, teenage pregnancy, and the contraction of HIV, all of which are huge issues Namibia is facing. Our movie night idea will by no means solve this problem, but it’s one less night SOME of the kids are at the shebeens. This project is still in the planning stages. We’re currently waiting on approval to use the community hall on Friday evenings. Once we get the approval we can start the next Friday. We plan to charge N$2.00 to watch the movie and we will provide a health/life skills discussion before the movie starts. The money gained from the entry fee will be used to buy snacks and refreshments.  Hopefully, we can get this started soon! 

This week and last week I have mainly been working on a pen pal program with a teacher in the states (who is amazing and shall remain nameless for her own protection :)). The program will involve 21 of my kids who will write letters back and forth to a fourth grade class in America in order to increase cultural awareness and bring about a cultural exchange.  I work with upwards of 50 kids a week and therefore chose my 21 kids based on their attendance records for the past three months. I have been taking pictures of each of the 21 chosen kids so that the kid in America will know who they are writing to. I’m so excited to see this program get started, as are my kids!

In more personal news… I’m going to Malawi at the end of this month!! Myself and two other volunteers will be going to a musical festival and will be gone for 13 days. I am so excited! Stay tuned for the full update on the trip!

Here are some other random things I've done this month!

I went hiking with my kids 

I attended a Namibian Birthday party

and a Namibian wedding!

Well... That's all folks!

Race, Tribalism, and Gender Equality

Hey there readers!!

So this post will be less about me and my life and more about Namibian history and society. I have been corresponding with one of my friends, who I met in our undergraduate program, via email. She has been asking me questions about Namibia and I loved one of her latest questions so much, I decided to make an entire blog out of it! Enjoy :)

"How do they view white people? Do you feel excluded? Have you noticed any racism between different tribes or any gender biases?"

These questions are extremely difficult to answer without getting into some of Namibia's history.

Namibia was actually the location of the 20th century's first genocide between the years of 1904 and 1907. During this time Namibia was known as "German South-West Africa". The genocide  targeted two tribes in particular: the Herero tribe and the Namaqua tribe. In August of 1904 the Herero people rebelled against German colonial rule, thus beginning Germany's first genocide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero_and_Namaqua_Genocide

Today, there are still South Africans in Namibia. They are known as "Afrikaaners" and speak Afrikaans. As expected, there is tension between the white (Afrikaaner) Namibians and the black (native) Namibians. Afrikaaner Namibians tend to have more money and often go to private schools that only they can afford. It has been my experience that the Afrikaaners do not like to associate with black Namibians. The two entities seem to be very segregated.

This history does effect me to a certain degree. For instance: because I am white it is automatically assumed that I speak Afrikaans. In fact, the kids I work with at KAYEC often ask me, "Do people in America speak Afrikaans?" It is also assumed that I am rich (this is more because I am American than that I resemble Afrkaaners). Children and adults alike will run up to me on the street and ask for money or food. I get proposed to daily and asked if I can take them back to America with me.

The Afrikaaners generally do not speak to me. They don't understand why I would leave America to come help black Namibians.

There is quite a bit of Tribalism present in Namibia. Although, all the separate tribes identify as Namibian they do not always associate with the other tribes. It is my experience that each tribe holds a certain pride that their tribe is the best tribe. This is human nature, of course. It's just an interesting dynamic. Also, the different tribes often have different segments of the location they live in.

Gender equality is a major issue here. The country has been working on this and has made great strides, however, it is normal for individual's to adhere to classic gender roles. For example: it is common for only women to do housework, such as cooking, cleaning, etc. It is viewed as shameful and un-manly for a man to be seen doing these activities. Children are not permitted to play with the opposite sex. Girls must play with girls and boys must play with boys. The job market is very gender based as well. It is not common that you will see people working in jobs outside their gender roles. Men are taxi drivers, for instance. While women sell baked goods or work in markets.

http://www.kas.de/upload/auslandshomepages/namibia/Women_Custom/ambunda.pdf

The gender norms have effected me some. I recall a specific example when I was moving out of my host family's house. My host father was helping me load my bags. I picked up one of the heavier bags and put it in the back of the vehicle. My host father told me that girls must not lift heavy things. I told him that sometimes you have to do what you have to do. He then began explaining to me that it is disrespectful for me to lift heavy things in the presence of a man who could lift it for me. By me lifting it by myself, I am calling the man weak. This is strange for me because I am extremely self-sufficient and don't like asking for help unless I actually cannot do it by myself. It has taken some adjustment on my part, but I've gotten better.

I know this post has been long. Thanks for reading!
Stay tuned for next time :)
Also. If you have any questions about Namibia, my life in Namibia or just want to keep in touch... feel free to email me!
Raelyn89@gmail.com

Happy Independence Day

So, I realize it’s been awhile since my last post. Sometimes my life just doesn’t seem interesting enough to write about for the world to read. For the past couple of weeks I have been running KAYEC by myself while my counterpart was in the hospital and recovery from an operation. That was definitely an interesting experience. The kids have mostly been great, though. They have been planning a fundraising event to bring in more money for KAYEC. They want to host a movie night and charge a minimal fee for entrance. I’ll keep you updated on their efforts.

Mostly my days are actually pretty boring at this point in time. I don’t have any other projects except KAYEC right now. So I usually just hang out with the kids and help them with their homework (this week was adding and subtracting decimals). The highlight has usually been eating dinner with my site mate, Nicole. I would probably starve to death without her. We have a lot of fun attempting to make Mexican food with Namibian ingredients. Sometimes we fail. Sometimes we don’t.

Some other random but interesting things that have happened since my last update:

I got bitten by a dog.

I did not get rabies from the dog.

My Ipod was stolen.

My camera was stolen.

My Kindle was stolen.

I had my first stomach virus. And yes, It was awful. I still cannot eat meat. Don’t ask.

My Kindle was returned with little to no damage. There was a short video and some notifications that the Elvis songs the kid tried to download could not be completed.

My camera was returned (without me ever realizing it was missing and without batteries)

My Ipod was returned dead with no headphones.

(these things were all returned thanks to the detective skills of my amazing Namibian counterpart and the Namibian police department. Chasing of the perp was involved in the collection of these items. And yes, I did sing the COPS theme song as I ran)

I moved into my new place. It’s absolutely wonderful. One day I will post pictures, I promise.

Well that’s it for this post.

Until next time,

Happy Independence Day America. You are missed. 

KAYEC

            So far I LOVE the NGO (Non-Government Organization) that I will be working with for the next two years in Namibia. KAYEC (Katutura Youth Enterprise Centre) is an after school organization for children between the ages of 12 and 18. These kids are absolutely amazing. Every day they are faced with so many hardships, and yet they are still striving to do better in school and become leaders. It’s completely humbling to just sit and watch an older member voluntarily teach the younger members to read or to watch all of the children come together and facilitate an entire program for the community by themselves. Having worked with children of this age group and socio-economic level in both America and Namibia, it is definitely interesting to note the vast differences distinguishing the children between the two cultures. I cannot wait to set up a pen pal system with these children and a 4^th grade class in America. The cultural exchange will be amazing to see.

            Since starting at KAYEC I have personally facilitated two trainings with the children. One consisted of a fact or myth game aimed at teaching the kids about sexual and reproductive health and the other was a leadership training. I was genuinely surprised at my own ability to explain the different aspects of sexual and reproductive health to a group of middle school aged children from a different culture, whose preferred language is not English in a manner that they would understand it. The leadership training went extremely well, also. However, explaining the different types of leadership proved to be quite a challenge. They simply could not decipher the meanings between Democratic, Authoritative, and Laissez-faire leadership styles. There’s only so many ways I can break the information down, but in the end I think they understood it…. I think. Seeing as how all of these children are already leaders in so many ways, the rest of the training was a breeze.

In closing, I will leave you with some pictures and a video of the children I’m lucky enough to work with everyday J

Late Update!

So, a lot has happened since my last post (sorry). Life has been hectic recently and finding the time/internet connection to update is not always easy. So here’s an update on my life J

Site Visit: I visited my permanent site! I was advised not to put my precise location on my blog so talk to me if you don’t know where I am and would like to know more! I can say that I am in a pretty good sized town. I have a shopping store, post office and a few restaurants easily accessible. It’s somewhat a tourist town so it’s very pretty. I was NOT expecting to have so many amenities this easily available. I have electricity AND hot water available to me. Most of the streets in town are paved. Once you leave town and go to the less lucrative parts of the area (called the location) the streets are no longer paved and are either dirt or gravel. For my first couple of weeks I will be living in the location with a host family. After I get to know the community somewhat I will move in town. I have a site mate named Nicole. She is a volunteer with Peace Corps and has been in my community for a year already. She volunteers at the community hospital and she’s absolutely lovely. My after school youth group meets in the location everyday around two. I will spend a large portion of time tutoring these kids in Math and English (Yikes!). I will also teach them about HIV/AIDS and prevention when able. While in this community I will also pick up secondary projects. These will include working with any community organization/group to better the community that is not my primary assignment with the after school group.  

Language:  So language has been an extreme difficulty for me. There are two other volunteers in my group learning Khoekhoegowab and I have been having the most difficulty. My issue has been that I can read it just fine; I simply cannot speak it, nor do I understand when it is spoken to me. I have asked my instructor for extra lessons, but time is limited. We took a mid Pre-Service Training (PST) Language Proficiency Interview (LPI) and I scored Novice Medium. The levels are as follows (Novice Low, Novice Medium, Novice High, Intermediate Low, Intermediate Medium, and Intermediate High). In order to pass as required by Peace Corps Namibia, I need to score Intermediate Low. This means I need to raise my score two whole levels. The interview is strictly in your target language (Khoekhoegowab) and consists of the interviewer asking questions about your life in America, family, life in Namibia, host family, etc. In order to achieve Intermediate Low you must complete a role play in the target language (eeek!). Well, I recently took the last LPI… I have no idea how this happened but I passed! I even did the role play. I almost kissed my instructor! I was so proud! I answered almost every question 

Swearing in: Earlier this week I was sworn in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). My swearing in ceremony was held in Windhoek and the Prime Minister was invited. This means it was somewhat of a big deal. I wore a traditional Damaran (one of the tribes that speak Khoekhoegowab) dress. My host mom in Okahandja had the dress made especially for me to wear to swearing in. Our swearing in was later on NBC (Namibian Broadcasting Channel)! Yup, I was singing in a different language on the Namibian news. Jealous?

Moving to site: On Thursday I officially moved to my permanent site. I’m so excited to be finished with training and be an official volunteer! My first three months at site will consist of me completing a needs assessment to determine what precisely my community wants and/or needs from me. This means I’ll be spending a lot of time just walking around and getting to know people and talking to community leaders and stakeholders.

Once again, sorry it took so long for this post! However, now that I’m at site, I will probably be updating less. I will maybe update once a month or when something of importance happens!

Stay classy, readers

Me in my Traditional Damaran Dress

Across Cultural Lines

“Holy Cow! I’m in Africa!!” I say this to myself at least once a day, usually while I’m watching the sunset transform the sky into some new impossible color that my camera can’t seem to capture. I wonder if there will come a time when I’m no longer shocked by the fact that I’m here. Sometimes I forget entirely that I’m in another country until I hear or see something that reminds me of America and I have to step back and remember where I am. For instance, last week I was unpacking my things in my new host family’s house. I could hear the T.V. playing a commercial of a South African lotion in the other room. Suddenly, the commercial changes and I hear Ryan Seacrest asking me who’s going to be the next American Idol. I run to the next room in shock. After the iconic logo and theme music fade, I’m left staring at the T.V. for several minutes trying to figure out where I am. These moments happen often and leave me very dazed and confused.

Apart from these jarring realizations of my current locale, things haven’t been that different so far. This is mostly because I’m staying in one of the wealthier areas of Namibia, while in training, that has access to more resources. My final destination in this country will be much different, I’m sure. However, here is a small list of things that are not quite the same as I’m used to:

-Tomatoes, onions, and mayonnaise are used in most dishes prepared here. This doesn’t cause a problem for me, but I know many people back home who just gagged a little. Last night I had a “salad” that consisted of tomato paste, carrots, peppers, and onions. Sounds weird, but was delicious. My host mom, Alta, is going to teach me to make it.

-Butter is put on everything involving bread. Which doesn’t sound that odd… until you see it put on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

 

-Meat is a big deal here. Because of the land they don’t eat as many vegetables, so the meals are primarily meat. They say Americans eat too many vegetables and not enough meat. They also eat donkey and horse here. I haven’t tried it yet, but if I do I’ll let you know how it is.

- Side note: Saturday is cultural day at training. Traditional foods will be prepared according to Namibian standards. Mupane worms are on the menu. Stay posted for a review J

 

-Children are in awe of white people. They stare unabashedly and will wave constantly. The other day I was riding home from training and saw a group of children waving at me from the window. I smiled and waved back. They began jumping up and down, waving and blowing kisses at me. All I could do was laugh.

 

-Gender roles and equality are quite different here. It is not uncommon for a man to have a wife and several girlfriends. The respective women of one man will all become friends and watch each other’s children. While walking home from a fellow volunteers host house in my neighborhood the other day, a man stopped me and asked if I was married. This is basically a pick up line here. I answered, “very married” and he smiled and said, “I’m married twice; it’s better that way.” 

First Week

Man! This first week has been crazy! It took forever to get here. I left Shreveport, Louisiana on 3/11/13 at 5:00am and arrived in Namibia on 3/13/13 at 7:00 pm! I traveled on 4 different airplanes and two buses to get here. The longest flight was almost 15 hours.

I started training the day after I arrived at 7:30 am. So far I've been through 3 days of training and have been given too much information to process! I find out which African language I will learn tomorrow, as well as, meet my host family for the next 3 months. On Tuesday I will move into their house. I'm really nervous about it.

Other than that, I've just been trying to see as much as I can. I'm in a town called Okahandja. It's not far from the capitol, Windoek. The people here are really nice and so far everyone I've met speaks english and about 7 other languages. This part of Namibia isn't really that different from the U.S. There are grocery stores and restuarants where you can get pretty much anything. Once I get placed at my permanent site, things will probably be much different. So, I better soak it up now!

Today, I went on a hike up a hill (it was a mountain to me) that was called Pride Rock. On the way to the base of the hill we had to go through a farm with a bunch of children who decided to be our guides up the hill. There were about 5 or 6 of them, I guess. Many of them were not wearing shoes. You should have seen them flying up those cliffs! It was crazy! Once we made it to the top, we stopped for a bit and took some pictures. The kids were so excited! They loved having their picture taken and eventually just took the cameras and started taking their own pictures. On the way back they decided to follow us to our hostel and just sat and talked with us for a bit. It was definitely a wonderful day. The view of Okahandja from the top of Pride Rock was simply breathtaking. Pictures could never do it justice.

Why?

Upon learning that I am planning on becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV), the first question many have for me is, "Why do you want to be a PCV?" or "What made you want to do that?". I would like to take the time to answer this question for everyone.

I have always been an extremely empathetic person who thrives on helping others achieve their goals. While in high school, my plan was to join the Peace Corps immediately following graduation. However, I was sorely disappointed when my research on the subject found that a college degree is necessary in most cases in order to become a volunteer. 

I then attended a seminar in order to become more knowledgeable on the application process. The knowledge gained from this seminar only proved to renew my vigor and passion for volunteering. In November of 2006 I dropped out of high school, received my GED and began college in January of the following year in order to expedite the process of becoming a PCV. 

I am now 23 years old with a Bachelor’s and Master's of Social Work. My overwhelming need to help others spurred my decision to get an education in social work. My personal values seemed to parallel those of the profession. Only one month after receiving my Master’s degree, I am still overwhelmingly  passionate about becoming a PCV. 

In short, applying for the Peace Corps was never an option; It was, and is, something I HAVE to do. It feels more like a responsibility that I must see through to the end rather than a simple aspiration of mine.

I hope this entry helped everyone understand my reasoning behind joining the Peace Corps. Before departing, I would like to leave you with a few of the best reactions I have received once people have learned I am joining the Peace Corps:

"Aren't there people in America you can help?"

"Why the hell would you want to do that for?!"

"That's amazing! I wish I could do something like that."

"You're doing this for free?! You must be crazy."

"That's really inspiring."

and my personal favorite:
"Where are you going to get beer?"

Ubuntu Philosophy

I figured I would start my first post by explaining my title. "I am because we are" is a rough translation of an African philosophy (Ubuntu) that my research has shown is a major part of the Namibian culture. Essentially, it means that humans cannot exist without the help of others. As in, the only reason I exist is because we all exist.  For a less crude explanation, maybe Wikipedia can help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_(philosophy)

Side note:

I almost titled this blog "Land of the Brave" due to Namibia's National Anthem. I found the themes of bravery and freedom to be intriguing due to their similarity to the U.S.

"Namibia, land of the brave
Freedom fight we have won
Glory to their bravery
Whose blood waters our freedom
We give our love and loyalty
Together in unity
Contrasting beautiful Namibia
Namibia our country
Beloved land of savannahs,
Hold high the banner of liberty
     Namibia our Country,
     Namibia Motherland,
     We love Thee"