Africa: Day Five

Today I was awakened by a clanging bell at about 5 am. I guess it's the pastors' call to go to devotions at the church. Then they started singing, which was actually pretty calming, and a little haunting, but very cool to hear. But then it was accompanied by clucking chickens and crowing roosters, and barking dogs, and soon children playing. Today was a school holiday. So we got up and had a bowl of cereal, then fell asleep again. We got up the second time around 10, and I got to see the village in the daylight. McKenzie had "adopted" a bird that some boys in the village caught and clipped his wings and were going to eat him. So "Bert" had been living with her, and his wing feathers had finally grown back enough for him to fly fairly well, so we released him back into the wild.

Then we went to town to an internet cafe and emailed our families, then to the grocery store, back to the village to pick up one of the volunteers, and back to town to the Ministry of Gender. They are trying to help the orphans get some government assistance that is available, but are having trouble getting birth certificates. And no one is ever around to talk to. You can make appointments, but you can pretty much guarantee that you'll wait around at least a couple hours, because no one is ever on time for anything. The government keeps saying that there is all this assistance for Africans, but they won't help themselves. The truth is, they make it so hard for anything to get done, and most of the people have no transportation other than their two legs. There is so much footwork and waiting involved that they get frustrated and give up. It's actually really sad, because there are a ton of people who need help.

Then we came back to the village and hung out for awhile. There is another volunteer family living out here from Canada, and they have two daughters, so they came over along with one of the native girls, and made "vecookie" (or fat cakes which is a sweet dough that you fry in oil) over the fire. Some of the native boys came and watched as well as some older ladies, and other kids were playing soccer nearby (which they do pretty much 24/7). For dinner we went and ate with the Oneils (the Canadian family) and two pastors-in-training from Windhoek, Edward (who is actually originally from Kaisosi) and Bovick (who is from Congo, and his family is staying in a refugee camp in Namibia while he's in school. He rarely gets to see them). Three of the teenage orphans from the village came and joined us a little later, and we all just sat around outside and visited. It is a completely different way of life here...worlds away from anything I have ever experienced, and I am loving every second of it.