Same day same laundry new beginnings

 Hi All!  A very delayed post from the same laundry day.  While things were in the dry cycle, and after I took the pictures of the house (last post) I went on a walk to meet the newest neighbors.  Auntie Lokkie's dog Liefe (love) has four puppies!  (And the father of the puppies has 3 litters right now- he is quite the romancer in town- all three females had four health puppies.) Here they are so you can see how little they were at one week.

Liefe wants to know where they have gotten to- where we have taken them!

She is quite the good and protective momma.

Then Sharifa came back to the house and helped me with the folding of socks- always a big job.


And we watched the sun set out the door of the porch together- a good end to laundry day.

A walk around the house

For those of you who wondered, that last post about doing laundry for the first time was actually  from June 13!

I opened some suitcases and got out some things from home to make home home.
My mom's quilt looks nice on the bed.

I put the scarves I have collected and prayer shawl on the chairs and couch to add some color- one made by my friend Naz, one from Hawaii, one bought in Cleveland with my sisters-of-the-traveling- scarves, Judy and Loren, the prayer shawl I received from the San Bernardino church when I was laid off by the Conference, one from my grandmother, one from Palestine and one from my Aunt Georgia

Things for my home altar- a dancing people menorrah, Krishna prayer beads from when I visited my friend Ramborhu's ashram, a rosary, a scarf from Spain, my God is Still Speaking chalice and plate and candle from Gail, pictures of some of my favorite people, the travel clock my mom gave me with all the time zones, a Japanese fan and a fan given to me by a woman in Garamatale when I preached there and she saw me sweating it out!  Below are my UCC Book of Worship and the UCCSA hymnal and mission statement book.

The kitchen with a table added for a temporary desk until I can get an office set up.

The view from the desk is pretty nice!

Right out the door is a nice place to plant a garden don't you think?  You can see Auntie Lokkie's house in the distance.

And here is the front yard out the side door - can't wait for the summer when everything is full and the trees will give nice shade.

Looking from the front trees to the back side yard.

And here is the side porch.  Looking in to the kitchen you can see the yellow table cloth on the desk.  I am still working on the guest room and the office but stay tuned...  For those of you following these picx,  sorry it is taking so long!  It took literally two hours today to down load the two blogs I posted.  The internet connection was very slow today.

First Laundry Day

So today I did real laundry for the first time since I left the United States in January (washing things out every day in the bathroom sink or while you are showering and hanging them in the bathroom doesn't count.)  A whole bunch of laundry it turns out- or at least it felt that way!!.  I went out the front door thinking I would be near the bathtub for water.  Then realized I would be further from the line in the yard.  Oh well.  This was after all the first time.  Hauling water from the bathtub and washing by hand sitting on the step looking out at the beautiful day was an adventure. 

The wash cycle.

The rinse cycle.

 

 The dry cycle.

The tree that benefited from the water instead of sending it down the drain.  (It said THANK YOU!!  After all it is a drought here, and this is the dry winter season too!)

A benefit I didn't think of... the red mud cycle.  :)

And what/where do go with a 3 year $90,000 seminary education?  Namibia to do laundry!  :)  

A walk around in more detail

I realized the first walk around gave you general idea so I thought I would add some details.

This is the first house down the road from the Outdoor Ministry project.  It belonged to their parents and the adult children come to stay when they need a get away in the quiet bush.

This is the new house being constructed across the road from it by one of the brothers Manike.

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This is one of the most delightful folks around- Jaydeen- age 4, her favorite song is This Little Light of Mine which we initially sang over and over when we walk.  Now it is the first song but we can sing other songs which we have both learned in English and Afrikaans.  She lives next door to the new house.

Her smile is as sweet as it looks and she has a sweet personality but wait until you see her imitation of a model on the catwalk!  She is quite a mix of sweet and sassy!

This is Jaydeen's house with her and her dogs Terry and Tessie.  She lives there with her parents Jacqeline and Jacob and 7 y/o brother Geraldo.

Looking down to the end/curve in the road where the cemetery is.

The cemetery with 12 rows and 16 spaces in each row.  It is almost full with family from 1930s to now.

Looking toward the newer rows with silk flower adornment.

There are also jars with preserved flowers.  In the desert fresh flowers and plants don't last very long and silk flowers fade and blow away so this is an innovative alternative.

Aunty Thomas' house, around the curve from Jaydeen's house.  She is the elder of Kalkveld at 95.  Her daughter Katherine and son-in-law Kenny live with her since she broke her hip last year.  She is working on getting back on her feet.  Everyone visits Aunty Thomas when they come to Kalkveld as she has taught them all in Sunday School up until last year.

This is Om Ansi's (Uncle George) house across from Aunty Thomas.

This is Aunty Sarah's house - a deacon and lay preacher.  Her son Clive and wife Sanette and children William (12), Sharifa (8) and Cyril (4) live in the back house.  Sarah's house is closest to the new and old church buildings and the new house pictured above and Jaydeen's house are behind hers.
 

This is the vacant parsonage which is used for work crews for the Outdoor Ministry building.

A ruin of a house behind Om Jon and Aunty Poppies house- haven't got the story yet.

Another ruin. Same unknown story.  Many of the original people who lived here have passed to the cemetery and when the stores and milk factory closed there were no jobs so their children migrated to Otjiwarango, Windhoek and other places for jobs.

Jon and Poppie's house.  They have several buildings and a great garden and back yard.  Their sons and daughters visit and granddaughter Vanessa (18) lives with them.  She has become our Sunday School helper and is eager to be the teacher this week!  The dogs peeking through the gate are Dexter, Jessie and Zoe.  At first they were mad at me for moving in across the street.  Now they decided I am theirs to visit and protect on their territory.   They chase the cows and it is hysterically funny to see those little dogs get the herd of 10 on the run!

Next door is another family house used for visiting the great quiet bush- Nora and her sister Baby were there last week from Otjiwarango and Okahanja.



Another ruin. Same unknown story.

This is where Abe lives.  You can see the side of the ruined house above in this picture.  He is brother in law to Om Garrett who owns the house I am living in and who has been so helpful to getting me settled.

And next door is Aunty Lokkies's house- where she lives with her grand children Armando (18) and Charlene/Chantel (16) and the dog with puppies.

Now we have gone in a full counterclockwise circle from my house (not pictured) and back again. 

A 'little' more construction

In the midst of all the big people's construction projects there was another very important one coming along.  These are Aunty Lokkie's dogs five puppies.  They were a couple days old here- eyes still shut.  She did a great job don't you think?

She wanted to know where we took them for the pictures...

I think that is an evil eye- don't take my puppies again.

Now see what you did I can't keep this one in the nest!

 Ah... folks, this is breast feeding... a little privacy here please.

And the Outdoor Ministry building keeps moving along...

A reminder- it is all done by hand, all the hauling water, mixing cement, shoveling sand...