Trying to upload a video of our youth performing Awesome God for the conference, but internet is too slow! Maybe I'll get it in the next couple of days. =)
Our church hosted the Angolan Youth Conference this past week. 30 youth (youth here is what we would call young adult in the States) came down to Tsumeb from Angola for special services and evengelising here in Tsumeb. We weren't really involved in the planning or anything, but attended the Saturday morning session to fellowship with everyone.
Trying to upload a video of our youth performing Awesome God for the conference, but internet is too slow! Maybe I'll get it in the next couple of days. =)
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An Ovambo/American Wedding
We went to a very cross-cultural wedding this Saturday. The wedding was for an Ovambo couple, but it was planned by an American and an Afrikaaner! The lady who was getting married used to belong to our church, and she asked for a “white wedding” for her white friends to attend as she didn’t think they would attend the traditional wedding. But then this “white wedding” was announced at the bride’s other church as well, so we had a mix of Americans, Afrikaaners, and Ovambo Africans. As a result, some things went the American way, some things went the African way, and some things just didn’t work too well. =) African: The Ovambo guests stayed outside under a tree until the bride and groom came out to lead them in. American: The ceremony started exactly on time. African: About two minutes after the ceremony started someone’s cell phone rang and they nonchalantly answered it and walked out. American: Pastor Mike gave a short sermon on the four keys of marriage… African: Which only half the guests understood. American: Pastor Mike used the familiar vows (I, ________ take you, ___________, etc) African: The groom did not understand that he was supposed to repeat after the Pastor…or that he was supposed to be saying these things to his bride…and then he started looking a bit sick. American: So Pastor Mike told him to bend his knees a bit to not be so stiff… African: Which was not understood, so Pastor Mike had to demonstrate. Eventually the bride and groom just sat down for the exchanging of the rings. American: The groom kissed his bride and they were announced man and wife! The whole ceremony was 30 minutes long. African : Nobody clapped and the bride and groom did not walk out of the church – they were all in shock that the ceremony was already over, with no dances, speeches, offerings, or anything! Some had just arrived 10 minutes earlier. American: Everyone was herded to the little buffet table and then outside to eat. We Americans/Afrikaaners immediately started cleaning up when we were done. African: The other guests came back inside singing, waving their cow tails, and dancing, and asking to take pictures of the “white” wedding party. Then they all left to go on to the traditional wedding! American: We chuckled and shrugged and said it had gone well, all things considered! Sorry, it's been a busy couple of months! Here are some things that probably each deserved their own blog post, but they'll have to crowd together as I catch up!
Fathers in Namibia - This is something that was on my mind as I was marking exams last term. One of the possible essay topics was, "Mothers are more important than fathers. Do you agree or disagree?" About six of my learners chose that topic and they all agreed that mothers were more important! I thought it was kind of a bad question, like asking parents to say which of their children they love best. But the learners who replied had very strong, very bad opinions about fathers. For example, they said things like, "Mothers will make sure you have something to eat, but fathers will just drink their money." Or, "Mothers are there every day, but sometimes fathers will just abandon you and they don't care." There are a lot of single mothers here, most who became pregnant without being married. It's a shame that these kids have such poor father figures to look up to. August Holiday - We had two weeks off for the August holiday, during which time we stayed home, relaxed, planned, and played with our dogs/puppies. One exciting thing was that one of my learners, Penehafo, was accepted to go on Diversity Tour - a trip organized by Peace Corps for kids to see more of their own country. Penehafo had never even been to Etosha National Park although she's lived in Tsumeb most of her life (Etosha is only about 90km from here and is a HUGE game park). She was gone for a whole week visiting Etosha, Windhoek, Swakopmund, and Otjiwarongo with other learners from around the country. She was a little homesick by the time she got back, but so excited by all that she had seen! Penehafo came over to our house several times over the holiday to play games with us and to let her puppies play with ours. =) Grad School - Over the holiday we also worked on our grad school applications, which is good because I can see we won't have much time now that school's started. We are applying to schools in Boston, D.C, and Durham. Dylan wants to get his masters in teaching and I want mine in development. New books! - One of the highlights of this term so far is that I was able to unveil a whole bunch of new books to the Reading Club. These books were donated and sent through an organization called Darien Book Aid, which collects used books and sends them around the world. We got some good ones that will be used by Reading Club for now and added to our school library when I leave. See picture below! |