Newsletter #4

Our most recent newsletter has been added to the site, so please have a read.

Africa Wildlife (3)

I found this little fellow in the toilet today.  Apparently he has been there for a few days (so says Helen) so I have only just noticed him.

He is a  "Tailless Whip Scorpion", because he has no tail but has a long leg which it uses as a whip.  It also has a very interesting elongated head!

Zambia (Day Three) - Vic Falls Micro-flight

   "Scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight". This allegedly is what David Livingstone said  as he gazed upon the falls for the first time and Wednesday brought what for us has been the highlight of the entire holiday, when we each took a micro-light flight over the Falls and had an "angel's view". 

It was only about fifteen minutes each, but it was amazing to see the Falls from above, to look down and see the gorges where the Falls had been previously (the Falls are currently in Gorge 8) and see the fault where the new gorge is being formed.

Despite the short trip there was plenty of opportunity to chat with our German pilot. He was  interested in the work we are doing in Opuwo , having  himself lived in Namibia and is planning some flights up in the Kunene region next May so has our email address!

Zambia (Day Two) - Botswana Safari

On Tuesday, we headed across the border to Chobe National Park in Botswana for a day of game drives on land and on the river.

We left early to cross the Zambezi on a car ferry and make it through the border point but were running a little late by the time we reached the game park. Our guide had not been too optimistic regarding the animals we might see, but almost immediately we turned a corner to see three lions resting under a tree. 

Our good fortune continued when we moved further around the camp to see at least two herds of elephants (a total of about 70 or so) crossing the tracks in front of us.

At one point we were completely surrounded by them.

On top of that were kudu, impala, wart-hogs, buffalo and mongoose. 

Later in the afternoon, we headed out on a boat and down through the river section of the park and managed to see hippos and crocodiles.

The only downside of the day was when the heavens opened and it rained torrentially while we were on the boat - we then had to transfer onto land, drive to the border, cross the Zambezi in the open car ferry, check though the border on both sides and drive back to Livingstone.  By the time we were back, we were soaked through - but we had an amazing day!

 

 

Zambia (Day One) - Vic Falls Walk

Having spent a quiet morning at our back-packers accommodation we headed to the falls for our "Island walk".  This entails wading across the first half of the falls to reach the island where David Livingstone first stood to admire one of the eight wonders of the world. Obviously it can only be done in the "dry" season but it allows spectacular views of the falls from close proximity. Perhaps a little too close for some peoples liking! You have the opportunity to jump into "devil's pool", a 3.5m deep pool that is as close to the edge as you can get and which, because of the depth, is "safe" to swim in.  It was originally discovered by a hot and weary fisherman - I don't think it would have been my first choice of places to cool off!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, we made it ...

We left Opuwo on Friday and drove 3 hours to Oshakati, where we stayed Friday night.  Saturday we drove from Oshakati to Rundu, past Tsumeb and Grootfontein (about 7 hours) and then today we drove from Rundu, Namibia to Livingstone, Zambia in about 8 hours.  So a total of about 18 hours driving across Africa and how many animals ... 2; a kudu and a wart-hog. Very disappointing!

We also had a slightly hectic morning since we were told last night that we would need "Police Clearance" to get the car across the border.  Needless to say we didn't have it, it was Sunday and we had been told it can take up to a week to get.  We went to the Police Station with Rob (a doctor in Rundu with AIM) and managed to persuade the police to take us to house of the person who fills these in forms, wake him up, take him back to the Police Station, fill in the form and then drop him back at his house ... and all before 9.00am this morning!

When we came to it, we crossed the border relatively easily - signing out of Namibia and into Zambia.  We had to pay Carbon Tax, Council Levy, Customs, Importation duty (for the car) and Insurance but all-in-all the crossing only took about 30 minutes (and nobody asked about the "Police Clearance"!)

And now we are here in Livingstone again, after five years since we were last here, and it is very strange seeing the town and remembering what is was like and seeing how it has changed.

Tomorrow, we start the tourism with a return trip to the Vic Falls ...

Newsletter #3 - out now...

Catch up on our escapades over the month of November in our new newsletter.  Click the picture to open a copy.

The previous newsletters should be available by following the links to the side.

If you haven't received the newsletter by email, and you would like to, then please email us and let us know.

Orumahane School Visit

Having met Luke at the Thanksgiving dinner, we bumped into him again at the "OK" supermarket and had a cup of coffee with him.  Since he is with Peace Corps (and therefore isn't allowed to drive) and being very curious people, we gave him a lift back to the school where he has been working for the last two years.

Orumahane school is about 30km outside of Opuwo and has had Peace Corps working there for a few years now.  They have no water supply to the school but have about 500 children who stay there.  Recently the school made the papers as the hostel was voted best in the region- rather sad when you see where they are sleeping.....

The accommodation is very basic.  The picture shows the dorms where the kids sleep.  There is a shortage of mattresses and most of the kids will end up sharing beds, or sleeping on the metal frames.. 

 

 

The picture to the left is of the dining hall, where the kids get four meals a day (although most of these meals are just bread).

 

 

We'll possibly mention a bit more about this visit in our monthly newsletter, but the classes have about 40 kids in them.  Luke teaches grades 9 & 10 and has kids whose ages range from about 13 up to 25.

Thanksgiving

We joined about 27 people on Friday night (Peace Corps, VSO, AIM, etc) to share Thanksgiving at a lodge just outside of town. A very nice, but very remote, location with fantastic food, brought up from Windhoek especially for the occasion - turkey, cranberry sauce, all rounded off with ice cream!

The Canadians have arrived

The two Canadians, Steve (left) and Evan, arrived last Wednesday and we finally got to meet them at church on Sunday. Both are from Briarcrest college (somewhere in the middle of Canada), and they are here for six months to work with Every Home for Christ, through AIM, in their outreach programmes to the himba villages and in the schools. I think they will also help out in the church as well. Their first outreach trip started on Monday and they are heading out until Friday - sleeping under the stars and working through some of the villages beyond Opuwo.

They have only just arrived and were asked to preach on Sunday!

The rains came ... and we were caught!

Last Sunday night, and we had just spent some time with the Canadians. Helen had been called down to the hospital to see a patient and I walked the Canadians back to their house. We were watching the lightning over the hills in the distance when a dust cloud hit, kicked up by the rains, and I had to run back to the hospital as the rain started soon after.

At the hospital, Helen was just finishing with a patient and I was trying to get a goat out of the ward. The rain was, by this stage, torrential and the lightning was close - with flashes every 3-4 seconds. To get to the house we had no choice but to run through about 200m of open ground up the hill.

We ran up the hill, through the rivers of water coming down the road, halfway up our shins, trying not to think of the snakes and scorpions, of the flashes of lightning, or that we were soaked to the bone

And when we arrived at the house, we had left the windows open to cool the house so the floor was soaking, and then the power lines were hit and the electricity went down.

These photos were taken the morning after.

Helen Munro, Principal Medical Officer

Yesterday was a big day for Helen.  With the absence of Dr Bwalya, Helen was asked to stand in as the acting PMO for the hospital. Yes, she was responsible for the entire hospital. So on top of her normal clinical duties, she had the administrative work too and the added responsibility of having to know what was going on in all the wards, OPD and Casualty - but she did get her own office (with air-conditioning) and her own secretary.

I came back through the hospital at lunchtime, however, and wondered whether there had been some sort of uprising or a coup. Hundreds of people were congregating at the front of the hospital. 

Nothing to worry about - the hospital were looking for a few new cleaners and had created a shortlist of 300 (!?) to interview for the positions.

The Lodge

We occasionally have mentioned that, when Helen is not on-call over the weekend and we are staying in Opuwo, we head up to the lodge for a swim.

This will let you see what kind of place it is.  They take a lot of tourists on package deals, who come up to see the Himba, but they also let the volunteers in town (ourselves, VSO, Peace Corps, etc) come in to use the pool - as long as we buy something to drink.

It is on the top of the hill at the back of the town with views to the west so that you see some amazing sunsets from the pool area.

If you do plan to visit us, then you can stay at the lodge for between £70 - £100 / night.

"R+R Weekend"

What is an "R+R weekend" I hear you ask! For those not in the missionary-life know- "R+R" is rest and relaxation and something that AIM Namibia supports. One weekend a month you are encouraged to get away from the place where you have been posted, "time out" so to speak. So after working last weekend we took Friday off and headed north into Kaokoland, our destination- the Kunene River Lodge.

Well loved by volunteers from all over the northern region, the lodge was taken over by an English couple 2 years ago. Their daughter was working in Opuwo, no less, and on a visit out to see her they stayed at the lodge, fell in-love with it, and it just happened to be on the market!

We had borrowed a tent which we pitched right on the riverside with a view of Angola across the water.

The guys in the pictures were our neighbours for the weekend, and unlike my previous experience with the baboon (see earlier posts), we all stayed friends!

It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend and has given us a bit of a boost for the month ahead!

The answer should have been "no!"

With Helen working on-call this weekend, I was invited to go on a "walk" with some of the VSO crowd in town - mainly Jorrit and Jesse, who are both from Holland.

I was expecting this "walk" to be of the Sunday afternoon sort, particularly when the heat is in the high 30's / low 40's, but apparently this is a 10 mile walk (we checked with the GPS) up to the nearest plateau so they can look back over the town.

Exhaustion is too mild a word - I had to stand in a cold shower for ten minutes afterwards just to try and get my body temperature down.

If you look in the photo, Opuwo is the town below the hill - in the distance!

PS, Helen sms'ed me while I was on the "walk" to say that she had helped to deliver baby that was stuck. And she managed to do it without vacuum or forceps - purely by hand. I'm not sure what that means, but I have a picture in my head of her covering the woman's nostrils, and blowing into her mouth!

African Wild-life (2)

In line with our earlier note about wild-life, we thought we would show you something a little closer to home.

We think this little fella is a "Cotton Stainer Bug", is about 3cm long and was found on our dining room wall. It is the most exciting animal from the house we have a photo of - we missed getting a photo of the scorpion, and quite frankly, nobody wants to see a photo of a cockroach!

Hmmm - no wonder my work hasn't started!

African Wild-life (1)

Helen finished her TB course on Friday, and to try and enjoy our last day in Windhoek before we headed back up north, we went to a swimming pool, with a crowd from AIM, in the Daan Viljoen game park on Saturday. A very relaxing day was had by all - except for the fact that a baboon stole the packet of chocolate chip cookies which we had brought with us. It came face to face with Helen who quickly debated whether to try and chase it away, until she realized the size of it.

Later, as we were leaving, we decided to do a quick drive around one of the routes (about 6km) and at one point we turned a corner and came across a herd of giraffe on the road ahead of us. We slowed the car down and drove slowly past them; giraffes on both sides of the car.

Our New Car

So one of the main reasons we are down in Windhoek this week is to try and find a car (the other is because Helen is here for a TB course). After a few days hunting we found the car we wanted, had it checked out by the AA (which they do have here - but not for roadside pick up), made an international banking transfer (thanks John & Pauline for your help with that) and we were driving around Windhoek in our very own Toyota Rav4.

It was exactly the car we were looking for, and at the price that we had roughly budgeted for. So we are very pleased!

What better time to start!

Helen has finally reached that milestone event of turning 30, and so I thought it can only be an appropriate time to start actually trying to do something with this blog (notwithstanding the requests made by certain people - Mr Matthews, you know who you are!).

I've stripped out all the old stuff, which referred to our thoughts on going to Uganda (that seems a long time ago), and with the help of the Windows Live Writer I can now actually do a lot of this off-line, which helps when you only have dial-up.

I'm not sure what you can expect to find here, but hopefully it might give you a little more insight into our lives, and a few more events "as they happen", than the monthly newsletter will do.

Meeting with Barry Douglas

Barry Douglas, the Aim coordinator for Scotland came round for a cup of tea and a chat with us. We told him a little bit about ourselves; our backgrounds and interest in working in Africa, and he told us a little about Aim; what they are doing in Africa and where he thought we would fit in.

A very positive meeting and we came away with the feeling that we will definitely be applying to Aim.