Day 10: July 3, Ngweze, Namibia

Early morning photo of the fire pit at our lodge: We drove to a nearby village today - Ngweze - which was really not much more than a few homesteads and huts, cows, goats and dogs. The homes are built with termite mound clay, and topped with roofs made with thatched reeds. Each of the family homesteads are surrounded by a "wall" of thatched reeds.

The villagers had put together an "authentic" village for us to tour, which was - contrary to its name - quite contrived. But it was still an interesting education nevertheless. (I especially love the traditional boxer shorts.)The Namibian people in general seem far more reserved and less gregarious than the Botswana people, but they are still warm and friendly to us. One thing I have noticed is that singing, clapping, humming and rhythm are all pivotal to their way of life, and it seems that everywhere we go, we're greeted with a song. Even the grinding of maize is done with a rhythm and a song. I thought I had a photo of myself attempting to shuck maize, but I can't find it...

The women routinely carry heavy loads on their heads - anything from water from the river (which she's demonstrating below) to packages from town to bundles of reeds or vegetables for the market. They can walk for miles carrying these things on their heads perfectly.

In the interest of maintaining my perfectly dorky reputation, I gave it a shot. I unfortunately failed miserably, and let's just say that if my family was relying on my success to get their ration of water, they would quickly die of dehydration.

Dancing and music, in the special-occasion costumes. Keep in mind, it's about 50 degrees out...

We then went to a real home of a real family. Two women were watching their grandchildren, and making mats out of reeds when we arrived. (Women in the culture don't sit on chairs, they sit on mats on the floor.) I knew that we would see poverty, but it still doesn't prepare you for just how simple life is here. There were flies everywhere, and everything is coated with dust from the arid landscape. We met a grandmother and her sister, and three grandchildren - ages probably seven, three and one. The guide told us that they had never seen a white person up close before, and that when we left, they would use it as a threat to make the kids behave: "Don't do that or I'll call back the white people and have them kill you." I don't know if he was being sarcastic or not... I hope so.

Apparently it is only in Namibia's recent past that non-soldiers came to visit, so they are only used to seeing white people as military personnel. Not too long ago, they said, the children would run away and hide when white people came through the village. Now, they run to see us, wave and dance.

AIDS and HIV is a prevalent thing here, with something like 25-30% of the population afflicted. It's stunning, really, to see so much of the culture revolve around it (even at the immigration point in Zimbabwe, there was a free condom dispenser on the wall.) But that is the way of life here, and the only way to reduce the spread of the disease is through education.

We also visited a school, which was also lacking in so many resources. The primary school we visited was opened in 1974.

In the class, the children sang us a welcome song, and then we had a chance to hang out with them for a while. I met Memory (in orange) and Henri, two beautiful girls who lived nearby. I looked through their sparse workbooks, covered with protective paper and decorated with a page ripped from a New Zealand clothing catalog and stuck on the front page with pieces of chewing gum.The kids were gregarious and friendly, after they warmed up to us. I don't know why, but they smiled the whole time, but whenever a camera snapped, they seemed so solemn and serious! I wish I could have let you hear the laughter and giggling in the room.

As with everyone we've met so far, they loved the digital cameras we brought. They had never used a camera before, so I let Memory and Henri snap a few photos. Here, Memory took a photo of me with Kathryn, one of my traveling companions:

Then Henri wanted to take a few photos:And thus the group hanging out to get their photos taken grew:

When we left, we noticed a bunch of children sitting outside... apparently this was a 5th grade class that had to sit outside due to lack of rooms at the school. There was a general lack of everything at the school, and it is in desperate need of - well - everything, from paper and pens to water and chalkboards. It makes me want to return to the US, shop for a box of stuff at Staples, and send it all back to them... or bring it back myself and teach English for a while.

On the way out of the village, I took more photos of some of the homesteads:

Here is a view from my tent of Kathryn and Mary Anne walking at the lodge:

I did buy a few key chains from the local market at Ngweze, made from palm nuts. I would have bought more, but I can't shop for much since our 26-pound-luggage-limit flight is coming up soon.

Another token dorky shot of me holding a fruit from the sausage tree... There was also a brush fire burning as we returned to the lodge...

...burning fields is a common practice for farmers in the area, but this one was set probably by a cigarette and was burning out of control. Thankfully, they had been fighting it all day, and it was beginning to burn itself out. (By fighting, I mean they were beating it out with blankets and branches.... proximity to the water of the river doesn't mean that they have the technology to use water to put out fires...

The sunset was spectacular, again:

We did stop on the drive for a break and a beverage (they bring beer and wine on the safaris! Cool!) We stopped near a tree which was literally filled with baboons. They were watching us, playing, and swinging through the trees... it was magical.

Continuing the dorky-photos-of-Beth theme, here's me on the night drive, trying to keep warm and trying to keep the bugs out of my eyes. I know you can't tell, but I'm smiling:Here's my photo of our spotlighting in the evening. Think of it like modern dance... if you squint or take heavy drugs, you might be able to make some sense out of it. The orange on the left is the spotlight, and the twigs on the right are - well - twigs. (I told you night photos were terrible. Now you see for yourself!)