Otjiwarango Baptisms Part 1

 The portion of the church in Otjiwarango has babies!  So we scheduled a celebration of baptism.  First I went and met with the candidates and their families.  I only got pictures at the first stop though.  This is Willy, the church Secretary (President) who grew up in Kalkfeld but left for work when after 10th grade, and his newest granddaughter Cay-Linn, born a whole month early in July.

She is very alert and focuses on Oupa (grandpa).  She likes to have people talk to her and is just beginning to smile and coo back.

 This Willy's youngest grandson and Cay-Lee's cousin Ethan with Oupa.

They are a handsome bunch.

Internal Diversity?

I don't know what kind of tree this is.  I was told.  I was told about all the different trees in the yard. They are all fruit bearing.  Oranges, nectarines, lemons, persimmons, kumquats, pomegranate and several other things I cannot remember- since there are twenty four trees and some of the names were in Afrikaans since they couldn't remember the English word.  Maybe it is a pomegranate. 

The house sat vacant for twelve years before I came to live here so they didn't get watered.  So the fruit will be a long time in coming. I water them at least once a week when I do the laundry.  A good soaking for five to ten minutes until the moat around them has filled several times.  I know it is not enough.  I apologize to them but I tell them there is a drought you know.

  

But this tree has decided not only to blossom a little, but to blossom in three colors, or at least three distinctly different shades of color.  It is not a variation due to the size of the size and extent of the opening of the blossoms.  They are three different colors. 

I looked a the tree and there are several different branches that appear to come from one trunk.  I swear I didn't see three trunks (I do admit I didn't root around down there with a hand or a foot- there are snakes and scorpions and spiders here!)  Maybe they did some grafting, I will have to ask Garrett.

Light orange

Medium orange

Red

No Its Not Art

Although living in Namibia is a very different experience than living in the United States, there are times when the connections to parts of my life that are undeniable.  

Growing up with parents who were born at the end of the depression and who had family living on farms, I was taught quite a few of the (now faddish in California and elsewhere in the United States) reduce, reuse, recycle traditions that are part of depression survival and farm life.  

And then there was Girl Scouts and camping that gave me some ideas too.  

But this one combines them all in a wonderful way.

Saving used tea bags to pour parafin over them so they can be used as fire starters.  

Most of the families here use wood stoves regularly for cooking, and wood heaters for their geysers (water heaters), instead of electricity (too expensive) or natural gas (have not seen it used here in any home).  

In my life I will never look at a soggy tea bag as garbage again.

The Great Halloween Escapade Part V

The party's over....

All that remains is the clean up.  Actually not too bad since the kids did clean up themselves after the snacks including sweeping the floor!


The dishes are done.


And there's a bag of pumpkin seeds (yum) but that won't last long with the kids...

And if you know me, the Jack-o-lantern isn't the scariest thing hanging out in my refrigerator.

Helga told me I must bring it to church so all the congregation can see.  So I followed her advice and added some sugar to keep it nice.  So far so good!

The Great Halloween Escapade Part IV

After the pumpkin carving we played pin the nose (eyes and mouth) on the Frankenstein monster.  Some of the kids wanted to go three times.  It’s all that spinning I think….

And the monster's face certainly shows what spinning will get you!

Then it was time for the littlest of the kids to go home (and their older siblings), but the others were ready for bobbing for apples.  This was a game William requested and enthusiastically endorsed.  I was skeptical- first because I only had four somewhat dried up, apples.  Second, the last time I remember doing this in the United States, some parents wouldn't allow their kids to participate because of the germs, most kids couldn't do it, and the ones who did, didn't want to eat the apples anyway.  

But the kids were so excited- they got the water, they lined themselves up, and they decided who got to go first (oldest first this time).  There was no arguing, pushing, shoving, just FUN!  This is Auntie Joey's grandson Eldon (the black cat) ready to go first.

Auntie Joey's granddaughter (the ghoul) Nina went second.

William (aka the Green Lantern- it's okay if I tell you his identity, he is about to be unmasked) went third.

Geraldo got set to dive in.

The kids LOVED doing this almost as much as they loved the apples.  They love fruit here of any kind.  They were not shy about sticking their whole heads in the water and were all successful!

Blubb... blubb...blubb...

Princess Sharifa goes next.

And caught one!

 
As youngest, Josey got to watch everyone else but this was his first time so he got some extra technique pointers from Nina.  The wisdom of elders...

With William cheering him on, Josey is successful!

They counted the apples to see if there is enough for round two...

They counted again...

In good congregational style, they had a committee meeting...

And there enough so they were so they went for it!

A little less orderly this time-no line just jump in!

But lots of laughter...

And lots of fun!

The butterfly, Green Lantern, black cat, ghoul princess washed off.

 But it was worth it because it was nice and cool.

(Oh, I forgot to tell you the pumpkin and the apples were “miracles.”  You might have noticed in the last post- the pumpkin was green.  Pumpkins here are dark green, flat, small and scarce.  Josey grew amazing pumpkins last year- very large, and it just so happened that ONE of them was round and Helga had not already fed it to the family!   As for the apples, luckily at the last minute Garrett was on his way somewhere and brought back a bag of 8 small green apples (very sweet).  With my four there was exactly enough for the children to each bob twice! Our very own Halloween "miracles"!)

I think it was successful.  The children learned: making things for others is fun!  Surprising people and giving things to others is fun! Dreaming up a costume and making it is fun!  Dressing up and getting your face painted is fun!  Going (reverse) trick-or-treating is fun!  Drawing and coloring is fun!  Playing pin the nose on the Frankenstein monster and bobbing for apples and carving a pumpkin to make a Jack-o-lantern and eating sweets is fun!  And look: No batteries (computers, Gameboys, Playstations etc.) were used.  I think we redeemed Halloween.  I enjoyed it immensely. 

 Helga and Auntie Joey said it was fun.  In fact Helga asked, “Can the next party be for adults?”

I said, “Sure!”

But I confess, I thought: "Just as soon as I can find the energy to get off this chair and clean up the flour, icing, sprinkles, grease paint, water, candy wrappers and do the dishes- And AFTER I take a nap, I am BUSHED!"  

But isn’t that the measure of success for a party- the mess and the level of exhaustion of the hostess?!  But it was a good tired- A VERY good tired!)

The Great Halloween Escapade Part III

The next part of the escapade was to go reverse trick-or-treating to give away the cupcakes and treat bags.  Sorry but I was carrying the cupcakes so I didn't get pictures of the people who were surprised and delighted by the children.

The two butterflies (Geraldo and Josey) and Green Lantern (William) decided to fly ahead of us.

 When we got back we judged the jack-o-lanterns and they decided on shapes for eyes, nose and mouth.   It ended up they wanted it strictly traditional for their very first one! 

This one is Cyrill's.  He is strictly avant garde in all of his artwork.  Highly interpretive and heavily influenced by Vincent (not Van Gogh- Price as all his pictures include some form of monster.)

And the carving began in teams- two kids at a time (and me of all people supervising the sharp knife).  So they all got to draw part of the face, pull out the stuffing, sort out the seeds, carve part of the face, and punch out pieces until it was finished.  (Again the photographer got bored and went to do something else so there are only selected shots and too much of me!)

Princess Sharifa does some scooping with Josey the butterfly in the background.

Josey's turn.  Do butterflies every metamorphosize into spiders?

Now it is butterfly Geraldo's turn.

Helga at the end and Auntie Joey came to see just what Pastor was up to.

The Green Lantern (Willliam) gets to start drawing some of the face.

His pumpkin carving partner (The Bride of Frankenstein's monster) Chantell adds some details.

A whole lot of nervous (me) carving (by the kids) went on.  There were no fingers lost thank goodness.

And TA DA!  The lighting of the candle was the finishing touch.  The kids were quite satisfied with their very first Jack-o-lantern.