One Month of Life in Africa 🇳🇦

Hoe gaan dit??? How are you doing?
(Meaning "How are you?" in Afrikaans 🇿🇦🇳🇦.)

I'm Molly, a JOCV volunteer in Namibia!

Time flies, and it has already been a month since I arrived in Namibia.
One twenty-fourth of my two-year term is already over. Stunned...
I'm starting to feel a bit anxious, thinking that two years will really pass by in a flash...

In this post, I've written about my first month, including the three weeks I spent in the capital and my experiences since arriving at my duty station.

The three weeks in the capital, in particular, might be useful information for those who are thinking of applying to JOCV or have already applied!

As for my time since arriving at my duty station, I suspect many people will sympathize and say, "Yeah, that's just how Africa is, right?"
I wish this note had a comment feature so I could connect more with everyone (I wonder if it has that feature? I'm still posting without really knowing).

Events in the Capital 🇳🇦

I spent about three weeks in the capital, keeping busy with various orientations and a courtesy visit to the Japanese Ambassador to Namibia, but in this article, I would also like to touch a little on the local language training.

(I didn't write much about the content of the local training in my previous article, so please let me introduce it again here🌱)

Normally, JOCV volunteers study language intensively during pre-departure training, butwe also receive "local language training" after being dispatched to our duty stations.
The duration of this training varies by country, but in Namibia, it was scheduled for seven days at a local private school (a school for students to retake courses to get better grades before entering university).
I heard that the school selection is put out to tender every year, but since there don't seem to be many suitable schools in Namibia, JOCV volunteers in Namibia basically seem to receive training at this private school.

Note that the training language here isEnglish, so I thought I would further improve the English I learned during pre-departure training, but the purpose of this training is to get used to "
Namibian English", commonly known as "NAMLISH".It is true that the intonation and pronunciation are completely different from British or American English, and even slightly different from the English in West African countries like Ghana, so it took me some time to understand it at first...

Personally, my favorite is "neh," which I hear Namibians use when they want to emphasize something or confirm/agree with something, haha.
It really feels like the Japanese "~ne" or "~dane," and if you just add "~neh" to the end of any English sentence, it strangely starts to sound authentic, haha.

Sometimes, with my Japanese sensibilities, I accidentally say "~desho" (isn't it?) instead of "~ne." Even so, it seems to get across without any problems, so I'm just speaking that way without worrying about it😂

At the private school that hosted us, there were English classes in the morning, and in the afternoon, they implemented a program that took us to facilities in the capital, Windhoek, that seemed relevant to JOCV (which I touched upon briefly in my previous article).

For example, in addition to the National Museum (free admission), which exhibits Namibia's history of independence,
a vocational training facility that specifically supports local women,
a small-to-medium enterprise that plays a part in recycling, specializing in E-waste,
and a facility that provides services such as supervising children's homework and providing meals after school at an overwhelmingly low cost, etc.

They took me to places I probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to visit on my own during my three weeks in the capital, and it was a great learning experience.

Personally, I came here for the Community Development job category,
and since I was dispatched with a request to improve the country's high unemployment rate and aim for livelihood improvement,the vocational training facilityreally resonated with me. In addition to the institutional aspects such as youth and women's support, the operation of such facilities, and the changes in life and society brought about by acquiring a trade, I also spent a very educational time observing the work processes of embroidery, sewing, Batik (fabric dyeing), and glass products (bead art, etc.) among the training content at this facility.

Also, as someone who holds a teaching license and has experience with part-time jobs and internships related to education, I often have opportunities to think about the importance of education in connection with the future of individuals and the country itself, so I was happy to be able to visit education-related facilities.
In Namibia, where schools end around 13:00 to cope with the heat, there is plenty of time after school, so having a place where they can have their homework checked, ask questions about things they don't understand, and also be fed is a very big deal.

And since environmental issues are also a favorite of mine (my master's degree was in Environment and Development),
I was grateful to be able to visit a company that handles E-waste and hear valuable stories about Namibia's waste management situation and the handling of plastics that are not suitable for recycling.
(It was also fun to be allowed to experience dismantling printers and PC screens, haha)

* In this article, I am writing about my experience as a JOCV in Namibia, but
local language training for JOCV dispatched to other countries may be the same language as the pre-dispatch training, or it may be a case of learning the local language. For details, please refer to the 'Language Used' column at the bottom of the request survey form for each project, which can be checked at the time of recruitment.

(Example: Those dispatched to Morocco learn French in pre-dispatch training, but learn Arabic in local language training.
In addition, there are cases where they learn the language of the ethnic group in the host country. For example, those dispatched to Zimbabwe seem to learn English in pre-dispatch training and Shona for about two weeks in local language training.)

Also, in cases where one is learning a new language from scratch like this, I am not sure if extracurricular activities like the ones mentioned above are also implemented...

Off to the duty station! 🛻

I drove through the distance said to be 5-6 hours from the capital in a staggering 4 hours (of course, I followed local laws), and finally arrived at the town of my duty station!

The journey was truly full of sand. Haha
There is some greenery, but it is still a desert area. They say there are many times when you can't see in front of you due to sandstorms... This day was clear and the wind was calm, so thankfully I didn't encounter any danger.
And the main road that continues to South Africa was properly maintained, without any holes left open.

On the other hand, on the way from the capital, there were only about two towns, and if there were others, they were ghost towns where people were said to have lived in the past (I was fast asleep and missed them) and rich nature (only hardy desert plants enduring the heat).
Thanks to the JICA staff who safely delivered me to my accommodation at the duty station.

The people at the accommodation where I will be staying for two years are truly wonderful people; they welcomed me like family and take care of me in various ways, so it feels like a homestay 🥹
The owner's children (9 and 10 years old) love Japanese anime, and since I have only watched Detective Conan, Sazae-san, and a few Ghibli movies in my life, I am, of course, a total failure.

When we went to the supermarket together by car, I was handed a phone with the YouTube screen open and asked to 'play some Japanese songs.' I looked up anime songs and played a track from 'Suzume,' which they started blasting at an ear-splitting volume (with the car windows wide open, of course). The kids were overjoyed because they had heard the song before. Good grief. 👵
(I guess I'm treated the same as the kids, as they bought me ice cream too, haha.)

Work has finally begun. 🏃‍♀️

While I was still in the capital, I was struggling because the content listed in the request survey was extremely vague. Then, I had the opportunity to see the official request letter submitted by my host organization to JICA.

Behold.

The work expected of me is completely, totally different from what was in the request survey!

It mentioned things like wanting me to conduct vocational training and various other tasks. Hey, wait a minute.

The request survey said I would cooperate with the staff at my host organization to conduct field research, organize data, and provide advice on vocational training programs operated by the organization.
How did that turn into me becoming a vocational training teacher? I can't teach sewing, civil engineering, cooking, or computers—I have nothing to teach.

So, I was nervous on my first day of work (feeling anxious about what I would be made to do),
but since the car that was supposed to pick me up at 7:30 didn't arrive until after 9:00 (apparently due to work circumstances), my nervousness vanished during the wait.

(I don't even think, 'What kind of place makes you wait 100 minutes on your first day?' I just don't think I can go back to a life of riding the Yamanote Line every day.)

The only thing that starts on time or early is the break time.
While I think they're quite clever for that, I'm grateful to just go with the flow.

With all that said, I thought work would proceed at a relaxed 'Namibian time,' but the progress is (as expected) slow, and promises made the day before are properly forgotten by the next morning (also as expected. How many times do I have to remind them before it actually happens?).
To top it off, even in a public workplace, it's questionable whether there's even a clear chain of command.
At this point, I'm just enjoying the atmosphere.

I worked overtime until 9:00 PM for the first three days. 😶‍🌫️

Then, to my surprise, on my first Monday at work, I was told, "There is something called a Community Meeting starting this evening, and it will last for three days—Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. It would be a great opportunity to introduce you to the local residents, so please attend."

I thought, "Oh, overtime already? (though I am a volunteer)," but I went along with it as instructed.

However, I was naive.

Each day was scheduled to start at 17:30, but they ended up lasting until around 21:00. Naturally, they didn't start at 17:30, but the time spent after they finally began around 18:00 was quite tough.

When it came to the Q&A session, the residents would raise their hands with a desperation rarely seen in Japanese secondary or higher education. Once given the floor, each person would deliver a comment fest that felt like an election speech (and even though it was a Q&A, nobody was actually asking questions—they were all just making comments). People would easily talk for 15 minutes each.

I hadn't been told it would be this long, so on the first day, I was quite hungry (having eaten nothing since my lunch break from 12:30 to 13:30), which made it pretty difficult. lol

Moreover, the venues for the first and second days were located within a poverty-stricken area called a "location." Naturally, there was no air conditioning, nothing to block the sunlight coming through the windows, and absolutely no breeze. Furthermore, only about one-fifth of the meeting was conducted in English (the rest was in Afrikaans and Nama, a language common in Southern Africa known for its characteristic click sounds and for being the most difficult in the world), so even if I wanted to understand the content, I couldn't. lol

Honestly, I wish they had at least covered Afrikaans in the local language training... I also wish Duolingo would cover Afrikaans...

On the other hand, the venue for the third day was in a relatively upscale residential area. Unlike the "locations," it was equipped with air conditioning and a projector screen, the lighting worked properly, and the facility itself was clean. Even the chairs were of a quality incomparable to the other two venues (the chairs at the other two venues were plastic, constantly chipped and falling apart; here, the seats were made of cushioned fabric and the legs were iron).

The level of the participating residents was also naturally different. There were only about 30 participants at this venue, and only one was Black. The rest were mostly white, with fewer than 10 Coloured (non-Black people of color). Also, only about five people were wearing traditional clothing; everyone else was dressed in nice Western-style clothes.

By the way, the other two venues had over 150 and about 100 residents gathered, respectively, but as far as I could see, there were no white people at either venue. And since the floors were covered in dust and sand, when I briefly placed my bag on my lap after having it on the floor, my trousers ended up in quite a state...

But, in conclusion, this Community Meeting was worth attending.

Including the workplace staff, I was able to have over 300 people see my face during those first three days.

At each Community Meeting, I was able to introduce myself a little in English (along with a simple greeting in Afrikaans), so it was a very useful opportunity for someone like me who will be working in this community from now on.

So, each session was really long, I thought I might get heatstroke, and the meetings were completely incomprehensible, but I'm glad I went for the sake of the future.

Perhaps I was just that exhausted from the past three days, but I slept like a log this weekend, got tired again from hand-washing my clothes, took a nap, and couldn't really get anything productive done 😂
If anything, the water was murky, there were repeated mini-power outages, and for some reason, I couldn't connect to the internet (the guesthouse Wi-Fi is broken), so I spent the weekend cut off from the outside world, haha.

As for my future work, I think I'll be able to get involved in multiple projects, including a new one that just launched this week, so I hope to make slow and steady progress over the next two years.

Up until now, I've been moving with the mindset of 'get results as quickly as possible!', but things definitely won't go as planned on 'Namibian time,' so I've given up on making detailed schedules (lol), and I'll try to take it easy and not overpack my schedule 🐢

Side note 💍

※ This is not a marriage announcement. That would be way too self-indulgent.

This is a bit of a digression, but I received valuable advice from a senior volunteer that regardless of whether you are married or not,
it is sometimes better to wear a ring that looks like a wedding band to avoid unnecessary trouble, so I wear a ring on my ring finger all the time.

On the other hand, when I let my guard down outside of work and completely forget about the ring, some really annoying things can happen.

As an example of my own experience in Namibia, there was a room that was quite secure, where four two-seater sofas were arranged in a square, with a low table in the middle.
With people who know me well in the room right next door without a door in between, I was sitting cross-legged on the edge of one sofa, working on my PC, when...

Suddenly, a man I didn't know asked, 'Can I accompany you?' With my Japanese brain, I thought he would just sit on one of the other three sofas, so I replied, 'Of course.' To my surprise, he even moved my belongings to sit right next to me and started grilling me about my work, where I'm from, whether I have a spouse, and so on, haha.

In the end, someone I trust came out and told him in the local language, 'Don't sit next to her, don't talk to her,' and while I gently answered his questions, I also stuck to my guns by saying, 'I don't need a partner at all, my work is my hobby,' so he gave up after about five minutes and went somewhere else 😂

In the first place, I don't get a thrill from someone who suddenly sits next to me while I'm seriously working on my PC and starts bombarding me with questions about my spouse or my job 👓

Perhaps Asians have an image of being wealthy, and that's why it's easier to be approached in that sense?

I haven't been proposed to since coming to Namibia yet (lol), but I've heard that being told 'Nice to meet you, please marry me' while walking down the street is a common occurrence in Southern Africa (sorry if anyone disagrees, please tell me about it sometime).

In Namibia, it's normal for adults to have multiple children with different fathers/mothers even if they aren't married, and I've heard that having two or three partners at once is also common (or so the rumors go).

At this rate, as long as I am in Namibia, I have no idea how many times I will be proposed to. I have to harden my heart and cut these invitations off...

Sorry, please try someone else 💔

Also, this might be a personal issue (regarding my appearance), but I am very often mistaken for a different age, which is sometimes cruel. lol

The other day in the capital, while I was standing in front of my accommodation in the morning, a stranger asked me, 'Aren't you going to school?'

Later, when I told this story to both Japanese people and locals, they all unanimously said, 'The "school" he mentioned probably wasn't university, but middle or high school,' which was a genuine shock. lol

I am usually seen as younger than my actual age by Japanese people too, but it seems I could pass as a middle or high school student in Namibia.

Wait, is there anyone who would be happy to hear this?????

Looking about 10 years younger than you are is no longer just looking young, is it???
It's frustrating, isn't it.

By the way, the child of the accommodation owner I mentioned earlier (the 9-year-old) told me I look 17! So that is how old I am perceived to be after all...

Finally

Well, this has become quite long, but these were the events from after being dispatched to my host country until about one week into my assignment.
I will post again once I start doing more work-like work 🌱

I hear that Japan has had temperature fluctuations recently, with snow falling in Tokyo and sometimes days where it is suddenly warm enough for plum blossoms to bloom.
Please take care of yourselves, everyone 👵

Well then,
Sharp sharp! 👋 (Bye-bye in Nama or Oshiwambo)