2 long weeks

Well we’ve had 2 weeks straight in Okakarara, with no weekend away and only 1 trip out to meet Ant’s boss…it’s been a long 2 weeks!

Now that the rehab worker has left, it’s just the 2 of us in the rehab department with enough work to fill about 2 hours of 1 person’s time. We’ve had a few patients pop in and there are 2 long-term patients on the ward who we’re treating, but other than that there’s not a lot going on. In terms of outreaching to the settlements, we are now waiting for the Community Based Rehab committees in the settlements to come back to us with an idea of what the needs are in their communities, and what support or training they would like from us. I suspect we may need to come up with a few ideas to get the ball rolling, but we want to find out what other volunteers have done before us so that we try to build on that rather than repeating efforts that haven’t worked…..patience, patience.

The meeting with Ant’s boss went well. He’s a Dr from Zimbabwe and is very down to earth and realistic about our posts – plus he knew we were coming. We spoke to him about the possibility of a job share across the region so that we can make the most of our time here. We also asked if we could move to Otjiwarongo which is the regional capital as transport links will be much better from there and we will be able to meet far more easily with the most relevant people to do our jobs. These decisions need to be considered by the Regional Management Team, but we’re hopeful and left our meeting feeling far more positive.

There’s a plot of land outside our flat which is fenced off from the goats. This was donated to an HIV and AIDS group in 2008 along with agricultural training and seeds. However, as the locals aren’t into veg (and probably because there was a degree of apathy) it has been abandoned. We are hoping to be able to somehow kick-start this project, widening the group to include those with disabilities, and are in the process of finding out who else could be involved locally. However, in the mean time we have helped the social worker dig over a bit of the plot and plant some cabbage-like plants for our own consumption. I’m hoping to pick up a few different vegetable seeds this weekend as cabbage will get a bit boring!

At the weekend we were invited out by a guy, Benson, who works at the hospital. We went to watch the England game at his Aunty’s house on a 40” flat screen with surround sound in a deceptively large but rustic village house! Benson and his cousin then took us out on the town. We’d been curious to know where the loud music that’s played every evening was coming from, and had the feeling we might be missing out on a great party. Not so. The first place we went into was aptly called the VIP bar; there were about 10 people in there including ourselves and at least 2 of them were some of the richest men in Namibia – apparently they come back to their farms at the weekends and hide out in the VIP bar in Okakarara – an odd choice. The second place we went to was a sports bar which had a few torn pool tables, a juke box, African House music and lots of young guys drinking half-pint glasses of whisky. As the only whites in the town we were mistaken as Africaans farmers when one of the guys asked us if we’d give him a job. Now that we’ve sussed it out we’re quite happy with scrabble and a glass of wine back at the flat!

I extended my creative skills this weekend and gave Ant a hair cut…he wasn’t brave enough to venture into one of the outdoor barber shacks in the town as he thought they probably have little experience with Caucasian hair (about as much experience as myself). We really know how to have fun!

The Okakarara trade fair (the highlight of the year for residents) is on this week and is held at the Cultural and Tourist Centre just outside of the town. We went along yesterday to see what was going on. There was a mix of government ministry stands, local people trading crafts and food and the showing of prize winning goats and cattle.

This weekend we’re back down to Windhoek for a week long VSO conference. It’ll be really good to see people and the lodge we’re staying in has a pool which will be great now that it’s getting hotter by the day. Plus we’ll have some people to celebrate with on Ant’s birthday - a restaurant, bars, civilisation - can’t believe I’m getting so excited! We’re also excited about getting the car – it’s due to arrive on 26th September and it’ll give us a new found freedom.