To Market, To Market… Saturday 10/30

This morning we divided up into two groups to work.  Chad, Brian, Bob E., Myron, Wayne, Betty & Mike went back to the Seminary to paint.   They enjoyed entertaining and being entertained by two little boys while they painted:  sons of students there.  They worked on the exterior of the building this time.  Bob B., Julie, Nicole, Lisa & Bekah worked at collating and binding books.  We also started washing drapes from the Seminary.  The air is so hot, dry and breezy here that things dry extremely quickly.

In the early afternoon, Calvin dropped some of the painters off at a market that is usually just frequented by local people.  Then he took the rest of us over there.  We enjoyed seeing & smelling lots of interesting foods and other items there.  This market sold mainly foodstuffs, along with separate stalls where women were sewing and selling their wares.  Then Calvin drove us to another part of town where we got to see a beautiful park, with a picturesque stone Lutheran church nearby, as well as an old parliament building.  The parliament building is no longer used and the church was the first Lutheran church in Namibia.  We then walked over to some street vendors and haggled for gifts and souvenirs.  Most of the items were wood carvings and baskets which are made in northern Namibia.  Mike & Julie particularly enjoyed the bartering process! 

Oh!  Funny story…  We were at a stop light today, and Brian started a conversation with a guy riding in a taxi pulled up next to him.  Brian asked where he was going, told him he’d see him in town then, and asked if he could come to the guy’s house for dinner.  The man said he was fine with all that, the light turned green and we all drove off.  Later as we were strolling down a sidewalk, there stood that taxi driver and they greeted each other like old friends!

“Watch and pray, so that you will not fall into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  --Matt.26:41



Bob B. binding books




Ring around the rosie



A completed book in Luchazi



Taxies like this are everywhere!




The guys playing pool at the local market.




Yes, they eat these dried grubs.  Just fry ém up-- tastes like bacon (so they say, I wouldn't know)




At the market.  Wayne is holding "African oranges" which weren't really like oranges at all.  Tasty though.




The oldest Lutheran church in Namibia.



A street market.



Who is the fastest collater of them all?





Brian and his friend from the taxi.








Meeting People: Friday, 10/29

“The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.  The nations will walk by its light…”  --Rev. 21:23-24

This morning we were up bright and early to get back into painting.  Everyone worked at the seminary for the morning:  Bob E. worked on the roof for part of the time, the others of us were painting their chapel room and classrooms.  Betty & Mike spent some quality time cleaning floors.  Everyone at the seminary is so grateful for the work we are doing.  They simply don’t have the resources for projects like this.  They had even gone for a long period of time without a custodian, so things had fallen into disrepair.  They now have a custodian to fix things, so there is some improvement in that area too.

 

Seminary student, Rigan, with Wayne

They had a “tea” at 10:45 a.m. to give us a chance to meet seminary staff and students.  We all really enjoyed the time talking to the people there.  We are all finding that any stereotypes we had of Africans, and they have of Americans, shattered by getting to know actual people.  They are finding out that not all Americans are “tall and fat”, and that we don’t live like people in American movies.  We are finding many Africans to be quite modern, cell phone-carrying, educated, multi-lingual people.  Most people we’ve met speak multiple languages.  There are so many people-groups in Namibia, each with their own dialect.  Many signs and names reflect the German colonial era.  The language Afrikaans (a national language in South Africa; noting that Namibia was a protectorate of South Africa until 1990) is used by some.  Luchazi is a very common language in this area.  But English is the national language of Namibia, and all schools teach completely in English.  Some fear that the local languages and dialects will die out eventually as more and more people embrace English, but for now most families still use their original language at home even if they speak English at school or work.

The students at the seminary are from various countries.  Many are actually from Namibia, but quite a few are from Zambia, Zimbabwe and other places.  The staff includes people from Australia and Great Britain.  So, we have met quite a diverse and interesting assortment of people with a common love for the Lord and a deep desire to serve Him.



Julie has two beautiful daughters, Samara & Cietta



Julie & Lisa got to have lunch with the staff of the after-school program in order to make plans for next week’s activities.  Another Julie (the Australian director of the program) apologized for serving us American food for lunch (fried chicken and salad), then joked about serving worms and waiting for us to eat them first (because they wouldn’t eat them!)  This group of people is a lot of fun.  They joke around and banter with each other—and us—constantly, switching between Luchazi and English.  They said we tend to talk too fast.  Namibian English, Australian English and American English can sound very different!



 Left to right:  Julie is the director,  Tangeni has a very droll sense of humor, Mercia is quiet but firm with the children she helps, and Daniel is studying to be a banker and is very funny & inquisitive.  “Is Rambo a real person?  What is America’s biggest export?  Do you have white albinos?” (as opposed to black albinos that he is familiar with)

Some collating and punching was accomplished in the afternoon as well (mostly by Bob B., Brian and Nicole) although some mechanical difficulties slowed things down a bit.

We finished our day with pasta prepared by Nicole & Brian—complete with sauce made from local produce and some “highly-flavored” sausage.  Calvin led devotions and de-briefing, and most of us were ready for a rather early bedtime.  Everyone is healthy and doing well, although there are still a lot of sleep issues.  We are enjoying getting to know one another better.  The main comments of the day we heard was how much everyone is enjoyed talking to and getting to know the people here.  We can (and should!) send money to missions as much as possible, but there is no substitute for the impact of meeting people, forming relationships, and seeing their hearts and needs in person. 

Getting Started: Thursday, Oct. 28

Today we all got our feet wet doing ministry in Namibia.  We were excited to get out there among people.  Since we were missing some key pieces of luggage containing a bunch of painting supplies, not everyone could begin painting.  One group did start painting right away though:  Mike, Betty, Bob E., Myron, Chad & Wayne.  They actually got two whole rooms done today, which was much more than anyone thought would be accomplished. 



Shopping center near the guest house



Nicole, Brian, Lisa, Bekah & Julie walked a couple of blocks to a shopping center to pick up a few groceries and to see what’s nearby.  We found that the stores are extremely clean (more-so than Wal-Mart & most grocery stores at home!)  We have found shopping, etc. rather challenging because we have to convert liters to quarts, grams to pounds, rand to dollars, Celsius to Fahrenheit and back again.  Our minds are boggled!

The shopping group (after picking up Chad) also got to go out to the church where we’ll be doing the after-school program next week.  We had fun meeting the staff and kids there.  The kids were so excited to get their pictures taken.  But they are the same as kids anywhere:  some are shy, some are pranksters… and they were sure interested in Brian’s earrings and tattoos.  Also, the high-schoolers practiced a song they are performing for an upcoming  program, and we got to watch them perform a “jazzed-up” version of “Jesus Loves Me.” 

Girls in the after-school program: they loved getting their picture taken!

Our luggage arrived in the afternoon, and many of us were thrilled to have our clothes, toiletries and ministry supplies. Wayne and Bob B. spent some time collating book materials today also.  Calvin was kept busy all day driving groups of people back and forth to wherever they needed to go, as well as constantly answering questions and generally helping get everything done.

Brian and Nicole cooked hamburgers and delicious savory potatoes for dinner, followed by warm chocolate cake to celebrate Calvin’s birthday today!  We got to meet  Dagmar, the  field leader for SIM in Namibia.  SIM (Serving in Mission) is the organization we are here with; and  the apartments we are using are in their guest house called Otjari House, meaning  “Grace” in OtjiHerero. 

We made it!

"Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed are those who take refuge in Him.  Fear the Lord, you His holy people, for those who fear Him lack nothing."  --Psalm 34:8-9

We got to our final destination last night at about 4:30 p.m. EST, or 11:30 p.m. Namibia time.  We were all relieved to be done flying for a while.  Since it was dark when we got to Namibia, about all we could see of the countryside was the vast, starry sky.  But here are some highlights from our travels…

There are 13 of us in our group:  our leader, Calvin; his dad, Bob B.; Bob E., Julie, Mike & Betty, Myron, Chad, Nicole & Brian, Wayne & Lisa and Bekah.  Just so you know who we are talking about as we go.



We met in Hanover at noon, only to find out that Brian had a flat tire on his truck on his way to meet us.  The problem is that his vehicle is a huge truck which was to transport a bunch of luggage and people to the airport.  And the spare tire wasn’t going to get us there.  But we thanked God that the only place around with the right tire happened to be right on our way.  20 minutes later, we were good to go.



Bekah, Bob E., Bob B, Nicole & Betty with our huge pile of luggage at Dulles



We got our massive amounts of luggage checked in, boarded the plane and prepared for many hours on board.  We took off at 6:00 p.m. and landed in Dakar, Senegal at about 2:00 a.m.  Some passengers got off and others got on.  We just stayed put and took off about an hour later.  Another 8 hours later, we landed in Johannesburg, South Africa.  What a relief to get off that plane!  They did serve us three meals during our stay and we found South Africa Airways to be very accommodating.



In Joburg, we found that our flight was delayed about an hour, so we had a little time to get our first look at some African wares in the airport stores.  Apparently, we’ll have to check labels—some of the items were made in China and even the USA!



Flying the friendly skies.



We all got loaded up for our short (2-hour) hop to Namibia.  It was a pretty bumpy ride for a few minutes, but then the ride was smooth, and we got served yet another meal, which most of us weren’t too thrilled to see at that point.  But we landed, walked across the tarmac to the terminal and we had arrived.  We were praising God to get there safe and sound.  Most of us had slept very little on the planes, so we were dragging but excited to be in Namibia.  All we had to do was collect our luggage.  Yep.  That’s all.  Well, some of us collected some of our luggage.  A lot of our bags didn’t make it.  Most of us had checked two bags because of bringing supplies along.  Wayne, Lisa, Bekah, Julie, Chad, Brian, Calvin, and Bob B. didn’t get any of our checked bags.  I think everyone else got all or part of theirs.  We’re thinking they’ll catch up with us today.  Meanwhile, we had all packed one change of clothes in our carry-ons, so we’re making do.



Hallelujah, we're here!



So then we had a van ride of a half hour or so to Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia.  The driver told us he had to be on the lookout for kudus which like to run toward headlights.  Fortunately, we had no close encounters of that kind!  At Windhoek we noticed that the city was very clean and modern.  All the houses and properties are gated and fenced.  The apartments and rooms we’re staying in are very clean with modern kitchens and bathrooms.



Today, we plan to get acclimated in the morning—taking care of some grocery shopping and business.  Then in the afternoon, one group will begin painting at the seminary while another group goes to observe the after-school program.

 P.S.  We got the rest of our luggage today-- plus an extra bag that wasn't even ours!



After School Program

These pictures are from an after-school program we'll be helping with for four afternoons.  There are usually 70-100 kids from kindergarten through grade 12.

What we plan to do there...

While in Namibia, we will be spending most of our time working on various projects.  We will be painting (seminary buildings shown in the last 2 pictures) , helping in a book bindery which prints materials for training Christian workers (1st 2 pictures), and running an after-school program for 4 days.  The third picture shows the guest house we'll be staying in while we're there.