Tsumkwe

Last week we found out our permanent sites and I am officially moving to Tsumkwe in 3weeks. I will be working with the San-people (more commonly called the Bushmen)! It is a really exciting opportunity to work with a group that has been so marginalized, isolated and impoverished from the rest of the world and from in country. I went for a site visit last week and it took about 10 hours to get there from Okahandja. Now this trip should have taken about 7, but such is life when others are driving you. The major town is Grootfontein which is 3 hours from Tsumkwe. It is a long dirt road with many potholes in it. So not much fun when you’re in the middle of 2 men in the front seat. My supervisor is a Bushman, and we work for the Ministry of Youth. I am a Regional Youth Officer, but I have no real job description. What he would like to see is me work on; computer trainings, HIV/AIDS, TB, teen-pregnancy, and alcohol/Drug abuse. This is both slightly overwhelming and exciting as I will be able to work on any project that I want to start. As of now I am most interested in starting an after school girls club, with a possible girls soccer team. However, the first 3 months I want to observe and do a “community needs assessment”. In a community so isolated from the rest of the country, I anticipate many challenges trying to integrate myself among them. Firstly, my Afrikaans is lacking, and the majority of the community speaks Jul’Hansi- a clicking language with 7 different clicks. Secondly, they are very, very traditional and are wary of outsiders. This poses its own unique challenges as I wonder how I will be received. For the Peace Corps, I am the first volunteer in 10 years to that region simply because it is so harsh (from what I gather) and because of its isolation. My accommodation is in the community center, it is an apartment (really nice and large) but it is apart from the community, gated, and has security 24 hour security. I wonder what they must think of me living there. Will they understand it, or see it as me trying to separate myself?

Well I have 3 weeks to do research and try to get better at Afrikaans… totsiens for now!