Week 2 of the Directorate's verification exercise covered the Otjozondjupa region (not an easy one to pronounce, but I'm finally getting it after lots of practice) north of Windhoek on the eastern side of Namibia—the light green on the map. Windhoek is in the Khomas region, the middle dark blue.
After heading out early on Sunday, August 4, we stopped for lunch in Otjiwarongo, the capital of this region, and then headed a bit north before turning east for a two-hour drive down a dry, chalky gravel road towards Tsumkwe.
Tsumkwe is known as the capital of the San people in Namibia, and as you will see, it was a truly eye-opening and fascinating experience to visit with the San promoters and see how and where they live deep in the bush.
As you may or may not know, the San people are members of the indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures of southern Africa and the oldest surviving cultures of the region. Their recent ancestral territories span Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and South Africa.
We pulled into the settlement of Tsumkwe later that night and stayed in a small guest house behind a grocery store.
While one would think the convenience of a store right behind our lodging would be ideal, the truth is the shelves had an extremely limited assortment of items, with mostly staples like maize, macaroni, and piles of these large puffy Cheeto-like snacks (not sure I can even call it food) plus tons of other snack foods. There was absolutely no produce, meat, or drinks besides sugary soda (mostly Coca-Cola) or juices. I have to confess that I'm growing tired of UPF here and trying really hard to only eat clean, plant-based diet - but not going so good with few options.
Back to Tsuukewe which falls within the Nyae Nyae Conservancy, designated for wild game hunting and other sport activities within this area. It was the first registered conservancy in Namibia and is considered important for wildlife conservation in Southern Africa.
While driving, we saw elephants, warthogs, and giraffe on the side of the road—no need for a safari when you're right there in the wild, natural beauty of Namibia.
One of the more recent news stories here in Namibia is the government's call to allow the culling of 723 wild animals to relieve drought by contributing game meat to communities, and other governments in Southern Africa are following a similar call. It's the sad reality of the severe, 100-year drought here in Namibia.
We started our morning from the CLDC in Tsumkwe and met with the Regional Coordinator, Amakali, who traveled with us through the area, as it's likely we would have gotten lost out "in the bush" on our own.
Our first day was in the village of Gam, and I shared this wonderful experience meeting Verimbo and other promoters in the previous post.
After our first day in Gam, we went back out and drove "off-road" to meet with promoters deep in the bush. It was eye-opening, to say the least, and I created a shortish video to share two inspiring promoters we met in their villages.
We visited several others, where classes were most often taught outside under a tree. All three taught classes outside and spoke the Khoisan "click" language. Here is a little video of Coma Tshao sharing how he came to be a promoter - you'll have to turn up the volume to hear.
Amakali, the CLDC Coordinator in red, also shared that the people of these villages are often "fearful" or shy of others not from their village, and I can imagine especially if they had never seen white people before. Children were curious, and I felt moved by the innocent humanity of life and how we come to see the world around us.
In one of the remote villages, I saw two young boys sitting in this water storage tank below. They looked to be about 14 years old, so I'm not sure why they weren't in school. I offered a couple of candies that I had, and they came out to take them, then snuck back to hide.
The stone wall surrounding the water is designed to keep the elephant out.
While most of the promoters we met with were not in class time, we did have a chance to meet five students ages 18 to 28 learning to read and write in their classroom.
However, these students were lucky to have a classroom when most other adult learning classes were held outside under a tree.
When asked what some of their challenges were, mostly it came down to having the proper resources, including learner notebooks, pens, pencils, easels, copies, etc.
Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me until our 3rd week that maybe we should bring pens and pencils, at a minimum, to the promoters to show support and give them a bit of encouragement.
We eventually did after running to PEP and Clicks stores to buy as many pens and pencils as possible for our encounters ahead, and each promoter was tremendously grateful for the small but significant gift
But the highlight of this week, if not the entire 3-week verification trip, was the children I met.
One special moment that I'll always remember occurred when we saw giraffe on the side of the road so we pulled off onto a side road.
As we pulled up to a gate that crossed what appeared to be the main road, a young boy quickly ran from his nearby homestead to open it for us.
While we chose not to travel further down the road, Zulu offered the young boy two pieces of candy, of which he didn't immediately open but instead he quickly ran back to to share with a younger sibling who waited nearby.
And I have to say, it doesn't get any better than a beautiful HEN moment.
Here's to all the beautiful children in the world...
Sending much love and a big hug from a captivating corner of Namibia. Enjoy this special video of the children singing just for me and YOU :-)
Love, Lynn
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