Gift and Nessy turned 3 today. They are the adorable daughters of Elizabeth, one of the teachers at FHS. I've only recently bonded with these precious little ones. Tuesday morning we have prayer time with the FHS staff. Before we ended, Elizabeth asked for prayer for her two girls. She had left them at home--alone. Elizabeth is a faithful staff member at FHS. Dedication has meant sacrifice for her family. It is common in this culture for parents to leave young children at home, even with no one to look after them. This is something most of us could never even imagine! After her prayer request, even the other Namibian teachers told her she must go and bring them to the center. Elizabeth's main concern is that they are a burden on the center where our focus is on the older learners, but it was encouraging to see the other teachers and staff tell her that she must not leave them at home alone... that their safety is priority. I offered to go with her to pick up the girls. She gratefully accepted.

I had been to her neighborhood but not any further than Kaita's house. We passed his house and headed up a very bumpy hill. She told me that taxis don't like driving up to her house--I could see why. I can't imagine a regular car fairing up a hill of potholes. We found the girls playing outside with other children their age and older. No direct adult supervision. Someone may peep out a door from time to time, or maybe that was just to see who was driving up the hill.

Driving back to the center Elizabeth told me of their upcoming birthday. I told her I'd love to get a cake for them and we made plans for me to pick her up when she got off at the center so I could drive her and the birthday goodies to her house. I played with them for a while at the center. Nessy fell asleep in my arms two different times. Just months before, she would cry at the sight of a white person. She's come along way and she is the cutest thing ever! She learned my name and would run back and forth over to me, giving me a big hug while shouting, "Teacher Hannah!"

Falconer and I went out that afternoon to look for some new clothes for the girls. We bought two adorable outfits and two matching stuffed animals. We even got a toy car for their big brother Benedictus. I picked up a pink birthday cake today and headed back to the center. We drove Elizabeth and her family to her house and were greeted by some of the other kids in the area. Within a few minutes of our arrival, Elizabeth had sent for the other children in the neighborhood and by the time she served the cake there were about 15-20 kids and two other moms hanging out with us. They gobbled up the cake, icing all over their mouths. The girls loved their new outfits. Elizabeth put their skirts on immediately and Gift said something in Oshiwambo. Elizabeth looked up at me, "She said she will wear this tomorrow." :)

We had such a great time hanging out with them, admiring all the other kids, and laughing with all of them wanting to pose for pictures. Before we left the kids wanted to dance and sing for us. They were ridiculously cute! I hope we can hang out at their house again soon. I love being out in the community of Katutura, and you can tell that our friends really love having us in their homes as well. Days like this remind me of why I am here... and how blessed I am to be here.

The past week has been an incredible time of God lavishly pouring His blessings over me. I was able to attend a Women of the Harvest retreat in Ghana. The sole purpose of a WOTH retreat is to minister to missionary women… and wow! What an incredible job they did at that!

I had time aside from the transformational development workshop to explore Rundu a bit. It was nice to catch up with Margaux (and to sleep in her air-conditioned room!). I also got to visit the OVC project in Kaisosi Village. The children were just as precious and rambunctious as the children here in Windhoek. And it was great to walk through a traditional African village, filled with mud huts and family gardens. (The mean, biting ants, however, were NOT enjoyable!)

Inside one of the mud huts in Kaisosi Village.

Pounding maize or grain or something. The locals got a kick out of me trying. Apparently I was doing it all wrong.

One of our last nights there, we all took a boat ride on the Kavango River. It was quite beautiful, and reminded me of taking a swamp tour down in Louisiana. If you cross the Kavango River, you’d come out onto the shores of Angola. (There were several people we saw on the Angola side bathing and doing their washing.) I had my eyes peeled for crocodiles, but none were found. We were, however, graced by the fleeting presence of a hippopotamus! I was one second too late for a photo as it dove from the bank into the river, but was glad that I can at least say I saw an African hippo!

Sun setting over the Kavango River

The next night, several of us ladies went to the Kavango Lodge for dinner. The dining area sits above the Kavango River and yields a spectacular view! We were there just in time for a beautiful pink and purple sunset, and I must add that the food was incredible! I ordered a beef fillet (they pronounce it “fill-it” here) that practically melted in my mouth.

I even had a bit of time to shop at the market. A popular souvenir item in Rundu is called a “tanga”. It is basically a big piece of colorful fabric that many women here use as a wrap skirt. Others make dresses or use them for carrying their babies on their backs. I bought several for the cheap price of less than $3 each, though I honestly don’t really know what I will do with them. Amy plans to make purses out of hers. I’ll stick to jewelry making…

Oh... and on the way to Rundu, we stayed overnight at what everyone I know here refers to as "Mufasa's". It's a quaint bed and breakfast with wild animals everywhere... the most popular--Mufasa the lion. They've raised him since he was a cub. He used to run around inside the house. They were told they must better contain him once he got older (and started chasing the horses), so they now have him in a sturdy fence enclosure. But he's still as tame as a cub. You can reach your hand inside the fence and pet him. I touched one of his paws and his mane. I hear rumors that Mick once stuck his hand in Mufasa's open mouth. I couldn't get over how huge of a beast he is. I mean... everyone knows lions are big, but until you are that close to one, I don't think you truly get the full grasp of that reality. Some of the other animals at Mufasa's included warthogs, meerkats, cheetahs, ostriches, other small but unhappy wild cats, a bunny, and an adorable baby dik dik.

Mufasa! Mufasa! Mufasa!

Is this really my life? Petting lions, crocodiles and warthogs? It's all a bit surreal... and perhaps a little strange.

This little guy truly was adorable! He (or she) followed me out to the yard and rolled over to lay in the sun and let me pet his belly. Too cute. Although... if you've ever petted a warthog, it's an interesting experience. It's like petting rough leather.

Last week I attended a Transformational Development Workshop in Rundu. There are two main things that made it a great week. 1) The concept of transformational development is something I’m very interested in and something anyone in community development work needs to learn more about and 2) I’ve always wanted to go to Rundu. Rundu is a town about 8 hours north of Windhoek. I’m always eager to travel to a new place, but this particular place has some pretty special people there. Two families (the Wilsons and the Eisbrenners) and one individual (Margaux) serve there whom I’ve known since the beginning of my adventures in Africa. Margaux and I traveled together all the way from AIM’s headquarters in Pearl River, and we soon met up with the Wilsons and the Eisbrenners in Kenya for ABO.

The workshop was led by Lois Ooms. Lois has worked in Africa since 1969 and in transformational development since 1984. In Kenya she networked with community and church leaders, health professionals, Kenyan missionaries and local churches to begin low-cost holistic community development groups focused on health, widows, HIV/AIDS home care, orphans, and microfinance. She leads workshops to empower people to begin with what they have—no matter how small—to create a foundation for sustainable self-help programs.

I’m not going to try to outline the entire workshop, but let me at least give you a summary. The basic premise of transformational development is to realize the resources inherent in a community and come alongside them to assist them in reaching their full potential in terms of development. (That’s my concise definition anyway…) Lois and others in her field insist that transformational development begins by examining the four relationships God established for us at creation: man’s relationship with God, with others, with self, and with creation. She began with this claim, “Living in a world of violence, suffering, tragedy and self-centeredness, many of us and especially the poor, don’t clearly understand who we are and what is our work as people—created by God; this is the foundation for motivating people to be stewards.” Lois focused on a holistic approach to sustainable development and reflected on “The Poor”, examining the root issues of poverty and the role of income generation in a sustainable outreach program.

I came out of this workshop with quite a new perspective concerning ministry, especially in poverty-stricken areas. Perhaps the most important lesson I learned is that in certain situations, money can do more harm than good. God has consistently blessed my support raising efforts, and I’ve been able to provide monetary and other gifts to communities and individuals here and in previous ministry locations. While I don’t regret giving those gifts, I feel that I am better equipped with the knowledge of how best to provide aid to those in need. Furthermore, I am learning a bit more about how to assess “those in need”. I’ve started reading one of Lois’ recommendations, When Helping Hurts by Brian Fikkert and Steve Corbett. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about transformational development… or even just anyone who is involved in community work and/or cross-cultural ministry.

I want to close with an example Lois gave of a children’s program she visited in a country where some of her friends are serving as missionaries. It is a prime example of donor funds potentially doing more harm than good. We as missionaries and community development workers need to rethink what it truly means for a project to be sustainable. I am grateful for both the challenges and encouragement given to me through this workshop. It has been a springboard for implementing new ministry ideas here in Namibia (and changing some of the ways we have been doing things).

“Riding through a rural area where many of the poor lived, we saw hundreds of children roaming around. We stopped in, unannounced, at a large program that had multiple centers focused on a variety of issues. One of their goals was sustainability. They had beautiful well-kept buildings with TVs and videos inside—built, maintained and equipped by short-term teams from outside; we found local women, who were employed, cooking fried chicken for lunch for the children from an area where the normal food is corn meal and vegetables. We saw about a dozen children playing on elaborate playground equipment. No one could explain how the children were chosen or why there were so few.”

“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day.”

That’s RELIEF.

“Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”

That’s DEVELOPMENT.

“Teach a man to think about fishing in a new way and you will change his life forever.”

That’s TRANSFORMATION.

Other great resources on this topic: Walking with the Poor by Bryant Myers; The Forest in the Seed by Scott Allen and Darrow Miller; Chalmers Economic Development Institute, Covenant College, Lookout Mt. Georgia, www.chalmers.org.

Photos of kids from the OVC project and local village:

Abigail, the Director of FHS, joined us for the workshop. It was great to have her with us and to hear her input and stories from her own experience in community development. This is a photo of her with a friend's adorable little brother.

As I have mentioned before, Namibia has one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates of any country in the world. Over 20% of the adult population is infected. While these statistics are important for many people to know, I guarantee you there are some individuals who don’t care what the numbers say. There are some people that may not be very concerned that 1/5 of the population here is dying with this disease. But what they do care about is the fact that their mother is dying, their brother is dying, their father is dying, their sister is dying, their children are dying… they are dying.

Some photos from the game drive at Okapuka. The lion feeding was definitely the highlight!