Welcome to my online journal of my time here in Africa. It started awhile back as I worked on raising the support to go Africa and now I am here. I will be updating it with storeis, pictures, praises and prayer requests as often as I can. Thanks for checking it out!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Clever Boys!
These three boys were playing in the backyard the other day, they are about four and five years old. They were cleaning up and have to put the basin of toys on the top level of the tree house. It is pretty heavy but these boys are quite clever. They tied a rope to one handle of the basin and pulled it up while one of the other boys stood under and pushed it up so it wouldn't drop all the toys. All three of them worked together to get it up. So smart!





Sunday, September 14, 2008

My Namesake!
This is Jessica. No, I am not talking about me, that is the name of the baby! This little gal is the sister/daughter of some good friends of mine. Her parents asked me for any suggestions for a name and as a joke, I said "Jessica." They loved it and decided to name her that. So now we are sisters...and isn't she gorgeous!





Photo Time!
I bought a new skirt, necklace and earrings which of course is a good enough reason to have a photo session in the backyard. The fifth picture own has all of us in it. There are also pictures of us one on one.
The boy in the back on the right is Josh and on the left is Peter. The middle row we have Bina, Sippee, Suama me and Suisse. On the ground in the front is Cynthia. These are my kids!












Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Meme Mahangu
This title requires a short explanation. Meme Mahangu is my nickname here in Namibia. We were discussing what my "african" name should be and the boys kept saying food and I didn't like that but somehow this stuck. This is actually the brand name of mahangu that people buy in the stores. Mahangu is a plant that is similar to corn that grows in Namibia. You take the heads off the stalks and pound the seeds into smal grain and powder. This is used to make Oshukundu and mahangu porridge. (they are mentioned more in the other pictures from the North). Pounding mahangu is not fun but of course I wanted to pitch in, fully earning my Meme Mahangu name. By the way, Meme is like saying miss, it is a polite way to refer to a woman, married or not. So I gave it a go. Peter also had to show me the correct way to do it. Often two people pound together which is what Suama and I tried to do with interesting results. It was quite a lot of fun but I am not sure that we got much real pounding done. And everyone had to come out and watch me do it!







Time To Eat!
Eating in the North is quite the adventure. We had goat twice a day, sometimes three times. The staple food here is porridge made with maize or mahangu, both plants that are pounded into fine grains. You use your hands to take some porridge and dip it into the soup with meat. You can sort of form the porridge to make sort of spoon/scoop for the soup and meat. In the Ovambo culutre, we all sit in small groups of three or four. There is one plate of mahangu porridge and a bowl of soup with meat. Each little group shares their food. It is a real communal way to eat and I really enjoyed it. They gave me rice about half the time because I am not used to eating porridge so much. I am really glad that they included me in the group to eat together though. The last picture is funny because it is like 7:30 in the morning. I was leaving for the city that day so I had to go pretty early in the morning. Culturally, it would have been rude for me to leave without having a full stomach so what else should I have....goat and rice for breakfast. Does a body good. Actually, the goat meat was really good the whole time but at 7:30, coffee is the only thing that sounds good to me!







Fun in the North
(first picture) - Hanging with my girl Suama. I love this kid. She is one of the first youth that I met and we connected. I have really connected with the whole family.
(second picture) - Ndafa and I...she is pretty tired from a busy day being naughty.
(third picture) - The kids hanging out, waiting for dinner to be ready.
(fourth picture) - Suama, her twin Peter and me. Have I mentioned that I love these guys! They are my family here!
(fifth picture) - Here we are playing UNO, outside, on a plastic table, by candlelight in the middle of the outdoor part of the house. That game is universal. I have played it in so many countries and it is a big hit every where I go!






Culture time
While I was in the North, I was able to participate in some traditional culture things.
I met the grandparents of my youth kids. Suama and I sat for some pictures with her Grandmother who is blind. It was really cool to get to meet some of their extended family. Not in the pictures but I also met the chief of the tribe in the village and that was pretty cool. While visiting their Grandmother, one of the cousins was coming into the house area as an annoucement of her wedding next week. So, we picked up the cow tails and it is culturally appropriate to dance out to meet the bride and then dance around her making this noise with you tongue. Well I am not one to stand back and not be part of the fun so I picked up the cow tail, danced out to meet the bride and danced around her shaking the tail and hollering all over the place. She was quite surprised! Haha! That was funny. Then we gathered around the fire to listen to some drums and dance around in celebration. This is not the first time I have seen this but I love it. I love the excitement and celebration. Again, it was really cool to be a part of this but more than that, it was cool to get to see this side of my youth kids and their lives.






Village life in the North
Check out the pictures of traditional life in the village.
(first picture) - Suama carrying water from the water hole. I went with her but people often don't let me help. Either it is because I am a guest or because they don't think I can do it. I find that pretty fun. So I was in charge of walking with the baby there and back while Suama carried the water.
(second picture) - Suama fixing breakfast in the "kitchen" one morning. This is the one thing that she let me help her with.
(third picture) - Peter drinking Oshikundu. Oshikundu is this traditional drink of the Ovambo people. It is made from a plant called the mahangu plant. You pound the grains to make the drink. Most outsiders don't like it but actually, Linda and I love it. Our neighbor makes it for us all the time. I think it is a taste you get used to but it is my favorite drink here in Namibia. In the North we had a fresh bucket every day. It was great!
(fourth picture) - The kids playing a game in the sand with stones. It is sort of like Mancala.
(fifth picture) - Me with one of my babies, Ndafa. She is the niece of the youth kids I went with to the North. Both her parents died, on seperate occasions, since I have been in Namibia.






WARNING - THESE PICTURES ARE A LITTLE GRAPHIC
Slaughtering the Goat
This is not my first experience in goat slaughtering. I did it when I visited Max and his family in December last year. It is a really interesting thing and I am going to have to get used to it anyway. The second night in the North, we slaughtered a goat to eat for the next week. Goat's meat has really grown on me and this goat had some good meat! It is weird how easily the skin comes away from the meat/muscle. I don't really like the whole thing but it doesn't really bother me like I thought it would. Just seems like a neccassary part of life. I am becoming a real African woman! Ha ha!







Lodgings
While staying with my youth kids in the North, I stayed in this hut with one of my girls. It was nice and cozy. I really enjoyed it.



Heading to the North
I spent four days in a village in the northern part of Namibia, usually called "the North." It was a lot of fun. We rode up there in the back of the truck of the youth kids that I went with.