I have a unique friendship with two very special ladies at FHS... Esther and Ouma. Esther is the head cook and Ouma is, well, she's just Ouma! She's the eldest lady at FHS so "she's in charge"--in her own sort of way. What makes my friendship so unique is that they speak very little English and I, of course, have yet to master--or really even try to master--Oshiwambo. I learned how to greet people early on, and that receives enough smiles and sometimes laughs to get me by without being able to really say anything else. So my conversational relationship with Esther and Ouma consists of a lot of head nodding, hand gestures, and--my favorite--laughter. I have no idea what they are saying 95% of the time, but they are hilarious! I was just telling Cindy that my experience in Namibia would be completely different if I could actually understand what Ouma was saying. She constantly has everyone in stitches... well, everyone who can understand Oshiwambo, and then the rest of us who just enjoy watching her and laugh sincerely because everyone else is laughing. Despite the language barrier, I consider these two women to be dear friends. I enjoy making them happy. I am not sure exactly what they enjoy from my side of the friendship... maybe I can have someone translate that awkward question to them... but I receive constant smiles and occasional hugs so I suppose I am doing something right.

Ouma is always admiring our clothing, our shoes, our bags, and so on. She will see something I have, call me over, and start pointing to it, saying something in her language, pointing back to herself, and nodding with a big smile on her face. This means, she wants one... buy one for her. To which I often reply, I got this in Ghana, or Kenya, or in America. She gives up on her request, though still smiling. On a particular day recently, Ouma was admiring my coat. It was to brown, soft, to my knees, and quite warm on a suddenly frigid day in Namibia. She pointed to the thin cotton cardigan she was wearing and briskly rubbed her arms as if to warm them up. "Ootalala," she was repeating. Forgive my probable botched spelling, but the meaning of this word/expression is "cold". We say it often to each other on days like these. She was standing by Esther who was nodding in agreement to Ouma's rant. I didn't need a translator to know what she was saying. It went something like this, "That is a really nice coat you have on. It looks really warm. Look at these thin layers we are wearing in our best attempt to stay warm. It's not working and we are very cold. We would love to have a coat like yours. Something to keep us warm on bitterly cold days like these." Without knowing her exact words, I don't know if she directly asked me to provide coats for them or not, but my heart opened to them with compassion and I knew that providing them with coats was something I definitely wanted to do. I got their general sizes and made a mental note to find them both a coat within the next week. A few days later I went to one store, determined to find something suitable. The women's section didn't really have anything warm or big enough. I headed to the men's section and found some coats that fit the bill, though obviously quite different from mine. I didn't think they would mind. It took quite a while for me to settle on sizes, repeatedly holding them up, picturing the frames of the two women, wondering which would be the best fit. I finally selected the coats, each about $13US, and headed back to FHS. Ecstatic is an understatement for their reaction. Elizabeth was around to translate when Esther tried on her coat, immediately zipped it up, put on the hood and stated, "The cold can come even more now. I will defend it!" I laughed and did a couple air punches to mimic some Winter Defender, though I think my dramatization was also somehow lost in translation. Ouma, in her typical Ouma tradition, did her happy Ouma dance. I clapped and laughed some more.

And what else are friends for but to make each other laugh... to love and respect each other despite all differences... and to have compassion, helping each other in every way possible to walk triumphantly through this life.