Quick Update

What a week!  After returning from Keets last week I spent most of my time relaxing while getting the last bits of work done before I leave for the States.

Silas, Amy, Dan, Juli, Angela, Elizabeth, Irene and myself just before leaving for the music awards.

The highlight was attending Namibia's music awards.  I got a free ticket because I created a video promo for an HIV/AIDS awareness CD that 14 Namibian artists contributed to.  Unfortunately, the promo was never played due to the extreme lack of organization and time.  It would have been pretty cool to see something I made on national television though...

The music awards were quite the fiasco.  As I don't really care to go into detail let this summary suffice: started late, audience was riotously loud, award presenters were confused and uncoordinated, music was great, Gazza and The Dogg fans fought each other (two escorted out bleeding), finished after midnight.

This week I'm wrapping up some things at the school.  Wednesday all the education volunteers (at least the ones who haven't left for the States yet) will go to Grieter's conference center (again) for a mid-service conference.  Should be fun.

Then, Saturday at 845 I leave for the States.  Whoopeee!!!  I'll probably post once more before then, then it will be all quiet on the blog until I return on the 3rd of January.

Meet Nelson

I had the pleasure of meeting a friend of Jay in Keetmanshoop- Nelson.  Nelson invited us into his house in the location outside of Keet's and permitted me to take some pictures.

Nelson's house is located near the back of the location just two plots down from his mother's.  He lives alone in this small shack. The lot it sits in is clean.  He sweeps it somewhat regularly and picks up trash when it accumulates. 

Nelson, outside his house giving a typical Namibian "cool guy" pose.	Nelson and Jay inspect his latest invention and science fair entry- the gambling machine.	The sign above the door proudly says "I fix Radios" in both English and Oshiwombo.

Outside his house, Nelson invites me in.  The sign above the door reads "Radio Repair" but is slightly deceiving: Nelson will attempt to repair just about any electrical appliance.

As I enter his home a wave of humid heat washes over me.  The tin walls and roof of the shack absorb quite a bit of heat and since there are no windows the ventilation is very poor.  Despite this his home has a pleasant quality to it.  On one side of the 15' by 10' room is his bed, framed on two walls with colorful sheets that hang from the wall.

The bedroom- a make-shift bed with a metal grid as a box spring, boards as a frame and a small mattress.	The entertainment center.  You can see a radio on the right with a speaker.  The TV and computer do not work, but he keeps on trying to fix them.	A solar panel on his roof.  It charges a car battery during the day that he uses to power his light and radio.

His clothes hang from wires on one side of the bed, while a broken TV set holds several electrical items as a table on the other side.  There are many inventions around the room.  Clocks, suit cases, radios and a gambling machine which he displayed in the science fair in Windhoek a few months ago.  Nelson loves to make things.  He uses items he finds in the trash and gets from family and friends to put together unique and artistic electrical appliances.  He talks to me briefly about capacitors and resistors, terms that he picked up in his 11th grade science class this year.  He hopes to learn more so that he can put together more complex devices.

Nelson shows off the suit case he made from fence wire and cardboard.  A colorful and artistic creation.	Nelson and his little brother look over a fan that he made from spare parts. He can't use it at night because it drains his battery.	The CD clock on the wall keeps time perfectly.  Another project inspired by the parts he was able to find.

Nelson is 21 years old and has just finished the 11th grade at KHS (Keetmanshoop High School).  Next year he will finish 12 grade, a task that is made more difficult and unlikely given his late start in school.  These days he spends his time playing games on his cell phone, talking to girls, and learning about computers at the community center.  He has dreams of being a musician when he's finished with school and loves to rap. 

Surly one of his many talents will enable him employ somewhere in Namibia.  I have hope for Nelson, and every other youth who learns, tries and aspires.

Pictures of Keets

I took a trip down to Keetmanshoop recently to help Jay install a server in his lab.  We took a break on Saturday and walked through the location to talk to people.  Here are a few of the pictures I was able to get.

Can you see the meet drying on the wall?  This is how biltong is made- a Namibian beef jerky.	A Namibian kitchen.  Here fat cakes are being made and sold to residents.  Fat cakes are like Namibian dougnuts.	Another view of a kitchen area, shielded by tin and set away from the house.

A view of a few houses.	Two brothers insisted I take their picture.  They also said they would come see Jay to learn about computers on Monday..	You can faintly see a dust storm here- one of many that visit residents here each day.

Jay sits with a Meme who has taken in children of AIDS infected mothers who cannot breast feed their babies.  We sat and talked with her for a while	Some of the children of the Meme in the previous picture. In addition to her own 7 kids, she cares for at least 10 more, all funded with a N$10,000 grant she applied for.	A Namibian garden.  Fresh greens rationed carefully to last as long as possible.

The New ITC

Jay and I spent the last three days in Okahandja (70k north of Windhoek) at the Group 26 PST to facilitate the ITC technical training.  We had a blast- the new ITC volunteers are awesome and we had a thoroughly productive and entertaining time with them.

Here's the soon to be famous Nam26 IT Crew: Dave, Paul and Sam.  Short on syllables, long on talent.	We visited SchoolNet.  Hard to believe that just a year ago, Jay and I were doing this same visit for the first time.

We spent our first day together going over a myriad of ITC issues in Namibia, from national initiatives to classroom teaching techniques to common problems. After that we shared files on a ad-hoc wireless network (of course!) and spent a whole day in Windhoek touring computer companies, UNAM (University of Namibia), SchoolNet, and my school among others.  I really feel that these new ITC volunteers are going to do well and I look forward to working with them for the next year (maybe two!)

SchoolNet happened to be getting rid of a bunch of broken computers when we arrived- a sight I haven't seen ever in Namibia	So, what would six IT guys do when dropped off in front of a mountain of broken computer hardware?  Go through it of course!	Another shot of Dave, Sam and Paul at the NIED training center in Okahandja.  Here they do ICDL courses for N$750; Two hours a day for two months.

Greeting The Newbies

Here's the pictures that prove we are complete dorks and unable to control ourselves while attempting to impress a group of new American faces...

The welcoming committee (Susan, Chester, Dan, Myself, Lauren, Irene and Courtney	Myself and two of the Group 26 IT guys with a "healthy" tagging along.  Don't know their names yet, but they seem cool!