Doing time in Tsumeb

We’ve been lollygagging for a couple of days in Tsumeb, historically a German copper mining town, before entering through the northern gate of Etosha. Settling back into life in Namibia has been easy as we have been staying in a comfortable room with goose down duvets and pillows, catching up on sleep, and enjoying cooking in a real kitchen. On a recent visit to the Spar market, one thing we noticed right away was the high prices of everyday items, much more expensive than when we were last here. Oh, but the dairy, deli, and meat items are so much fresher and better than anywhere else!

Reading The Namibian revealed that the country’s unemployment rate recently peaked at fifty-one percent. The gap between rich and poor seems to be widening, so then it’s no surprise that we also read that the crime rate has been steadily rising too. Catching up on the country’s news for the past three days, we’ve learned all sorts of things. Like how there is an anti-Chinese sentiment among the general population right now because they don’t treat Namibian workers well, evade taxes, sell sub-standard goods, and do not invest in the country. The latest controversy is how the President angrily defended the Chinese businesses saying that Namibians owed them for China’s support of SWAPO during the struggle. (Wonder what kickbacks he is getting). Other news included pressure to stop the seal culling (which they are not keen to do) and the President’s support of Gaddafi. It’s easy to be critical of the government here, but freedom of speech is highly valued, something neighboring Zimbabwe sorely misses.

It has been raining almost constantly for the past forty-eight hours; it’s neither a gentle drizzle nor the fierce, brief summer storm that I used to expect in Mariental. This has been a heavy thunderclad pounding. And like the rain elsewhere in southern Africa this season, it is completely unexpected and unnatural. So in our room with the comfy featherbed, drinking tea and warming up prepared German comfort food like schnitzel and spaezle feels especially good right now. We had thought to camp tomorrow in Etosha, but that is really difficult to think about right now.

In the forty-five minutes it stopped raining yesterday, we walked around the town which was dead quiet. Russ reminded me that when we were volunteers on the weekends, there wasn’t much to do. Stores still close at 1:00 on Saturdays and Sundays (if open at all). There is a fine simplicity in that, and we find that we have plenty to do without doing anything. Today in the rain, we walked around to get some errands done and it felt even more like we were volunteers, as generally white people don’t walk around town. We have been excitedly talking about getting back to our hometowns in the south, but we will take our time, of which we have plenty. Geniet die dag (enjoy each day as it comes).