Monday 30 August 2010
RSI (Repetitive Safari Injury)
I’m currently suffering from what I have diagnosed as Photographer’s Neck – severe neck pain caused by excessive craning out of car windows through a view finder. It’s nothing that a good hot bath wouldn’t fix – it’s a pity we still do not have hot water.
Other than the lack of hot water, which is testing Julia particularly when it comes to hand washing laundry (fortunately I have been happy to help her out with her chores ), things are going well. We have had a very exciting couple of weeks and the work situation has improved as a result of some promising meetings and us adjusting to the pace of things. Furthermore, today I managed to speak to my manager and have arranged to meet him this week – only six weeks in!
We have continued with our induction taking advantage of transport opportunities whenever possible and meeting as many people in the region as possible. The region is 41 000 square miles, slightly smaller than England, so getting around takes some coordination and effort. Last week we went to the north of the region with a couple of friends, Mike and Sandra, who are volunteering with the Ministry of Education and were visiting some schools. This area is known as Bushmanland and is inhabited by San communities (supposedly one of the oldest civilisations in the world) living in villages separated by vast distances and gravel roads or sand tracks. Mike and Sandra visited one remote school which was a tent. They returned to the village along the sand tracks with 7 adults, 5 children, their belongings and a bag of elephant meat crammed into the Land Rover. We visited a couple of clinics and spoke to a few people including a social worker who has set up a soup kitchen and garden project for TB patients. As with everywhere else in the country the main concerns were HIV and AIDS, TB and Malaria. Disability wasn’t thought to be a major issue, or at least it isn’t high on the priority list. The more you see and learn about the impact of AIDS and TB the more you appreciate the difficulty that the Ministry of Health faces in releasing funds for anything else such as community based rehabilitation.
Despite car mishaps including a blown tyre and broken suspension we managed to get to Khaudum National Park for the weekend. The camp was ‘rustic’ with minimal facilities and a sign warning of the danger of elephant and lion in the camp at night. The wildlife was great, we got good use of our camera and were lucky enough to see a herd of fifty elephants.
This weekend was also a bank holiday for us so we took an extra day off and made a trip to Waterberg Plateau and Etosha National Park with some other volunteers. Waterberg is only 50km from us and is best seen by taking the 4 day hike – it’s on the list. This time we settled for an afternoon exploring some of the shorter trails. Etosha is probably Namibia’s main tourist attraction. The salt pan is approximately 150km by 70km and is surrounded by waterholes. We lucked out again and saw tons of wildlife, hence the Photographers Neck. It was good to spend time with the other vols and much alcohol was consumed, and a great weekend was rounded off on our way home with our first lion spotting.
We learnt today that the Medical Rehab Worker is leaving tomorrow. There is still far too much that we don’t know but I am doing much better at not getting frustrated.
Ant xxx
Other than the lack of hot water, which is testing Julia particularly when it comes to hand washing laundry (fortunately I have been happy to help her out with her chores ), things are going well. We have had a very exciting couple of weeks and the work situation has improved as a result of some promising meetings and us adjusting to the pace of things. Furthermore, today I managed to speak to my manager and have arranged to meet him this week – only six weeks in!
We have continued with our induction taking advantage of transport opportunities whenever possible and meeting as many people in the region as possible. The region is 41 000 square miles, slightly smaller than England, so getting around takes some coordination and effort. Last week we went to the north of the region with a couple of friends, Mike and Sandra, who are volunteering with the Ministry of Education and were visiting some schools. This area is known as Bushmanland and is inhabited by San communities (supposedly one of the oldest civilisations in the world) living in villages separated by vast distances and gravel roads or sand tracks. Mike and Sandra visited one remote school which was a tent. They returned to the village along the sand tracks with 7 adults, 5 children, their belongings and a bag of elephant meat crammed into the Land Rover. We visited a couple of clinics and spoke to a few people including a social worker who has set up a soup kitchen and garden project for TB patients. As with everywhere else in the country the main concerns were HIV and AIDS, TB and Malaria. Disability wasn’t thought to be a major issue, or at least it isn’t high on the priority list. The more you see and learn about the impact of AIDS and TB the more you appreciate the difficulty that the Ministry of Health faces in releasing funds for anything else such as community based rehabilitation.
Despite car mishaps including a blown tyre and broken suspension we managed to get to Khaudum National Park for the weekend. The camp was ‘rustic’ with minimal facilities and a sign warning of the danger of elephant and lion in the camp at night. The wildlife was great, we got good use of our camera and were lucky enough to see a herd of fifty elephants.
This weekend was also a bank holiday for us so we took an extra day off and made a trip to Waterberg Plateau and Etosha National Park with some other volunteers. Waterberg is only 50km from us and is best seen by taking the 4 day hike – it’s on the list. This time we settled for an afternoon exploring some of the shorter trails. Etosha is probably Namibia’s main tourist attraction. The salt pan is approximately 150km by 70km and is surrounded by waterholes. We lucked out again and saw tons of wildlife, hence the Photographers Neck. It was good to spend time with the other vols and much alcohol was consumed, and a great weekend was rounded off on our way home with our first lion spotting.
We learnt today that the Medical Rehab Worker is leaving tomorrow. There is still far too much that we don’t know but I am doing much better at not getting frustrated.
Ant xxx
Tuesday 17 August 2010
A trip to Mariental and starting to explore
Well we’re back in Okakarara now having spent last week in Mariental, a small town about 3 hours south of Windhoek. This was our second lot of In-Country Training, and the idea was that we go to somewhere different in Namibia to learn about the culture and issues in the region as well as having some time to catch up with the other volunteers and share our placement experiences so far.
We stayed in a lodge which had 2600 hectares of ‘farm’ land. It was a bit of a strange place – the owner seemed drunk and manic all the time and her dog (half wolf, half German Shepherd), had an unhealthy fettish for the cats and had seemingly been trained to attack only black people – not good for some members of our group! We didn’t really think the stuffed lion and caged Cheetah were all that great either, but it seemed to be a popular spot for people passing though to do some game hunting….and the Oryx steaks were very good.
Unexpectedly it was a very cold week so luckily the tents in which we were staying had proper beds and we could huddle up underneath 2 duvets plus several layers of clothes – it’s much warmer up north where we are and spring is definitely here – signalled by increased bug activity. We’re not looking forward to the full sized cockroaches and dung beetles, so we’re working out how to make our flat suitably sealed and protected, starting off with mosquito netting and a draft excluder for the door.
We’ve had a slightly more productive day at work today. I went out to one of the settlements, about 70km from Okakarara and met with the very motivated Community Based Rehabilitation Committee who told me all about their plans to build a vocational training centre for people with disabilities as well as a gardening project. It all sounded very positive and well planned out, but they’re still awaiting donors to get the first bricks laid so I’m not sure how long the whole thing will take to get up and running – it’s a start though. Ant went along to the local police station with the Social Worker to run a sort of Alcoholics Anonymous session. The cells (supposed to be short term ‘holding’ cells, but there were inmates who had been there for 5 years) were about 12 foot x 12 foot concrete pens with only a mesh roof and housed 10 prisoners each. Despite the horrendous conditions there was quite a lot of interest and engagement with the programme – literally a captive audience I suppose.
The region in which we are working is twice the size of the UK, and we still haven’t managed to meet Ant’s boss yet to see if we can negotiate getting some sort of transport. This is definitely going to be key to being able to even start being effective in our jobs. However, we’ve become friends with another volunteer, Mike, who works for the Ministry of Education in our region, has a car and has invited us to go on a trip to Tsumkwe (another town in the north east of our region) from Thursday and then to camp at a game reserve at the weekend – binoculars and the new camera are at the ready so hopefully we’ll get some good shots to share with you all!
Ant’s just posted some pictures on Facebook too so feel free to have a look.
Keep us posted with the news from home!
xxx
We stayed in a lodge which had 2600 hectares of ‘farm’ land. It was a bit of a strange place – the owner seemed drunk and manic all the time and her dog (half wolf, half German Shepherd), had an unhealthy fettish for the cats and had seemingly been trained to attack only black people – not good for some members of our group! We didn’t really think the stuffed lion and caged Cheetah were all that great either, but it seemed to be a popular spot for people passing though to do some game hunting….and the Oryx steaks were very good.
Unexpectedly it was a very cold week so luckily the tents in which we were staying had proper beds and we could huddle up underneath 2 duvets plus several layers of clothes – it’s much warmer up north where we are and spring is definitely here – signalled by increased bug activity. We’re not looking forward to the full sized cockroaches and dung beetles, so we’re working out how to make our flat suitably sealed and protected, starting off with mosquito netting and a draft excluder for the door.
We’ve had a slightly more productive day at work today. I went out to one of the settlements, about 70km from Okakarara and met with the very motivated Community Based Rehabilitation Committee who told me all about their plans to build a vocational training centre for people with disabilities as well as a gardening project. It all sounded very positive and well planned out, but they’re still awaiting donors to get the first bricks laid so I’m not sure how long the whole thing will take to get up and running – it’s a start though. Ant went along to the local police station with the Social Worker to run a sort of Alcoholics Anonymous session. The cells (supposed to be short term ‘holding’ cells, but there were inmates who had been there for 5 years) were about 12 foot x 12 foot concrete pens with only a mesh roof and housed 10 prisoners each. Despite the horrendous conditions there was quite a lot of interest and engagement with the programme – literally a captive audience I suppose.
The region in which we are working is twice the size of the UK, and we still haven’t managed to meet Ant’s boss yet to see if we can negotiate getting some sort of transport. This is definitely going to be key to being able to even start being effective in our jobs. However, we’ve become friends with another volunteer, Mike, who works for the Ministry of Education in our region, has a car and has invited us to go on a trip to Tsumkwe (another town in the north east of our region) from Thursday and then to camp at a game reserve at the weekend – binoculars and the new camera are at the ready so hopefully we’ll get some good shots to share with you all!
Ant’s just posted some pictures on Facebook too so feel free to have a look.
Keep us posted with the news from home!
xxx
Thursday 5 August 2010
Week 3
We have spent this week with Josephine, the district Medical Rehabilitation Worker. Despite adopting the communication approach of only sharing information in response to direct questioning that we have become accustomed to she seems to have slowly warmed to us. Josephine is actually very friendly and obviously very competent in her role which further raised our question about what we are doing here. We then learnt that she will be leaving soon to take up a post in a coastal district near her family leaving us as the only trained rehabilitation workers in the district, raising another question regarding sustainability after we leave. Things are far from clear regarding our roles and we must wait a couple more weeks before we meet my line manager to ask some more direct questions!
In the meantime we have found a role in supporting health promotion. Yesterday we found ourselves appointed to a committee planning a two day programme raising breastfeeding awareness. The two days turned out to be today and tomorrow – nothing like forward planning! Not the best utilisation of our skills but it was good to be doing something useful. And I have learnt a lot about breastfeeding! It also gave us a chance to be introduced to the community. Today’s event was held in an outdoor cattle auction arena with the presentations interspersed with prayer, songs and drama – we are certainly in Africa.
At the weekend we took the hour drive to Otjiwarongo to do some shopping and meet up with a couple Canadian volunteers. Genevieve is a physiotherapist placed in another region and it was reassuring to hear that her experiences so far had been similar to ours. I felt for her partner Simon, who is a non-volunteering partner or NVP, who seemed to have had a very long week and was craving internet access! I have also noticed how much time we seem to have here – we have already got through a whole season of Lost. When not watching Jack, Hurley and our other friends going crazy on their island we have been passing the time playing Scrabble, at which I continue to get worse.
Ant x
In the meantime we have found a role in supporting health promotion. Yesterday we found ourselves appointed to a committee planning a two day programme raising breastfeeding awareness. The two days turned out to be today and tomorrow – nothing like forward planning! Not the best utilisation of our skills but it was good to be doing something useful. And I have learnt a lot about breastfeeding! It also gave us a chance to be introduced to the community. Today’s event was held in an outdoor cattle auction arena with the presentations interspersed with prayer, songs and drama – we are certainly in Africa.
At the weekend we took the hour drive to Otjiwarongo to do some shopping and meet up with a couple Canadian volunteers. Genevieve is a physiotherapist placed in another region and it was reassuring to hear that her experiences so far had been similar to ours. I felt for her partner Simon, who is a non-volunteering partner or NVP, who seemed to have had a very long week and was craving internet access! I have also noticed how much time we seem to have here – we have already got through a whole season of Lost. When not watching Jack, Hurley and our other friends going crazy on their island we have been passing the time playing Scrabble, at which I continue to get worse.
Ant x
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