It’s river season! Every time I go to my shopping town (I try to go every two weeks) I cut some time out to go to the river. I lay my shitenge (traditional wrap) down on the sand, crack open my crosswords, drink a Tafel (Namibia’s “finest” beer. Yeah, I’m even starting to drink beer now… who am I?!), and sit and marvel at the beauty of the Zambezi river and how lucky I am to live here. I’ve lived in the region for more than a year now, and it’ll always have a special place in my memory for my first true home away from home. There’s ups and downs, ebbs and flows, but overall I couldn’t have asked for a better experience or a different place to be.
I’m forgoing the chance to sit by the river on this hot day, since I’m finally getting some good WiFi at one of the (or really the only?) restaurants in Katima. So, while I can, here’s a bit of my photo catch-up:
Made pap on my very own for the first time (it only took a year, oops) and paired it with ratatouille and my host dad’s sugar cane.
Also satiated my orange chicken and fortune cookie cravings (this was the only fortune cookie that turned out well)
We (other Zambezi volunteers and Namibians) put on a Camp GLOW during the last school holiday. GLOW stands for Guys & Girls Leading Our World and is a week-long camp focused on leadership, health, career/goal-setting, and fun! It went pretty smoothly–even when discovering the night before our venue would not have electricity! So our camp was GLOWing more than expected…
I was part of the Kitchen Crew! We scrambled together gas stoves, huge pots for cooking over the fire, and converted the industrial boilers into makeshift fridges… and we had Mimi (in the center). She is an amazing cook (and woman–such a role model!) and luckily Namibians are experienced at cooking for a crowd, even over fire. So all 80 people were well fed 3x per day for the week. It even messed up our system when the electricity turned back on near the end…
Facilitator Crew
Inaugural Camp GLOW Zambezi ☀️
Went to another village with colleagues and our shitenge
National Clean-up Campaign
Matching on accident… roomies in sync!
Warmer weather = mosquitos and living behind a net
Now, the star, the Zambezi River (with a few pics of the Kwando river thrown in). The Zambezi region is surrounded on all sides by a river: Kwandu to the west, Zambezi to the north and east, Linyanti (aka Chobe) to the south.
