Two Weeks Gone By

I have now been here for exactly two weeks, and it is amazing. Katutura is a fabulous part of the city (of course there are the usual comments that one would get in any city), but for the most part, the people are extremely nice and friendly. On the 4th of July we went on a tour of Katutura (see the pictures), and saw some shocking things. We spent most of the tour driving around the informal settlements of the city, which are basically shacks made out of scrap metal, no electricity, communal toilets, and communal water pumps which the people have to pay for. The average wage earnings of this community is N$800, which is approximately $100 USD. Most of the people never leave the settlements when they grow up, remaining there until they die (the average lifespan is only 48 years old). As horrible as it may have seemed to us (Americans and British), the people who live there are perfectly happy. The kids we saw were smiling and playing, the people in the yards waved at us, and everyone seemed generally friendly. They are very proud of what they have, even if it is just a one room shack made out of the scrap metal. This way of life is so extremely different from anything I have ever seen, but it must be admired. To be able to be happy with almost nothing is an amazing feat.
This was the poor part of town. In the other parts, the parts through which I walk on my way to work everyday, are slightly better, but not by much. These houses are made out of bricks usually, covered in a cement type substance and painted either shades of white, or bright colors. Some of them are also one room, others are a main room with one or sometimes two bedrooms. Most do not have bathrooms inside, but they onld share with one other house. These toilets do not have flushes, but instead lead into a hole in the ground into which all waste falls. There is also no toilet paper, and generally no toilet seats. At the end of the tour, we went to one of the rougher parts of town, a street called Evelinestraat, which has 63 bars on it, only 7 of which are official bars. While on the street, we went to their market and tasted some meat that the men were cooking (yummy!), and saw a cows head (picture). That was quite the experience!!
After all of this, we had a braai at the dam, a large water area about 5 minutes from our house which has picnic areas complete with braais (the bbq's themselves). We had a variety of meats again, including the chicken kabobs that I love, and the amazing garlic bread! We spent the afternoon there with the other British students that we have become friends with, their supervisor form England, and a few Namibians that we hang out with regularly. Today, it was back to work, where we were missing a few volunteers, but also gained 3 new Americans (also staying with us). I ended up teaching 3rd grade today with the help of a Finnish girl (I lost my voice on Thursday at karaoke, and it has only gotten worse over the weekend!!), which went very well.
This coming weekend, we are going to Etosha, an animal park type thing which will be amazing! The campsites (where we are staying) are all along watering holes (they do have fences to keep the animals out - doesn't work for elephants!!), and word has it that you see hundreds of animals at a time, including lions, elephants, zebras, wildebeests, etc!! So exciting! I will make sure to take tons of photos and put some up on Sunday when we get back! I will also post later this week, so stay tuned!!!