Oh wow, You guys get two posts in one day?!? It must be my Thanksgiving gift to you guys!
Speaking of which, since I'm spending my Thanksgiving alone in a desert, no doubt eating cherry Pie filling as Robbie so eloquently taught me, I would like to take an opportunity and give a real post.
So I found out how to access the internet. Seems I can use his comp when hes not here and everyone else is gone for the day. Like I said, I'm in the town of Usakos - and I'm telling you, It's smaller than Gettysburg. Like, much smaller. 4 streets in total. The surroundings look more like Arizona than anything else, so the culture shock isn't too heavy.
It is amazing however, to see the effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. I'm not even speaking of those on the street that obviously have it. I'm referring more to the poverty and unemployment. Its astounding. Here in Namibia, there is the "town," and what is referred to as, "location." Town is what we're all used to - suburban homes, stores, shops, etc. When you think "location," you're thinking of a Sally Struthers commercial, at best. It is poverty like nothing on this planet. As a side effect that Namibia suffers from HIV/AIDS, the unemployment in my neighboring location is around 90%, with no exaggeration. Out of the 2000+ tenants, more than 1800 are unemployed.
The youth center I'm working at though offers hope to those around. Ian (another PCV, as well as my roommate) and I have already begun a project, which is to rebuild the computer lab. For my gburg peeps - I swear, if Adler ever saw this comp lab, you'd find him in a pile of his own vomit and blood. I think they tried installing Vista onto either old commodore64s, or the old Apple computers that ran the original Oregon Trail.
But the work has been started, with a long way to go.
I was also happy to discover that I shall get my own office. Instead of my name, it says "Health Officer" on my door. I guess its ok to be grateful for small favors. I also accidently discovered about 250+ pounds of mushrooms in our basement, which evidently fall under my responsibility for planting and selling. I'll fill more on that later when I discover more.
If I don't post for a while, everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving!
4 comments:
Thanksgiving is finally over! evrybody just left. and we are going to have so many leftovers. it was fun and kirsten and I mostly played DDR the whole time.You wouldve loved it ;]. So did you see any interesting animals yet???? Sophie misses you soooo much and she was crying the first couple days you were gone.She wrote to you. Did you meet any interesting people, did u make any new friends??? alright you better read this till the end because i have alot of questions for you. What are you eating? And how did you get the food? Is it hard making conversations?? haha. What was the most exciting thing you have done or/and seen so far? Is it stinky there? Are there any plants there? How many people do you estimate are positive with HIV/AIDS a day?? And my last question what is your favorite cookie?? and what do you want for christmas??
I hope you write back soon! We all miss you!!
Love,
Nicole and Family <3 =]
Hi Nick did you get my letter? I miss you so much! I really hope your okay. Did you go hunting? Did you find all my letters in your bags yet? And you better be hanging them up on your wall! If you did go hunting, what did you use and what did you get? I hope two years go by fast. So if you got my letter can you write back? I want to hear some interesting stuff about what you did.
Love,
Sophie
P.S my sister is dying to go to Africa! haha
OK Now it,s my turn. Look at me I have my own Blog.Granpa & I will be here with the girls until Jackie & George get back from Germany(Dec 5).Everyone was here yesterday,except for your Dad.Turkey and everything was great. Missed you and your antics a whole lot but glad to hear from you, I hope on more or less regularly.
Hi Nick, I'm finally figuring out this blog-thing. Yes, indeed, this is my first ever blog post. It sounds things are awesome, in all senses of the word, in Namibia. Things in G'burg are typical... same type of Alayne-stories. Trying to get her to focus on getting into college - can you believe it? She, unfortunately, is focusing on schools near where her boyfriend is going to go to.. not where she should go to. She doesn't care about the quality of the school, or what it offers. Just where it is located. Thus, she has identified some pretty crappy schools (which she could easily get into because they have "lower selectivity") So, same ol' same ol'.
Harrison is plugging along in 7th grade. Dispite all his difficulties in writing, he managed to go from "below basic" (bottom of the barrel) reading and writing on the state standardized 5th grade test to "advanced" (top of the top) in reading and writing in the 6th grade state standardized test. I knew he had it in him! They nominated him to participated in taking the SATs or ACTs (yeah, 7th grader) because of his scores. Proud Mama!
I finally hooked up the heat on the second floor addition! Can you believe that one?
My parents were here for Thanksgiving and mom and I re-wired the ethernet to place our wireless router in the kitchen and moved Matt's networked printer and fax to the 'old living room'. I will need to continue with that process, but I'll be setting up a router switch to send the ethernet to the bedrooms in the addition.
Just one more skill added to my list of skills, just in case I'm in Namibia and need to build, plumb and wire a building ;-).
Matt is doing well. He's trying to play tennis as a form of exercise but found out he has bone spurs in his ankle... he's working on balancing the pain and trying to get exercise. Me, well, I just go outside and exercise by cutting up a downed-tree with a chain saw. Enough exercise for the day.
I will try to put together a care package (flat, large envelope :-) )of something interesting soon. Do you have access to a microwave? (things we take for granted, right?) If you do, I might work on non-Namibia items that work in the microwave (Like I would know what is found in the Namibia market!)
Your experiences suggest to me that Alayne needs to visit and see how others live. Maybe this would be a great graduation present -- a trip to Namibia.(She'd love that one!!)
So, why is there the Namibia Desert right next to the ocean? I don't get it!
So, I think I should get back to grading... what do you think?
Keep up with your great stories. You are a wonderful person doing wonderful things. We miss you in G'burg (can't get to the cathedral ceilings to finish painting the peaks!)
--DrKoren
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