Projects and Stuff

  Probably the best thing ever invented for a PCV was the e-reader. You have a lot of down time, and often don't have anyone to talk to. Even if you do, it's often hard to have truly intellectual conversations. That's not to say every here is an idiot. That's not even saying I'm above them. However, the language barrier really does prevent higher level exchanges on topics more complex than “who's going to win the BPL this season?” Sure, there are other PCVs I can talk to, and I do, but over the phone and by SMS, there's only so much you can get into, and service can be very spotty. I would venture to say that I spend a good 3-4 hours a day reading on an average weekday. That's not to say I'm anti-social, since I do go out with my co-workers and have a good time quite often and hang with people in my town. But I'll often spend my lunch break with a book, wake up and read, rather than checking Facebook first thing in the morning, and lie in bed reading rather than catching up on that show. I read a lot.

But, then again, I always have. That's something my parents instilled in me at a young age (and, sadly, failed to instill in my brother). And I am not simply writing about this to brag. But, as many of you know, one thing I've been constantly criticized for by people here is reading too much. My host kids especially. They, like my brother, are of the opinion that time spend reading is time that could be better spent watching cartoons. Now, yes, they would occasionally play outside. Generally, that was because the electricity was off (happens ever day or 2) or because I grabbed my soccer ball and dragged them outside. It's a shift I've been noticing in America for a while now, and something I'm very disappointed to say we've been exporting. Too many kids these days grow up thinking books are what you do when you can't use the TV. And I'll admit it. I often watched too much TV back home. TV shows being available on the internet made it worse. And for my 4 years of college, I don't think I read a single book for pleasure. After several hundred of pages of assigned reading, the last thing I'd want to do during the school year was read another book. The summer was my break, and I was often arrogant enough to also see it as my opportunity to take a break from all pursuits even remotely academic. However, since college, I have rediscovered my love of reading. And, unfortunately, have failed to pass it on to kids here.

This is all I have to say to those who believe I read too much or that reading isn't good for you

Fortunately, there are people who have been more successful. On my way back from re-connect, I spent a night with a couple travel companions in Otjiwarongo. Because the guy we were meeting had a small place, the girls I was traveling with were going to leave their bags at the place of a female teaching volunteer. We walk into her place, and there were books everywhere. Magic Tree House, Box Car Children, Encyclopedia Brown, Harry Potter, and probably several hundred more. And the kids were reading them. In a country in need of some serious innovation, it's great to see the joy of reading being passed down. The biggest cost of TV is that kids don't develop their creativity.

Well, enough about that. In this post, I speak about my PDM/Grant Writing seminar, a project I'm working on, some thoughts on the drought, and a couple ideas I have for future projects and bringing in some money.

So, I just got back from part 1 of my re-connect. This was a workshop and seminar on project design and management (PDM). Honestly, as someone who studied IDev in college, this was nothing new or exciting. However, our counterparts were invited, and this helped clarify for them why I have not actually gotten any major projects off the ground. See, I could just jump into things, but in order to make them sustainable, a level of planning is required, the first step of which I am still working on, that being assessing the needs of my community. Sure, there are assumptions I have about what these people need. There are projects I really want to start for my own desires. But unless the ideas come from the community and the community takes some ownership of the project, there's no way these projects outlast my time here. In this regard, teaching volunteers have it easier than CHHAP or SEED volunteers.

On project I am looking to start is a soccer program called “GrassRoot Soccer” (see below for my overall dream for this program). This is a program designed to fight HV/AIDS and teach healthy living through the game of soccer. Since my primary mission with Peace Corps is HIV/AIDS and several members of the community have approached me about starting a youth soccer program, this seems like a great fit for a project, and since GRS has a program designed in partnership for Peace Corps, this seems like a manageable first major project. Even better, my counterpart plays for the local soccer club and is interested in helping me with this project, and is willing to get other players involved as well, which sets up the sustainability part.

Okay, so, we have an idea for a project. We know what the problem we want to address is, and we know how we plan on addressing it. In other words, step one is done. We have our vision for the project.

Now, on to step 2: figuring out what we need and what the community has to offer. We have coaches. Since I work for the Ministry of Youth, National Service, Sport, and Culture, we have access to the soccer field (potentially). We have access to the hospital and its resources through Grace, a fellow health PCV in my town. We have access to the balls and a weight room through my ministry. We have access to the local schools, which can provide the youths and lifeskills teachers, since our ministry does a lot of work with them. We have access to money through the ministry, assuming we use the proper channels. We even have access to the radio, through connections. Okay, so, there's step 2 of project design completed.

Step 3: How do we make this happen. So, this would take several paragraphs to get into the details of, so I'm going with the short answer. In order to recruit learners and make this sustainable, our hope is to talk the Goriseb High School right across from our center about setting this program up as part of the curriculum for their 9^th and 10^th grade lifeskills classes. In order to get most of the soccer equipment and the fields, we plan on going through the ministry, mainly the Sports Directorate. We're looking to get some small funds from the ministry, but we're hoping a local business will donate shirts to our youths, with their names on the front, the ministry logo on the sleeve, a logo patch we're designing (see some sketches below), and, since the end goal would be for this to spread to other schools, the shirts themselves wold be the school colors. We'd provide the learners with markers and let them write their own names and numbers on the back (mainly to spare me the embarrassment of having to spell their names). For shorts, we're looking into getting those donated also, though initially, we may just need the learners to have their own. For other equipment (shin guards, cleats, socks), I've been talking to people back in the states about possibly having used equipment drives, but, to be honest, those can come later; none of those are particularly needed (admittedly, nor are shirts, but they're a way to get the learners to come).

Little sketch of a logo I came up with (some of the sessions got a tad dull)

My vision, both short term and long term, for this project

A short side note here: the term “learners” is not meant in any way to be talking down. Because English was not the original language, when they changed to English from local languages, term “learner” is what they used, rather than “student,” largely because of how it translated, from what I've been told. I try, when possible, to work some of the local things into my writing here as part of my efforts to teach y'all about Namibian culture.

Next step to figure out what our actual goals are and how we plan to measure them. Short-term, our main goals were just getting the learners to show up and participate. Long-term, our main goal is fighting HIV/AIDS. However, other goals include teaching healthy living, reducing youth pregnancy and alcohol consumption, and teaching soccer skills in the hopes of eventually setting up a youth soccer program. I'd go into our indicators we plan on using to figure out if we've been successful, but most of you are intelligent and can figure them out on your own. And for those of you who are not intelligent, just turn to the intelligent ones and they can explain it, but this post is getting long, and I don't want to bore you too much.

So, next step (in the Peace Corps model) is to assess feasibility. Given the low costs, we determined this project was feasible. Okie Dokie, moving on. The next step was to set up a timeline. This is largely, for us, anyway, based on the availability of the field, the school schedules (they are currently on holiday), and the fact that things with the ministry take a while. After that, you determine a plan for monitoring the success of the project (how you plan to measure/assess those indicators). Finally, you establish what it's going to cost, how much of a budget you have, and where you are going to get the rest of the needed funds. This is especially crucial for applying for grants, something I don't anticipate doing for this project.

I mention grants because this has established a bit of a challenge for many of us. In general, it would've been nice if they had waited until our counterparts left to go into grants stuff, since now many of them are expecting every project to involve grant applications to bring money in, and I'd (and many others) rather avoid that, because it can get messy, slow, and requires less creativity, plus, it gets people reliant on outside money, rather than trying to fundraise themselves.

So, there you go. PDM and my idea for my first major project.

Next up, the drought. My previous post included photos and articles from people who can express it far better than I can, so I won't go too much into that stuff. I will say I have seen the impact. Water gets shut off quite a bit, vegetables are much more expensive, water conservation is a crucial way of life, and birthrates are falling all over the country (which has had some problematic results, that I won't get into). Some of the photos I've seen are truly heartbreaking, even for someone as heartless as me. It's so bad that the UN has declared it an emergency. It's killing of certain traditional ways of life, and my region, the Kunene, has arguably been hit worse than anywhere else in the country, with the northern part having recently moved beyond 2 years without a drop of rain. Really puts into perspective those annoying waterless after a storm, a pipes problem, or those days where our flowers start dying. It can be brutal during the summer back home, but it generally ends by fall, and can never be measured in years. But, instead of me going on, again, I suggest you go to my previous post and check out the photos and videos on the links (also accessible through my Facebook).

While I mentioned that soccer project, it's not the only thing I have coming down the pipeline. The first is the health club. I've already gone into details on that, so I'll skip to the next one. Grace and I are considering starting a movie night. The idea would be to start with a small health-related program or discussion, then show a movie (if possible, related to the topic at hand). For instance, the following movies have been considered so far: Juno (to show even though abortion isn't legal here, there are options other than dropping out of school if you get pregnant), The Perks of Being a Wallflower (to talk about good friends/bad friend, peer pressure, and not trying to go through your problems alone), Finding Nemo (to show that a real man doesn't abandon a child for any reason, and because I like it), Kids (this would be for older groups, and probably would involve pausing several times to discuss things that are going on), Invictus (because the apartheid issue and tribalism are still very relevant here), and a few more. Grace and I have also been approached about teaching condom demonstrations in the conservancies, something we're discussing doing together so that questions can be addressed from both male and female perspective (as much as I believe in equality, when it comes to sex, there are questions that no girl is in any position to answer, and there are questions I'm not comfortable answering, since I could only speak from what I've heard/read, and not from experience). Grace also wants to do a male engagement program, but feels I'd need to be the one leading that project.

And, lastly, as a way to bring in money to fund projects, I'm thinking of starting a Damara t-shirt line. They'd be things like “Damaras be KhoeKhoe” (a pun/cultural reference in the states), “Damaras click with Everyone” (a reference to the click language), “Donkey Kart” (would be a cheap knock-off of Mario Kart), “Donkey Town” Khorixas shirts, and a few road signs (warthog/elephant/giraffe crossing signs to start). There will be more, but those of some starter ideas. I know they're corny. The idea would be to attract tourists/people in the states, and from what I've experienced, they go for the corny.

So, there you go. A bit long, but I hope you enjoyed it.

Links About the Drought

  Just a few quick links.  Namibia is in the middle of its worst drought in 30 years.  For those of you who are bad at math, that means this is Namibia' worst drought ever, since the last one was before independence.  Here are a couple interesting links for those of you who want to see the photos and get more info on this (woo hoo, goal 3!!!)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/08/13/namibia-is-in-the-middle-of-its-worst-drought-in-30-years-this-is-what-it-looks-like-on-the-ground/  This article is quite good.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-23614244

  Just remember this, next time the water cuts out in the US and you have to go without a shower for a couple days.  This is leading to a lot of people starving to death and losing the sources of their livelihoods.  Enjoy the reading, photos, and videos.

Spoiled Beauty...And Maybe Unspoiling It?

  Namibia is an absolutely beautiful country.  It truly is.  I'm sure anyone whose seen the photos I've been posting will agree.  I love walking around my town, snapping photos or just appreciating the beauty.  I am at re-connect, and while there have been some issues with the hotel they have us staying at (the bar closing at 7:30 and the food being most notable), one thing I like about this place is the view.  The mountains, the vast plains, etc.  It is quite aesthetically pleasing.  When I went to the coast, I drove through the Namib desert and made my way to the Atlantic Coast.  Even in Grootberg, the scenery was lovely.

My new place in Khorixas

The view from the training center where re-connect was held

Sun rising on another beautiful African day

  So, why am I bringing this stuff up when I have already posted pictures that paint a better story than my words ever could?  Because of last night.  After my sessions ended, I went for a short walk.  Far off the main road, in a large open grassy view, something shinny caught my eyes.  I'm sure in many of my photos, something red was quite noticeable too.  One thing that truly spoils the beauty of any country is the trash, and in Namibia, it's everywhere.

  Now, I realize this is the case everywhere in the world.  And if this was just a matter of whining about litter, there would be a waste of time.  This is more of a segway into me giving a brief explanation of the current politics of my town.  Khorixas is a town.  That's its official designation.  As such, in has a local constituency/authority/town council (I've heard it called different things).  It is a town of about 5,500-6,500, depending on the year, the time of year, etc.  And the government is headed by the United Democratic Front party.  This is a bit of an issue, since the national government is run by the South West African People's Organization party. Now, before I get in trouble, I am NOT about to voice any opinion about either parties, and I will try to keep all value judgments out of this.  First of all, I haven't been here long enough.  Second, because it runs the risk of undermining my position in the community, Peace Corps doesn't allow it.  What I want to mention is the interesting situation in my town (which, according to a rumor, may have seen a big change in the week I've been gone).

  One downside of UDF being in power here is that they do not get along with SWAPO.  Unfortunately, since SWAPO controls the national government, the result of this is my town often gets less funding.  As a town, the local government is supposed to have certain responsibilities, one of them being picking up trash, but since we don't get as much money, a number of these services fall by the wayside, trash pick-up seeming to be one of them.  In order to fix this situation, there's a movement to have our town downgraded to a village, in which case the national government would be responsible, meaning SWAPO wouldn't be denying us money for political reasons.  Of course, it would also mean losing some infrastructure we enjoy and the UDF is in power here is because that's who the people support.  As more developments arise, I will keep people posted.

  Of course, beyond the politics impacting the situation, there is the reality.  Trash is a major problem, all over Namibia.  In the north, people burn their trash because there's no other way to get rid of it. They do the same in many villages in the south. In towns, like mine, there's supposed to be some sort of pick up, but it's not very reliable and the cans overflow.  In some of the bigger cities, it's better, and there are even recycling programs, but people still often don't know about it or use it because they're too new.  The solution of many PCVs I've met is funding creative ways to reuse their trash (remember the 3 Rs?).  Recycling is a hard change to sparks. Reduction is seemingly impossible, with all the bags that you accumulate everywhere. But finding new uses for things helps reduce the trash.  There's the obvious. I am using small plastic bottles as storage for hot sauce. Larger bottles make good planters for pepper plants. Coffee cans can become plant pots or storage. Water bottles with squirt tops, like Powerade type bottles, are good for kitchen oil.  Ice cream tubs become Tupperware. The plastic wrap from vegetables can be reused. Egg cartons make fire starters. And plastic bags can be used to make soccer balls (there are some pics on Facebook of kids playing with them, and I even have made a few of my own) or handbags, as my fellow PCV, Amy, has become fond of doing.  There are many more, and I may consider making a periodic segment here on creative trash crafts from my friends.

50+ plastic bags found a far more productive use than they otherwise would've

  Oh, and if you think the political situation in my town is interesting, the Caprivi region in Namibia no longer exists.  Last week, a number of changes were made to the map of Namibia.  Karas Region is now the !Karas Region, a nod to the Damara/Nama who live there.  The Kavango is being split into 2 regions, for several reasons that I won't get into right now.  The Caprivi was re-named the Zambezi Region, after the large river that runs through it, the idea being that it probably makes more sense than naming it after a man who my supervisor describes as "a brutal oppressor."  Finally, the town of Lüderitz is now ǂNaminus, the original name for the area before the Germans colonized it.  For more info on these changes, I direct you to the following links:

New Era: http://www.newera.com.na/articles/53580/President-divides-Kavango-into-two
The Namibian: http://www.namibian.com.na/indexx.php?id=2297&page_type=story_detail

  On a separate note, no, you cannot give me money directly to support any of my projects.  Peace Corps has made it clear that it's not allowed.  If you're interested in any of my projects (keep reading, since my first self-designed project might be coming to fruition, as I will write about sometimes next week), you can give me materials.  You can also donate to my through a Peace Corps Partnership Program (if I apply for any of these, I will send you the link).

  One thing I'll say about life in the Peace Corps is that it's the little things.  There's more to this, as you will be reading about one of these days.  But there are a number of days when I am just absolutely miserable, or lonely, or stressed, or everything is going wrong, or I'm feeling particularly singled out, but the littlest things will cheer me up and make my day.  There will be a couple stories for this, both my own and that of a friend (if she approves), but for anyone interested in the Peace Corps, just know that there will be tough days, and they will be brightened by the littlest things, and every night, when I see the stars in Khorixas, no matter how awful my day's been, I'm reminded why I came here and why I love my job and how lucky I am to be living out my dream.

  So, keep reading.  My soccer program seems to be solidifying, as you will be reading about shortly. Khawa Mugus. !Gai tsesa u ha re.

Not Everything Ends In Success

  So, not every project is going to end in success.  That's something I've come to learn here.

  I'm reaching the end of my computer class.  My learners are taking their final exam as I am typing this.  Of the 18 learners who started the class, only 7 remain.  Some had to pull out because of work concerns.  Some were kicked out because they missed too many sessions and had fallen too far behind.  This was surprising, given how much they had to pay to take these courses, but my co-workers and I felt it was unfair to the rest of the class to keep waiting on these people who weren't showing up.  Some chose to drop out because they were having trouble understanding the concepts.

  Language has been one issue.  For learners who have never used computers and don't speak English too well, teaching them how to use this software was difficult.  Even when I enlisted help of Damara-Speaking co-workers, some concepts just didn't translate well.  The unwillingness to ask questions has been another.  Every time I asked them if they understood what I had taught, the answer was "yes."  Unfortunately, by the next day, I would realize the answer was "no."  I can only answer the questions that were asked, but it seems Namibians grow up not being taught "there are no stupid questions."  Even when they felt I was moving too fast, instead of asking m to slow down, they just kept silent.  This is something I'm going to have to learn from for future classes, I guess.

  Glancing over the shoulders of some of my learners, I have a feeling some will not pass the final exam.  The exams covers Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and they need a cumulative 60% on all 3 exams (this and the 2 previous ones they've taken) to pass the course.  Unfortunately, they seem to be making the exam same mistakes they've continually made on past exams, ignoring formatting requirements or not auto-sizing cells in Excel.  These are all things I've covered multiple times, which I find a bit frustrating, but there's only so much help I can provide, since the point of the class is that they learn to do these things on their own.

  And don't even get me started on the disaster that was trying to help Blind Mike get his environmental club started.

I'll give him credit; he had(has) some very good ideas and does seem to finally be making process, but his laziness made his time frames impossible, and I could only do so much of the work for him.

  One project I am trying to start is a health club for out of school youths.  So far, I've scheduled about 5 meetings with them, but only once has anyone shown up.  Part of success is showing up, and unless my class starts doing that, this won't be a success.  I'm working with some co-workers on drafting an announcement for a local radio station, in the hope that it will help get people to come, but so far this project has been of no success.  The most frustrating part is that they came to me asking me to do this, and I would like to make this happen, as much for them as it is for me.  Maybe this next week will rejuvenate me enough to produce some knew ideas on how to make this work.

  There's a reason I say "this next week."  It's not some misguided, naive optimism.  I've been at site for nearly 3 months now.  1/8-ish done with my actual service.  So, Peace Corps wants me to celebrate with Re-Connect, two one-week training sessions on project design, management, and reporting and an opportunity to get together with my training group to talk about what we've covered so far at site, share our experiences, and re-connect with each other (what a clever name, right?).  Because, obviously, all of us have been good volunteers and have never left site during these first three months other than for short trips to our shopping towns or things related to work.  The truth is, I am looking forward to seeing the people I was sick of by the last time I saw them (love y'all).

  Of course, that's not to say everything has been a failure.  Several of the learners from my computer class made massive improvements and I can't wait until I get to give them their certificates (Namibians LOVE certificates).  The program at the conservancy was a success.  If my group ever shows up, this health club can be great, because the people who approached me initially had(have?) some awesome ideas, so we just gotta get this thing going.  And the failures I've had have taught me a lot.  I know nobody likes to hear it, but lowering expectations is going to be a key to success here.  That's not to say calling a failure a success makes it so.  However, while over half of my original learners will not be receiving certificates, those that will now have a great skill to help them get jobs.  My failure with (and eventual blow up at) Mike seems to have had the impact of him taking a more realistic approach to what he's trying to do.  It may have taken almost 3 months, but several of my co-workers seem to have figured out the scanner (which is like 3 years less time than it took my mom?).  Too many people join organizations like Peace Corps because they want to save the world, or at least a country, or at least a village/town/city.  I'm now realizing that though I denied it in my head, I was one of them.  The truth is a lot more significant.  I am one person.  I may be very smart, well trained, skilled, creative, etc., but I'm still only one person.  I can't fix the world.  I can't fix Namibia.  I can't even fix Khorixas.  But I can help a few learners per class.  I can help the handful of co-workers at my Youth Center who I interact with on a daily basis.  When my health club shows up, I can provide them tools for living a healthier life.  If I teach a class on proper condom use, I may only reach a few people.  But maybe they will teach someone else.  Redefining the goal from the impossible to the doable is key to being productive and successful here, and it took some early failures (and I'm sure there will be more along the way) to teach me this lesson.

  On a side note, many people might be wondering where I've been living. Well, my house isn't ready, so I'd been living in my homestay until this past Wednesday.  See, my boss ordered my furniture before the house was ready, expecting it to get caught up in Ministry bureaucratic nonsense.  Given the experience with my familiarization trip application (signed by all but one guy, who needed to be the second-to-last guy to sign it, not the last, and said the form was too marked up by the time he got it, and left on piles all over the place, etc.), this was not an unreasonable expectation.  However, the furniture actually arrived within a few weeks, and I needed to put it.  So, I will soon be moving into one of 2 newly renovated guest rooms at my center (WIN!!!! ROLL OUT OF BED AND BE AT WORK!!!!  GYM DOWNSTAIRS!!!! CAN THIS GET BETTER?!!!), once they install the electricity and get me a stove.  So, in the short term, I'm crashing with a friend at the hospital.  A bit of a hike from work (it takes about 10-15 minutes longer to walk), but a nice place (HOT SHOWERS ARE THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD!!!!).  Why did I move out from my homestay into a temp housing when my long-term temp housing wasn't ready?  Part of it was what my friend calls "Nam Logic."  The bigger thing was it was time to move on from my homestay.  The family really needed the bedroom back and I needed the freedom to be a bit more of an adult.  There was also my host mom's Damara proverb that "kids kill a man" (meaning she was afraid her little ones were eventually going to tire me out and wear me out because there's no way I can have their level of energy).  However, she was very clear as I was leaving: "This is a separation, not a divorce."  I still see her family around town, will hopefully be taking a trip to the farm with them, plan on having them over for jambalaya some time as a "thank you" for hosting me, and visiting the children from time-to-time.  So, that's what's been going on with that.

Side note: my cook book is really coming along.  Anyone who wants to contribute, I am breaking it down as entrees, salads, sandwiches, soups, desserts, sauces, and porridge/rice pots.  I will only include recipes I think can be done in Namibia.  Please let me know what you would like me to call it and if you would like to be credited (your name in the item's name).  Those who contribute will be rewarded with a free copy, so also include your e-mail.  I expect to have about 75-100 recipes when I'm done and hope to have it done this month or early next month.  I am thinking of selling copies as a fundraiser for my health club if that ever gets started, at which point I will give pricing and ordering info.