“We must present ourselves to the world and we must look upon it as an adventure.” (Movie - Miss Potter)
The beginning of our adventure started with a 10 day orientation at the Rineers’ home. Mick Rineer is the director of AIM Namibia, AIM exists under a seminary (NETS) in Windhoek. He organized and ran the orientation while Suzanne Rineer made us feel at home with great meals and helped us run errands (ie. I really appreciated shopping for clothes after living out of a backpack for 3 months). Their kids were such a joy to be around, whether that meant dancing like a nerd, or singing songs. It was good to see how they interacted as a family, things as simple as sitting around and listen to a chapter of the Narnia series and praying together at night. We were truly blessed and poured into during our time with them.
Some background history on Nambia the least populated country in Africa, yet a land of many languages. The official language is English, but the most common language is Oshiwambo. There are some language and culture influences also from German colonization. We were under the impression we were going to learn Afrikaans, but it is actually does not seem as useful for building relationships. This is due to historical reasons as well as people prefer to speak their native language. Historically, Namibia was under South African government until their independence in 1990. The past and the system of apartheid (separation of blacks, whites and coloureds) has had a huge impact on the people here, especially the way they relate and trust. There are many other tribal languages like Herero, (the one we used to learn how to learn a language), Luchazi (the language used by the Angolan people of the church we attend), Lozi, Damar/Nama (the Bushman/San click language) and Rukwangali – the language we will strive to learn and struggle over for the next 6 months.
During the last week of our orientation we focused on how to learn a language. The point was not to learn a language but to use language as a tool for building relationships. This included watching some lessons on video and then being thrown out into practice at the Herero mall – (which is not what you would think a typical mall but random sheds selling a few things or ladies under a tree selling fat cakes). Our goal was to use a few sentences we learned to greet people allowing us to start up conversations. We showed up the next day and people started to recognize us and we added in our new sentence that we learned from our language helpers. It was so interesting that something as simple as saying “Kora . . . Nawa” could break culture barriers and the distrust of white people that still lingers, despite the system of apartheid being abandoned in Namibia in 1990. Some people were quite cautious, but once you started to speak their language they were very friendly. Many people in this once “black only” area had never seen white people walking there. We have never been watched by so many people before! (Although 5 white Canadians do stand out).
“Wow, that is different” is the sentence that we have used and will use for the next 6 months in order to describe the differences in culture and worldview.
How we view the world or the lens we used was one of our discussions during orientation. The individualistic perspective that dominates in the North American worldview is quite a contrast to the community perspective often found to dominate here. There is also a contrast between time orientation versus event orientation – a quote commonly used here, “North Americans have the watches but we have the time.”
Let us introduce you to a lady who is opening our eyes to the pains of living with HIV, the pressures of raising a family, the reality of living in Windhoek’s overlooked shanty town, the nutritional needs of an HIV patient and one amazing faith. She seems to have a grasp of Christ as our comforter and desires to share Him with all people. Her name is Hanalie. Her wealthy family disowned her after she shared on national television her HIV positive status. Suzanne has befriended her and visits her once a week to bring food, listen, offer encouragement and pray with her. On our second day in Windhoek we joined Suzanne for her weekly visit with Hanalie. Our eyes were opened to the realities of Africa. As we walked to Hanalie’s tin home many eyes watched us (and I am sure were wondering what the heck are these white people doing here……….). And so we began to hear about her sorrow and concern for her community…. A lady was trying to cut her fence because she was jealous of her, a women nearby had a terrible wound that looked like it was getting infected, over a short period of time her daughter was hit twice by a drunk taxi driver, a mother couldn’t feed her baby because her breasts would not let-down any milk, people were hungry all around her; (And this is where I finally broke down and tried to hide my tears as she told of a man came home drunk shot his wife and then himself; leaving two more young children parentless.) Hmmmmm…. And then she began to share her story of how she came to know Christ and how He comforts her, brings her JOY and how she shares Him with everyone she knows. She has found a peace that is so evident. We even noticed her granddaughter hanging off her side had this same hope, something that gave her eyes a sparkle. This was such a contrast to one little boy we saw sucking on a barbed wire fence, his eyes dull and seemed full of sorrow. I am sure we were all wondering what hopeless situation we had gotten ourselves into. But, as Hanalie shared more, she challenged our faith and without knowing it she encouraged us to have a “hope” for the little boy who was sucking on the fence, the two newly orphaned children and all the people in poverty surrounding her. And so we prayed with Hanalie about the many things she had shared with us and we were so thankful for her openness and boldness in sharing her story.
During orientation we also visited another project called Family Hope Sanctuary. This is a program set up by a lady, named Abigail, to help feed the poorest of the poor children in an area of Windhoek. For most children the center provides the only food they will eat all day long. They educate the children and try to “catch” them up by providing accelerated schooling so the children can transfer into the school system. As we pulled up in our van, many eyes stared at us…. And once we got out it was just a few moments before one brave child ran up and hugged Janeen and then more and more came just to be touched, hugged and loved. (I began to take their pictures and they LOVED this, seeing their photo, trying to take photos, oh we had many laughs.) A few of the shy girls held back with Janeen and Stephanie (another Canadian also on orientation with us) just clinging to them; showing us how starved they are for adult attention and the need to be touched. Abigail is phenomenal, she has so many ideas and is empowering so many people. They have been noticing many of the children are too lethargic to learn therefore she desires to do a nutritional survey to assess what the kids in the community are eating. She hopes to use the information to understand what nutritious foods should be grown or obtained. This was quite exciting for us as we have been wondering how to address the limitations surrounding proper nutrition. It is so exciting to meet people who are on the same wave length but have a much better understanding! They have started a small garden and are beginning to produce some fresh vegetables. These will be used to supplement the beans the volunteer women from the community cook each day. Abigail is working with these women to help them understand what makes food nutritious (ie. how to prepare it). It is so apparent how malnourished these children are. One little boy was soooo small (and HIV positive); but his spirits seem quite high as he showed us his muscles and exclaimed “I am strong now that I eat.” We wish them well at FHS and appreciate our short time with them.
We also want to share with you a story of going to youth group in Windhoek with the Rineer’s oldest son. There were about 120 students grades 8-12 a real mix of guys and girls, grades and so much diversity in their backgrounds, and yes their skin colour. Namibia is a diverse place and this youth group (YWAP, Youth With A Purpose) seemed to embrace and represent it! We were so impressed with the depth of these young people’s faith. We were encouraged by their worship, and so stoked they had all chosen to come to this group on a Friday night. It was a joyful time and we pray for a vibrancy like this in Canada. (I was especially stoked by one young lady whom I hope to connect with a few of our Canadian young women to form a relationship and help broaden all of their worlds and perspectives.)
Overall, orientation left us feeling more equipped, challenged and ready to head up to our placement in Rundu. “There is something delicious about writing those first few words of a story, you can never quite tell where they’ll take you.” (Movie - Miss Potter) Ours has taken us here, to Rundu. Check back for future updates on our adventures in Rundu.
