More quickly than we would have thought possible, we’ve reached the final stretch of our stay in Namibia. So this is our last group email from Africa.
Sunday afternoon, March 21st, found us packing up and heading out for our favorite camping spot. The pool was quite pleasant on both Sunday and Monday, and Sunday we even had company in it—a couple men and a family staying at the resort while the dad consulted on a government ag project. So he and David had plenty to chat about. Monday we had the pool to ourselves. Once again we had our favorite bungalow by the river, which was much higher than previously, though it went down just a bit from one day to the next. We barbecued again, and ate on our bungalow deck, so rain couldn’t bother us (but it didn’t rain). Again, it was a short work week, but to work in all the lessons I had planned to cover, I added an extra hour of class on Wednesday afternoons for last week and this week. Thursday, I gave them their second test, and I found I should have drilled them on some of the vocabulary it included. It’s been a challenge trying to figure out where all the gaps in their command of English may be found. We hit such words as shred and paramedic, and the difference between security and maintenance this week.
Then Thursday afternoon was a special treat: Mark and Loren didn’t want us to leave Nyangana without enjoying a dinner at a really nice restaurant outside Rundu. We left after lunch--Mark got his haircut (he hadn’t been to town since we arrived in late January, either, except for our trip in to attend Berthold’s ordination the first weekend); David showed me the exciting Build It store (their version of Home Depot), and then he and Loren did some food shopping. With business accomplished, we drove about twenty minutes on gravel roads, the last part of it down a narrow, rutted road that we shared with oncoming traffic consisting of about a hundred head of cattle and a couple herds of goats. But when we reached the river-side resort, it felt very much worth it. We enjoyed a beer or two on the deck overlooking the high water, eventually being joined by Fr. Charles and Berthold. In the distance, a boatman with a couple dugout canoes was working at ferrying people across the river.
At dinner, David bought champagne to toast our 43rd anniversary (actually two days early). Wonder where we’ll be next year at this time? The resort that runs this restaurant was mostly vacant, so their menu was limited, but the hake and t-bone steaks were quite good. (Their season really begins with the Easter holidays.) After a leisurely dinner and long hour’s drive home, we fell into bed about 11:00—really late for us around here!
My big news on Friday was finishing writing the last test and answer keys for the office skills course. Then on Saturday morning, Independence Day was celebrated locally, at the nearby township of Ndiyona. David and I went as Fr. Charles’s guests, and Loren brought several Nyangana youth. (I had thought it interesting that Charles asked David to drive and he climbed into the back to sit in the pickup shell with Berthold, but it occurred to me that not being in the driver’s seat would exonerate him from stopping to pick up people walking along our route. That way he wouldn’t hurt anyone’s feelings and would arrive at the event quickly. And what an event it was! It was only about 90 minutes late according to the schedule in the printed program, but so it goes. The young performers standing in readiness and the many people waving flags and watching out in the midday sun didn’t seem to mind. Charles’s name was listed on the program 3-4 times and mentioned by several speakers, so he felt compelled to stick around until after the 45 minute main speech to give the final blessing, but he directed us to sneak out one by one after the best of the dancing (including several tribal groups in great costumes and playing their drums) and the color guard drill performance were over. So we only stayed about 2 ½ hours, making it home about 1pm.
We rested up, charged our camera batteries, and then joined Loren at the Youth Center for their retake of the music program outside, in better light. Of course, the 4pm scheduled time translated to about 5:30 in actuality, but the light was still good on the cement pad at the back of the building. Luckily, the pig barn odor back there doesn’t carry on film. With quite a bit of urging, we got them to start the program, which went quite well for not having been rehearsed in that location. Even the rain didn’t stop us. I held an umbrella over the camera, the rumble of thunder added bass to the songs, and toward the end, drips of rain off the roof could be seen in the footage. When it became a real downpour, we called a halt one song early and considered ourselves lucky to get that much done. With this footage and some clips of another group that performed at the Independence celebration, I now have more than enough to put into Br. Loren’s video. But the first job is to create the DVD for the youth.
Finishing up this epistle on Thursday at lunch time, I can add that my last classes went well and ended in a little juice and cake reception for my dwindling class. Honest, I tried not to scare anyone away, but the young student who tried to join three weeks late and was spending more time playing solitaire than practicing her typing decided not to return on the day she had promised to bring her first tuition payment; then another one who was being supported by her uncle has drifted away. So I had only three stalwarts, who are doing pretty well, for the last two weeks. We’ll see if Ginger thinks they know the right stuff when she gets here!
Last night we were sitting around the black TV, talking by candlelight during a several-hour electrical outage. Fr. Charles had the first Registry of Baptisms for this parish with him and started telling us about his search for the oldest members of the parish. He said he visited one elderly lady after Mass, and her daughter was yelling in her ear, “Do you know him? This is the Maruka (priest).” The lady answered, “Oh, I thought it was a woman.” Another one he visited, Charles introduced himself as the Maruka and she answered, “Liar!” All the priests she had known were German; how could this black person be a priest!
I’ve almost wrapped up the dance video project—just need to get David to review it, finalize the movies, and put them on DVDs. That will happen around Holy Thursday Mass at 4pm today, and a lo-o-o-n-ng Stations of the Cross tomorrow AM, which includes a long procession down the road. Easter Vigil Mass goes from 10pm to about 1am—we’re not yet fully committed to attending that Mass!
Well, I’ll have to stop so I can get this into the email before we’re on our way home! We depart Nyangana Monday a.m. for the 10 hour journey to Windhoek, fly WHK Tuesday morning to Jo’Burg to catch a later flight that day to New York, arriving at JFK about 8 a.m. Wednesday morning, then making our way up to Ossining via Grand Central Station and the train. After our Maryknoll Affiliate meetings at Maryknoll we have a couple of days in Manhattan before arriving back home in California (actually San Diego) on the 14th.
Thanks for joining us on this journey—it’s been a wonderful experience.
