So I know I haven’t written anything in forever but now that I am on the countdown of less then two months I am concentrating much more on living EVERY moment up that I can.
Thus far I am succeeding…
Jesse ( the VSO volunteer) is on holiday so she doesn’t care how late we are out and now the rest of us are in the mood also. We have had four nights of fabulous fun out and about and a few nights we had very nice times staying in cooking dinner.
Tonight we went to the bar after a day of having lunch with my family, washing laundry, and other visiting. Once there we were having a big laugh because I was wearing a low cut dress and every time a friend of ours went to make a shot playing pool I would position myself in his view so he would miss (which did work by the way). We were all just falling over with laughter when the owner of the bar came over to me and said he had something in his car for me (yeah that sounds really bad) but I went to the car (with a friend for security) and it was a T-shirt (which is like gold here) for his restaurant! He had picked me as the one and only to get it and said that I was a very good customer (which is funny cause I may be there but I don’t buy much there) but I am very honored.
It would seem that I am leaving my mark in Opuwo in many different ways.
On the flip side I gave out 48 teddy bears on Friday to children in the hospital and what we call OVC’s (orphans and vulnerable children). I wore a traditional Ovambo dress and everyone just loved it! It was an amazing experience to be able to give these hand made teddy bears to all these kids and once they realized what was happening they were ecstatic!
Later on I went back to the hospital ward and the parents were playing with the kids using the bears. It is rare to see that type of interaction here so it really warms the heart..
It is not all late night partying you see :) Also I do plan on finishing up in my journal about the amazing trip to Cape Town I had this week. But while I’m at it I went to Windhoek a few weeks ago for the National Youth Expo and my traditional Himba group won first prize! I am so proud of them and of all of my youth that participated. They really did an amazing job and the Opuwo Beads and Seeds Group had two booths and very good sales. On the last night I found myself in an amphitheater with 400 youth surrounding me dancing the night away! They were all cheering and clapping and even though I was in Windhoek I was the only white person there and I felt so at ease among them. I took video of them so I can always remember the feeling, sounds and surrounds of them.
Even though I am getting to the end things seem to be getting better every day. I have no clue how I will leave here. I think my only motivation is my tickets to Australia, Bali, and New Zealand. I feel like I will be leaving my home…..