Did you know?

As we are between cameras at the moment, you will probably have to READ ONLY today! Having said that, I am delving through my copious archives looking for pix you (hopefully) haven’t seen before.
DID YOU KNOW …?
As most of you are aware, we have committed ourselves to St Peter’s, Ondangwa; an Oshiwambo church.
As most of you are probably NOT aware, I first entered the doors of St Peter’s, Ondangwa, in July 1996!! I was doing my honours at George Whitefield College (GWC), Cape Town, and chose to join the student ministry team heading to Northern Namibia for 2 weeks. I spent a week in Windhoek and a week in Ondangwa (including a day in Angola) … at this very church!
The North has changed a LOT since I first came up. There was not much in the way of shops and facilities then. But now things are miles better. This benefits us, of course. But the real plus is that it benefits everyone who lives near a town and thus has access to electricity, running water, cell phone coverage, a hospital etc.
MY DAY
So, how do I spend my day? (David’s ‘day’ will hopefully be posted sometime in the near future.)
Mornings are usually consumed by home schooling. There are interruptions by orphans/street children coming by for food (they do a little job about the garden and are ‘paid’ in food). Wednesday afternoon is Bible club for local children. This is in English. We have about 12 children attending. Craft is always popular. Yesterday we had a boy, Immanuel, here asking for some glue to decorate his drawn fish for school. He had brought some bean seeds to decorate it. I went to the craft cupboard and gave him some additional stuff, including glitter – which he had NEVER seen before – and he loved making a colourful fish to take to school. Many children only have tyres to roll around as a toy, or a metal car they make themselves. (see pix) Most of these children have never played board games, party games, owned a pack of coloured pencils or been given a decent toy. They cannot swim or ride a bike because they have never had the opportunity. How richly blessed our children are.
In the afternoons generally, I spend time with Étienne and Caris, reply to emails, work on a Sunday school teaching manual (in Oshindonga), have a language lesson, help neighbours with homework, host a horde of children playing in our garden, prepare Sunday school/Bible club lessons, work with David in translating Sunday school songs into Oshiwambo, prepare school lessons for the next day, write news- and prayer letters and Ongaipi and/or entertain people who arrive to speak to David about TEE, or other matters.
The children call me ‘Miss/Meme Alisan’. The people who know David and who come here tend to call me ‘Meme (a term of respect for women) David’, ‘Miss David’ or ‘Mummy’. David is called ‘Tate (a term of respect for men) David’ or ‘Mr David’. And we address them as Meme … or Tate … .
Early evenings are when neighbours drop by for a visit (usually around our children’s bed time!). There are family prayers and reading before lights out for the youngsters. By the time the children are in bed, we are both very tired! Sometimes we play ‘The Castle’ (no, not the movie!) or cribbage. There are not many games we know for 2 people and we live in a culture for whom board games are a total unknown. We have adapted ‘30 seconds’ and ‘Trivial Pursuit’ for us to play together. These are both games hard for people without experience outside their culture to play and so we can’t play them with neighbours. Again, we are reminded of how privileged we are to have had the experience and education that make such ‘games’ accessible.
We usually take Fridays off – and this includes from schoolwork. There is not much to do (e.g. places to go), but at least we have time together as a family. David goes quite often for an early bicycle ride with Étienne and Caris. Caris is fine on her bike … as long as she does not have to start or stop too often (for her, preferably not at all!).
A pool opened up in Ongwediva in December, the first one in the Northern region. It is a really nice complex. You pay to get in but then there are two pools (one is for smallies), MacDonald-type climbing tunnels and trampoline. For an extra fee one can go on the super-tube. Also, for a fee, there is a little mini-golf course. Unfortunately, only children over the age of 10 are allowed in the big pool (because a high percentage of children cannot swim and thus there is a real risk of drowning). Caris and Étienne are allowed to swim in the big pool during school hours, but then the super-tube is switched off as the place is almost empty! It is a fenced-in place and has grazing Springbok and Blue Peafowls. (Until we studied birds in home schooling, we knew the male is a peacock, and the female a peahen, but thought they were collectively ‘peacocks’. Wrong!!) Did you know a Fairy Tern lays its eggs on a branch … without first building a nest?! When we were in Walvis Bay, we went to the lagoon (see pix), where there are 1000s of Flamingos (Greater and Lesser). We were fascinated at the way these birds did little ‘tap dances’ in the water to stir up the mud and get to the “food’! And even more delighted when our book told us of this habit that we had actually SEEN! And did you know that a puffin can hold up to 20 fish in its mouth at one time?!
Étienne
3 evenings a week Étienne goes to Karate. He is now yellow belt. He loves reading, playing pokemon on his old game boy, building with lego and bionicles, playing soccer, cricket or trampoline outside with friends, playing chess or backgammon with his Dad.
Caris
Caris has not had any horse riding lessons yet this year (the teacher has not started). She is sad about that. However, she enjoys books, drawing and colouring, any craft, a good movie, riding her bike or rollerblading, playing dolls’ house, baking cookies with Dad.
Talking of David, he is away at the moment. His longest trip so far (time and distance), right along the Caprivi strip to the Zambian/Botswana border. His workshops along the way (so far) have been encouraging, he says. I am finding using local taxis a little less daunting. However, one thing that is hard to get used to is the number of people they squash into them (more money, see!). They are normal 5 seater cars, but I was in one recently where the children and I made a total of SEVEN passengers!
As I write, the children are outside in the giant sandpit of a yard. We had some rain a couple of days ago so the sand is good for building as it is still a little damp. They are building a sand city, and are sprinkling bird seed up and down the roads. Then, later, we will watch birds walking through their city, eating the grain!
Hmm, this is a little long. I’d better close now. (Sorry about that!)