Hello from Namibia!
I’m writing this up as I watch the opening
ceremony for the Olympics with a couple Namibians and some other
volunteers! This is pretty cool b/c I never
thought I’d get to see any of the Olympics this year!
Staging happened in Philly on Monday
afternoon. There I got to meet all the
volunteers that will be here in Namibia with me (they are all great!) and we
did a couple briefings on Peace Corps (PC) Core Expectations, a history of PC,
and a little more. We finished at
7:00PM and were free to do whatever.
Now the story of the seriously long trip
over… I arrived safely in Namibia on
July 25th after taking a bus from Philly (at 2:00AM) to JFK (at
5:00AM), a flight to Johannesburg (from 11:15AM EST to 8:30AM GTM +1), another
flight to Namibia (from 1:20PM GTM +1 to 2:30PM GTM), and finally the last bus
to our training site in Okahandja (at 6:30PM GMT).
It was a long and tiring journey and I was
very glad to finally get to sleep in a bed for more than 2 hours.
Pre Service Training (PST) started on the
26th with introductions to the staff, a lovely rabies shot, and our
first meeting with our sector directors.
Our group (I’m group 36) is made up of Education and Business
volunteers. I am a business volunteer
and will be a part of the SEED (Small Enterprise and Entrepreneurship
Development) program. The three areas
that the SEED program focuses on are youth entrepreneurship, Small/Mid
Enterprise (SME) Development, and Commercial Planning Management. My main job will be to work in one of the
first two (youth or SMEs) with secondary projects involving the commercial
planning management.
After the day of training we headed back to
where we are staying to have a traditional meal of meat, porridge, and sauce on
the side. The interesting part is… you
eat with your hands! The porridge tastes
a little like grits but is very thick so you can pick it up. You pick up a little porridge with one hand
and make it into a ball. Then you dip
the porridge in the sauce and eat. The
meat is eaten with two hands. It was
very fun!
Today we had medical interviews, sector
interviews, and got another shot. I had
the afternoon off, so I went to get a sim card for my phone, a 3G USB antenna,
and some stamps for postcards. I also
found this very cool café run by an American couple. They serve American food and have free wifi
(VERY UNCOMMON IN NAM!), so I took advantage of that to read and send some
emails.
On Monday we will find out what language we
will learn and Tuesday we will move in with our host families. We will stay with them for the rest of our
time in PST.
The weather is surprisingly FREEZING at
night and in the morning, but gets nice during the day. I was warned that it would/could be cold but
did not expect it to be this cold. I’m
very glad I packed a lot of long sleeves, sweaters, jackets, and socks!
That’s all I can think of for now! Hope everyone is doing well back in the
states! I’ll post again as soon as I can
J
