A lot has happened since the last post about my departure. First, I cannot thank those who have donated enough. My fundraising efforts generated a response I could not have ever imagined. Thank you all again for your support.
Second, I have moved back to Kansas City for the remainder of my time in the states. It has been nice to eat well, see my family and friends, and rest up for the journey ahead. I finished most of the paperwork preparations in Philly but have tied up the loose ends while being in Kansas City and am so glad to have wrapped all that up. It wasn't difficult, just time-consuming, requiring a lot of emails, phone calls, and footwork to get all the forms completed, vaccinations done, and other preparations complete. One positive aspect was having time fly by as I was working hard. Now that it's all done and I'm just waiting to leave time seems to stand still.
Anyway, time for the real news. I have learned I will be teaching 8-10th grade English and basic computing in Omungwleume, a large village/small town in the north near the Angolan border and about 30km north of Oshakati, the largest town in the central north (28,000 people). I will be living with a fellow volunteer in a two bedroom house that sounds really nice. Running water, electricity, cooking facilities, etc. No hot water will be something to get used to, but I'm sure it won't be that bad considering it's nice and warm there. I think I will be looking into some DIY projects and a solar hot water heater might be in order.
Again, I will be leaving December 28th from Washington D.C. Upon arriving in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, I will begin my training. We will have about four days of orientation sessions before traveling to Tsumeb on January 3rd where we will doing our four day teaching practicum. After that we will head back to Windhoek where we will wrap up orientation before departing for our specific placements. I'm ready to start and can't wait to arrive.
Here is a map where I have placed markers on the different cities I have talked about so far. I will keep updating it as I continue to travel and get to know more areas.
View Namibia in a larger map
Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more updates.
