Friday, July 28, 2006

... and sealing wax and ...





Of ships and strings ...

Our things have arrived and now our house looks like ‘home’! David is happy to have some theological books at his disposal; the children are enjoying the toys and books they have missed for so long, and I am happy to have Sunday school resources and the microwave.
Somehow, Caris’ little ballet clothes never made it to Namibia. She is disappointed about that. She is ballet-mad and is enjoying a ballet video sent by her godmother. Now she wants to be a ballet teacher when she grows up. Étienne has decided he wants to be a scientist or build electronic devices. He saw a documentary on how they did the robots etc for Star Wars and immediately set about trying to build his own robot from scraps around the house! Thank you to those of you who have sent the children (and us) letters, cards, stickers, presents, etc during this 7 month period without their toys.
And the work permit being issued (for 2 YEARS!) is a great blessing. They cost N$900 each (we need 4) so they are not cheap for CMS to fund. It has been hard for me, trying to learn a language and do it whole-heartedly, not being quite sure if we would have to leave Namibia in August. A friend is taking our passports down to Windhoek when he goes so we can get them stamped. It takes at least 2 weeks to get the stamps in our passports! Passports and permits have to be shown at police checkpoints at various locations. David will need his next weekend as he needs to go down to Tsumeb for a workshop. Tsumeb is beyond Oshivelo (‘gateway’), the sort of border crossing out of Owamboland, and beyond which meat products from Owamboland cannot be taken, as there is no quarantine on meat here.
The Careers’ Fair that David spoke at last week went off very well. The young people found it a bit overwhelming, going from room to room to hear about different career options. But they seemed to really enjoy David’s presentation (he did the same presentation every thirty minutes 9-4.30 for 3 days, excluding lunch!) but had lots of interested questions asked of him.
Car travelling can become a bit tedious but Caris has the answer to helping the journey pass a bit quicker (see pic)!
Oshakati Hospital is currently so short-staffed that there is only one doctor on duty there at the moment. Many patients wait all day but have to go home in the evening without seeing the doctor. Many of the doctors have either left for further studies or private practice. The hospital has been without a superintendent since the last one was appointed by the president to be his personal physician.
Now that the children are exposed to different languages, they are always making up words in a ‘Barbie’ or ‘Bionicle language’. They are always asking
us ‘Where does the word [eg tree] come from? Why did they choose that word?
What does it mean exactly?’
David’s Oshiwambo is improving down at the market. People have very interesting names here which translate to such as ‘ given’, ‘much blessed’, ‘morning’ or ‘evening’ (time they were born) ‘I am finished’ (labour is over!), ‘thanks (to God)’, ‘many people are here’. Someone, whose name means ‘I am happy’ asked David what his name was.
He replied: ‘I am angry’! The people love it when he jokes like this. There is one chap at the market who sells sweets. By this I mean he buys big bags of small sweets then sells them individually for NA10c each. His profit each day is about N$20 (about AU$4). He and David chat a lot. The other day David asked if he had change.
‘For how much?’
‘N$100.’
Much laughter ensued.
David’s morning Bible reading is sometimes BibleS reading … he has his
English, Afrikaans, Oshikwanyama and Greek open! He is translating a simple
form of ‘2 ways to live’ into Oshiwambo whilst down at the market. He then uses what he learns and practises on various ‘victims’.
Today a couple came to enrol in the NETS course, which is exciting.
We have become friends with a couple (Joey and Phileen) who were coming to the English Bible Study, which we held on Sunday afternoons. As afternoons don't suit many people and we have commitments Sunday mornings, the couple are going to take over the running of the English service on Sunday mornings, which is a great answer to prayer.
Some local children have asked me to do Sunday school for them. As I teach
Sunday school down in Ondangwa, I teach them on Monday afternoons. What a blessing to teach children who WANT to learn! It is much easier on Mondays as they all speak very good English. I am very hampered by lack of fluency in Kwanyama as only the older children in the Ondanwa church have any
English. Anyway, what I am holding up (in the pic) is the memory verse in
Kwanyama!
When the CESA team were up here, the women’s team led a woman (Asnath) from Bsp Kalangula’s church to Christ. Now she wants to give the ladies in the church a Bible study after the Sunday service. As she has very little Bible knowledge, the plan is for me to teach her in the week and then for her to teach that lesson on a Sunday. Please pray for Asnath in this respect. And for me, especially as I have to translate the kwy points and questions into Oshiwambo first – very labour-intensive.
David is discipling one man, Timothy, from that church, who is enrolled in the NETS course.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Millet (mahangu) harvest





The harvest is ripe

At the moment people are harvesting their mahangu (millet) and pounding (stamping) it to make flour for bread, porridge and oshikundu (a non-alcoholic drink).
The stamping after threshing and winnowing takes place in three stages. It is first moistened & when it is damp enough it is called omumoto. This is put into mortars (oini) and pounding begins. When part of the omumoto has been converted into meal, this meal is sifted out (& known as oufila womumoto). The rest is stamped again, & as soon as this has produced meal again, this also is sifted out. If what remains of the omumoto has become dry, it is moistened again, & is then called omudiva. When stamped it produces a last yield of meal (known as oufila womudiva), flour. The corn left over from this operation is mixed into the following day's omumoto. The corn is stamped with a heavy wooden pole weighted at the top (omushi), and stamping is done in a place (oshini) where mortars are set apart for the purpose.
You can see a pic of David tasting the ‘omudiva’ stage. As every day is sunny, there is no problem getting the meal dry.
Also, there is a pic Étienne and Johannes with such a heavy wooden pole as described.
The huge baskets are woven and used to store grain etc. These ones are at least as high as our car.
You can see me having a go at pounding whilst water is added. Also Pandu separating the chaff and sand prior to the grain going to the local mill.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Monday, July 17, 2006

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Of visitors and trips





Of visitors and trips ...

We really enjoyed being a part of the recent training workshops led by a team of 27 CESA (Church of England in South Africa) representatives. It is a loooonnng drive from Cape Town (3 days each way). What a sacrifice of time. We loved catching up with old friends on the team and making new ones. The group ran workshops on pastoral ministry for ministers, women, children and youth. David helped organise venues (including up on the border), using his growing network of friends and contacts. We pray that seeds sown during that time would bear fruit and that we would have the opportunity to follow up some of the people and churches. As I write, David is miles away, preaching a sermon and then leading a Bible study for a Baptist church, from a network of churches called “The Evangelical Baptist Church”. One of the students at NETS, who is part of this church invited David to come and speak.

We have not seen much of David over the past weeks with the two teams being here and David off with workshops. Where we live in not really near anywhere so, as David has the car, we tend to just stick around at home. When the Prentices called and said they were overnighting in Rundu on their way to Victoria Falls (west of Katima Mulilo) and asked us if we would like to meet them there, we thought we could catch up on a couple of missed ‘days off’ and drive there. The one drawback is that the trip was over 1,200 km for a 1 day (2 night) break. We had to drive from Oshakati to Grootfontein, then back up to Rundu (see map). Good job our car has a big tank as there are no shops or garages north of Grootfontein till you reach Rundu.

The Lodge we stayed in was fairly basic but did boast a marvellous view of the Okavango River, which is the border with Angola. You can see Angola on the other side of the river. We hired a canoe and paddled over to Angola and Caris took the picture of us three on ‘foreign’ soil! Then we went up river to the island you can see. Coming back down again we were warned of a hippo in the water! Although we saw the hippo, it did not obstruct our return route and, having going back up the hillside to the lodge, we were able to see the hippo when she climbed out of the water. What a great way to celebrate our wedding anniversary! They speak a different language in the Kavango region, but we could be sort of understood with our limited Oshiwambo. I was intrigued to hear them use the word ‘mvuu’ for hippo, like they do in Malawi (onomatopoeic for the sound they make). In Oshiwambo it is ‘onjabaomeva’ (water elephant). They have amazing teak trees in the Kavango region and their woodcarving is legendary. I have posted a photo of a roadside curio shop where we bought a … hippo!

On the way there we stopped near Grootfontein to see the Hoba meteorite – the biggest known meteorite in the world! The children were amazed that they could touch something from space. Before it became a national monument, and in the days before shops, Bushmen used the iron to make their arrow and axe heads. Aloes are only found south of Tsumeb. Behind them are ripe Mahangu (millet) plants. People have just finished harvesting their mahangu. In the background are some hills – a long time since we have seen any of THOSE!

On the way home we took another detour and, in the middle of nowhere, found another national monument; a huge baobab tree. You can just about see the children and David at its giant base. (The children pretended it was a space rocket.) They look like trees that have been planted upside-down. The fibrous bark can be used to weave mats. The trunk can be hollowed to store water when it rains, or grain when it is dry. Hollow trunks have been used as prisons, shops, postboxes and even a flushing toilet! The seeds are covered in a sherberty powder which is high in Vit C. if you want to know more about this amazing tree, download ‘Ongaipi 3’ at www.dagreeff.iway.na.

David will soon be heading past there again, southwest of Grootfontein, to do a workshop among other, the San (Bushmen) at Tsumkwe.
Meanwhile, this week, there is careers’ fair for the Oshana region where people leaving school this year go from room to room and hear a talk about different careers. We will be there, promoting Christian work as a choice, as well serving God in your profession – and the NETS courses.

The ,faux pas of the week’ goes to me this time.
I asked a woman if the baby she is expecting is her oshivelo (door).
She looked puzzled for a moment then asked if I meant oshiveli (first born).

Saturday, July 01, 2006

To market, to market, to buy a fat mopane worm ...





HIV/AIDS is a big problem in Namibia. Here in Owamboland, the official figures say 31% of the population is infected. There are many AIDS orphans. Funeral services are thriving.
The Oshiwambo ‘phrase for the day’ reflects the mortality rate.
‘Omunhu a fila eedi’ means ‘one who is more dead than alive’. Literally, it means ‘one who is too far gone even to chase the flies from him’.

Unemployment is now about 37%. This accounts, we are sure, for the many entrepreneurial roadside ‘businesses’ around, selling anything from dried spinach cakes, to sugar cane, to firewood. David is now going regularly to the market and the people are taking him on as a friend, enjoying teaching him and correcting them. When Oshiwambo people first ask his name, he usually says ‘Shilumbu helayi’ (ignorant whiteman). They love this. The other day someone asked him his surname (by asking who his father (tate) is). He answered with the word he thought meant Afrikaaner (oshimbulu), but their peals of laughter told him otherwise. He said he was Mr Nostril (ombululu)! One of the vendors there sells oshikundu, the drink made from millet. It is stirred in a plastic bucket and served in drunk from a communal jug (after the woman making it has a swig as a polite gesture to say it will not hurt the person drinking it). David says, ‘When in Rome ….’
They encouraged him to eat (another) mopane worm. Then the conversation went to what people eat in other countries. They told him – in horrified voices – of a ‘sea insect’ that the Chinese eat. David drew a picture in the sand of a prawn. ‘Yes! That is the one!’ they cried. ‘But it is delicious …’ he assured them. (One man’s poison …)

Shopping can be a boring – as can cooking, with no fancy ingredients. I went to the meat section the other day in the supermarket and the only things available were: ox tongue, ox lung, tripe and chicken feet. Rather exotic, isn’t it! Caris really wants to try tongue, but dear Étienne nearly passes out at the prospect. David found some German equivalent of Nutella last week. The first time we have found any. The children were thrilled.

Cats are prized in this land of grain. Whereas we may call a cat ‘pussy’, here they are often called ‘kalenga kokomaanda’, which means ‘genius of the granary’ or ‘little guardian of the corn baskets’.

The dictionary I am compiling is coming on well – I am up to 6,000 words. It is very interesting to see how similar words are linked. But often a Kwanyama word has a paragraph in English to explain what it means.
‘Etwatwa’ means a circle of fresh stick/branch used to secure around a grain basket and keep it off the ground.
Or maybe you have always wondered what an ‘oshiva’ is. Well, it is an amulet or charm made of bull’s hide and hung around the neck so as to hang at the breast and keep the wearer immune from attack by the enemy. However, in flight, it is reversed to keep off pursuers. On its end is a small antelope’s horn filled with ‘oumwifo’, a mixture of leaf ash and fat. If the owner of the oshiva wants to ask a favour of someone, it is thought that eating a little of the omuwifo would make the other person more amenable to the request.

There should be a couple of photos up with this of 3 boys with two (identical) toys made out of (oil) cans. I have done a close-up. When the boys run and push them, the bottom tin acts like a wheel and the other two spin in an endearing fashion. Very ingenious.

The meekulu (grandmother) is wearing necklaces of shells. These shells come from the coast and are usually given by the husband at marriage and added to during the marriage then handed on to the daughter-in-law. Women also wear a girdle of shells. I have seen even babies with one. My friends, who wear one (ALL the time), tell me that adult girls wear one until their death. Then it is removed and given to the daughter.

The little boy with the vetkoek (sort of like a savoury doughnut) is 11 months old and is the son of one of the ladies at the market. Caris – with her blonde hair – attracts the attention of the children and young women there. One of them painted Caris’ nails for her. Our hair fascinates people. Someone, touching my hair, asked me if I used relaxer (a common thing here by women who seek to rid themselves of curls) – a bit like me asking her if she had had a perm! I assured her that it came with me like that at birth. A huge blessing here is a hairdresser used to cutting straight hair. Otherwise, David was offering to wield the shears!