Happy Africa Day and a Sad Farewell to Rundu...

Our last week in Rundu went so fast! It was fun being able to spend time with many of our friends, but it was difficult to say goodbye. Rundu has been a great place to call home these past 8 months, and it is hard to imagine us living somewhere else now!

Saturday was our final Bible study at Ndama Church. We decided to have a one-day study on what is true salvation. Mark and I spent much time preparing for it and were very happy with how the day went. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and asked so many questions that the discussion ended up being 4 hours long! We were able to have a great time talking about some confusing issues within our faith, and really share the Bible with them. We've really been surprised by how much the Bible study has helped our personal faith grow here, and have been really blessed by it. We have been able to discuss the Bible and life issues with many different youth from various villages within Rundu and through it have grown close relationships that we cherish. This past Saturday we even had two elders from the Church come who only spoke Lucazi. It was great being able to include them in our "youth" Bible study! :)

Saturday night we went to the Kavango River. It is a stunning place to watch the sunset over the River that separates Namibia from Angola. It was close to our home when we stayed in Tutengeni and since moving to Ndama village we haven't seen it as often as we once did. It was great going back for one last sunset...

 

Sunday was out last church service in Ndama. We had to say goodbye to some very kind people and we thought the best way to do that was in Lucazi! So our trusty dictionary Pepe :) helped us out to translate our farewell in advance so we could practice the words together. So, Mark and I stood up in front of the congregation to thank them and said goodbye in Lucazi and in response to us going the entire congregation waved to us to send their greetings along to our family and church when we return home. :)

Sunday afternoon we were able to have an awesome Tanzanian lunch at my friend Moza's home. Moza is a friend from the hospital and her and her daughter have lived in Rundu since October! We have both been learning the language together, and have become quite close. Mark and I had a great time at her home and ate absolutely amazing food! We ate so much food I felt like it was Thanksgiving dinner... just without a turkey!

Rebekka, myself, Aina, & Kawali

Monday was my last day working in Casualty and it was definitely a tearful goodbye. I've grown so close with the staff there... and actually can't imagine not working with them in the future. It really is a close knit group, and the mix of personalities make work almost not work with how well we all got along and how fun it was together.  At the end of my day I became overwhelmed with emotion when the Casualty staff threw me a surprise going away party! Of course, I cried. :) They gave speeches and made some yummy yummy food. Mark was able to bike down to share in the party and made it just in time for my farewell gift! Rebekka handmade me a traditional Kavango dress... a gift from the entire department. It fit me perfectly, and when I asked how she even knew my measurements she said "I've worked with you everyday my dear... I know you." I will miss everyone dearly, and hope that one day I will be blessed enough to see them again.

Our last two days in Rundu we spent in the village with our family. Mark and I wholeheartedly feel that the people we've spent the last 4 months with in Ndama are our family... forever. We feel extremely blessed to have met them and right now find it almost impossible to leave them. Two of those people very close to our hearts are our brothers Pepe and Kambinda. We have spent most of our days and nights together doing absolutely nothing and absolutely everything together! Pepe is 17 years old and finishing up his grade 12 this year, and Kambinda is 20 and finished his grade 12 this past year. Both are hoping to attend University together in 2012. They are truly amazing, intelligent, kind, loving, and fun guys and to say "they will be missed" is an understatement.

We love you guys!

Our last night...

 Wednesday was our last day in Rundu and turns out it was a continent-wide holiday... Africa Day! :) Being a holiday,  there was no school so it was a great day being able to just hang in the village with everyone. Mark and I got as many hugs and high-fives as we could squeeze in in a day and began the process of saying goodbye. That night after dinner, all of us gathered around the fire and talked about our time... sharing stories, laughing, and crying together. The most touching moment for me was when Pepe's mother Elizabeth said to me... "From the beginning, I never saw our differences... I only saw you as my sister."

The family who took us in under their wing: Paulus & Elizabeth, Pepe, Kina & Tani!

Mark with Kabumba & Paulus

Thursday morning Mark and I were up before the village and even the roosters to finish packing up. Mark even made a bike trip out to town to drop off our bedding and pillows to the mission home at 4:30 am to start his day! :) We said our final goodbyes to all the kids before they headed to school... each one showing up at our doorstep in their school uniforms to give us a hug. Kambinda, Elizabeth, Cecilia, Ana, Nsamba, and little Paulus, Kabumba, and Zeka came with us to the combi stop while we waited for our ride to Windhoek. We think winter finally arrived that morning! All of us were so cold we could barely stand still. :) While waiting we had a few more hours together joking around and playing with the kids... something we will miss terribly.

As the combi drove away Mark and I were both fighting back the tears. This experience has been much more than an "experience." It was been our life and home for 8 months. We will miss our Namibian family very much and will forever hold each one of them close to our hearts.  We hope that God will continue to bless them and we pray that we will be fortunate enough to be with them again in this life.

We want to thank each and every one of you who have supported and prayed for us along this journey. We are very sad to leave Rundu, but are happy to be reunited with you again soon! In three weeks we will be returning to American soil :) after a bit of travel here in Africa. We hope that during this time we can reflect on our experiences in Namibia and prepare for our return home.

Life as we know it.

Time sure flies when you're having fun!! Mark and I can't believe we haven't blogged in over a month. It is a May we aren't used to... the beginning of winter. :) The days here are still pretty warm, but the nights... are getting cold! It is becoming harder and harder to force ourselves outside at night to shower. "Tana time" isn't as relaxing as before... now it's more of a race to see who can finish first and get back inside! :)

Since the schools are now out for their winter break, Mark has finished teaching at Don Bosco. Mark was enjoying teaching and I really think he was getting the hang of it- even making lesson plans up on the spot. (A must here I think!) I was able to come and see him teach one of his last days and he was awesome at it! (It may sound silly but he was a natural writing with chalk on the chalkboard... something I've always envied being left-handed!) The kids truly seems to like him, and the main teacher Helen too. On Mark's last day Helen made him a card and even gave him a bouquet of artificial flowers :) Mark will continue to help out at Don Bosco over the kid's winter break by fixing some of the computers there. They are in the works of creating a library and computer lab for the children there, so Mark is excited to help out.

Mark's class

Since finishing up at Don Bosco, Mark has been able to spend some more time with the guys in the village. He's been trying to get the hang of playing soccer in deep sand, which I am sure he is doing great at... but when you are playing against guys that have been walking and playing in sand since birth, they will always be a few steps ahead (literally!) He's also had some time to watch a few of Pepe's games at one of the nearby fields and even watch a few European matches on TV! Soccer here is something you can talk about with anyone... and I mean anyone and Mark's been loving that. :)

Mark & Pepe playing soccer with a basketball :)

We've even had time on my day off to go with Pepe to his parent's field! The field was just a few kilometers away and had many things planted on it... maize, mahangu, mutete, peanuts, beans, and our favorite- ground nuts! Ground nuts grow in the ground like nuts, but to prepare them you boil them in water for a few hours, remove the shell and eat them like beans (they taste like beans too!) They are absolutely amazing. We cooked so much that night that Mark and I ate two heaping plate fulls for dinner. Wish we could smuggle some home! :) We had a fun time picking them together with Pepe and seeing one of his parent's two fields. We hope to go again sometime soon. It is harvesting season here, so I am sure a few extra hands would be welcomed.

Pepe with a handful of ground nuts!

In addition to our movie nights (which have been a huge hit!), we've begun having Uno night with some of the kids here. This has been so exciting for us... to be able to build some relationships with a really difficult age group to connect with... the early teens! The kids here are so smart, fun, hardworking, and creative but boy are they shy! :) It has taken Mark and I over two months for these kids to begin to trust us and want to spend time with us- and it really has paid off... thanks to the creators of Uno! :) We have really enjoyed spending time with these kids and hope to have a few more Uno nights soon.

 I've been able to continue going out into the bush for community outreach/public health. The days are long and interesting and sure test my knowledge of the language! The last time I was able to go I wish I was with someone who had seen the movie Dumb & Dumber. :) A child who was about to get a vaccination was crying, so I watched his mother walk over to a nearby field and pick something up. I couldn't tell what it was until she handed it to the child. It was a dead chick. The little kid stopped crying and was clutching onto it petting it over and over. In his mind I hope he was thinking, "Pretty bird...pretty bird." :) All joking aside, spending some days with the community outreach group is well worth it. You see things you wouldn't even imagine out in the bush. The people who live here are full of ingenuity. The last time I went I saw a man using a wheelbarrow to transport his wife who had injured her leg, squash & pumpkins growing on top of thatched roofs, and all sorts of objects used for shelter. But above all else, it is nice to be able to assist people that are unable to get to the hospital (mainly due to transportation) get the medical care they need.

Work in the hospital has been going well. There have been many cases of malaria along with everything else we see on a daily basis. I've really adapted to the environment there and will miss everyone I've been working with closely when we leave. Last week I decided to walk to the road and take a taxi to work because it was raining. Turns out there were no taxis going my direction! I eventually got one, but by the time I got to work I was soaked. Aina took one look at me and said, "You can't work like that. Let's go. We can iron your skirt at my house!" And off we went... I dried my skirt with an iron at Aina's house while on the clock. :) Things like that happen here, and no one sees it as a problem. It is just something that needs to be done!

Best package yet! ;-)

This past Saturday night while cooking dinner visitors from Ndama church came to see us. Mark and I didn't know exactly what was going on at first due to the language barrier, but we soon found out. One of the pastors and his wife stopped by to give us gifts! A bucket full of pounded mahangu and a live running chicken! Mark and I were overwhelmed by their generosity, since the gift of a running chicken is considered a honor in the village. Not every family can afford to raise chickens, so to get one as a gift was so wonderful. We were told to keep it in our home in a cardboard box and feed it until we decided to eat it. Unfortunately, the only box we had was too small and our chicken kept jumping out of it!  Thanks to Elizabeth we were able to keep it safe in her Cipiko (cooking hut).

Our Kasumbe Mark named Fred

 To be honest, I was overwhelmed with both the generosity of the gift and the obvious outcome of the gift... having to kill it. We kept "Fred" for 3 days until I got up enough courage to "prepare it." Thanks to Mark & Alysse's encouraging words... and the strong hands of Fernanda I was able to do it. Fernanda is one of my neighbors in the village, and she was kind enough to hold the chicken while I (there is no other way to say this) cut off it's head with a knife. We then plucked, gutted, and cleaned the chicken before I fried it. It was so yummy... a rewarding meal to say the least. I've never had to kill an animal before, and I must say I was conflicted about it. However, animals here live lives they unfortunately don't live anymore in America... they graze, run, eat grass and bugs, and are free. I know Fred had an enjoyable life. :) And here people eat every part of an animal that they can... including heads, feet, organs, etc. So, I was able to give others here the favored neck, head, liver, and feet :)

Myself, Fernanda, Alysse... and our plucked chicken!

We thought there couldn't be anymore excitement in one day. We were wrong. :) After dinner and watching a soccer game, I went to crawl into bed. Good thing I picked up my PJ's before climbing in, because underneath them was a scorpion!! Mark came to the rescue and killed it and boy did we tuck our mosquito net in tight last night! It seems the scorpions and mice are battling it out to see which can have the highest death toll in our home. :) So far it's scorpions 10, mice 9. It is crazy to think about, but in 3 weeks we will have our final tally...

Gross I know :)