Saturday, September 30, 2006
Hotting up
Greetings from a very hot Owamboland. I hung out the washing this morning then came to pray with David. When I went back out I found the sheets already dry! 40 degrees’ forecast for tomorrow!
We have found a very lively and capable young lady to be a language helper. Koneka (which means ‘take note’ or ‘notice’) wants to be a school teacher after school (she is 19) and is an able teacher of us! Because of the necessity of learning so many variations of the concords in all the different noun classes, we spend our time at the moment drilling Oshiwambo sentences such as …
The man goes under the bed
The coffin goes under the bed
The grain goes under the bed
The sin goes under the bed
Caris is art-mad and I spend time trawling the internet to find pix for her to colour in or be crafty with. She also likes to design her own pictures and is doing that as I write this. As the WHOLE area for 100s kms around is only sand, Caris misses blossom trees, flowers (and colour in general). We have bought a packet of seeds and a bag of fertiliser and will now try and grow something in the garden (if they don't wither and die as they come up!). (Like Collarenebri, it is very flat and dry here, with a farming culture. However, here all hoeing, sowing, and harvesting is done by hand. Ploughing is by hand or using a donkey or cow.)
She still dances her heart out whenever she can. You can see her on the trampoline. She pirouettes as she jumps! Although our music books never arrived, at least our electric piano did. She loves to set it to play its selection of classical songs and then dance around. The local shops with canned music all know her as she twirls and skips up and down the aisles.
As for our boy, he still enjoys karate. He will do a second grading next month. When he is not absorbed in a book he is racing through life at 100 miles an hour. He is mine of interesting information that he gleans from reading. (Did you know that the eye is attached to the brain with an optical nerve!?). His burning desire at the moment is to build his own robot. He collects any scrap bits of metal (even if they are part of something that actually is NOT always scrap!) and tries to twist and shape them into something robot-ish. He has suddenly become very interested in Lego and spends a lot of time with the Lego we brought with us.
They are excited about their upcoming birthdays and Caris is already telling me what kind of cake decoration she wants (she wishes!). I will have friends over and organise games – that does not seem to be the norm here. I did it at Johannes’ birthday party and was a huge success!
David is away for the third Saturday in a row doing workshops. The people are always very grateful. He did one near Ruacana last week (the pastor had advertised it as a Bible conference). After getting David to talk for 3 hours the pastor said they would have a short break then have another session. David could see the people had information-overload and said why not let him come back another day, instead. Good plan!
The Sunday school I have started at Ondangwa went a bit better last week with one of the children being willing to have a go at translating.
There is a picture of Étienne with kudu horns on – from a relatively small kudu apparently. They are very big animals and are responsible for a number of severe (even fatal) car accidents between here and Windhoek.
We have found a very lively and capable young lady to be a language helper. Koneka (which means ‘take note’ or ‘notice’) wants to be a school teacher after school (she is 19) and is an able teacher of us! Because of the necessity of learning so many variations of the concords in all the different noun classes, we spend our time at the moment drilling Oshiwambo sentences such as …
The man goes under the bed
The coffin goes under the bed
The grain goes under the bed
The sin goes under the bed
Caris is art-mad and I spend time trawling the internet to find pix for her to colour in or be crafty with. She also likes to design her own pictures and is doing that as I write this. As the WHOLE area for 100s kms around is only sand, Caris misses blossom trees, flowers (and colour in general). We have bought a packet of seeds and a bag of fertiliser and will now try and grow something in the garden (if they don't wither and die as they come up!). (Like Collarenebri, it is very flat and dry here, with a farming culture. However, here all hoeing, sowing, and harvesting is done by hand. Ploughing is by hand or using a donkey or cow.)
She still dances her heart out whenever she can. You can see her on the trampoline. She pirouettes as she jumps! Although our music books never arrived, at least our electric piano did. She loves to set it to play its selection of classical songs and then dance around. The local shops with canned music all know her as she twirls and skips up and down the aisles.
As for our boy, he still enjoys karate. He will do a second grading next month. When he is not absorbed in a book he is racing through life at 100 miles an hour. He is mine of interesting information that he gleans from reading. (Did you know that the eye is attached to the brain with an optical nerve!?). His burning desire at the moment is to build his own robot. He collects any scrap bits of metal (even if they are part of something that actually is NOT always scrap!) and tries to twist and shape them into something robot-ish. He has suddenly become very interested in Lego and spends a lot of time with the Lego we brought with us.
They are excited about their upcoming birthdays and Caris is already telling me what kind of cake decoration she wants (she wishes!). I will have friends over and organise games – that does not seem to be the norm here. I did it at Johannes’ birthday party and was a huge success!
David is away for the third Saturday in a row doing workshops. The people are always very grateful. He did one near Ruacana last week (the pastor had advertised it as a Bible conference). After getting David to talk for 3 hours the pastor said they would have a short break then have another session. David could see the people had information-overload and said why not let him come back another day, instead. Good plan!
The Sunday school I have started at Ondangwa went a bit better last week with one of the children being willing to have a go at translating.
There is a picture of Étienne with kudu horns on – from a relatively small kudu apparently. They are very big animals and are responsible for a number of severe (even fatal) car accidents between here and Windhoek.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Friday, September 15, 2006
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Etosha Game Park
We have just returned from 4 days’ camping at Etosha game park. It was our first family camping trip and our first holiday in a long time.
Etosha was declared a National Park in 1907 and covering an area of 22 270 square km, it is home to 114 mammal species, 340 bird species, 110 reptile species, 16 amphibian species and, surprisingly, one species of fish.
Etosha, meaning "Great White Place", is dominated by a massive mineral pan. a large dusty depression of salt and dusty clay which fills only if the rains are heavy and even then only holds water for a short time. A San legend about the formation of the Etosha Pan tells of how a village was raided and everyone but the women slaughtered. One woman was so upset about the death of her family she cried until her tears formed a massive lake. When the lake dried up nothing was left apart from a huge white pan.
It was VERY hot during the day and very cold at night. The camp site was a dust bowl and the wind kept us all gritty. The pic of us at the salt pan edge shows us squinting against the sun and the dust in the windy air! It was over 30 degrees out there and ZERO shade.
But the animals we saw were well worth it. I am only posting a few pix on the blog; not artistic ones, but ones designed to give you an idea of what the animal looks like as many may be unfamiliar. The kudu one shows a springbok, too, for comparison (though how many of you know how big a springbok is?). Kudus are HUGE and are responsible for many of the fatal car accidents between here and Windhoek. (Caris says the plural of springbok must surely be springboxes!)
We saw lion, rhino, elephant, jackal, zebra, hyena, giraffe, buck, and wildebeest. Sadly, we did not see more than an obscure glimpse of a leopard (ongwe), though others said they saw one when they were driving around. And no sighting of a cheetah. (Maybe next time! Wanna come?)
The hornbill is eating some of David’s (somewhat solid) damper bread and you can see him in the act of tossing a piece into his beak/bill (?).
There is a watering hole nearby the camp at which we stayed which was floodlit at night and that is when we saw hyena and rhino.
There is one picture of the road with a layer of springbok, then of zebra and then of wildebeest (gnu) which met us as we came in. Unfortunately, the photo is too small to do it justice. It was like the parting of a sea of animals as we edged through them.
At least the camp had warm water for showers (one of the few camping places in Namibia that DOES!) … I have been waiting all day for our water here in Ongwediva to be reconnected – a pipe problem, I think. The electricity is pretty reliable, and the water only goes off once or twice a fortnight. (But I really want a shower … can you smell me?!) PLUS, the people in Owamboland who have running water INSIDE their house are a tiny minority. Townships have outside taps with a lock on that certain people have the key to. If you live outside of a town then you get your water from the tap for your village (which may be some walk away) or from an oshana (sort of ditch) that may have some water still in it from the rains in March (I will post relevant pics anon). However, oshanas are shared with pigs, fowl and cattle. So, going without a shower for simply a few hours is still a luxury!
We are enjoying having Ben Staunton here at the moment (from Armidale!!). After a ministry stint in SA, he is visiting friends in Southern Africa. Great fun to talk to an Australian … and to teach him “Settlers of Catan’! The day he leaves we collect Steve Pivetta from Ondangwa airport. Steve is giving us a pastoral CMS visit.
When are YOU coming to visit?
Etosha was declared a National Park in 1907 and covering an area of 22 270 square km, it is home to 114 mammal species, 340 bird species, 110 reptile species, 16 amphibian species and, surprisingly, one species of fish.
Etosha, meaning "Great White Place", is dominated by a massive mineral pan. a large dusty depression of salt and dusty clay which fills only if the rains are heavy and even then only holds water for a short time. A San legend about the formation of the Etosha Pan tells of how a village was raided and everyone but the women slaughtered. One woman was so upset about the death of her family she cried until her tears formed a massive lake. When the lake dried up nothing was left apart from a huge white pan.
It was VERY hot during the day and very cold at night. The camp site was a dust bowl and the wind kept us all gritty. The pic of us at the salt pan edge shows us squinting against the sun and the dust in the windy air! It was over 30 degrees out there and ZERO shade.
But the animals we saw were well worth it. I am only posting a few pix on the blog; not artistic ones, but ones designed to give you an idea of what the animal looks like as many may be unfamiliar. The kudu one shows a springbok, too, for comparison (though how many of you know how big a springbok is?). Kudus are HUGE and are responsible for many of the fatal car accidents between here and Windhoek. (Caris says the plural of springbok must surely be springboxes!)
We saw lion, rhino, elephant, jackal, zebra, hyena, giraffe, buck, and wildebeest. Sadly, we did not see more than an obscure glimpse of a leopard (ongwe), though others said they saw one when they were driving around. And no sighting of a cheetah. (Maybe next time! Wanna come?)
The hornbill is eating some of David’s (somewhat solid) damper bread and you can see him in the act of tossing a piece into his beak/bill (?).
There is a watering hole nearby the camp at which we stayed which was floodlit at night and that is when we saw hyena and rhino.
There is one picture of the road with a layer of springbok, then of zebra and then of wildebeest (gnu) which met us as we came in. Unfortunately, the photo is too small to do it justice. It was like the parting of a sea of animals as we edged through them.
At least the camp had warm water for showers (one of the few camping places in Namibia that DOES!) … I have been waiting all day for our water here in Ongwediva to be reconnected – a pipe problem, I think. The electricity is pretty reliable, and the water only goes off once or twice a fortnight. (But I really want a shower … can you smell me?!) PLUS, the people in Owamboland who have running water INSIDE their house are a tiny minority. Townships have outside taps with a lock on that certain people have the key to. If you live outside of a town then you get your water from the tap for your village (which may be some walk away) or from an oshana (sort of ditch) that may have some water still in it from the rains in March (I will post relevant pics anon). However, oshanas are shared with pigs, fowl and cattle. So, going without a shower for simply a few hours is still a luxury!
We are enjoying having Ben Staunton here at the moment (from Armidale!!). After a ministry stint in SA, he is visiting friends in Southern Africa. Great fun to talk to an Australian … and to teach him “Settlers of Catan’! The day he leaves we collect Steve Pivetta from Ondangwa airport. Steve is giving us a pastoral CMS visit.
When are YOU coming to visit?
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Saturday, September 02, 2006
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