I am Settled In

Dear Students,
Thank you for your questions! I am glad that you are showing an interest in my Peace Corps experience in Namibia! I promise I will answer all of them, but before I do, I want to give you some information about where I am living, and what I’ve been doing now that I’m settled in.

My Peace Corps training ended several weeks ago but school has not started yet, so I have had some time to get used to living in my new home, and even to do a little bit of traveling.

Who do I live with?

I live on a ‘homestead’ with a family and many animals. There is a herd of cattle, a group of goats, and several chickens. The chickens wander around outside the home all day but the rest of the animals leave to search for grass to graze on, and then return at the end of the day. I am lucky in that I have my own room with a kitchen.

My family is two women, a grandmother, and six small kids and a baby. They also have a young guy named Lucas who lives with them. Lucas is not part of the family, but he works for them – herding the goats and cows and helping in the fields. In return for his work, the family cooks for him and provides a place to sleep. He’s treated like one of the family!

What does my home look like?

The people of Africa are made up of groups that used to be called tribes. I am living among the Owambo people. Most Owambo people today do not live in houses or apartments like in America. They live on ‘homesteads’ in rural villages. I live on a homestead, which is made up of huts and some concrete buildings.

Here is a picture of the huts: Click here

My room is a concrete building: Click here to see a picture


My home does not have electricity or any plumbing. So for water, my principal fills up some large jugs at the nearest water tap and drives them to my room. The water is clean and perfectly safe to drink. I bathe using a bucket of water instead of a shower – which has taken some getting used to! At night, it is very dark so I use a flashlight and I also have an oil-burning lantern.

Although, as you know, English is the “official language” of Namibia, many people do not speak it. In my family, the grandmother does not speak any English, and only one of the adult women speaks English. So, until I learn more of their language, which is called Oshiwambo, there is only one person at home I can speak to!

What do I eat?

Even though I don’t have electricity, I am lucky because the government has given me a gas-powered stove and a refrigerator. (The refrigerator uses the gas to produce a flame, which is used as an energy source to cool the refrigerator. There’s a physics assignment for you – figure out how that works!) If I leave my village and find a paved road, I can take a taxi into town. In town, I can find supermarkets that have almost any food item I could buy in the U.S. I can buy and cook whatever I want.

But my family does not work, and so they don’t have money to shop at a supermarket. They must grow all of their food. They grow and harvest crops – beans, spinach, and millet, which is a grain that they can turn into a thick meal called porridge. Sometimes they kill one of their chickens or buy some beef. They always cook using a fire outdoors, and they eat with their hands. This is the traditional African way of eating and sometimes I join them.