Life on the farm

Rural Homestay:
As many in the CGE group already know, I have had some pretty strong opinions of the "urban" homestays that we had, both in Joburg and in Windhoek. This is why there has not been a blog about them, as the negative vibes from that would bring down the whole blog. The last homestay was completely different. This homestay was a completely different experience than any I have had before, and the impact of this homestay will stay with me for a long time to come, if not forever.
As we left Swakopmund, I was wide awake. I had not really begun preparing myself mentally for what I was about to get into, and I was in a good mood from being on the coast for two days and did not feel like worrying about it during the car ride. I think it helped a little not thinking about it, but as we pulled up to the farm I got nervous. The house/complex looked as if it was made completely made of mud. I soon learned that it was actually made of a mixture of cow dung and clay. Much more interesting than mud.
There were many people waiting to greet me as I arrived, and this also added to my nervousness. The first one to introduce herself was the head of the farm, Ouma Patrina Koopers. She is and elderly woman who speaks very little english. She greeted me in Nama, and in my nervous state, I completely forgot everything I had learned in our weekly Damera/Nama language classes. Thankfully, I do not think it offended her. Living with the family was this retired teacher from Windhoek named David. He spoke the most english out of the people who were there at the time and he took over the introductions from there. As the combi pulled off to drop off the others, I definately felt a little bit of "what did I get myself into?"
After the introductions, we sat together to drink tea and watch the rain fall (which I learned later caused the combis to get stuck on two different occasions). It was a litlle uncomfortable at first, as there were people coming and going and I was unable to keep track of who was or was not in the family. It was also the first time I was introduced to "newspaper" cigarettes that every man seemed to smoke around there. I respectfully declined at first, but I did eventually try one by the end of my stay. They are the harshest thing I have ever tried.
After a while the sun began to set and the goats began making their way back home. As I watched Cecil (the awesome three year old who lived with us) yell and chase the goats to the pen, Ouma come at me waving a whip and pointing me towards the herd. As I am walking behind the others cracking this whip in the general direction of the goats, I realized that I was living a totally different farming lifestyle than the one back home in the States.
The first evening was by far the most uncomfortable aspect of the homestay, and the next day when I was greeted warmly by the family cooking breakfast around the fire I knew it was going to be a great week.
During the week the CGE group would get picked up and we would go into the northern Namibia city of Khorixas and do development related things. We were supposed to meet with the mayor, but that was canceled at the last minuet. We did meet with an NGO that works with the citizens to develop farmers unions and also improve the lives of the people throught skills training. We also met with the student council from the high school, which was very interesting. I think all of us from the group had a hard time paying attention though, as we all wanted to tell each other stories from our homestays instead.
The evenings with the family back on the farm were the greatest. The sunsets were amazing, and after dinner everyone just sits around the fire and either listen to the radio or talk to each other. This provided me with plenty of quiet time, as a majority of the conversations were in Nama. That was fine with me because sitting and staring at a fire is one of my most favorite things. Plus, my malaria medicine was tripping me out a bit and the horizon would flash for minuets on end.
Some of the Highlights from the week:
Rode on a donkey cart to the garden and picked avos.
Lived near by Kari and Jana S. and we had a blast, especially during the "good-bye" party.
Walking around the old german farm that was just down the road (The old farm house was super creepy).
The "good-bye" party, where we slaughtered a goat and cooked it, and we ate the intestines and liver as appetizers, and then the rest of the goat later.
Playing with Cecil, and his favorite game was "whip Jesse with the goat whip."
Riding in the bed of a truck with 12 other people (15 total in the truck) on our way to Palm Sunday service at the Lutheren Church in Fransfontain, and then into Khorixas to buy minuets for the cell phone and ice cream cones!
The sunsets, a common theme from this trip.
Lots of time to think, which proved to be dangerous, but thats another story.
Experiencing life on a rural Namibian farm.
Please make sure you get a chance to look at my pics (there is a link below)