Herero Ladies from Namibia
~~
From Elaine Sweet:
Easter in Opuwo,
I have now been in Namibia for three months. It is the new “normal." I have learned the basic methods of
transportation to get around in my area.
First I ask the teachers at my school for a ride to the paved road. Then
there are taxis which are constantly going back and forth between the main
travel points. It is not as difficult
as I first perceived it to be. On non-school days, the local people traveling the gravel road will stop for passengers. There are established pay rates for travel to
different points.
My fellow volunteers and I had planned to go to Opuwo and
the Kunene River on the border of Angola for Easter. THEY
had planned to go white water rafting. I had not made a decision about joining
in rafting part of that ADVENTURE. There are crocodiles in that river.
Rise of Full Moon Over Opuwo
I met Sam and Lawrence and we easily got our transport for
the three and one half hour ride to Opuwo.
Amy and Nick plus three German volunteers were there to join us for the
two hour trip to the Kunene River Lodge. We waited and waited, but NO Fleu..No Fleu..
No Fleu. Fleu is a German who has lived
in Namibia since he was a child. He is a guide for the lodge. We met him and partied with him on our
previous visit to Opuwo. He invited us
to the Lodge to camp and go rafting. His Land Rover had a suspension problem
midway on his two hour drive to pick up up..
Fortunately we were NOT in it with all of our camping gear. We then resorted to PLAN B. We stayed at Ron’s three bedroom house in
Opuwo. We then went to the very “upscale” Opuwo Lodge
to swim, watch the sunset, and have dinner.
Plan B was delightful.
Elaine Sweet - Sunset from Opuwu Lodge
Easter Dinner with friends at the Opuwo Lodge
I have found Opuwo to be one of the most interesting places
I have ever visited. It is so
eclectic. The Himba tribe people in
their cowhide clothing with red clay on their skin walk comfortably on the
streets with little clothing. Some are
talking on their cell phones. The Zimba
do the same except they do not use the red clay. Then the Herero women wear Victorian full
length dresses. Plus there are all of
the OTHER Namibians in what I would call casual “Western” clothes such as jeans
and tee shirts.
Himba Lady
In addition to the upscale Opuwo Lodge, there is the local
OPEN market with stalls and stalls of everything imaginable. There is a modern restaurant which
specialized in fried chicken and chips.
Then next to a quite modern grocery store is a modern restaurant with a
menu of just about anything one would want at affordable prices. We had lunch before we bought groceries for
the weekend. I had a club sandwich, Ron
had chicken burger, and each of the young people ordered pizza, that is, ONE
PIZZA FOR EACH OF THEM. They did share
with Ron and me.
The Himba and Zimba women roam the parking lot of the
grocery store and restaurant selling bracelets and necklaces to the “white”
people. Queen Elizabeth and Linda are
Himba ladies who have a permanent location under a big tree. Queen Elizabeth greeted me on my first trip
to Opuwo and I bought a lot of gifts from her before I left. I wanted a bone necklace. She didn’t have any, so she removed the one
she was wearing and gave it to me. She
likes Peace Corps volunteers because a past volunteer helped her set up a
market in Canada for her goods. She
charges us a fair price. I bought a
bracelet for N$10 that I heard another Himba asking a tourist for N$100. (The exchange rate is about N$11 to $1 USD)
We walked up the hill to Ron’s house after having
lunch and buying groceries as we moved in to PLAN B . There were
a lot of “foreigners” in the area because it was the long Easter weekend. Several cars with “white people” were driving
past us and I looked up to see cameras
pointed at US taking OUR PHOTOS. Could
WE have been an anomaly?
Map courtesy of Wikipedia
Although I enjoy my vacations, my life really is centered
around my school and village where I spend most of my time.
We appear to be moving forward with plans for a Library/
Resource Center. Two members of the
Ministry of Education came to the school in response to the letter my principal
sent asking for support for the project.
I have been gathering data to write the proposal. I want to submit it before I leave for
vacation in a week and a half. It still
looks like we will need in the range of $25,000 USD. I hope I am not being too ambitious.
I spent an evening with a volunteer who has been in Namibia
for 3 years and is working with the Regional Library for our Oshana
region. It is about 30 km away from my
school. I heard her tale of woe trying
to get a large shipment of books cleared through Namibian customs and
fees. She said that it took over ONE
YEAR. This new information is having me reconsider
some of my goals about shipments of books. I have already ordered from Darien
Books. The librarian gave me two other
established sources where customs won’t be a problem.
One simple book activity she did was to have friends send 2
or 3 books in a brown mailing envelop to her at her school. Find out what the least expensive rate is for
mailing to Namibia and stay under the weight for that rate. She said that it was about $20 USD. That sounds like a simple, workable plan to
increase the book supply without the hassle of customs.
So…. If you want to help me and my students, this is fairly
simple. Simply mail me a couple of kids’
books. (Any interesting or classic books
grades 1-10. Used and in good condition
is fine.)
Elaine Sweet Phone (081 737 9075)
US Peace Corps
Response Volunteer
Oshekasheka C.
S.
Post Office Box
2438
Ondangwa,
Namibia
Students of Elaine Sweet
I do actually spend time TEACHING. I teach a total of 16 different classes of
students.
I have included a photo of some of my students. We were doing “performance” in Art
Class. These girls wore their
traditional clothing to dance in. The
girls in the background just wanted to be in the photo. YES, they are all GIRLS. Most of the girls wear their hair VERY short
. (And the female teachers wear WIGS. I wondered how they could have such
beautiful, diverse hair styles every day).
~~~
Photos courtesy of Elaine Sweet and her friends; Map courtesy of Wikipedia
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Tags: travel, Peace Corps Volunteer, PCV, Elaine Sweet, Namibia, Africa, pictures
This is all for now,
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