Unexpected Namibia

Do you know how you sometimes wake up and unexpectedly find yourself in a strange country? Well, that's been happening to us quite frequently lately and...

...what's that? That's never happened to you? Really?! :)

Well...it tends to happen to us somewhat frequently—and it's happened again! Two weeks ago we suddenly found ourselves in Namibia...outside of the capital city of Windhoek...on the YWAM base...

Go figure!

****commercial break**** due to computer problems this next part of the blog is written a month after leaving Namibia.

We originally went to Namibia because the Ghanaian High Commission in South Africa wouldn't issue us visas for Ghana, but the Ghanaian High Commission in Namibia would. (Confusing, I know, but that's bureaucracy at work right there!) However we decided this with less than a week's notice, so we didn't have a lot of time to plan our time. (I know! We don't really plan much, but we do generally plan a little!)

Luckily, some good friends in Thailand put us in touch with the YWAM base in Namibia and they kindly offered us a place to stay, which was really fantastic! The base was located just out of the city and it was beautiful! While there we hiked and canoed and got a chance to just relax a bit--very nice.

We didn't relax too much though, 'cause it's more fun to be involved! So...for four days we helped paint at Community Hope School. Community Hope is a school attended mostly by orphans or vulnerable children. There are just under a hundred kids, I believe, in grades one to six. After painting classrooms for four days, we ended up teaching for a day. Well, Amanada taught actually and I assissted since we taught science! It was really fun--Amanda taught soil science, so she explained to the kids how she collects bug farts to see how healthy soil is! Then the kids got to be scientists too and go outside to observe some soil samples we set out. In the picture they are looking for microorganisms in the soil--which they can't find because they are SO SMALL! After volunteering at Community Hope, we moved over to Beautiful Kidz for the last three days. Beautiful Kidz is a daycare for orphans and vulnerable children. The facility also runs kids and youth programs as well as some community development work with women.

One evening we joined some of the YWAMers for a homemade pizza party. It was great fun. The directors of Community Hope, John and Suzanne Hunter, hosted the party. It was all homemade in an outdoor pizza oven and the results were fantastic. The company was pretty good too. :) Some of the DTS (Discipleship Training School) students were there as well as the guest speaker and her husband, Reona and Albert Joly. We really enjoyed getting to know everyone--I wish we'd have been able to stay longer!

However...our visas came through and next we were off to Ghana!