Ovambo Commute

When I was working for IBM I lived in Virginia and commuted to Bethesda, Maryland. It was a 35 mile (56km) drive over well maintained highways. The problem was that when I was on the road it seemed like everyone in northern Virginia was on the road too. It was managed chaos. What should have taken me 40 minutes at most usually took me 1.5 to 2 hours. And that was if there was good weather and no accidents. I’ve had 4 hour, one way commutes from time to time. It was grueling and don’t ever want to do it again.

Fast forward to this past week here in Namibia. I’m part of a team of Peace Corps volunteers, (Media Committee) who produce a variety of videos about our time here in Namibia, as well as our interactions with our Namibian counterparts. We try to give those unlucky enough not to have spent time in this beautiful country a visual and aural taste of what it’s like.

The past week the Media Committee spent time in the Oshana Region, which is very near the border of Angola. This is the area many Black Namibians, especially the Ovambo, call home. Many Black Namibians work elsewhere in the country, but during the yearly holiday season (December to January) they all go, “to the farm” where they likely grew up and where their families and friends are. This region is farmland with as many cows, goats, pigs, and sheep as there are people. In the rural areas, which most of the region is, you’ll find tiny villages with schools and churches. Often a Peace Corps volunteer, usually a teacher, will wind up in one of these villages. The Media Committee was there to make a media production about Rachel and her colleagues at a rural school. The principal of the schools, Principal Josephine, was kind enough to pick up our team of 8 and transport us to and from the school each day. A distance of 15 km (9 miles).

Rural Oshana Region, Namibia

You might think that it isn’t much of a commute compared to the 35 miles I did in Virginia, but, as you’ll see, my 35 miles was a piece of cake by comparison.

I want to, once again, thanks Principal Josephine for hosted our team and driving us to and from the school. It was an extremely kind gesture and made our visit infinitely more enjoyable.

The video below was captured on my iPhone 8 in pieces by intention. The commute can take 25 minutes and filming the whole ride seemed pointless, so I only filmed the highlights. I also sped up the video to 1/3 its original length. Even so it’s over 3.5 minutes long.

I hope you enjoy it.

Stay tuned,

Vern