The Outdoor Ministry Project building construction

June 10, 2013
And here is the next phase of construction for the Outdoor Ministry Project.  It is designed to be a building with eight bathrooms, a kitchen, office and dining room.  Then the Namibia Synod will have a place for meetings, retreats, camps in the northern part of Namibia under the stars.

Everything is done by hand- a labor of love.

 The master craftsman from Rehoboth- a volunteer from the church.

 His second in command.

 Two men from Kalkveld who were happy to have jobs helping.

 All the materials are hauled by hand.

Layer by layer, brick by brick.

Out the front door

June 9, 2013

So I arrived, went to church on Sunday (didn't preach because I didn't have my work visa in hand yet), started unpacking and left it all to go outside.  Here are the pictures out the front door.  It is winter in the desert of Namibia.  The sun is very hot still but it is cold at night.  The trees are not leaf-less but they are dormant.  It rains in the late spring and summer (November to March).  It is dusty and brown but there are shades of colors, muted rainbow colors.  Of course the sky is crystal clear beautiful blue.

Across the "street."  Uncle Jan, Auntie Poppie and Vanessa live there with their little dogs too- Jessie (a jack russell mix who took a week to get to know me), Zoe (who gets picked on by the other two who pull her dachshund ears) and Dexter (the little white poodle terrier who follows me home to make sure I get there okay- long walk across the street you know).  In the middle foreground you can see the fence of my yard with the pruned tree.  The church is off to the far right (not in the picture).

One of the neighbors outside my fence who woke me early. I found out the whole herd walks by every morning.  The herd belongs to Om (Uncle) Garrett and he may just make them into biltong (beef jerky) if they give him any more headaches.  And he stores some extra feed in my yard so now I know why they like my place so much.

 Run right along you...

Out to the right from the front door toward the construction site for the United Congregational Church of Southern Africa, Namibia Synod Outdoor Ministry project.  You can just see a pile of gravel.  And beyond that (far left) is the next house down the "street".  

A New HOME!

June 8, 2013 

For those of you who have been following this blog my apologies for being gone so long.  When I got to Kalkveld I found the connection is a little  s   -l -  o -  w - e-  r - h-  e- r - e!  And between being busy settling in and being discouraged I couldn't just post my pictures and go, well I just got a lot behind.  But I am back and here are some initial pictures of my new home when I arrived.  They tiled the floors, painted the walls, brought in furniture and dishes, many many things I need.  Here is what it looked like when I arrived and I can't BELIEVE I failed to take pictures of the people.

Here is the bedroom- even the bed was made and ready!!  The big window looks out the front of the house.  The left wall is the living room wall.

The living room with a few of my scarves from around the world and pictures of family and my God is Still Speaking chalice and plate and my dancing people menorrah.  Behind the chair on the right is a window and behind the photographer is the front door and to the left is the wall shared with the bedroom.  Opposite the front door is the door to the hallway/kitchen.

The kitchen looking toward the two bedrooms and the living room.  Bathroom is behind wall straight ahead.  Second bedroom is next to the bathroom.

The kitchen with new two plate stove and oven and sink.

The kitchen from the living room with refrigerator.  The door leads out to a nice side porch.

And the all important badkamer- the only Afrikaans word I have for the rooms in the house (except huis).

Bright and welcoming colors, clean and plenty of space for visitors!  It looks a little different now (more lived in- more stuff and a lot more messy unfortunately.)  There is one bedroom I am not showing (right now there are boxes of books and mattresses for visitors).  There is another room outside the kitchen door to the right off the side porch.  I am hoping to turn it into an office/guest bedroom.  There is plenty of space so come and visit! Now that I have been here a month people are asking when my family and friends are coming to visit.  (and when you tell me you are coming that will spur me to get busy finishing up!)

Shopping in Windhoek and heading to Kalkveld

June 4- June 8
I stayed at Auntie Sylvia's again. What a beautiful home and wonderful woman.  Even though she was not feeling well she was a wonderful hostess and she and several other people took me shopping!

For those of you who know me, you know that shopping is on my least favorite things to do list.  So it was good to have people who could help me so much in getting prepared to move to Kalkveld (where unfortunately, years ago, the one grocery store and gas station closed).  Thank you to Auntie Sylvie, Jimmy, Frank and Jenny for taking me to the grocery stores, phone store, mall, households stores... it was a shopping and buying frenzy.  I was exhausted and I am sure I exhausted them!

How do you shop for all the household things you need?!  How do you shop for four years (now I will be back to Windhoek eventually, and Otjiwarango is only 50 miles from Kalkveld, but for someone who hates shopping...)  I realized what it might have been like for the original missionaries that made three week trips by ox cart to the city and stayed for a couple months "provisioning" for their life in the bush for a year or years or more at a time.  I am so glad I am not them.

There are NO pictures of shopping.  I was just too overwhelmed by the trip to take pictures.  (Sorry you shopaholics you're gonna have to wonder what shopping and the malls are like in Windhoek!)  Okay, here is a picture of a mall going up, it isn't quite ready inside, but looks like a shoppers' Disneyland from the colors!

And here are the men trying to stuff my things into the trunk.  I sent two of my large suitcases with a man who was heading out yesterday.  But we still have one large suitcase, one small suitcase, my computer bag and one carry on.  The men on the left are going up to work on the outdoor ministry building and have their tools and bed rolls.  The men on the right are Frank and Chris respectively, the Mission Convener (Mission Chairperson) and Treasurer of the Namibia Synod.  

And here is the rest of the stuff they need to fit in- just the bags really.  The freezer is Sylvie's.  Eventually it was decided the five of us and the stuff would not all fit and we got another car and off we went.

The only thing we saw on the trip to Kalkveld that I hadn't gotten a picture of on my trip here in April before was a warthog.

I was so excited when I got to Kalkveld I forgot to take any pictures of the place or the people.  But they had everything ready for me. You'll see in the next installment...

My Visa Came Through!

June 3, 2013
Well, my South Africa AND my Namibia visas came through on the same day, May 23.  When it rains it pours... visas!  I had applied for the former, in case the latter wasn't forthcoming.  I was so surprised to get them both.  I received a 3 year volunteer visa for SA and a two year work visa for Namibia.

I met with the UCCSA General Secretary, incoming UCCSA President (from Namibia) and the Namibia Synod Secretary and sorted out the last details on May 31.  So I am off to Namibia!

Here I am with Fatima and Nadiem at the Sooffah Guesthouse, so hard to say goodbye to such wonderful friends.  They gave me an entire hamper of food!  (peanut butter and jelly, coffee and other such necessities of life!)  It is not goodbye but so long for now!

One last look at the Johannesburg airport terminal.

 Landing in Windhoek, Namibia- a view from the stairs of the plane- no jetport.  (No idea whose back I got.)  It is very flat here but there ARE mountain ranges in Namibia.

Walking to the terminal.

The terminal building in Windhoek.  Got in trouble with security for taking pictures, so no pictures inside.  Stood in the passport control line waiting for a tourist permit for the last time.  Next time I will have my work visa!

A Last Fling in South Africa

June 1, 2013 Saturday
Nadiem was kind enough to take me to a fundraiser for his cousin's elementary school.  He was the MC for a tea party.  Each table was hosted by a different member of the school staff.  There was a raffle and prizes of course.  But mostly there was delicious food with beautiful tables of different themes and tea of course!  A very nice addition was that they invited gratis from ladies from a local nursing home and they seemed to really enjoy the event.

East meets West with sushi on this end and strawberry pie on the other.

 A very golden table.

 Yummy food.

 A masquerade.

 Nadiem in his role as MC.  A very funny guy!

 A pink affair!

 Poka dots table.

 An autumn theme.

 A baby shower theme.

 Purple paradise.

!

Women at the Well Meeting

May. 21, 2013 Tuesday
My last official function in South Africa was to be a guest at the Women at the Well organizational meeting.  This is an organization to expand/support the role of women in ministry in the UCCSA, in particular, ordained ministry.  The Executive Board and representatives from all five countries attended.  It was good to be among colleagues as they plan for the future.