I think I’d like to go, back home and take it easy.
There’s a man that I’d like to get to know,
Living There…
Everybody seems to wonder,
What its like down here.
They gotta get away from the day to day running around
Everybody knows this is nowhere….

Well friends, I have some big news to share… I will be leaving Namibia in 4 weeks. Yes, my placement here has come to an end, while the length of my contract has always been flexible I had intended on (and agreed upon) staying 18 months- or until March of 2010. However, things evolve and change as situations tend to do and after many many discussions with VSO, we have come to an agreement that I would finish my placement after 8 months. Technically speaking, VSO has deemed my placement a failure, as the Ministry of Health and Social Services has failed to follow the terms of the contract they agreed upon. The two biggest issues is the lack of a counterpart (actually I believe Ms. N is supposed to be my counterpart but, as you may have gathered from my stories of her, she has little to no interest in collaborating with me- in fact I suspect she thinks I want to take her job) and general lack of support for any service I can provide to the region (providing me with a translator so I can contribute to meetings, listening to suggestions I have, providing me with transport to see the outreach services etc.). So, without these two things- nothing I am doing here is sustainable, meaning nothing will continue once I leave.
Sustainable development is the latest fad of the development world- and I think its a good one. Essentially, the theory is the same as the proverb: “if you give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime” and I see it every day here. Programs volunteers worked tirelessly on are set up and run beautifully while they are here, but as soon as the volunteer goes the support dwindles and participation fades until its yet another failed project. Without a counterpart or local liaison who can help the volunteer to understand the nuances of the culture and adapt the volunteer’s ideas to fit that culture’s needs- any idea that is presented without the partnership faces huge challenges to even get off the ground in the absence of the volunteer. Here in Namibia, the people have only just overcome years of apartheid where they were oppressed and told what to do by a group of people who had no understanding of their culture and their beliefs. 19 years later there are still foreigners crawling all over the country telling them what to do, how to teach their children, how to dress in a meeting, what they should enact as laws. And I wonder how much good this is doing? And without a partnership with a local person to tailor the knowledge of the volunteer to the needs of the community how much different is volunteering to colonialism?
I believe in sustainable development, seeing as though I wasn’t developing anything sustainable- I honestly did not want to spend anymore of someone else’s money and my own effort to attempt to make changes when it was clear the community was resistant to. So, with that heavy reasoning (and some exciting personal opportunities that I could not ignore) I accepted VSO’s offer to send me home 10 months early.
Its a disappointment, but I have learned so much being here. I really have. Aside from all the typical volunteer blatherings (I experienced a different culture! I saw THE REAL Africa! I held an orphaned baby and saw the eyes of the world! ) I learned some very important life lessons:

 

  • Communication is essential, without it you can’t connect with others.
  • Its impossible to compare people’s lives- each person is different with different experiences, thoughts and reactions.
  • There is no such thing as a selfless action- even the most giving efforts feed us in some way and that is what keeps us going.
  • Rudeness, malice and spite are not bound to language or culture; luckily the same holds true for kindness, forgiveness and happiness.
  • Everybody deserves a little grace sometimes.
  • There’s no place like home. 
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