We left early on Wednesday morning and spent most of the day traveling. With a few stops here and there we made it to Opuwo in about twelve hours. It was rainy for most of the day which made travelling nice seen as how our vehicle was not equipped with air conditioning. Along the way we saw lots of the same kinds of animals we had seen at Okapuka our first week in Windhoek. There were lots of baboons, wart hogs, springbok and even a tortoise. I’m not really sure how Uanee spotted it from the driver’s seat, because it was only about 5 inches in diameter. We were trucking right along and all the sudden Uanee stopped the bus, jumped out and started running down the highway back the way we had come. None of us knew what was going on. Once he was about 100 yards away, he bent down, picked something up and started running back toward us. When he got closer to the bus we could tell he was carrying a small turtle. By this time we were all off the bus and ready for a photo shoot with our new friend.
Sam scaring the tortoise into its shell...poor thing.
Uanee returned our tortoise friend to freedom and we boarded the Great White and pushed on with our journey. We stopped in Outjo to find some Makalani nut carvers that would be able to carve all 500+ nuts, while we were in Etosha, we wanted to take home to friends and family. The plan was that we would give them our lists of names and they would have the nuts finished when we came back through on Sunday. While Paula negotiated the price for the nuts, we looked in some little shops and got pastries at the well-known bakery in town. After the short break, we loaded back in the Great White and continued our adventure. We stopped about an hour later for a picnic lunch that Reuben, one of the chefs at Casa, had prepared for us. It consisted of 2 slices of brown bread with butter, 2 maxi slices (the Namibian equivalent to American cheese), an apple, juice, a bottle of water, and of course meat; a pan fried pork chop to be exact. Not exactly like our sack lunches in the United States, but it sure was tasty. After lunch we climbed back on the bus, we were now only a couple of hours from our destination for the day, which was Opuwo. In order to get there we would be passing the western border of Etosha National Park.
As we came upon Etosha we were hoping to see elephants, which unfortunately didn’t happen, but we weren’t skunked. Just as we came around a bend we had our first zebra sighting. There were between 20 and 30 mountain and plains zebra hanging out with about 10 giraffes. We were all so excited to see these gorgeous animals, but we weren’t close enough get any real good pictures (don’t worry there will be pictures of both soon enough). We were pleased with the animal sightings, but we were all ready to be to our final destination and get off the bus.
When we arrived in Opuwo, there was a woman waiting at the gate to the lodge we were staying at. We got off the bus and Paula ran over to her and gave her a hug. This was the infamous Queen Elizabeth. She is a woman who lives in Opuwo and sells bracelets, necklaces and many other goods as a means to make a living. We had all been told over and over again that she was the one we should buy our bracelets from, and boy did I. I bought 25 bracelets from her and almost everyone else bought a bunch also. After we bought all of our bracelets, Queen Elizabeth told Jan that she would now be able to pay her children’s school fees. This was very touching for me.
Once we settled into our rooms, we met for dinner. Mr. Kapi, the principal of he Ondau Mobile Schools, came and ate dinner with us at the lodge. It was great to hear his stories about his life and his thoughts on education. It made me so excited to head out to the schools the next day. After dinner we headed back to our rooms for a good night sleep before meeting teachers and learners at two of the mobile schools.
Uanee came and picked us up the next morning, despite the downpour, and we headed to the grocery store to pick up maize flour, sugar, and oil for the two schools that we were visiting. The first school we stopped at was actually a permanent structure. There were about four different buildings that housed classrooms, hostiles (for the students to stay in that travel far to get to school), and living quarters for the teachers. Everyone was so welcoming and thankful that we brought the maize, oil, and sugar. One of the teachers told us that many of the children had not eaten for three days and that the amount that we brought would feed all of the children four meals.
We walked into one of the classrooms and the learners weren’t sure what to think at first and neither was I to be honest. I didn’t know if they spoke English or really had an interest in getting to know us. Briefly, I scanned the classroom and saw a picture of Barack Obama on their wall. Right then I knew that we had a connection. I said, “Wow, you have a picture of our President on you wall. Barack Obama.” Instantly, the learners broke out with smiles. Their teacher asked us if we could teach them a song, so we did the Hokey Pokey, and sang Oh When the Saints Go Marching In. I asked them if they would share a song with us then and their teacher said that they only know songs in Ochiherero. We were thrilled and said we would love to hear it. They sang us three beautiful songs. I got chills listening to them. After singing, we took some pictures and got to talk with the kids, which was great; our cameras fascinated them. After checking out the rest of the classrooms, we got back on the bus, waived goodbye, and headed off to see the next mobile school.
All the windows in one of the classrooms were painted like this.
Some of the learners and myself after we sang for one another.
This school was at a traditional Himba village. There is one teacher and she teaches all the learners in a big tent. One of the reasons for having these mobile schools is to bring education to the children who couldn’t get to schools otherwise because they live in villages far outside of Opuwo and also so the children can wear their traditional dress as opposed to having to wear school uniforms. Unfortunately the tent wasn’t up yet when we got their, but because we brought them maize, sugar, and oil, they said they would put the tent up later that afternoon and begin class the next day. We got to spend some time playing with the kids and it was truly an amazing experience. I would not have traded this day for anything!
One of the beautiful Himba children in traditional dress.
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