Mark Lundgren's Reports

This is a brief set of stories and essays describing my first 2 and a half months in Namibia.

A short essay regarding sand
There is sand crusted on my feet. It is there every hour of every day I spend at the station. The sand on my feet is transferred to my bed, where it lays until those times I can no longer stand sleeping on a pile of sand and wash my sheets. It is in my hair and on most certainly on my clothes. When I eat, I find it is in my teeth, giving everything I eat the distinct texture of "flavor crystals" from that cinnaburst gum. And when I wake up every morning, there are the most amazing mounds of it. Like sleeping dragons, winding their way down to the river I have never seen flow. It is amazing to live here. To wake up and realize that you are living in front of the worlds oldest desert, on a river that flows once a year, next to an endless plain of gravel. It is like no other place I have ever been or seen. And I am amazed by its beauty every day.

The kids
Yesterday we had a group of 75 school children come in from Windhoek (the capital city of Namibia). They ranged in age from 10 to 13. We asked them what they think of the desert. "There is no water in the desert", "there is not much life in the desert", and so on. And they did not believe us when we told them about lions. They said there is not enough food and water for them to exist in the desert. On the walk though the dunes, they all had little notebooks taking down all the names of the plants and the animals I told them. One boy would come up to me, ask me how to spell the name of an animal, fall back for a minute while writing, than run up again and ask me how to write another name. Half way through the walk, the teachers decided they had too much sun (or something like that) and stayed under a tree for the rest of the walk. The kids on the other hand had enough energy to continue on the nature walk, run up and down the dunes three or four times, than return to the swimming pool (yes, we DO have a swimming pool in the middle of the desert), and play volleyball until the sunset. The students that I have had the pleasure of meeting in Namibia are some of the brightest, most interested and engaging I have met. There are truly one of the joys of being in Namibia and this programme (not program, so get it right).

On driving in Namibia
We have a car in Windhoek. And this car has a name, its called Nelly. Nelly is a little upset right now. She lost her two previous care takers and good friends: Em and Nadia. They had a very stable relationship with Nelly, they would take her out to lunch and dinner, buy her lots of nice petrol, and never run into any other cars. That's until two ugly nasty boys got control of her because the lovely pretty girls had to leave. Than one of the boys, a particularly nasty one named Mark, was driving her one-day. Now this boy did not know anything about how to work Nelly's stick shift, or on what side of the road to drive on (because you have to drive on the left in Namibia). Than one day when he was driving Nelly back from lunch, he put Nelly in the wrong gear. She didn't like this one bit. And rammed the nasty boy straight into the side of a red VW bus. Thankfully Mark, the car, and everyone else was alright. Since than, Mark has learned to treat the car with the love and respect it deserves.

Windhoek: lodging, restaurants, and entertainment
There are times when I am required to be in Windhoek. That is where the main office of the DRFN (Desert Research Foundation of Namibia) is located. This is where you have ready access to things like: stores where money can be exchanged for necessary goods and services, the internet, inexpensive phone services, people that live in Windhoek, and other things that become necessary to do your job. Although the city has a lot to offer, it can be difficult. Due to certain budgetary constraints, you live in a dormitory setting. By this I mean you have all of your possessions in a pile under your bed in a room with 5 other people, who are all on vacation and come into the room at 3 in the morning in various stages of intoxication while you are trying to sleep (because you have to get up for work in 5 hours). Sometimes when you come back from work, tired and hungry from a long day of typing away at some report or another, you find all of your food has mysteriously disappeared. What's more you never really know when you are going to be able to get back to the station where all of you stuff is and where you have a nice room and bathroom all to yourself that you don't have to pay for (well Grinnell pays for it actually). Regardless of the poor living situation, Windhoek is not all bad. You tend to meet some really interesting people from various places in the world. And there are plenty of really great restaurants in Windhoek that have some great meats and seafood that you totally cannot afford to eat at. So one usually eats bread and peanut butter for breakfast and lunch and occasionally gets something nice and savory for dinner. For entertainment, one can go to the various hip, stylish bars around town, or to some of the dance clubs. Or to the movies, where one can actually buy a tub of popcorn for about 1$US. All in all, Windhoek is a great city to have your parents visit you in and buy lots of nice meals and thing you are really going to "need" in the next year.

The "Notwork" and other computer related issues
My main job in this organization is dealing with computer related issues. I am in charge of making sure that the 20 odd computers at Gobabeb are in working condition and that they are connected to the network. This has recently been taking the vast majority of my time. I keep telling people that I am a biologist and have no idea why their computer is not working, but they insist that I can do something to help them. Which, in the end, after hours of futzing around, I have been able to do for the most part. But every time someone comes into my office with a glum look on their face I can almost assure you that they will tell me that for some odd reason, they are no longer connected to the network. I am also responsible for the communication technologies around the station. Which has come to mean that every project within the DRFN has asked me to make them a webpage. One dangerous thing about coming here is that any skills you have will be exploited to the fullest extent. Another such example is that I have found that I am in charge of cooking for every farewell, or special guest that happens to wander into the station. Which is fine by me because I love cooking and at least do not mind making webpages.

Capacity building other meaningless catch phrases
Capacity building is one of those terms analogous to weapons of mass destruction. No one is quite certain what it means, but they do throw it around an awful lot. What it has come to mean to me is that although I am not a professional chef, webdesigner, teacher, tour guide, architect, geologist, or IT specialist, I am the best option that the DRFN has so therefore I will just have to do. I have been asked to do a lot of things that I have never done before or think that I am in the slightest qualified for. But thankfully my Grinnell education has somehow prepared me to do this kind of work. And I am developing more skills and getting more amazing opportunities to really great work than I would have ever imagined coming straight out of college. This position has been and will continue to be an amazing experience, both personally and professionally.