Shark Cage in the Kalahari

Ok, so what's new and exciting.

A couple new volunteers have arrived from Zimbabwe and England. The girl from Zimbabwe is doing sport at the school, but she's only been here a few days and is still coming to terms with Tsumkwe. On the other hand Ben is from England and will be staying with Michael. He'll be here for a few months, then is off to Botswana for several months of volunteering. We picked him up in Grootfontein a couple weeks ago and had steaks for dinner the first night. It was one of the best steaks ever and cost only $55 NAM. That night we stayed at a lodge called Maori where you can buy a case of oranges for $20 NAM! The oranges are picked fresh that morning and taste amazing, I definitely won't be getting scurvy from lack of vitamin C.

CDM (abandoned diamond mine) where Michael and Ben stay has a huge caged-in patio that Ben and I want to use as our "shark cage". We plan to buy an old goat for $100 NAM and tie it to a pole to bait in hyenas and leopards. We're hoping to have a few beers and see what happens, think of the photos! Speaking ofanimal, this past Sunday we went out on the pan to look for elephants. Unfortunately we spent most of our time "testing" the freshness of elephant dung and only saw one ostrich. Argh!

My placement is going well, but the learners have discovered its really fun to write obscene screen saver messages. I showed them how to modify this a few weeks ago and said "look, you can write your name and watch it bounce around on the screen, how fun". Naive me! I guess I should just be happy they're so keen on computers.

On the extremely bright side I'm really enjoying living at the Tsumkwe Craft Centre. Its a $4 million complex and I'm the only resident! I honestly feel a little guilty as the entire complex is surrounded by 10 foot wall, with interlocking brick, grass, plants and trees on the inside. This is in sharp contrast to everything outside, which is basically sand and brush. I also have a full auditorium and several other buildings to have parties are play hide and seek in. However, the best part is the 12 foot walls in my main room which are perfect for projecting movies! I'm able to occasionally get a projector and have a 12 foot screen. Its pretty sweet and good excuse to get together with other volunteers.

Over the next few weeks I plan to wrap up classes, as exams begin August 5th and all of the students and teachers will be too busy for the lab. I'll most likely be helping teachers mark exams or will do some computer training for the community. The semester ends August 19th (what a wonderful day...do you know why?) and I hope to do some travelling with Michael and Ben after that. We're contemplating a few different trips and will keep you posted.

Hope this finds everyone well!
Jason

New email is jason@namibnet.com

Hotmail is way too slow from Tsumkwe, so please send any future email to jason@namibnet.com!

Please don't send attachments to this account as they'll be deleted by the server. If you need to send me an attachment please send it to my Hotmail account. I'll be publishing a new article for my blog in the next couple days!

Pictures for everyone!

I’ve just uploaded some pictures to the ftp site, so please take a look. Its taken quite some time to get them posted as the internet connection in Tsumkwe is a whopping 9 kbps. I know, SUPER fast. However, this is quick enough for me to post to the blog…but way too slow for Hotmail. I’m hoping to upgrade our service to 56 kbps, but this may take some time.
Ok, so who’s interested in a day in the life of Jason Moodie? Here’s goes...

I normally wake up each morning just before 6 a.m. and boil some water for morning tea. While the water is boiling I shave, have a quick shower and make my bed. My bed was just a mattress, but I’ve recently moved a proper bed into my room. I was using the bed as a couch, but will be buying some furniture this weekend. I digress. The water has boiled by now (providing I have power) and I have my breakfast and watch the sunrise through my kitchen window. I then brush my teeth and make my way to school for 6:40 a.m. for our morning staff meeting. I’m usually not done my tea by then and bring the mug with me.

After our staff meeting, the national anthem and morning prayer I make go to the computer lab. The school currently has 14 working computers, but most of them are older PII 266s. Right now I’m limited to using 10 computers, as any more will blow the fuse. I have a few classes per day and spend the rest of my time writing the curriculum for Computer Studies Grade 8-10. This course will be offered next year and I’m putting together the documentation for my successor. All of the students are quite keen to use the computers and many of them skip other classes to be in the lab.

The school day ends at 1:00 p.m. and resumes at 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. for study time. I normally grab a cold drink and some bread from the store for lunch. For lunch I either make a sandwich or eat leftovers from the night before. My favourite day is when the store has raisin bread. It’s the absolute best and I’ll eat half a loaf with butter for lunch. After eating I usually read my book or go for a little walk. The other day I went for walk to Rasta’s who grows fruits and veggies just outside of town. I heard he had some strawberries and wanted to see what else he had. He wasn’t around, but one of the boys who work’s there climbed a tree and brought me this huge yellow thing. I bought it and some strawberries for $14 NAM ($2 CDN). Later I found out it was a papaya and it was amazing!

After work I normally watch soccer at the school and make dinner at home. If other volunteers are in town we sometimes have dinner and its interesting to see what others are doing. Then it’s off to bed by 10:00 p.m. and another day begins…

Who let the goats out?

We never broke up, we just took a 2 week vacation from blogging! Sorry for not writing anything sooner, but Tsumkwe is…hmmm, very remote. As I type this message the lights are flickering so I’ve lit some candles in case we have another outage. There’s not even a gas station and the town honestly consists of 2 corners. I can’t say I’ll integrate well with the locals, as only a few speak English and I feel like big foot would if he were to take a stroll down Bank Street…wearing a pink dress. Maybe the novelty will wear off? So what’s happened in the last few weeks, let me begin…

Sunday
- On Sunday night another VSO volounter by the name of Brigdet Mayes and I went to the lodge in Otjiwarongo for dinner. She’ll be driving me to Tsumkwe on Tuesday. I had chicken kiev and some fries and it was a relaxing evening. I found out her grandmother was also had the last name Moodie, small world!
Tuesday
- Left early Tuesday morning and drove north to Grootfontein, where I needed to set up a bank account at the Bank of Windhoek, before the final trek to Tsumkwe. . Turns out it will take a month for me to be registered and they’ll call me when everything has been organized.
- The drive from Grootfontein wasn’t as bas as expected, the road was a little rough but nothing compared to icy Canadian roads. We arrived shortly before dinner and I met Trine, who’s a volunteer from Norway. She’s been in Tsumkwe for a couple years with her boyfriend Anders…and they’re great! I’m brought to the school to meet Mrs. Chipango. Mrs C. seems great and is keen for me to get the computers working, which (might I add) have been sitting in the computer lab since June 2003 when the president of Namibia “opened” the lab. I have my work cut out for me!
- After visiting the school we go to me new home at the Craft Centre, which is run by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Women’s Affairs. I’m told the ministry names change often. However, upon arrival I’m told that the building (which was completed over a year ago) doesn’t have power. Great. I’m a little angry, but move to the “guest house” or better described as “run down pre-apartheid police barracks” with 20 of my closest friends, a dog and a herd of cattle. All is not bad as I also meet Patrick (from NBC) and Belinda (from the other craft centre) and they’re both very nice.
- That evening I go for dinner at Anders and Trine’s and Ingred picks me up, she works in health and has been in Tsumkwe for over 9 years.

Wednesday
- My first day at school! I didn’t sleep well and my favourite herd of cattle scared the crap out of me last night. I have a can of fruit for breakfast and make my way to school. I won’t bore you with the details, but 6 of the computers are in great working order. The remaining 11, not so good. I spend the morning doing some rearranging and then go for lunch. At the corner store (coincidentally at the only corner in town) I pick up a loaf of the most delicious bread. I decide to stay for the break alone.

Thursday – Friday
- The friendly herd of cattle visit me each night.
- I spend my spare time harassing Sara Jacobs and Mrs. C to get my housing situation resolved and the Ministry of Works arrives on Friday and fixes the power.

Saturday
- After taking 2 hours to make breakfast and wash my dished I decide to go for a walk around town. It gets dark quite early so I’ve haven’t seen much so far.
- I decide to walk down to the guest house to see what’s happening and speak with Arnealt and Estel (spelling?) as they have rooms, without cattle. After sitting down for a beer I find out they’re away for the weekend, but run into Robyn. He’s the “wild dog guy” and Sonja who are doing research and tracking wild dogs in the area. We have a few beers and agree on dinner + beer later that week, if I can take a look at his laptop.
- From one of the staff members I find out were Sara is staying and continue my endless “Where’s Waldo” search. After arriving at her place I’m told she’s at Savanah II, which is the other shop/drinking hole in Tsumkwe.
- I take a stroll by and find her having a few beers and meet some locals at around 16:00. Given the beautiful weather (20-25C and not clouds since I’ve been in Namibia) I decide to have a few beers and sort out the housing. I’m eventually told I can move in on Monday. The cattle will be lonely without me!
- At around 20:00 a truck with 6 goats arrives and the music is pumping, I’ve met a few nice people and am starting to feel a little less lonely. I then hear a goat scream and realise their throats are being slit! After being bled for a few minutes their heads are removed and they’re skinned…who needs hockey!! Nothing like the irony smell of blood in the air and a cold beer. I must confess I ate part of one of these goats and it tasted quite nice. Please don’t hate me.

Tuesday
- The housing still hasn’t been worked out, so I’ve threatened to leave Tsumkwe on Friday if things aren’t resolved and take the afternoon off.
- Went to Klein Doben with Sonja and Robyn. His computer had major issues and I was able to remove 4 trojan viruses, but will need the internet before I can get everything resolved. We had springbok stew for dinner and some Tafel lager. We ended up eating with some Afrikaans guys from the conservancy and they spoke of hunting…did I mention I saw some goats die a few days ago?

Wednesday
- Have a meeting with Mrs. C, Sara and another member of the Craft Centre committee and I can move in. I’m warned not to break any windows or scratch the walls, damn, that was why I wanted to move in!
- At 17:00 Trine drops by and we collect my stuff in her backie (pick up) and I move in!
- I break a window for fun.
- I spend the night unpacking, washing dishes and generally feeling happy to finally be moved in!

Friday
- I have dinner at the guest house with Richard Lee and his son. Richard is an anthropologist from the U of T and worked with the San (Bushmen) in the 1960s. Apparently Yo Yo Ma toured this area many years back, I can’t wait to get on the internet and google it!
- I really didn’t break a window on Wednesday. Maybe tonight?

Saturday
- Do my laundry for the first time…well…since I’ve left.
- Spend most of my day reading a book called “Don’t let’s go to the Dogs Tonight”; it’s the story about of a white Rhodesian family during the late 70s and 80s. Quite a good read and mind opening.
- Go to the school to watch some soccer and make my way to Savanah II for a brie (BBQ) with some people I’ve met last week. I eat 4 sausages and have a few beers. Walk home around 19:00, boil a potato and go to bed.

Sunday
- Have lunch with Michael Stark (maybe he’s related to Eddard?) who’s another VSO volunteer working in the area and has just returned from a vacation in Cape Town. He’s from London, England and has been building pre-schools in the area.
- He lives in an old diamond mining camp that was abandoned 30 years ago. Everything is powered by solar and he’ll be in Tsumkwe for the next 2 months finishing up some projects.
- Watch an Agathe Christie “Murder on the Nile” by candlelight after dinner and fall asleep by 19:00.

Well, now you’re up to date! Nothing else exciting is really going on, although I am quite excited to spend the weekend in Grootfontein. I also spoke to Belinda and will hopefully be commissioning a long bow! Goodbye windows. The San use bows that are about 60 cm long, but mine will be about 150 cm long. Hopefully I learn how to shoot like Legolas in my spare time, goats beware. Sorry this is so long. Hope everyone is doing well! -j