Alex in Africa: Many Miles Traveled Milestone

Last week, I traveled to the remote region of Omaheke. While I was venturing to the least populated region in Namibia, I realized that I was about to achieve something pretty cool. I have been to every region in this country! Namibia has 13 regions (well, 14 now since Kavango got split into Kavango East and Kavango West). This may not sound like a brilliant triumph but I don’t think volunteers get the chance to achieve such a feat during their two years service. All the regions are very spread out and some are completely out of the way for some volunteers. Yet, I feel quite accomplished when I say that I have been to every region within the first year of my service.

I've been there!

I’ve been very fortunate to have the opportunity to explore this diverse and one of a kind country. With that said, I wanted to tell you all about my plans for this August where I will be helping out with the 2014 Diversity Tour Namibia. This is a Peace Corps project and is a week-long education tour working to give vulnerable and marginalized children the opportunity to explore the country. Most of the kids who will be going on this tour haven’t seen much of the country. A few of haven’t even left their villages before! The aim of the tour is to give these kids the opportunity to see parts of the Namibia which they may never get the chance to see again while developing leadership skills and a passion for learning. Daily educational sessions will take place on the tour and will focus on leadership skills, entrepreneurship and HIV/AIDS awareness.

Up to 38 Namibian kids from each region, ages 12-16, will be going on this tour. We will be traveling to Otjiwarongo, Waterberg Plateau, Swakopmund and Windhoek. Most of these kids want to see the ocean for the first time so our stop at Swakopmund should be something special. The tour will be from August 18^th to the 25^th. It should be a great experience for everyone involved and I’ll keep y’all posted on how it goes.

One more thing, back in November, I applied for a grant to start a Chili Farming project at the Uukolonkadhi Conservancy. On Monday, I got a call saying that the project will get funding! It’s quite a lot of money too so hopefully it all works out. Again, I’ll let you what happens next.

Enjoy some photos from the many regions of Namibia!