Hello again from Okombahe!

One of the teachers at the PS told me that since there isn’t much to do in Okombahe (it’s a large village with around 1-2,000 people) we must make our own things to do. This statement definitely rang true our first full weekend there.

That weekend was the last weekend we got to spend in the village since this past weekend was be a reconnect in our hub town of Omaruru (70k away) and then we will be returning back to Okahandja the next Friday. But, it was definitely a good weekend to be here!

Our school, Willem Borchard Primary, hosted a big tournament weekend that was also attended by the secondary school and a few other schools in the Erongo region (however, it was difficult to get a lot of participation due to budget cuts and extremely limited access to Ministry of Education (MoE) transportation).

The tournament consisted of soccer, netball, and a beauty pageant, which us volunteers were asked to judge! It was the best neutral ground considering that local judges form the community could be seen as biased.

The beauty pageant – Miss Tournament 2017 – was definitely an interesting experience! We had to judge the girls in four outfit categories – School Uniform, Swimwear, Sports/Active Wear, and Evening Wear. We judged based on criteria given to us by the organizers: smile, confidence, walk (did they stay with the music?), and attire choice (making sure the outfit was appropriate).

All of the girls did a good job; it was really hard to judge! We didn’t end up staying for the crowning though because it ended up running over midnight and I felt myself coming down with a sinus infection, so I just couldn’t stay.

That Sunday, I was very sick and ended up having a snafu with my phone. But, no worries! Everything is all fixed.

Later in the day, most of our group took a walk around Okombahe, climbing a couple large rock piles and exploring the “river” – the lush green area that splits the village in half. Many of the community’s growing fields are here.

We had a really good time, but we also had a run in with a huge snake! The local we were with killed it easily, but I was still terrified.