All the recent VSO volunteers have just been for a weeks in-country training . It was exceptional, with some really inspiring presentations. One in particular sticks in my mind. Mr Ben Boys was a SWAPO (South West Africa People’s Organisation) leader during the liberation struggle, eleven years in exile, first as a soldier with PLAN, (Peoples Liberation Army of Namibia), the military wing of SWAPO, then as a member of the Central Committee. He’s now Head of Education in Hardap Region, (having turned down the opportunity to become the Namibian Ambassador to China, “after eleven years it was time to come home”) and committed, as so many of the former fighters are, to a new Namibia for all Namibians – regardless of race, creed or colour. “Ours was a national liberation revolution founded on principle” explained Mr Boys “One Namibia, One Nation” the policy of national reconciliation adopted by the first government of this young country. Somehow, growing like a phoenix from the ashes of apartheid, ‘inclusive education’ takes on a whole new meaning.
I had my first close encounter with African wildlife on Saturday. I inadvertently walked under a ‘social wasps’ nest and got attacked by a rather ‘anti-social’ one. It was huge…..well, at least three inches long and stung me right on the cheek. Apparently the sight of me diving for cover while whacking the glasses from my nose, was quite comical. I woke up the next morning and looking in the mirror I saw Joe Bugner (remember him, the boxer from the eighties?) looking straight back at me!! – It looked like I’d gone ten rounds solid. The children kindly likened me to the Elephant Man. Insects 1 Hobbett 0.
We were joined on the training course by some new volunteers from Kenya. I got talking with Raymond, quietly spoken and a little older than most of us, maybe 55 or so. He told me he’d be going home in December as there was an important circumcision ceremony for the boys becoming men. Raymond is from the Masai tribe, and I asked him how Masai boys became men, and this incredibly gentle and modest man told me the story of how he became a Masai Warrior. There are lengthy rites of passage, including, Raymond explained, a requirement to fight a fierce animal, kill it and carry it back to the village. So at sixteen, Raymond with two ‘age-friends’ set out from the village. They headed out in the hope of finding a lion, which although fierce, apparently offers the relative comfort of remaining on the ground during a confrontation, a leopard although smaller, is quicker and more agile. After some time, the boys came across tracks, leopard tracks, and using all the skills they’d been taught, tracked the animal to a small wooded area near a water source. Keeping low they crept forward, breaking cover just yards from their prey. Raymond’s friend threw his hunting club, catching the leopard a clean blow on the side of the head. The big cat, shaken and wounded, sprang up into a tree. Raymond came forward, spear in hand, and the leopard leapt from above, directly onto him, a claw catching Raymond’s forehead, before cleaving the flesh on his forearm in two, from wrist to elbow a clean cut, right down to the bone. The boys struck at the leopard with their spears, killing it swiftly. The three men then carried the leopard back to the village they had left as boys. Badly wounded Raymond knew warriors don’t cry. “I could only cry on the inside” he told me. The elder men attended to his wounds, with herbs and traditional medicine. The scars remain, as neat as any from a surgeon’s knife. Raymond 1 leopards 0.
The Chinese Ambassador is coming this afternoon. I’d contacted the embassies to see if any would support our magazine OYO, young, latest and cool. (naturally, I’m the centre fold in the next edition) and the Chinese have agreed a donation, so Her Excellency, Ambassador Ren Xiaoping, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Peoples Republic of China is coming for tea. Should be interesting. The Dutch have sponsored an edition already, the Germans like the sound of us too, but the British High Commission reluctantly declined, “due to economic factors in the UK”, explained Mr Lesley, the Assistant High Commissioner from Coatbridge “we’re stony broke”….
I’ve a few days off now and we are heading to Etosha National Park for a short break. I think I’ll stay away from the leopards….
Have a good weekend everyone.
Alan
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