continuing the communication and support post-placement

I was very happy to receive an email from the hospitality manager at my partner organization, thanking me for visiting him in the hospital before leaving Namibia, and letting me know he’s back to good health and work. He followed this up with a phone call to Mozambique, thanking me personally for my contributions to the organization, and telling me that I did a great job there. These words meant a lot to me, especially with some of the confusion and mixed feelings that occurred with the early ending of my placement.

He let me know that he’d like to call again to get my input and brainstorm some ideas for the tb program expansion, now that they’re getting ready to start the first six month research and development phase, developing new products to enhance the skills of the patients, and the marketability of items fabricated. I felt very happy and valued to be asked for my contributions at this stage, and am looking forward to the collaboration and support!

At the same time, I had the opportunity to ask for a reference from the organization, and I’ve received an extremely positive letter commending a healthy list of my accomplishments, while recommending me to future employers as a committed and valued member of any team.

This letter is more significant than one might imagine, as I’ve been struggling both emotionally and mentally for more than two months now, with other powers withholding that fundamental recognition from me. Hopefully this is the beginning of some closure (the lessons have already been learned on my side), so that I can start a new chapter once again filled with positivity. More to come..

Owning the new menu

A manager from my partner organization contacted a volunteer travelling to Mozambique, to have her deliver a couple copies of the finalized menus to me. It wasn’t something I was expecting, and the gesture was greatly appreciated!

Though the team eliminated a couple of menu features designed to accommodate customer concerns and desires (by having different choices for side dishes, and light and full portions), I’m proud of them for taking ownership and accountability for the menu, using wording that keeps things flexible for meat and side options, while one portion size and price will probably make things easier to manage in the kitchen.

Everyone can now feel that this is their menu, and I’m confident that the customers will continue to praise the changes too!

A different kind of housing development

The dangerous dirt road leading to my partner organization’s premises had always been covered on either side by deep bush, but when I came back from holidays in April, it was suddenly cleared.

I found out that hundreds of locals had come over a period of days (partner organization staff included), clearing the land, demarcating small plots of it, and claiming it in hopes of building their own informal settlement. But before anyone could get the thin, uninsulated walls of a tin shack put up (the common form of building low-income housing in Katutura, which heats the place up like an oven in summer, and freezes in winter (where I’ve seen temperatures hit -3C)), the government and police came around warning people they would be thrown in jail if they built on the land.

new funding approved!

I recently got news that the grant proposal I put together to expand my partner organization’s TB craft training and nutritional support program has been approved for the sum of 99,750.00 Euros!! This is a considerable amount of money for the organization, and should allow them to improve the sustainability of an already strong program over the next eighteen months!

I got a message of gratitude from the organization, at the same time letting me know that they have finalized and started using the new menu (with a couple changes), and that ‘Everybody appreciated the design!’ That one sentence makes a lot of the struggles worth the effort, when I can happily feel appreciated for my contributions to a developing organization!

Things I love about Namibia!

Chinatown: it’s nothing like what you find in other countries, but the two grocery shops in the northern industrial area of Windhoek provide a variety of fresh vegetables not available elsewhere, in addition to bottled sauces, noodles, Thai and Japanese rice, and the all-important rice cooker to prepare it in! And the long line of trashy shops with low quality plastic goods and replica football jerseys give the market side a true African feel not present in the centre of town.

final farewells

On my last day in Namibia, I went to my partner organization to say bye to the family I had become a part of, and to wish everyone the best moving forward.

the exit interview

I spent a couple days on questionnaires in preparation for my final formal interview and wrap-up of my placement with the volunteer sending organization. Though some of the questions were mere formalities, there was a lot of opportunity for both sides to share perspectives on not only my job in Namibia, but the volunteering experience as a whole.

what’s next?

The finance manager hand-delivered the official minutes from my hearing this week, which state in the verdict that ‘the board members initiated communication with me in an attempt to find long lasting solutions to issues that were previously raised’, and that it is “therefore a travesty of justice to point a finger at the accused..” It was a huge relief to finally feel like the finger was not being pointed at me, and with this out of the way, I was ready to speak with management to peacefully agree on a way forward (and had asked the finance manager to pass the message along). But that never happened.

ensuring the solar cooker remains on the menu

When a German couple were kind enough to donate a solar cooker to my partner organization, I wanted to make sure that their contribution got used on a regular basis, rather than being put in a corner like the last solar cooker that I found damaged and covered in cobwebs.

Designing the menu

When tasked with the creation of a new menu for my partner organization, there were a few things that I wanted to do:

- ensure the physical design was professional and attractive, with a style that represents the spirit of the women working here

- ensure that the structural design made it easy for the restaurant staff to execute orders, and for guests to have a variety of choices in a compact space (two half pages had to share the entire regular menu)

- ensure that the menu content reflects the traditional meals the staff are accustomed to making (the daily/weekly specials would leave room for international dishes), while providing the quality and options that our largest customer base (German tour groups and local NGO conferences) are asking for

kitchen renovations: before and after

One set of my tasks in the work plan was to redesign the kitchen, and install essential equipment to make it more functional.

The area was extremely cluttered, with everyone working around one table most of the time, so I focused on more counter space, efficient use of floorspace, and a couple purchases to move the menu along. Here are the results:

Combining tuberculosis treatment with nutritional support and sustainable income generating activities

My partner organization’s third department (in addition to craft production and hospitality services) is primarily focused on health, more specifically tuberculosis (TB) treatment and prevention.

TB is most often found in the lungs, making it an air born illness, often transmitted from one person to another through coughing or sneezing, particularly in poorly ventilated, crowded areas, and from repeated exposure to TB (when a close family member or partner is infected, for example). It is a serious problem in Namibia, and is deadly if left untreated.

and the verdict is..

As I walked down the dirt road to my work placement this morning, an employee from another department picked me up, asking how I’ve been. When I entered the premises, another staff member from the TB department came over and asked for a big hug. As I walked over towards the restaurant, the employees outside greeted me, asking where I’ve been, sharing how much they’ve missed me, as nobody had been told where I disappeared to.

I let them know about my suspension and hearing, and they immediately started rhyming off a long list of the great things I’ve done here, all of the changes they’ve seen thanks to me, how good my communication and efforts have been, followed by the regular complaints about the organization. It felt really good to walk around and feel appreciated and missed.

Not knowing who would be involved in my hearing, I asked the Swedish finance manager to represent me as a colleague and counsel in case things weren’t as fair and transparent as anticipated.

making practical ‘African batiks’ and prints

If you travel around southern Africa, you’ll find that just about every country has similar (if not exact) ‘Batik’ paintings, often made for placemats and huge table cloths or wall hangings. I hear that the designs originated in Zimbabwe, but they’ve spread like crazy, and are very popular with tourists, regardless of origin.

finding inspiration for meats on the menu

Namibia is without question a meat-eating country, but when I asked staff to name and explain some meat dishes for me during our menu workshop (as well as individually), very little other than names of different types of meat was shared (and in reality, locals wouldn’t consider chicken or fish to be ‘meat’).