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.