Work Progress

Saturday 16^th July was our 1 year anniversary in Namibia – hard to believe in some ways!  VSO international have reviewed their strategy in light of reduced funding from the UK government, with the resultant decision that they are pulling out of their programmes in Namibia to focus on other countries in greater need.  What this means for us is that we have been asked to finish our placements a few months early – March or April next year.  We still need to confirm the date but either way we are now well over half way through and will be seeing you in less than a year!

It feels like all our perseverance with beaurocratic processes such as acquiring transport, ordering food and flipcharts for workshop participants and getting permission to leave Otjiwarongo are paying off!  There is so much paper red tape here – if a request has not been photocopied at least 4 times (at the moment the photocopier is out of action, and has been for over a month), stamped and signed by our Director, forwarded onto an economising committee who then checks with finance to see if funds are available, who sits on it for at least 3 weeks, who then passes it onto the relevant department to action – then it won’t happen!  As you can imagine, there is a significant amount of chasing up that has to be done at each stage, grinding away at our will to live!

So as our patience has increased, work is picking up at last!  June was a very busy month. We have delivered our second Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) workshop for volunteers in Osire, the refugee camp.  This time it focused on identifying and screening people with disabilities and counselling for people with disabilities.   We also spent a day in the community, visiting people with disabilities in their homes with the CBR committee members to offer advice and provide some ‘hands on’ training.  We try and make the workshops as practical and interactive as possible, and everyone loves getting involved which is great.  Also, everything has to be translated into Portuguese for the Angolan refugees so actions definitely speak louder than words!….we’ve learnt quite a few anatomical terms, but aside from that we’re limited to ‘bon dia’ and ‘obrigado’.  

Playing the mens version of Bawo (there is a simpler childrens / womens version too!)

  

We take our tent when we stay in Osire and the nurse from the clinic is very friendly and lets us use her house to cook and wash, except for when the power and water go off, which they do regularly.  There are 6000 refugees at this well established camp.  The Angolans are in the process of repatriation, but more refugees from The Democratic Republic of Congo continue to arrive.   We are planning on delivering more workshops to the CBR committee up until December this year, by which time we will have covered all 16 modules in the nationally developed CBR manual which is pretty comprehensive.  Hopefully gaining rehabilitation skills and knowledge will help committee members gain employment when they are repatriated.

The following week we were asked by the Chief Social Worker to assist with facilitating a workshop for all the Social Workers in the region focusing on delegation.  It was the first time either of us had been asked for assistance by any member of the regional management team, so we were surprised but more than happy to help.  The Chief Social Worker is moving jobs and so wanted our support to plan her exit strategy as there would be a gap before her replacement is appointed.  It was a great opportunity for us to share some of our management skills, and the Social Workers were receptive participants so it all went very well.  It was also the first time ever that the Social Workers in the region had met together, so another outcome of the workshop was to make sure steps were put in place to improve communication.  Often the solutions are so basic, but there’s a real culture of just carrying on doing what’s always been done, and not questioning it.

The Region's Social Workers, been to the workshop...got the t-shirt!

Grootfontein CBR Committee getting involved

Ant left the Social Worker workshop early to deliver some more training to the Grootfontein CBR committee.  There is a very enthusiastic local volunteer, Jonas, who is keeping the rehabilitation department at Grootfontein hospital open in the absence of any qualified, employed rehabilitation staff.  Ant is hoping to get him over the HR hurdles and into an employed position as a medical rehab worker at the hospital, so fingers crossed that works out.

I’ve been to another rural area in Grootfontein District called Otjituuo and delivered 3 days Community Based Rehabilitation training to the community volunteers there.  They were delighted as we took some ‘International Day of People with Disabilities’ hats with us which they proceeded to wear throughout the whole workshop.  People really get involved with the training, especially the practical elements, which is great.  Neither Ant nor I are quite sure how much of the skills will get implemented in the target communities though as there are lots of barriers; lack of transport and financial incentive being the predominant complaints.  However, we have made recommendations to the national level Ministry of Health in terms of a strategic review and recommendations for CBR….not sure we can do much else to influence this though!

Practicing the recovery position!

Otjituuo CBR Committee proudly wearing their hats!

 

Over the next month or so we are revisiting the refugee camp to continue our programme there, I am spending a week around Okakarara District with one of the Rehabilitation Instructors delivering training, and Ant is in the process of sorting the logistics for receiving about 80 second-hand wheelchairs that have been donated by a local company, Ohorongo Cement.  We will need to assess the chairs and try to get any repairs done before then trying to match the long list of patients awaiting wheelchairs with the appropriate piece of equipment – easier said than done. 

Oh, and we are interviewing 2 people for the permanent Regional Therapist post this Friday – at long last!  The post has only been vacant for about 12 YEARS!  We have managed to push the recruitment through and after some negotiation, persuaded HR that although the 2 applicants look fine on paper it would be best to interview them rather than use an ‘eeny meeny miney mo’ tactic to pick one as they were keen to do.  (for those of you who have experienced NHS job applications which comprise of  a long list of therapy modalities and conditions seen, but yet nothing about the person, you will understand why!).

So, hopefully you are now persuaded that our time here has not been one long holiday (although, keeping a healthy work-life balance is important).  I think the next 9 months will fly by as we are now being far more productive.  Job satisfaction has definitely improved although the question of the sustainability of it all is still debatable.

Sarah & Adam’s trip to Namibia – a guest blog by little P!

Julia and Ant have kindly asked me to write about our trip to Namibia in May. I hope I do the trip justice in my explanation because it was quite simply the best holiday ever!

Adam and I left home on the day of the Royal Wedding, passing lots of street parties on out way to the airport. I imagine Adam was pleased to be on a separate flight to me as I was finding it difficult to contain my excitement at seeing my sister and Ant for the first time in nine months.

A happy airport reunion ensued and once we’d freshened up we headed out to toast to the holiday ahead in the backdrop of a spectacular sunset over Windhoek. I feel that our first night was a good indicator of the days to come…pushing our own taxi along the road, drinking the local beer and eating a variety of superb steaks including Oryx and Ostrich.

The next day dawned with a surprise trip to celebrate mine and Adam’s birthdays. I wasn’t sure we’d make it when we turned off the main road to find a stretch of flooded road which had turned into a quagmire. Evidently I was wrong as it did nothing to phase JP the explorer who zipped the Rav straight through the mud and onwards to the day’s activities. Our trip was to a conservancy where we saw rescued Caracal, Wild Dogs, Lions and Leopards. This was a big treat as Adam had desperately wanted to see wild dogs but they are so rare now that this would be our only opportunity. The lions were the most feisty of the lot and repeatedly charged at us, roaring so loudly I almost fell over backwards. If I’d ever entertained the idea that I could survive a lion attack, it dissipated within seconds of seeing these three huge cats. Fantastic present and a good start to our animal adventures!

Only 2,000 of these left in the wild.

Onwards to Swakopmund, an odd German seaside town that looks like the set of a Western movie.

Quad biking in the dunes of Swakopmund

Here we tested our driving skills by quad biking in the sand dunes. After many “rollercoasters” up and down the sand dunes, the sun began to sink and we stopped for a glass of bubbly so Adam could gloat about how much faster his quad bike was than anyone else’s. Adrenaline fix sorted for the day we went out for dinner in an old tug boat for the freshest fish at a bargain price!

The next day started with a boat trip from Walvis Bay. Our marine encounters included cape fur seals, dolphins, flamingos and lots of sea birds. Adam enjoyed a close encounter with one of the seals which joined him on the back of the boat for a beer! Onward up the coast, we set up our tents for our first night of camping which was marked by some superb cuisine including chilli mielie (there is now no other way to eat corn-on-the-cob) and steak with pumpkin doughnuts. Bring on the braai!

Further up the coast we visited the cape cross seal colony – 100,000’s of seals stretched as far as the eye could see. A bit stinky but non the less impressive! From here is was a long drive to the desert at Palmwag. The exceptionally rainy wet season had washed a lot of roads away so our average speed was around 20 miles an hour and we had to negotiate a number of riverbeds rather than roads! We kept a look out for Elephants but all we saw were signs and poo! 

 

The next day we went to a Cheetah sanctuary at Kamanjab where they had some tame cheetahs and quite a few less tame ones! After an hour stroking Cheetahs as if they were domestic cats, we went out to feed the others. It was great to watch them in such a huge enclosure in hunting mode and in the setting sunlight. Our day was finished off with Ant’s homemade garlic doughballs to accompany our Braii.

Our next few days were our first safari adventure. Once Julia and Ant had shown us the ropes we were left to our own devices. We had a lot of luck on our side, seeing a black rhino, elephants and lions. After I embarrassed myself by accidentally beeping the horn at an oncoming angry elephant, we spent a whole afternoon watching elephants having a bath at a waterhole. Just us and 40 or so elephants was so amazing, we really couldn’t believe our luck the next day when we stumbled upon a pride of lions and watched them hunt (and fail) several times. Not forgetting the other animals and birds outside the big five, we could have driven around the park for weeks without getting bored!

After four days we made our way back to see Julia and Ant at their home in Otjiwarongo, via a camp where we pitched our tent in a tree and learned all about San bush craft. I was very excited to see where Ju and Ant are living and was pleased to discover that whilst small, their house is perfectly formed and very homely. The grassy lawn made for a very comfortable camping mat as well after the hard ground on safari. We did a trip to the Waterberg Plateau to stretch our legs for the first time in a week and after negotiating the spider webs we spent a relaxing afternoon by the pool. Julia cooked boboti – a South African speciality for us as part of our culinary tour of Southern Africa.

And so to our last day with Julia and Ant. We spent it in and around Otiwarongo, taking in their favourite coffee shop, meeting some of their colleagues and seeing the location. After a dinner of homemade pizza it was time to say a tearful goodbye and head off on the 16-hour coach to Livingstone.

The next few days flew by as we took in the Victoria Falls in Livingstone and headed off to Botswana on a second safari – my 30^th birthday present from Mum and Dad. The Falls were spectacular but unfortunately more so for the amount of spray there was than for the views! The rainy season’s deluge had yet to subside so we got very wet but couldn’t see much of the falls themselves.

Chobe Riverfront in Botswana was the location for our next dose of the animals. After crossing the river border between Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana, we then went out on the river for a morning’s cruise. Fish Eagles, Crocodiles, Monitor Lizards and lots of Elephants were the order of the day along with the marvellous hippos! We then spent the next two days and nights in the bush, camping without fences and amongst the wildlife. We embraced the basic life fully but I wouldn’t want a sand-dug long drop on a permanent basis! Chobe was great though and we saw lots of new creatures we hadn’t already seen in Etosha.

After another quick stop at Livingstone we boarded the bus back to Windhoek and eventually home. What an amazing three weeks and I would recommend it to anyone.

Thank you Julia and Ant for a truly amazing adventure. If I could hop on a plane to see you tomorrow I would, but for now I’ll just keep looking through the hundreds of photos to remind myself of our African adventure!