Meeting!

Yessssssss... today Helena (the Comm Development Coordinator) and I held a youth meeting and I even introduced myself in OShiwambo and they understood me. At first no one was there, but then like 60 ppl showed up and once they came they wouldn't stop talkign! Apparently, although there is a youth officer for Oshikoto region, he's really not meeting their needs. CRAP, we have a lot of work to do, but I am super excited about it. Anyways, another highlight to my week... also I am loading pictures on my webshots. clearly, these are really old pictures b/c i kind of stopped taking pictures when i realized i couldn't load them. but i am going to steal other people's pictures when i go visit them and soon I will post everything! it will just take time...

YESSSSSSSSSS!

Oh my god, I am so excited, I am going to be working with the Legal Assistance Centre's Aids Law Unit... It will be awesome! They sent me an agreement and everything and they're gonna pick me up and take me to Ongwediva to meet the lawyers... so so excited. I will mostly be doing awareness programs and client outreach and intake. Basically what I would have been doing for the Washington Lawyer's Committee except for HIV/AIDS. I was really determined to work with them so this is like the highlight of my life. So I spent the whole weekend here this weekend. I know why PC volunteers don't lose weight now. I cooked everything. I made lasagna, chicken, saag something and parathas, brownies for Helenas birthday, potatoes, bread. And I ate cucumbers. besides that my weekend was pretty boring. I hung out with maria, who is one of Jennifer, the old PCV's friends. She is really cool, but unfortunately is pregnant, so we really can't do much. But i brought her some lasagna and she liked it... ok yes, i live a really boring life. but... besides that... Work is picking up, we're having a youth needs assesment meeting tommorow, plus we should have a cluster (group of 6 schools) meeting on thursday, so I will start having things to do, b/c I am supposed to work with OVCs from the cluster (Orphans and Vulnerable Children). Really I am just wondering when the staff meeting for the school I am at will be. Who knows? guess I will find out! Allright... thats all for today... probably for a while unless the youth meeting is particularly eventful

Tandi Kunu omakunde

So basically, yesterday, i started working on this Peer Health Education program... it is kind of a lot of work? I also met the OVC coordinator from the primary school near by which was cool, b/c he told me that they needed help. Ahh, then again this is what everyone says, but with what, is still pretty amibiguous. He did talk about Windows of Hope, so my UNICEF obbsession will be allowed to continue, yess! Anyways, after a day of accomplishing nothing conclusive I still went home exhausted for some reason, and decided to take a nap until my host sister, Donnacky knocked on my door and asked me if i wanted to sow beans. Unsure of what this meant, but having little else to do, i decided to check it out... basically what she meant was digging a little hole with your bare feet and throwing two beans in. It was cool yesterday so it actually turned out to be a lot of fun, and was also great because it reminded me of why I wanted to be in a more rural area at the end of the day. I also sort of bonded with my sisters and learned how to say... my family loves me b/c i sowed beans today in oshiwambo. YESS. On my way to fluency. Just kidding... but really I am working on it. I am starting to love the greeting stuff b/c it makes people really feel like i know what i'm doing. Anyways, after that I was going to cook dinner, but realized I was seriously craving mahangu and whatever they were cooking (fish!) and ate with my family... i dunno whats happening to me, but i even liked the sandy texture. Although, I have to admit, i loved the way they cooked meat from the beginning b/c they make it spicy. It was just the oshithima, which is the mahangu porridge which I had to get used to... guess i'm there. Allright, lets see who will actually read this blog so often now that I have regular internet access! Haha...

ps. took a shower outside and discovered that we actually have hot water! Oh my god... it kind of cancels out the pit latrine. Which i still avoid like the plague, but still.

A Cool Day in Omuthiya

By cool, i mean literally cool, its fabulous outside today. Apparently this season is really not supposed to be as scorching hot as it is outside here, and today we got the weather we're supposed to have yess! so sorry i have not updated in a while, but I have been settling in to my permanent site in omuthiya. our new years was kind of anti-climactic, but we did have brunch on the day of made by some of the ladies in our group. It was nice...but anyways, we swore in on January 7 and then most of the health volunteers (excluding myself) left right after the ceremony, which was pretty depressing for me as I am very close to them. We were also on national television! Apparently they had a shot of me, but only people who were looking for me saw it. I looked pretty different anyways, as I was wearing indian clothes and looked nice. Other people took pictures which I am going to try to steal and put up... its just that most ppl dont' have the same internet access i do, so they can't exactly update it on a regular basis. Another vol, chris, put some pictures up, but none of them are of me, although you can look if you want at www.sundaymorningblues.com. Well he doesn't know that i am giving out that link or anything, so don't link it anywhere.

Anyways, i got to site and after some obsessive cleaning, my place is fairly nice. I have electricty and sort of running water... no faucets in my part of the house but an outdoor shower and a sink in the kitchen on the other side of the house.

Oh my god it started raining... so exciting. Clearly i am turning into a Namibian, but we've been waiting for the rain forever, and I am pretty sure all their crops depend on it. Anyways, I can't leave so this entry may be a little longer, yess. So Omuthiya is an interesting little place. I realized last night when hanging out with one of my friends here that there are little "town", "location", and village sections of Omuthiya. Its supposed to expand to become the center of the Oshikoto region, but currently much of the stuff that is the center of the Oshikoto region is located in Tsumeb, so i'm pretty sure officials there must be dragging their feet to get it started b/c Tsumeb is so beautiful i doubt anyone wants to leave it. Omuthiya is pretty nice too though, its just neither as green nor as developed (which is the thing i think really gets people). Its located really close to a spring and Etosha National Park, both of which I am going to try to see this week when Gisella arrives (she is visiting me for the weekend!), should be very exciting. Anyways, I am still trying to figure out my job although now I am working to start a peer health education program b/c my future is my choice, the existing UNICEF program, does not have the funding to provide more trainings. I am using it as a basic template though, and hopefully getting in touch with planned parenthood of namibia b/c they fund some PHEs up in the Ohangwena region. There used to be a volunteer there, but she got into a car accident! I think she wants to come back, but she's in the US/South Africa (not sure which) in physical therapy. aaaaaaah. It sucks to lose members of the group! Anyways, I am also working with the Community Development Coordinator to organise a youth meeting and possibly a work shop based on youth needs. We'll see what happens. Apparently in a few months I will have more work than I can handle, and I can't wait! I have so much downtime here its ridiculous. If only i could hook up my comp to the internet i would respond to all emails, but... yeah. I'm working on it. Anyways, keep me posted!