Volunteering part 4 – Drop of in the community

Did you miss the beginning? Here is part 1, part 2 and part 3

We were three volunteers in the car and Stefan (the boss). The two other volunteers were Canadians. The first stop was Swakopmund (the holiday destination of Namibians wealthy enough to go on holiday) with it’s amazing sand dunes (the highest in the world) and beaches including activities like quadbiking, sandboarding, skydiving etc. (read my travelguide Namiba for ideas of what to do)

After a few hours drive through the desert we arrived in Swakopmund to meet with the most important people for Sarah (the Canadian volunteer) to know this year. Before she was left with her new family for this year. We spent the night there and had a nice breakfast in a place with a sign saying “We open when we come and close when we leave” for me this sign said “Welcome to Africa”. Still I didn’t know what “African time” was even though I had been told many times during the preperation courses. In Namibia GMT does not mean Greenwith Mean Time, but General Maybe Time.

From Swakopmund to Khorixas it takes around 4 hours and I remember we arrived around sunset. Khorixas is, like most of Namibia, not a very good place to have a town. It’s very dry and was built during aparteid to have a place for the Damara tribe. Khorixas was then named Welwitchia after a strange tree living here. It grows very slowly and can become very old. I think it is the oldest plant in the world.

I met the Sports officer in town and was taken to my new family. In Namibia there is a sports officer in each town working for the ministry of Sports and Education. I was told mine was one of the best in the country, but he might drink more than apropriate in my culture. My new family lived in a nice house and I got my own big room. I’ll write more about my family and living with a host family later.

The next day I was taken to the stadium and became a refree in the first match at the stadium this day. After this I was shown the most important things for me to know. I was taken to an orphanage, to Dunkerhoek (the dark corner) and most of the schools. You can read more about theese places in later posts. But at this time I was overwhelmed by all the impressions and I went to bed surrounded by the unknown in my good old sleeping bag.

Read part 5 here