I’m thousands of miles from home, and yet I feel at home….
This is perplexing to say the least. Before coming to Namibia, I felt excited
for this new adventure and realization that my ultimate childhood dream of
joining the Peace Corps was finally a reality. Though I was excited I also felt
that it’d be a very difficult transition into life in Namibia. I assumed I
would cry everyday at the thought of my family back in Ohio, feel weak at the
knees every time I saw a photo of my pupstar Franklin… but I didn’t. This is
not to say that I don’t miss my family and friends everyday, I definitely do! I
just could not imagine the relative ease of getting to know my community, not
only in Mariental where I currently am, but also in Okahandja. I feel
comfortable kickin’ it with my friends here. They’ve become my non-blood blood
brothers and sisters and I am amazed at how quickly this had happened. I have
only been here for a little under three months!
I’m not going to lie, the past week or two I have had my
moments where I felt lonely in a flat, watching shows and movies from my
external and wishing that I was back in Okahandja at PST (I know, weird… at
least for those of you who dealt with PST with me).
But just as the loneliness was getting annoying I had quite a few friends from
Mariental hit me up to hang out. It was almost as if they reached out just at
the moment I needed them most. I figured it’d be challenging coming into a small
town and being raised in a big city, and I do believe this assumption was the
reason I had forced myself to be isolated. In Columbus, the social life surrounded me, I did not have to work at it and I had hung out with friends I had
known for years. Going out was easier to do; there were countless bars,
theaters, and solid restaurants as well as loads of other bits to be entertained
with. In Mariental, however, there is not much to work with ;) And I mean that
with all the love in the world. For starters we easily have the most divine
fried chicken in the universe… Jenny’s Chicken is the holy grail of fried
chicken (this is not a biased opinion).
And best of all I’m learning how to cook… There have been many fails in
Sinthu’s Kitchen… this is a temporary shortcoming. Visit me in a year and I’ll
show you, I’ll show you all!
The people though are my main reason for hanging around for
2 (hopefully more) years. My two neighbors for instance are full time nurses
who work their butts off and still have time to check on me at least once a
week to make sure I have adequate food and invite me to their place at any hour
just to kick it for a while. To top it all off they ask me if I need money for
toiletries or anything else. All this hospitality and kindness and they are
around my age! My neighbor downstairs is practically family; I don’t know what I
would do without her support and motherly tendencies. Lastly, my best work
friend who can some how stand to hang out with me more than three days a week!
We have got the same thoughts running through our heads a good 80% of the time,
and I’d go absolutely MAD if she was not around. Friends that have become
family in a period of ~three months… UNREAL. Most of those around Mariental bid
each other a good morning, afternoon, and evening everyday. I can comfortably
look people straight in their eyes and converse with them… That would not be
normal in C-bus and I love this sense of community! I was bumming around
waiting for a friend at the corner of a closed shopping center (awkward moment,
whatever) and seven girls came up to me and started chatting me up for no real
reason, AWESOME…This is my kind of place, the kind where I can have
random conversations with strangers and feel…safe.
I do pinch
myself every once in a while to make sure this is reality.
Question
1. Am I really in Namibia assisting in community outreach projects?
Question
2. Am I really living in this smaller town in my own flat for two solid years?
FREEEEDOM!
Question
3. Am I really ~8,000 miles way from friends, family, pupstar, and all that
I’ve known for 24+ years?
Question
4 and (most importantly). Am I making a difference?
I don’t know about the fourth question yet (Gimmie a break,
I’ve only been here since March), but I am optimistic in what I can accomplish.
It is going to take a lot of patience on my part (and failures…duh), but I know
I have the people mentioned above and so many more that I will meet in these
two short years who are going to support me in this journey. Together, I will be
able to assist the people of my town in expanding support services, both social
and health and I am ecstatic for what the future will bring not only to me but
more importantly to my community, my new home! Sustainability is the key; this
beautiful town has to keep growing even after I have travelled back to my hometown
and that is why my focus is on peer education, so that someone who is a local
to my town can carry on what I have only played a minuscule part to help form!
