Hi everyone.
I’m back in
Namibia after a brief stint in
Idaho during the December/January holidays.
This time around my work/visit here will only last 3-4 months.
The plan is to work for two months with Mondesa Youth Opportunities (MYO), the after-school program where I’ve spent the last year as a volunteer teacher/interim manager.
I’ll be aiding with the transition into the 2008 operating year as well as focusing on the completion of our new school facilities in the
township of Mondesa.
This new year brings a lot of changes at MYO. There are plenty of new faces in the staff, including three new volunteer teachers, a new music teacher, an academic coordinator and a field manager. They join the existing Namibian staff and the two of us foreigners who have returned from 2007.
I must admit it’s very surreal being back in my most recent ‘hometown.’ As often happens in life (well, mine anyway), change has altered even the most basic aspects of what I have come to know. Of course many of the invariables in Swakopmund remain the same, but much of my old experience has been removed, leaving both places for new experience to grow and holes that cause me to reminisce.
My living situation provides the most telling example. Upon arriving in Swakop, my first stop was at the flat shared by Alexis, Casey and me last year. The keys traveled halfway around the world with me, allowing for the familiar sense of coming home and turning the lock to enter my domain. However, that is where the allusions of times past began to fade. Over the break, our apartment was rented out to vacationers so several changes had been exacted: furniture moved, curtains re-hung and minor transformations that cause your mind to pause even when your eyes don’t immediately recognize the alteration. As a person who cherishes the order to my surroundings (even though it doesn’t often look like order to others), the newness took me by surprise. But now, after a week of adjustment, much of the new environment has grown on me. Sure, I miss the chess drinking set holding the bookcase together, but the circa-1970 book on natural childbirth probably didn’t ever need to be on display.
Beyond the aesthetic elements of change, the loss of my fellow inhabitants continues to hang over everything at 32 Libertina Amathila #6. I can’t deny that this has been the most challenging part of my own personal 2008 transition. Looking back, I doubt I realized how close our circle had become. During the break, there were so many distractions in Cape Town, Boise and Pocatello that I never had the chance to miss my girls. However, walking into the house or back in from the balcony to a distinct lack of Aussie and Canadian flavor (flavour?) creates one hell of a contrast.
However, as I mentioned before, the old and new somehow manage to achieve at least a moderate balance. In place of Lex and Kc are a good—if not large—group of housemates. There are now five of us staying here. The feel is much different, which can be attributed to the fresh mix of personalities, marital status and previous experience in Namibia. I’ve managed to appreciate this more and more in the last week. Although it’s still a big transition from the 8am coffee and 6pm wine breaks on the balcony, fresh conversations have emerged and the newness does create an altogether different, and fun, atmosphere. Change comes. I guess you’ve just got to roll with it.
