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(Note: This report contained several photos that, for technical reasons, could not be included in this webpage)
Well, this quarterly report thing doesn't exactly happen in quarters, but I felt I needed to get something out before the application deadline for this programme. I know for those of you reading this- you're probably utterly confused about what you will be doing this time next year. (Either that or you're just in need of some serious procrastination or you surf the Office of Social Commitment's web page for fun- both of which I wouldn't put past most Grinnellians). Yes, I remember being in your shoes this time last year- debating whether or not to go ahead and apply for law school, debating whether to accept my Peace Corps position, and frankly not knowing what country I would be living in five months from now. So, please please e-mail me at shannona@drfn.org.na with questions, comments, concerns, whatever, if you want to know anything about this fellowship or either of the two positions next year. For those of you who don't know me, I'm a nice gal who often writes long tangenty e-mails (just ask Matt Trager)
so I'll promise to give ya an ear full.
2002. Wow. And it's already February. I really can't believe it. It seems like yesterday I arrived in Namibia. But then again everything feels so much like home that I almost don't remember living anywhere else eight months ago. A lot has happened since my last quarterly report, so once again I'll just be giving the highlights. You'll have to e-mail me to piece in the rest. I've also decided to include scanned pictures in this one, so please enjoy.
SDP
I'm writing this at 10 p.m. on a Sunday. Let's just say there are no Sundays or 8-5 days with the Summer Desertification Programme (SDP- DRFN acronym #45). It's been a long three months. BUT- for the pure amount of knowledge I've obtained, the skills I've gained, the places I've traveled to and the amazing students and other people I've met, I wouldn't trade the last three months for anything. It was a serious adventure. I use the word adventure for a number of reasons- everything from having to speak measly Oshiwambo to village elders to surviving not one, but two goat braais to having my skin about fall off from 40C weather to the general co-coordinating a field programme for 20 people. Adventure for sure. As Tufikifa (one of our junior staff members) and I say, SDP is all about doing something you never would have guessed you would be doing when you woke up that morning, as demonstrated by the following examples.
Example number 1: Me fishing the Owambo way in Engombe Pan.
After a long interview on water use and quality, a tatekulu gave Kaarina (one of our students) and I his fishing net. He told Kaarina in Oshiwambo that, being a visitor to his village, I needed to experience a bit of his life, so off we were. For the better part of the next hour, wading through a cow manure filled muddy pan, Kaarina and I tried to catch a fish. Just one was all we were asking. The memes next us were catching fish right and left and we were failing. For a while we even had Tufikifa, David, and Kashindy cheering us on (and taking pictures), but nothing seemed to help. Sometime in that hour I thought long and hard how it would be do that everyday - as your means of having food for dinner and fish to sell for a bit of income. Sometimes you think…… in another lifetime…..
Example number 2: Trying to construct shade while counting bunches and bunches of donkeys.
Day number 10 in the field. Mission: Go to water point number four and count all the livestock that visit it. Mission Impossible? Only if you include the heat of the Owambo sun. Sometime around 10 o'clock in the morning, the heat got so unbearable that Tufikifa (pictured so nicely using the orange trammel for a pillow) and I had to build some shade (this goes back to my last quarterly report for those of you paying attention). From this vantage point we spent the next five hours basking in our shade counting all the livestock to visit water point number four. I think it ended up something like 450 cattle, 130 goats, 45 sheep, and 60 donkeys. Meanwhile we sent Anna-Liisa (also pictured) out in the heat to interview the herdsmen, between bad R&B songs on the radio.
Example number 3: My brush with the wild world of Angola
I'm mainly including this picture of the Angola border post near Ruacana just for Doug. Don't worry, Doug- I just gave our Northern Neighbor a big wave and I didn't even see one Unita Bandit. Ernst did leave his shoe at the bar there, though, while Anna-Liisa and Maiya were off interviewing some people, so we had to make a quick turnabout later. Mary was asking why were late and when I said something about leaving shoes at bars near Angola, she quickly replied "Ya know Shannon- some things I just don't need to know."
So, an intensive ten-week field course just breeds adventure. Life travelling around in a foreign country for a bit under the guise of research certainly can be entertaining. And- working with Mary can also be rather entertaining-which I'll get to in a bit more detail now.
Mary
I realized sometime in the field during one of those days driving behind Mary and not really knowing where she was headed and/or what her plan was, that I have neglected to really speak about her in any of my reports. And that is certainly a pity, as she's one of the most amazing women I've met. For the last three months, I have worked closely with Dr. MK Seely, and have definitely seen the multiple sides of her-everything from being a little tipsy after our nightly round of Tafel to being serious in leading a meeting or a discussion to laughing in a loud American way to yelling furiously at GTRC employees for pulling out some Calicorema capitata at the station and thus removing thirty years of vegetation research. I really can't do her justice in just a few words.
I've met a lot of environmentalists in my lifetime- some really strong women and inspiring men, but Mary is on a level of her own. Not only is she an absolutely brilliant scientist (where the Dr. comes in) but she is also a trainer, leader, and director. She also has maintained a nice American attitude and brings a relaxed atmosphere to the DRFN and the projects she undertakes, something most Namibians, coming from a strict background, greatly appreciate.
When Steve L. was here in October he gave the three of us the mission of picking Mary's brain. After barely meeting her, he identified her as a visionary leader who can draw connections and see the future in a way most people can't. Unfortunately, that brings a gap into the DRFN because most people are unable to share her vision. Even during our project, the rest of us often got left in the sandy trail of her Landrover. After three months of picking her brain, per say, I now have a bit better insight into how normal the visionaries among us really are.
Well, I should be wrapping up. The generator's about to go off and I'm missing a quality Africa Cup soccer game. So, I'll sign off in traditional Namibian fashion with a sundowner.
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