This past week went by so quickly! A lot of exciting things took place which always makes the days pass by even faster! Monday was Halloween and at home I am used to sipping on apple cider, doing haunted hayrides and corn mazes and this Halloween looked completely. Well for one thing they don’t celebrate Halloween here in Namibia and second of all, it looks nothing like fall here right now. That has been a little difficult for me because I love the fall so much! Even though I didn’t celebrate Halloween the way I am used to I got to spend it running, which was a lot more fun than I ever thought running could be. Pam and Steve Brown’s daughter, Emily, is in town for the next month visiting her parents and she runs too! It was so nice to spend the evening getting to know her and fellowship with her and her family!
The rest of the week was spent reviewing with the kids because their exams are all starting next week. Everything from Namibian history, which I have seemed to learn a lot about with the girls, to Math and English review we covered a lot this past week.
Thursday was an extra special day though. I got to go to Osire, a refugee camp up north with Pam and Emily. I have never been to a refugee camp and was so excited to go see one for the first time. This refugee camp is home to people who have escaped many different countries including Angola, DRC and many others. Pam goes up to Osire once every couple of weeks to teach the women up there how to sew. She was asked about a year and a half to volunteer and has been doing it ever since. It is amazing to see how excited these women are to have Pam there. Teaching them to sew has not only given them a sense of self worth but will hopefully amount to helping with income as well.
It was funny teaching the women how to sew because I myself was learning very quickly as I was teaching the women. Another special moment of the day was having lunch at Pastor Leon’s (the pastor at the church Pam helps at) and his wife Tina’s home. They got to share some of their story how the fled the DRC during the war and have lived on the refugee camp for 12 years. They are praying for an opportunity to get Visas to either the US or Canada, but they still have the raise all the support to do this. It is amazing to see their perseverance in such a time like this. Even after 12 years of being there they still have faith that God will provide for them.
We headed out around 4 in the afternoon, knowing we had a long journey ahead and wanted to get off the road before sundown. Well while we were about 45 minutes down the road in the middle of nowhere (might I add?) we had a flat tire. And when I say flat I mean completely deflated, riding on the rim. After a couple of SMS’ to Steve (Pam’s husband) and confusion we had everything handled except could not jack the car in the correct place. After an hour and a half of working on it another bukkie finally drove by carrying a woman just about as dolled up as us seeing if she could help. After she left a couple minutes later she swung back around and said her husband was on his way to help. Of course with the Afrikaaner man came to help it was done in less than 10 minutes making us look like fools, but hey what is life for if you can’t laugh at yourself every once in awhile?
Friday consisted of rain, which was exciting since we don’t see that much here! And I got to meet with a friend, Nangie, from church. It was so nice to chat with her, she is actually looking at majoring in Interior Design as well, but still has to get into the school that offers it in South Africa. After meeting with her I met Sarah and Hannah and David and Robert at Tanya’s house where we watched Hotel Rwanda for “African movie night.” What a powerful story and so close to home! After the movie we headed home to bed because we were waking up early to catch a combi to Swakapmond (the coast) for the weekend!
After catching our combi Sarah, Hannah, Anika, Corrie and I headed westward for our “girls weekend.” It was great to get out of Windhoek and pretty much do everything on a wimp since we really didn’t know what there was to do there or how to get around the city. We stayed in a really nice Hostel called the Villa Weise which was so cute and very inexpensive! About $15 US Dollars and included a hot breakfast! When we got there on Saturday we went Quad Biking in the afternoon, which was a lot of fun! After that we just walked around the town and into a couple of cute shops and along the beach. It was so cold, but Anika and Corrie as adventurous as they are decided to go in the water! I was cold even walking around with multiple layers! After that we headed to the famous “Lighthouse Restarant” where we heard their burgers are sky high. Even though I did not order one of these infamous burgers, Sarah and Anika did and I can tell you they were telling the truth!
Sunday consisted of grabbing breakfast together and strolling around town some more. We found this one shop called Namcrafts which was amazing! They had so many great local finds, perfect for souvenirs. I also found out that they purchase most of their products from Windhoek, because that is where they are distributed out of (can you guess where I am going this week?)
Today is Monday, the start of the last full week I am here. It still seems very bittersweet to me that I am leaving, the time always does seem to fly! Hope everyone is having a great start of the week! God Bless!
Pictures to come....
Pam working with some of the women
Pam and Emily with Pastor Leon, his wife, Julia, and friend Simon
Swakapmond
View in Hostel
Us in the back of the Combi!
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