After a week of traveling and orientation, I arrived in Namibia last
Friday afternoon. We were greeted at the airport with big signs and a
huge group of current volunteers to help with our two years worth of
luggage. We were taken to Okahandja, an hour northeast of Windhoek,
where we will be based for part of our training. All of our Peace
Corps training staff greeted the buses by singing and dancing in 10
different languages, representing the languages spoken in Namibia. It
was incredibly moving. They just kept singing even after we had all
gathered in our meeting room. I wasn't expecting a concert upon
arrival to a new country!
For those of you who haven't heard, I am starting my pre-service Peace
Corps training in Namibia, where I'll be serving as a Community Health
and HIV/AIDS volunteer. In two weeks I'll know my permanent site,
where I'll be for the next two years.
From the plane, the terrain looked quite barren. I tried counting
houses, but never made it past one. Twice the size of California,
Namibia is the second least populated country in the world after Nepal
(the Twin Cities are more populated than the entire country, as a
comparison). So far, it reminds me a little of the Badlands, although
those from Arizona claim that there is a remarkable similarity. Lots
of shrubbery, dry river beds, and mountains pop up all over the
desert-like terrain.
Namibia's HIV/AIDS prevalence is ranked as the third highest in
sub-Saharan Africa, in the fifth most affected country in the world,
with a prevalence rate of 19.7 percent. Of course, it can vary
dramatically depending on the region. For example, the highest is in
the Caprivi strip at 42 percent, while in Opuwo is 9 percent (I had to
stop myself from typing "only" 9 percent). This is a huge issue in
Namibia and is growing at an alarming rate (in just two years the rate
along one coastal city went from 16 percent to 28 percent). 30 % of
30-34 years olds are HIV-positive. As a result, there is a huge
population of what are called OVCs (orphans and vulnerable children)
and the average life expectancy has fallen to 41 years of age. Namibia
is one of the 15 focus countries targeted by PEPFAR (in a nutshell: in
2003, President Bush initiated what is known as the President's
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which is the largest bilateral program
that addresses care, treatment and prevention in a number of
countries). The Peace Corps is a PEPFAR partner, but also works to
build capacity of the Namibian government at all levels and to build
the capacity of non-profits (faith-based organizations,
community-based organizations and international aid organizations).
I'll write more about my role as a health volunteer as it unfolds.
Many of you have asked if I will be keeping a blog while in Namibia.
The answer is yes, but I need to have it approved by our Country
Director before I can start posting anything. I might need to make it
password protected, hence changing my site, so I'll just send another
email once I figure everything out and proceed.
In the meantime, please write! I won't have very much time or access
in the next several weeks of training, but I would love to hear from
you either via email or post.
My address through January 9 will be:
Thea Neal, PCT
Peace Corps Office
P.O. Box 6862
20 Nachtigal St.
Ausspannplatz
Windhoek, Namibia
AFRICA
Depending on where I'm placed, my access to email might improve once I
get to my site and my schedule adjusts.
Until then, I'm just trying to process a multitude of new acronyms and
am anxiously waiting to find out which language I'll be learning
starting this week. There are still a lot of unknowns, but it's great
to finally be here and with 70 other volunteers who are equally
excited to be starting this next adventure.
--
Thea Neal
Hope College 2007
Peace Corps Namibia 2007-2010
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