We had a request to describe a typical day here and for info about what our lives are like here. So for those “INQUIRING MINDS”…
Each day is a little different and things rarely get boring. During the school year, Jessa and Josiah must be at school by 7:35. Since the school is about 70 yards from our house they walk. School lets out around 12:40. Kailey and Ashlan also do their school at that time at home. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays I teach art at Talitha Kumi. Steve’s schedule and responsibilities change almost daily. He can be found in meetings about official ministry decisions (recently he was elected Chairman of the Board for Hopes Promise in Namibia, with him casting the only “nay” vote on that), interfacing with social workers or counselors, leading a youth group meeting, fixing something at a foster family’s house, or even providing rides to the hospital. It just depends on the needs of the day.
Some days I walk to the market to get groceries and freshly baked bread for the day’s meals. Friday mornings we host the weekly foster parent meetings at our house, where we conduct parent-training.
Once school is out at 12:40, our house gets very busy and begins to feel like Grand Central Station until dinner time comes and we say goodbye to all the kids! Some days it seems that we are getting knocks on our doors every 5 minutes. Friday evenings we frequently host movie night at our house for some of the children. Occasionally children will also spend the night here. Saturdays the knocks begin much earlier!
As far as our free time goes, sometimes we make the drive into Swakopmund as a family and shop, eat out, go to the beach or whatever we can find to do. Sundays we all attend church at 9am. The kids attend children’s church at the pastor’s house and adult church is at the Town Hall. Sundays we don’t have children over but have our family day. We enjoy any peace and quiet we can get. As a family we like to play games, watch some TV, or even just drive out into the desert and go exploring.
Arandis is not the easiest place to be. While there are cities in Namibia that are quite nice and modern, Arandis is a town that is rather run down. The town is littered with broken beer bottles, cans, candy wrappers, used condoms and graffiti. Hundreds of stray dogs wander the streets in search of scraps of food or water and even dig up and eat people’s plants out of desperation. Kids of all ages also wander the streets, and some are fed only slightly better than the dogs. They play with whatever is available. The other day I saw a little boy playing with a tin can he was dragging behind him on a string! There are Shebeens (bars) on every corner and Tombo houses where people make and sell their own brew on every street. They play loud music all through the night on the weekends- especially on the last weekend of the month when people get paid.
We are at least blessed to have electricity, running water (usually), a vehicle, decent roads and markets with recognizable food items. Recently we’ve had no water for hours on end during the day because of work they’re doing on the pipes. That’s not so easy when it’s 115-120 degrees outside. We’ve learned to store up water in big bottles.
There are no fast-food restaurants in Arandis, and convenience foods at the stores are pretty expensive, so all meals generally must be made from scratch. I don’t mind that though since it’s how I prefer to cook anyway. All the local markets have freshly baked bread daily- what a wonderful treat! In Africa almost nothing happens in what we would consider a timely fashion and many times stores don’t have things they are supposed to and that are advertised.
As you know by now, the climate is hot, dry and the landscape desolate. Outside the town is a hauntingly beautiful, inhospitable landscape of sand, rock and bare mountains as far as the eye can see. It is fun to explore when the weather is cooler. And outside of Arandis there are many wonderful places to see like the ocean, the world’s highest sand dune, game parks, ancient cave paintings, dinosaur footprints and bones, deserted diamond mining towns, Namibia’s version of the Grand Canyon and many more. The culture here is also beautifully rich and diverse with a fascinating history.
Hopefully this gives you a little picture of what our life is like here in Namibia. We really hope that many of you can come and experience it for yourself someday. It is a country unlike any place else on this earth!
-Karrie
