The previous blog entry was perhaps a little too emotional judging by the influx of emails I received (thank you to everyone by the way) but I was just trying to keep it real, ya know!?!?!? My last two weeks were better and more productive, and I know I have to cut myself a little slack. I have to take failures less personally, be more accepting of the laid back culture here. I am sort of starting to get the hang of things...like it is a rule of thumb that no two things can happen simultaneously between any two groups of people, no matter the gender, demographic or if they are spaced 8 hours apart. My woman's group, geared for young mothers, I am especially excited about. This group, however, took a 3 week hiatus because I kept scheduling it on days that would never work. In the last two weeks there were two funerals, and since this is the only activity I have seen thus far that gives out food (usually a goat or cow is sacrificed) a lot of people show up for them and they can last up to 3 days.
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| funeral procession line through the village on the way to the river |
The contrast of the pace of life between Namibia and America is very apparent when I read emails from my sister. She gets to work by 8 am at the latest, will have two big meetings and a conference call to Brazil before lunch then stays late to finish up. Yesterday my organization committee told me they could not meet at 3:30 due to a school parents meeting that was scheduled for 10:30 that morning and would maybe take 45 minutes. The concept that time is money is not practiced here, because in the village no money comes from work. For a population of 900 the only source of employment is the school, which has 10 teachers and one cleaner on payroll. If I ever get completely adjusted to the speed of life here I have no clue how I will survive back in the US, I will probably get hit by a bus from walking too slow. Another example to show the time difference; every Sunday by sunrise a bell is rung to let the village know that it is the day for church, is that the main telltale sign to let people know what day it is??
When I did meet with the woman's group it was great. We discussed what positive changes could be made in the village, ways we can we target the in-school youth to reduce teenage pregnancy, threw out the idea of a community garden to improve their children's nutrition, but then the rest of the time we just chit chatted about boy troubles. If it wasn’t for us sitting on mats made out of straw, the gossip only in Thimbukushu and sweating in 100+ degree weather it felt like it could have been my with my friends in America, almost.
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| some of the women from our new group! |
You're braver than me! I was thrilled to leave Arizona without ever once seeing a scorpion even if it was just on the ground outside somewhere. I love how you described the different conceptions of time. I like thinking that doing one good thing a day is enough.
ReplyDeletePS The way to keep scorpions out of your bed is to put the bed legs in bowls of water. I don't know if this works for snakes too, and probably the water would just evaporate.
You always were a slow walker- but i hope you don't get hit by a bus. Also you never liked living in a place with so many cars. You did mention that you wanted to live in a place where everyone walked or rode bikes... how do you feel about that statement now?
ReplyDeleteI am so excited you've been meeting with all the different groups in the village. sounds like a great few weeks :)