After a week of rest and recovery (sort of) in Windhoek, I decided it was time to get down to the work exchange I'd organized to do down in the remote, coastal town of Luderitz. Honestly, I was getting bored of playing tourist and ready to get back to doing meaningful work.
I hitched a ride down to Keetmanskoop, a small, commercial town about five hours south of Windhoek. When I arrived, I was actually lucky enough to meet two Peace Corps Volunteers living there. It was great swapping info on our two countries for a bit. Then I did some wandering around town...although there wasn't a whole lot to see. The guy I'm doing the work exchange with (his name is Giel for future reference) was kind enough to drive over 350km to come pick me up in Keetmans, so I was happy to have a safe and reliable ride into Luderitz. The scenery on the drive, before it got dark, was pretty amazing as the sunset painted the sky orange-y yellow and in the far off distance we could see lines of rain showers cutting across the flat horizon. Once it got dark, all I could really see was the bright Milky Way leading us across flat, sandy lands. The closer we got to the coast, the more I tried to decipher the dark masses outside the window, internally debating whether they were massive sand dunes or rocky hills. Excitement budded inside me, as it always does when I'm entering a new environment.
 |
| Driving out to Kolmanskuppe |
I arrived and really hit the ground running. Although it was a Saturday, the very first thing me and the company's supervisor aka my work partner, Charles, did on that first morning was drive out to Kolmanskuppe, an old diamond -mining town that was abandoned when there was a diamond rush elsewhere. The tiny "town" is now considered a ghost town as the surrounding sand dunes have slowly taken back the little settlement filling the houses with sand and pulling them apart. I didn't walk around much; instead we headed straight for the professional-grade photography studio that Giel operates out of this ghost town. Charles explained all of the background information and anything I needed to know for my part of the work exchange. I guess this is where I should explain what I came here to do, so let me back up.....
In January, when trying to figure out post-PC plans, I began scanning work exchange programs online. Although my original plan was to fly to Morocco after Afrikaburn, I came across this ad looking for someone to train community members on crocheting with plastic bags and reading patterns. Considering I'd been dying to start a local arts/craft center in the village in Malawi, marketing towards tourists coming to hike Mulanje Mountain (the problem was that the community wasn't interested as they saw no value in it), I couldn't resist
this opportunity. I figured I would at least give it a shot, maybe get some experience for the future.
 |
| Cutting up the bags to make plarn |
Well, once I learned the ins and out's of the situation/project here in Luderitz, I'm realising that it's definitely more than what I had expected, but not in a bad way. Basically I get to utilise the development work skills that I learned in Malawi, writing project proposals and letters to organisations and groups, mobilizing the community, designing training programs, and then actually implementing them. The rest of the time, I get to be on pinterest searching for crochet patterns, making
plarn (plastic yarn), and crocheting cool example items for the training.
 |
| This is plarn! |
Discussions have arisen that maybe this project could lead to a bigger one and potentially a job, but for now, I'm trying to just appreciate the opportunity I've been given to practice my skills and absorb as much new information as possible.
The most challenging thing so far has been trying to put Malawi behind me and open my mind up to how differently Namibia functions. Yes, they are both sub-saharan African countries that went through a period of foreign colonisation and are now independent countries, but that's about where the similarities end it seems. I'll try to write another blog post soon explaining the vast differences between these two places. But for now, it's time to wrap up this one and get some zzz's.
Goodnight world!
