Idrettsfredskorpser i Rundu, Namibia 2006/2007

OPOWO

2007-06-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

The end...

2007-06-26T15:52:00.000-07:00

Ok. Now I’m official finished with my year as a SCORE-volunteer.
FINISHED!!!In two days I’m back in Norway, something that is more or less crazy in my head right now…!! J

Rundu - Namibia – Southern Africa. 12 months away from home. 12 months working as a sport-volunteer in a community so totally different from what I’m used to from home.. 12 months of.. challenges, fun and lots of work and travels.
And now it’s over…

The last month went away fast as… nothing. I was SO eager to go home a month ago, but suddenly the time had come, and I didn’t feel ready at all. I hate good-buys.. I hate the thought of leaving these people.. I hate the thought of Norway being so far away.. I hate the thought of not being able to see, talk and hang out with my friends here again.. maybe never again.. Who knows?!

I’m posting a few pictures, just to finish it all up.
Again: CRAZY.

For those of you who have actually checked out my blogg this year. Thank you. For those of you who haven’t.. it’s ok. I can see that one.

Hope everybody will have a fabulous summer!! Old friends and new friends!!
Best regards Lena.

mr Mayisela and me.. the picture tells the whole story...

2007-06-26T15:50:00.001-07:00

Vumisa is my boss and my friend. He’s been trying his level best the whole year trying to teach me some life-skills.. I guess I needed that, but if he felt like he succeeded I’m not sure of… I’m kind of a hopeless case..Vumisa is the born boss for an organization like SCORE-Namibia> (= work 24/7)

I have no idea how we would have managed this year without him… So. Thank you Vumisa!!! ;)

End of Service.. last workshop

2007-06-26T15:45:00.001-07:00

Going home.. how to deal with it..?

What have we gained from this year?

What have the community gained from having us?

It's a fact guys.. i haven't gotten any better.... I still struggle paying attention and trying to be active in these workshops-settings 100% of the time… (I struggle most of the time to be honest)

Going home. The thought freek me out. I don’t want to talk about it... i don't want to think about it.. (Here with Fredrik- the swedish guy.. who doesn't seem to happy about it either....)

How can I leave these people and be happy???

2007-06-26T15:43:00.001-07:00

Thank you guys. For a fantastic year being part of your family!!SCORE-NAMIBIA 2006/2007
Terje – Jonatan – Shadrack – Pemyah – Nyasha
THANK YOU!
(Raviv and Sara.. thank you too. I miss u!)

The last month in Rundu

2007-06-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

The last month in Rundu was hectic. I decided to move out from my house-mate, and move to my favourite family The Groobelars. My previouse neighbours took me in their arms when I needed it the most.. and I love them and miss them too much!SCORE On the Move came to Rundu for 4 weeks. Boosting my volunteers and my projects! It was great. They even gave me a boost. It was so nice to show someone what I have been doing the last 12 months. And believe it or not: I actually feel I have vontributed with something in Rundu!!! It feels great. THANK YOU SCORE ON THE MOVE!

Two weeks ago I went to Swakobmund to have a preparation-course for the team going to Norway-cup this summer. It was great.. they’re a great bunch of boys going, and I can’t wait to go to Ekebergsletta in the end of July to cheer for the Namibian Team. (Probably called “the SCORE-team”.)

After that it was more or less time for goodbyes… As I said: I hate it. Tears came flowing like nothing. I spend a lot of time with my friends, and it all turned out nice. I’ll hopefully see them again… some day. My streetboys, my Youth Leads, my NAM-VIP’s, my very good friends in the location, my VSO-friends, my friends at SPARKS and all the others.. It’s CRAZY that I’m leaving them…

My beautiful Boer Family.. The Groobelars

2007-06-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

The last 3 weeks I stayed with my very best friends isak and Diana and their two noughty but very nice boys Ia and Fredriech. This is the closest I got to a family down here…. (Lily is there, licking Ia’s face.. she’s of course named after me..! You know... lily... Lillistol.. Lillestol.. They thought it would be rude to call their dog Lena... hehe. )

“Sola er god – sola er toppen”

2007-06-26T15:36:00.000-07:00

In my Youth Leads Group, we had one rule saying: If you come too late, you’ll have to sing and dance in front of the rest of the group! The last day I had the honour of coming to late... (of course to everybodys joy, since i’ve always been on time(!))
I told them I’d take the anthem, and I started singing this funny, happy-song:

Sola er god

Sola er toppen

Sola er varm og den bruner på kroppen
Sola den skinner hver morgen for meg
Sola i Rundu, er best synes jeg

They loved it!! They thought we had a fantastic national anthem, and after that I could here my lovely youths singing and humming the song again and again… "sola er god.. sola er toppen..."

My last day with my street-boys…

2007-06-26T15:35:00.001-07:00

Again.. how can you leave these people and be happy???

Ahiii—ahaaa… himba-village playing with the kids

2007-06-26T15:34:00.001-07:00

I promised a picture of my map-reading in Kamanjab

2007-06-26T15:31:00.000-07:00

Reading the map is sometimes easier than it look like! It started out fine, but turned out to a disaster.. ;) WIND my friends.. Kamabjab-inthe midle of nowhere had wind. And i did "learning by doing" find out that WIND and MAP do NOT go togeher.. ;) (Thank you Terje for your help.. and sorry Jonatan for.. not being nice to your map...)

WHAT DO YOU DO- STUCK AT A GAS-STATION IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT?

2007-05-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

Yes, that was us. Came to Otjiwarongo at 3 o’clock in the night, and had nowhere to stay. So… we decided to hang out right there.. 5 hours at a gas-station in the middle of the night.. what do you do?

I’ll tell you: We had a deck of card.. the deck of card was actually our crazy Canadian friend Raviv’s.. and of course, being Raviv’s deck of cards the image on the cards were.. nothing but half-naked ladies!!

When we had nothing else to do, we decided to categorize the ladies. We had 6 categories.
1.Celeberties (ex. Britney Spears, Claudia Shiffer, Christina Aguliera ++)
2. Best looking! (those we all agreed upon)
3. Good looking (those we did NOT agree upon.. seriously Jonatan- one of your “best looking” should have been in the horse-category!!)
4. The Horse-category (eighter they were riding a horse, looked like they were riding a horse or simply: looked like a horse!)
5. Worst looking category and
6. Boring girls. (Those we didn’t even bother look at twice.)

So as you can see.. you don’t have more fun then what you create on your own. HA HA.
(I’ll come back with kamanjab.. where we got stuck for a whole day…)

Wonderful MAY-holydays

2007-05-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

Long time. I’ll try to make it short. I’ve been on vacation with my friends for three weeks. A lot of travelling, but it was totally worth it!!! We met up with some of the other Norwegian volunteers in Zambia and we had an amazing time together!!After returning to Namibia we took a round-trip here for a few days, to see some of the other well-known communities. Like opowo, Oshakati and the less known and very different Khorixas.
WE, are in this case: JONATAN, TERJE AND ME. (Madeleine is part of WE in Zambia!)

I could go on forever I guess.. but I wont. I know travelling-letters are boring for everyone except from those who were there…I picked out only a few picks… All of them taken with Jonatans Fancy camera. I had 3 weeks of holydays without my camera.. again. IT WAS GREAT.
I have loads of beautiful pictures of cute kids in the African Suroundings.. but I’ll leave it up to my Swedish friend to put these out on his homepage… www.jonatanrosengren.blogspot.com I really recomand this page… there’s a lot of great photos!

My travellin-mates

2007-05-20T10:51:00.001-07:00

Ok.. Jonatan looks crazy. But he’s actually nice,,, :)
Terje- is a volunteer in Namibia with me, and he’s growing beird because of lack of racer-blades and because it’s a cooler and a more grown-up image! I LIKE IT!Madeleine is the lost sibling in the Namibia-family. She was placed in South Africa instead.. but we still keep her close to our hearts. Laila on the other hand is not lost in any ways.. she’s hanging in there like no-one. She’ve had Malaria TWIZE. One worse than the other.. She’ve had diarea most of the year, but is still going strong.. LAILA with the nickname: Slow-poison. (for a reason) Anders is not on the picture. But I’ll describe him: Tall, dark, muscular, with a glimt in his eye. Trynefaktor: 7,5 (DET er da virkelig ikkje ille Anders?!)

Victoria falls-- photosession

2007-05-20T10:41:00.000-07:00

Madeleines first reaction when she saw our..yellow friends was: “I want a picture with the yellow people!" And there it is. Exctended SCORE-family!! I'm sorry we missed out on the falls... they are there in the back... they just don't show on my pictures!! hehe... Jonatan will definately put out some GREAT pictures of the falls... So be patient...

VICTORIA FALLS---- BUNGIE JUMPING

2007-05-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

I had decided NOT to jump. 111m.. jumping out from a bridge is stupidity if you ask me!! On the other hand.. haven’t we all had that feeling when we walk over a bridge? The feeling when you start thinking: “what If I jump now…?!” I have.. No was my chance to do it… And at the same time: the boys was going to jump, no matter what.. and I’m not a chicken, am i? If they were jumping- I was jumping. No question.It was amazing… WOOOOAAAA… Like flying!

Visiting my friend Anders in his village outside Livingstone

2007-05-20T10:25:00.000-07:00

Anders and Chiiko. The kids don’t ALWAYS smile here.. Chiiko loved Anders, but I don’t think she liked the camera in her face at this point. And I don’t blame her… mosongos invating their little homestead and cameras all over. Anders on the other hand… :)

2007-05-20T10:06:00.000-07:00

Emely was our host out in the village. She had 4 beautiful kids which she raised on her own. Her homestead was so peaceful and quiet, and nothing there told us about poverty and hunger. They had their corn, their chickens (Madeleine cut the neck of our dinner-chicken the first night! Slowly, slowly with a very bad knife…), their cows, their goats and so on. They had to walk far for water, and there were no electricity. One of my favourite places.... :)

This is probably what will be one of the hardest things for me to handle when coming home. I have hundreds of pictures, but these doesn’t tell the real story. Not even close! The mood, the light, the smells, the sounds, the laughter, the tears, the feeling… The pictures can’t describe how it feels like… And I can’t describe it eighter.. I don’t have the words!

Lena in the “making a better ball-mood”

2007-05-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

Kids in playing with the better ball-mood

2007-05-20T09:58:00.000-07:00

Ceremony for Pierce’s new motorbike

2007-05-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

We got to be part of the most original ceremony in one of the villages! Pierce-our host had got a new motorbike recently. And this day was the day for him to get his blessings from the head of the family!! (Pierce got 3(!) wives, and they were all there, together with the other women around.. They were dancing and singing, and the Head of the family (his aunt) gave him the blessings. Touching here, touching there, praying and giving him the best wishes for the future with his new bike…. It was a nice ceremony!! Maybe something to think about at home?!!

jaja.. sann gaar no dagan...

2007-04-22T13:34:00.000-07:00

Tenkte berre eg måtte oppdatere litt, sia forrige innlegg ser nåke deprimerandes ut…
Altså: slåss for veska mi forrige helg, og fremdeles ingen tegn til verken kamera, nøklar eller visakort. MEN eg er ved godt mot, og håpar og trur at det vil dukke opp.. plutselig. Og om det ikkje gjer det, så er det jo virkelig ikkje verdens undergang! Eg blir heilt flau, virkelig. Mine flotte vennar rundt omkring her, nokre av dei så fattige at dei ikkje har pengar til verken mat eller ved, er seriøst bekymra over kameraet mitt, og ber til Gud kvar dag for at det skal komme til rette.. Eg har bedt dei om å VÆR SÅ SNILL å ikkje snakke om det, og vær så snill å ikkje tenke meir på det!! Ka e vel et kamera?? Helvi har en baby med Tuberkulose, og ho brukar kvar ein cent ho får inn på medisinar og sjukehusbesøk.. ingen barnefar og ingen familie til å hjelpe seg… det er heilt… deprimerande! :/ Så klart så hjelper eg til no, men eg reiser jo snart… ka då?? Til helvette med kamera og veske og nøklar og og og…..

Og Lap-top krisa er mykje mykje mindre enn først frykta!! Mens eg satt lørdagskvelden med tårevått fjes og trudde at ALT var vekke… skulle det vise seg at eg har den sterkaste lap-topen sør for equator.!!!! Stor firhjulstrekk, med 4 personar inni.. kjørte over pc’en 2(!) gongar, og alt som skjedde var at skjermen knuste!!! Den er knust rundtomkring, men den er fullt brukbar. Alle programma mine er der, alle bildene, alle dokumenta… eg kan skrive mail og oppgaver uten problem… berre å minimere og flytte litt opp her og litt ned der, så kan eg sjå på midten av skjermen!!! :) Den er ikkje spes bra til å redigere bilder med… men det er jo ikkje noko problem lenger, eg har jo ikkje kamera!!... der ser dåkke: alt skjer for en grunn…!!! :)

(Og bare for å gjere dåkke oppmerksom på at: eg er ikkje så treg som eg ser ut! To dagar før ”den store dagen” tok eg sikkerhetskopi av absolut alle dokumenta på maskina mi.. berre ikkje sisste bildene og musikken… så eg er førevar, tross alt....)

Nåke eg IKKJE kan sjå nåke grunn til.. enda. Er at tirsdagen etter ei jævlig helg, FLYTTA NABOEN MIN!!! Min gode, snille, trivlige nabo, som har vært meir som host-familien min sia eg kom hit… BORTE. Ingen fleire guttar som spring rundt huset og lagar lydar, ingen fleire som kjem hoppande glade når eg kjem heim fra jobb, ingen som inviterer meg på middag eller film, ingen, ingen, ingen. :( trist.

SÅ, dei sisste dagane har eg protestert. Protestert mot livet i Rundu ved å sitte inne og sett FRIENDS på DVD. 2 sesongar på 4 dagar. 2x24 episodar. Det er 24t. med friends det!! Hehe… Afrika er jammen gøy dere…:)

Onsdag reiser eg på en etterlengta ferie. Først til Windhoek på SCORE-happening, og etter det buss til Zambia. Ingenting er planlagt, så det skal bli spennande. Eg gler meg så innmari til å komme meg herifra… bare et lite pust fra Rundu liksom… At nåken kom og robba meg rett utanfor gaten min, og at INGEN kom for å hjelpe meg hjalp ikkje akkurat på når eg i utgangspunktet var litt smålei.. Eg treng en pause. Men rart å tenke på at når eg kjem tilbake etter pausen så er det berre 4 veker igjen til eg skal reise… Prøver å ikkje tenke på det. (HAHAHA.. som om det er mulig…!)

Uff. Skrivediaré igjen. Sorry.
Håper alle der heime har det berre bra… eg savnar dåkke veldig!

Synneve, du er så flink å legge igjen helsing til meg!!! Tusen takk,,,, viser i alle fall at nåken les fjaset mitt…!!
Og Anders: NO KJEM VI SNART! :)

DAARLIG DAG GITT

2007-04-14T14:25:00.000-07:00

oj. daarlig ja. DAARLIG FOLKENS!!
her e jenta si som har hatt meir uflaks i dag enn ho har hatt kanskje har hatt NAAKEN gang. Og det seier vel kanskje litt?!!

Snille, fine, lille, kvite meg gikk der saa rolig og bedagelig paa vei heim fra en heil dag med fotball paa stadion. .. en bra dag, og eg var saa glad og fornogd.
Sammen med med gikk to guttar i 20-aara, og eg stussa da begge to stilte seg opp for aa pisse i vegkanten... jauda. planen deira var spikra.
Eg snudde meg, og DER var dei... "What do you want?" sa toffe meg.. "your bag" svarte dei og kom etter meg.. Eg sprang og sa "NO WAY", men det hjalp lite. Vi enda i basketak midt paa vegen.. aldri i verden om eg vill gi slipp paa veska mi. Veska mi, med det kjaeraste eg eig> Det nye kameraet mitt!! i tillegg 1000(!) kroner i kontantar og visakort og husnoklar. ALDRI I VERDEN. jauda.. eg tenkte vel lite paa at det kanskje ikkje var saa lurt aa gjere motstand, eg tenkte vel igrunn lite i det heile tatt.. anna enn ALDRI I VERDEN IDIOTAR. Veska blei fullstendig odelagt, saa eg sitt igjen med reima og lokket, lokket som staar "RELAX" paa...Men.. jente som eg er, og INGEN i sikte saa enda det med skrubbsaar paa knea og ei veske mindre.
litt flaks hadde eg da opp i det heile... for midt i mitt tapre forsok paa aa berge veska mi, saa datt telefonen ut.. og eg kunne ringe mine supre(!!) vennar saa dei tok meg til politistasjonen!

Jauda. Slikt kan skje. Det var tross alt ikkje det verse som kunne skje!!!!! :):):):):)

JO: for det verse som kunne skje skjedde etterpaa!!!!!
Etter en time paa politistasjonen reiste vi heim for aa hente lap-topen min.. eg maatte komme meg paa nett for aa ringe banken min... Vi smilte litt da bilen fikk en "BUMP" paa parkeringsplassen... HAHAHA.. vi rygga litt og kjorte over "BUMPEN" igjen. "sikkert ei av leikene til naboen min". Da Rose sa det, saa kjente eg et stikk av daarlig samvittighet, og gikk ut for aa sjaa ka slags leike... Desverre var det ikkje guttane sin leike, men MIN leike.. LAP-TOPEN!!!! VI KJORTE OVER DEN TO GANGAR!!!!!!!!!
KAPUTT.. ka du trur??
Ja, saa det har vaert min dag... Daarlig? JA.
Ka faen skal eg gjere no da? Ingen kamera og ingen lap-top.. ha ha ha.

LIFE IS GREAT, og ALT ORDNA SEG..... takk.

My three favourite(!) volunteers and friends in Rundu

2007-04-12T16:23:00.000-07:00

Fransina, Jerry and Patrick!!!
They are doing an amazing job, and i wouldn't have handled this without them!!
THANKS GUYS!! I LOVE YOU! :)

My fellow volunteer, SARA

2007-04-12T16:17:00.000-07:00

Thanks Sara for a great tournament in Swakob... I'm sorry my team didn't win... and I'm glad you can't read Norwegian... hehe. I'm joking.... of course! No bad things said... :)

Sara is from Canada, and she's a SCORE-volunteer in Swakobmund. She's leaving in two weeks, and we'll miss her organizer-skills A LOT! Trust me... SARA! THEY NEED YOU!!!! ;)

Fotballen er desverre rund i Afrika óg.... :(

2007-04-12T15:30:00.000-07:00

F… e egentlig det eg har berre lyst å seie—heile tida.
I helga hadde 14 av guttane mine fra Rundu + to av mine beste vennar (Fransina og Patrick) sjansen til å kunne reise til Norge til sommeren- for å delta i Norway-cup!!!
Stor-turnering i Swakobmund.

Vi reiste fra Rundu med et fantastisk(!) lag.. eit lag som bestod av 14 guttar som eg beundra stort! Dei var fulle av humor og glede og dei var eksemplariske fra ende til annen. I tillegg kunne dei spele utrulig bra fotball!! Sjølv var eg overbevist om at dette skulle gå vegen.. men den gang ei… K Som sagt: Fotballen er rund også her.. og eg måtte jo vete at alt kunne skje.
Guttane spilte vinnerlaget trill rundt… hadde sjanse etter sjanse etter sjanse- men måla uteblei. Swakobmund derimot hadde TO sjansar heile kampen, og dei scora dei på. L Det er så utruuulig typisk… Den eine av dei to stor-talenta våre presterte å få RØDT kort første kampen.. og eg vil kunne påstå at dette kosta heile laget en tur til Norge.. L Han mista temperamentet og deiste fotballen i haudet på en motspiller… så rødt kort er vel igrunn etter boka.. likevel.. så utrulig bittert. Han var jo nøkkelspilleren våres.. og med han, ville vi jo ha vunnet heile skiten!! F….

Jomba

Eg var nok den som tok tapet tyngst av alle… Hadde mest lyst å grine heile tida. Tenk det da: No kunne eg fått tatt med desse fantastiske guttane heim til Norge- og gitt dei en uforglemmelig opplevelse, istanden må eg ta med en haug med guttar eg overhode ikkje er interessert i å ha der… L Guttane mine var overbevist om at der var brukt ”medicine” (which-craft) forran målet til Swakobmund.. og om eg ikkje hadde visst bedre, så ville eg nok ha støtta denne påstanden… L Dåkke skulle berre ha sett… det var HÅPLAUST å score…!

”Tap og vinn med samme sinn!” sa mamma. YEAH. Eg er berre så utrulig trist og frustrert. Plutselig var det over- og plutselig kan ikkje guttane mine komme… læll om vi VAR BESTE LAGET!!!

Jaja.. eg får prøve å komme meg ovenpå igjen, snart.
Ikkje lenge til eg skal heim no! J Eg gler meg stort. Har fått meg jobb. I Rykkin, Bærum Kommune. Ikkje langt til Oslo, så no kan eg sosialisere med dåkke der heime igjen.. eg gler meg så innmari masse til å sjå alle igjen, til å kunne ta en telefon når eg kjenner for det, til å kunne sette meg i bilen og VIPS være på besøk hos vennane mine igjen. Eg gler meg til og med til å begynne å jobbe.. J Gler meg til å få mi eiga leilighet og mitt eige liv igjen!! 2 ½ mnd no, så e eg der. Uten guttane, men i alle fall med minnene av dei! J Og kanskje neste år…? .. kanskje neste år…!?!

Skal seiest at helga i seg sjølv var ein suksess!!! Og det skal seiest at på tross av skuffelsen så var eg tipp og humøret på topp heile helga. Rollemodell you know. *ler* Vi spilte ball etter tapet, vi vitsa, sang, dansa og lo.. og eg var så UTRULIG stol over å være fra Rundu denne helga!! Jentelaget vårt fikk 3.plass i netball-konkurransen, og alle deltakarane var eksemplariske heile helga. Einaste som var litt kranglevoren, var bussen vi brukte! Skrangle-Kaspar og bråkebøtte, og innimellom heilt umulig å ha med å gjere! Avreise skulle være klokka 0400 torsdags natta.. 0410 kom bussen, og 0415 nekta den å gå meir. Eg kokte inni meg.. og kanskje litt utanpå. Kjefta på buss-sjåføren som ville skifte til en enda gamlare og enda tregare buss, og fikk beordra en mekaniker til åstedet. Etter TO(!) timar var bussen fiksa, og vi kunne ta av… aiaiai…
Etter 12 timar i buss- med bare én brake-down på vegen var vi i Swakobmund. Kystby, med både strand og hav.. og for mange av ungane var dette første gang dei såg havet!!! Kjempeartig å observere, der dei hoppa og dansa og sang og hoia i bølgene.. med både sko og kle. Våte og glade bars det til vårt møte med dei illeluktande hostella vi skulle bo på.. INGEN klaga. DET er nemlig ungane sine det!!! J

No skal eg prøve å komme meg over skuffelsen—så håpar eg at alle heime har hatt ei bra påske og at dåkke er alle klare for vår og sommer!! Lite som minte om påskestemning her i gården gitt… gikk først opp for meg på torsdag at det var påske heime no… J påske er ikkje påske uten snøv og ski. Jesus meg her og jesus meg der… påske = ski og snøv, ittj no annja. Jo… og sol og utepils. DA har vi den.

Hei og hopp fra Lena.

FORRESTEN:

om du veit av ei fin lita leilighet f.eks i Sandvika, så hadde det jo vært heilt fantastisk om du sa ifra!!! EG MÅ JO HA EN PLASS Å BO!!! :)

2007-03-29T11:14:00.000-07:00

En liten bilde oppdatering fra den sisste tida her. det er mulig det er mykje bilde av mine kvite vennar (sitat:mamma) men saken er jo at det er dei eg er sammen med når vi finner på kjekke ting!!! Det er berre sånn.

Har sendt inn nytt reisebrev på NIF sine heimesider for dei som er interessert:

http://www.nif.idrett.no/t2.aspx?p=68552

Der står det litt meir om jobben min som idrettsfrivillig, viss det er det dåkke har lyst å vite om. :)

Og dåkke: ka med å legge igjen ei helsing i boka mi viss du er innom?!! DET ER JO SÅ KJEKKT!!! :)

Håper alle har det berre tipp topp,
Eg har det. *lena*

Independence Day- weekend in Namibia

2007-03-29T11:11:00.000-07:00

21st Marc, the Independence-day in Namibia- land of the brave.
Big celebration of course, and those who could took a long-weekend from Wednesday to Monday. The schools were of, most people went travelling, and so did me and my friends… of course. J

Independence-Tournament

2007-03-29T11:03:00.000-07:00

My volunteers, the NAM-VIP put up a tournament for 250 kids and youths in the age of 14-18 years old. The winner of the Soccer- and netball-tournament are to go to Swakob the eastern-weekend to compete in a national sport festival put together by SCORE-NAMIBIA,
(The winner of the soccer-tournament in Swakob is to go to Norway in July, to participate in Norway Cup.) Please, those of you who have contact with someone I don’t have contact with.. like God or something… put in a good word for my team… I so want our boys to go to Norway!!!) J

Nurse Lena Lillestøl

Netball--- it's big my friends!

Camping in Mahango Game Park

2007-03-29T10:29:00.000-07:00

I went camping over the long-weekend, with 8 of my volunteer-friends.
(most of them from VSO) WE had a wonderful weekend at Ngepi Camp in Mahango. Relaxing and nice, from A to Z.
The camp was so different than anything else I’ve seen.. I spent an hour walking around checking out the different bath-rooms and toilets at the camp. The most creative camp/lodge/backpacker I’ve ever been to.

I got up at 6:00 two days in a row to see the sunrise.. it was amazing. (Guess I have seen a sunrise before, but never sober like this…)

Mahango game-park is the only game-park in Namibia where you are allowd to actually leave the car. With animals wherever you were looking this is kind of exciting, especially since we were told there were a lion observed in the area the day before… J
HIPPO’s is the big thing. You rarely see them properly, and we were hippo-hunting for two days… The pics are my friends trying as best as they can to catch one… with the eye.. With no result. You could only here them, somewhere in the seed… Three weekends ago on the other hand, Jonatan and me ++ got a close look. THEY ARE SO BIG!! Have to admit I was sceptic for a sec…

I’m sorry for not being a nature-photographer… I just cant capture animals nicely. I suggest u check out Jonatan’s blogg for nice animal-pictures… I’m not patient enough to find out how you do it. But here you’ve got: a bird(!) and a zebras butt. ( I can’t believe I went birdwatching with my friends… ME: BIRDWATCHING. Believe it or not.

I’ll finish with a nature-picture only for you STIG. It doesn’t look much like Africa does it?? My friends: this is NOT Somalia. This is Namibia, Kavango Region, it’s like my friend Rose would have said it: GORGEOUS!!!

Snake at my gate.. no kidding

2007-03-27T02:09:00.000-07:00

We had the longest snake in our garden 2 days ago..! Thank God or whoever that I wasn’t home at the moment… I would have… freaked out!!
Isak- my friend and neighbour shot it in the head, and of course scared the crap out of me when I came home!!! “can you please hand me that box” he said with his nicest voice, and kind as I am—I did. IIIIIK.. there was nothing in it, but a big big snake under it!! The boys had the laugh of the day…. And I guess so did I… 

Time is running in Rundu. 3 ½ month left, and then I’m finished. It’s crazy!!!
I’ll be back in Norway on the 2nd of July. Hornindal it is and for the first time in a long time I can’t wait to get to my little smallville in the middle of all the mountains!!! It’s a nice-nice place… remember that family and friends!!!! 

At the moment I’m applying for jobs for next year. It’s kind of scary.. but also very exciting.. Where am I next march?? I have NO idea..!!! hopefully close to my friends… hopefully close to Oslo… hopefully at a cool school, with cool learners. Hopefully somewhere I enjoy, hopefully somewhere I want to spend a few years. I kind of feel like settling down… find my self and get a real life. It’s on time isn’t it???!!!!

I hope everybody is fine. I’m thinking about you all the time.
Best regards Lena Lillestøl

THE snake

2007-03-27T01:52:00.000-07:00

No more making fun when I tell you I’m sceptic with all these snakes around!!! This one is BIG my friends!!!

MUS I HUS

2007-02-28T04:22:00.000-08:00

Iiiik.. Dagens Lena må være musejakt på rommet mitt!! Seriøs MUSEJAKT… Ruusa (min housemate) på en stol med en kost i kvar hand, og meg på alle fire på golvet med lommelykt og prøvde å tøffe meg som best eg berre kunne… DET var bare utenpå!!!

Klokka oo.oo i går holdt eg på å gå i drømmeland, da eg kjente nåke som rasla på puta mi. Vurderte seriøst å berre gi søren ”sikkert berre enda en bugg eller edderkopp” men eg sleit meg da opp, og fikk på lyset.. DET VAR EI MUS!!! PÅ PUTA MI!! EI MUS!!!
ÆSJ.. Grett at dei er på loftet, grett at dei bråkar og grett at dei lever.. men IKKJE i senga mi!!! 
Eg vekte Ruusa, og jakta var i gang… Tru det eller ei: etter 30min. med jakt på det lille rommet mitt var musa sporløst forsvunnet… vi vrengte av alle sengeklær, vi tok av madrassa, vi tippa senga, men musa var VEKK… Den hadde nok et lite bol inni(!) holrommet under senga mi, men det var umulig for oss å komme inn der… ”Den som hadde vært liten som ei mus…!”

Så da var det fram med myggnettingen… ikkje for å beskytte mot mygg, men for å beskytte mot mus……. Ken hadde trudd at det skulle skje??

HI EVERYBODY!!!!

2007-02-28T04:00:00.000-08:00

HVA SKJER’A??? hihi.. That’s the most used saying between me and my small friends here in the location!! Whenever I walk to school, to town or to practice… I hear ”TINGELITINGELI” or ”HVASKJERA” all over… I LOVE IT! (Ingenting Tingeling is for the adcanced once… which are not many… The versions on the other hand Is MANY…tingelitingeli--- ingelitingeli--- tingelingeling)
(They boy on the picture did NOT say "Hva skjer'a...." He was crying his heart out because of me... :( Sirumbu... i was more or less TOO white for him to enjoy it...)

Life as a SCORE-VOLUNTEER in NAMIBIA is great!! I finally love it 100%!! I DID enjoy it before as well… but not as much as now. I have gotten in to things for real, my work is great, my plans are many and so are my projects. My main-project this year is something called NAM-VIP (Namibian Volunteer Involvement Program) where I train and administrate a bunch of out of school-youths in the community. This is community-volunteers helping me in my work, and the hope is for them eventually to stand on their own feet helping out with sport- projects around town! We’ve had two successful workshops the last month and more are coming.
Since school started it has been Athletic-season at the schools. Lot’s and lot’s of fun… They do it quite different from how I would have done it, but somehow it work, so I decided just to enjoy, help out where needed and rather contribute on the evaluation after the season… I got my new camera, and already have lots of pictures. It was drama in my head here for a while… I could kill for a camera at some of the events… but at least I have it in my head. Maybe it was good for me not to have a camera for a while..?!!

Stig: you were asking for pictures from the nature… Hmm.. what exactly would you like?? I mean… Nature? It’s all bushes and sand.. and of course the sunset.. I AM planning on taking photos of all the different houses and locations here… but I just haven’t felt comfortable yet, carrying and knipsing with my big fancy camera up there… I’ll find the guts soon-soon.
(My friend has some pictures from the day we went illegal to Angola.. I'll go get them later today... At least it showes some of the nature in Angola... :) )

THANK YOU ALL for all the kind words for my birthday… and the nice cards for X-Mas… Things takes time, and I’m still waiting for some… either someone is having a nice party between Norway and Namibia somewhere--or the presents will come… after a few months. Shame. BUT you can just imagine how happy I’ll be when they finally arrive… :)

My mom complained that my blogg was more filled with me and my white friends, than pics from the actual African life… I guess she’s right. I’ll try to post some pictures of something else this time. Mostly from my work as a volunteer, but also some others… Jonatans blogg is the place to go to see niiice pictures.. (jonatanrosengren.blogspot.com) I’m still struggling to get to know my camera, and also to get people to behave normal when I take out my camera. I guess in his small community they are used now… here they are not. Whenever the camera is out… they get into their POSING-positions… yeah.

Hope you are all doing well… I miss my friends and my family a lot.. but now it’s only four more months to go, and the time will fly away.. I probably don’t want to leave when time is here…

I’ll be better keeping in touch, I just wish the day had more hours…All the best wishes from your friend in Namibia… LENA ♥

PS: I got a new postbox here in Rundu! A personal one.. (together with my house-mate) So you are of course free to send me some words from your life if you feel like it… J
New address:

Lena Kristin Lillestøl
co/Ruusa Iitulla (just in case)
PiBox 2208
Rundu, NAMIBIA----AFRIKA

JIPPI.. Lena har faatt kamera!! HER er et utdrag... fra livet som frivillig

2007-02-28T03:54:00.000-08:00

Life as a SCORE-volunteer.... :)

2007-02-28T03:49:00.000-08:00

YOUTH LEADS

2007-02-28T03:44:00.000-08:00

Her er dei yngre ungdommane eg jobbar med..
"youth leads" kallar vi det, og eg laerer dei om life-skills og sport-skills... og tanken er at dei skal kunne bringe det videre til sine jamn-aldrende...

Eit av dei kjekkaste prosjekta eg har her faktisk!! Suuupre ungdommar...

Carlos fant BESTE gjommeplassen paa "boksen gaar" .. eller "kick the bottle" som han kalte det.
Eg fikk d ei til aa introdusere kvar sin leik forrige gang.. det var topp! Masse arti som eg kan ta med heim til sommeren....

"Blackmans-tanning"

2007-02-28T03:38:00.000-08:00

Min kompis Bonnie, viser kor det skal gjerast....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2007-01-24T01:22:00.000-08:00

2007—it sounds GREAT… yet!

I’m putting out some pics from my Christmas-holiday! I was suppose to go to Durban, and I did. But we only staid for three days before we headed towards MOSAMBIQUE!!! NOT a bad choice… at all. We spent a lot of our vacation on bus, but Tofu and Mosambique was absolutely worth it! (gosh… this continent is HUGE.. the map.. is one big lie!!!!)

We spent Christmas-eve with two other volunteers. Nico from Canada and Thomas from Holland. We had a nice Christmas-dinner, all by ourself. We had Christmas-hats, presents and even ginger-cookies so who can complain?? J Almost like Christmas at home… J

On boxing-day (26.12) we went to a cricket-game. (South Africa – India.. suppose to be a BIG match) I don’t get this game.. if you ask me, I would say: BOOORING. But those who knows it have a different opinion… It last for 5(!) days.. and nothing happens.. most of the time. J But boring at the field.. the sideline was a totally different story!! Read: P.A.R.T.Y. Live music, the wave every 10.min, beer, sun, and hundreds of happy people! Jippi.

Tofu Beach, Mosambique.
I don’t know what to say…
Let me sum it up with:

BEACH, SUN, HAMMOCKS, MANGOS, BEEDS, 31 IN THE OCEAN, PRAWNS, BEER, And the boys finally got their BLACK BEAUTIES. (the ones who know how to shake their booty)

Now I’m back in Rundu, ready to get started on the final 6 months. I can’t wait to get started for real…

Again: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
I wish you all the best!
Love Lena.

GOD JUL ALLE SAMMEN

2006-12-21T15:25:00.000-08:00

Eg vil med dette onske daakke alle sammen ei straalandes god jul der heime i Norge!!!
Eg tenker masse paa mangen av daakke... er rart med det> jul er jul. :)

No sitt eg i Windhoek, og er paa veg til Durban der mitt eine maal er aa laere meg aa surfe!!! Om det blir noko av maa fulane vete.. men det ser vi. Eg gler meg iallefall veldig til nokre veker som backpacker... det er eit fiiiint liv.

Eg har lagt ut nokre bilder eg har hatt liggande. Berre saa dei som er interesserte kan sjaa... Eg fann ut det var litt mykje tur og fest og litt lite jobb paa desse oppdateringane mine... :) Typisk.
No er her iallefall nokre godbitar fra livet mitt som idrettsfrivillig.

Kos daakke saa mykje mykje... ta gjerne ei ribbe for meg. saa skal eg ta en kebab for deg. :)

GOOOD JUUUL... med beste helsing Nabbe-Lena.

Nokre praktiske ting:
1. det gaar an aa klikke paa bildene saa blir dei storre
2. det gaar an aa legge igjen en hilsen saa eg ser at det er vits aa legge noko her..
3. i sor afrika no, blir eg aa bruke eit anna nummer: +27 7604 71 33 85
4. for dei som har lurt paa det: mitt skypenavn er: trollet13
5. eg gler meg til aa komme til Norge igjen til sommeren!!! Er det nokon som har ein jobb i sikte til meg, saa maa daakke berre seie ifra. Alt er... ikkje grett. Det maa vaere en bra og spennende og utfordrendes jobb. Eg er klar til aa bli voksen no... men der finnes sjolvsagt grenser! Eg er ikkje Lena for ingenting. TAKE CARE.

Overraskelsesbesok av Anders og Laila

2006-12-21T15:13:00.000-08:00

Forrige veke banka det plutselig paa dora - og der stor Anders og Laila. (SCORE-frivillige i Zambia)Dei hadde kjaurt 1000km berre for aa komme aa treffe meg!! JIPPI!! Vi er som en liten familie her nede i det Sorlige Afrika no.. og det var utrulig godt aa sjaa dei igjen!!! Og veldi arti at dei hadde klart aa holde det hemmelig og klart aa finne huset mitt uten at eg visste nokon ting!!! 10p. (eller: 9,5.. eg trekker 0,5 for en aaaanelse om at noko kom til aa skje, da Laila sende snaale meldingar to dagar for...) Men 9,5 av 10 mulige er da ikkje saa verst..!! Iallefall ikkje naar det er Lena Lillestol som er dommer!!! :)

Dei blei med meg paa et lite oppdrag, som gikk ut paa aa pakke inn 200 presangar som vi skulle ha til red cross-festen vaar fredag. TUSEN TAKK FOR HJELPA!! Uten daakke hadde nok eg sittet og knytt pakkar enda... :)

Festen var suksess, pakkane fine og ungane reine. (dei bada i bassenget til vatnet var saa brunt at vi maatte jage dei ut.. :) )

RED CROSS

2006-12-21T14:49:00.000-08:00

Det arbeidet som gir meg mest av alt her i Rundu- er aa jobbe med barna paa Red Cross-senteret!!!
Eg er her ofte, da det gir meg saa mykje aa sjaa kor mykje dei setter pris paa at eg kjem. Eg har faatt mange smaae vennar som ikkje har det berre lett i kvardagen. Kor mange som er infected av Hiv og Aids veit eg ikkje. Men eg veit det er mange. Eg veit og at alle desse barna har berre ein eller ingen foreldre og at dei ikkje faar tilstrekkelig med mat heime. Heldigvis finnes dette senteret. Her har dei vennar, her har dei folk som bryr seg, her faar dei mat, og i ny og ne faar dei nye kle... Sjaa berre desse barna kor kry og glad dei er... Den som berre hadde hatt en privar jet.. saa kunne vi flygd ned alle gamle kledene vi har paa loftet... Tenk saa glade dei hadde blitt da....!! :)

Bilder fra skulen min. KEHEMU PRIMARY!!

2006-12-21T13:33:00.000-08:00

I november hadde dei premieutdeling paa skulen. 1300 elevar var tilstede, og prisane var for "beste i idrett", "beste elev- i kvar klasse", "best kledd/ reinaste" (som er ein.. interessant pris naar 1300 elevar har skuleuniform og provar saa godt dei kan aa vaere fine kvar dag...) osv..
Eg satt paa orkesterplass, og fikk aeren av aa dele ut "best i sport-prisen", noko som var ekstra stas, da den gikk til netball-jentene som eg kjenner saa godt!! :)
underholdninga stod elevane for, og det var kjempeflott aa sjaa!!!! THESE GUYS CAN MOVE!!! Shit.. eg blir saa utruulig imponert.. og jo meir eg ser- jo meir kompleks faar eg for mi eiga rorsle.. ooops. Eg eig jo ikkje rytme i denne stutte kroppen min.. mens desse> CAN SHAKE THEIR BOOTY

Samme dag var det duka for fest paa skulen. Dette er eit anna syn enn vi er vane med. Herrane i forgrunnen er mine kolegaer, som saag annledningen til aa ta seg ein fest. Eg bare rista paa haudet! Ka kan en gjer? Eg kunne sjolvsagt ha gaat i protest.. men ka nytte hadde det gjort? Einaste konsekvensen det ville ha faatt var at eg mista jentene mine sitt danseshow seinare paa kvelden. Igjen: These chicks can moooove.... :)
(legg ogsaa med nokre bilde av dei coooole guttane paa skulen.. POSE kan dei..:)

World Aids Day 2006

2006-12-12T01:36:00.000-08:00

Jippi. Finally finished with the biggest event this year. And it was a SUCCESS!! :)
250 kids on the field, playing soccer, netball and volleyball.
We had food, drinks, balloons, certificates and nice prizes for the best teams! :) One of my volunteers said the next day: “it was the best tournament she had ever attended” I gave myself and her and the rest of the volunteers, who made this happen, a big clap on the shoulder!!! And then I bought coke and biscuits to celebrate on the evaluation-meeting. :)

I am so relieved and happy to be finished, and now I’m just going to enjoy the rest of this HOT December-month. It’s more or less 40° above zero now, so I can feeeel the heat on my body! :)

Hope you are all doing more than fine, getting ready for white Christmas, me myself will go for a blue Christmas this year. Blue ocean and blue sky: Surfing in Durban! :)

Lena :)

In pictures

2006-12-12T01:11:00.000-08:00

My good friend Helvi, and her baby.

2006-12-12T00:55:00.000-08:00

Special Olympics

2006-12-12T00:52:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, i got the honour to participate running the Special Olympics here in Rundu.
We had 24 kids and adults with mental disabilities who did different soccer-skills at the stadium. It was a wonderful day, were all the kids got to show what they were good for.

It’s amazing how god it felt to make a day like this for these kids. They are usually hidden in the villages outside town, but this day were totally theirs!! They got food, drinks, t-shirts, medals, ribbons and a bunch of claps on their shoulders! The smiles on their faces after the event is possible to live on for a long long time… :)

Size does NOT matter!!! :)

2006-12-12T00:41:00.000-08:00

Om du kan sende julekort?? SÅ KLART!!!

2006-11-27T04:59:00.000-08:00

Adressa mi er fremdeles:

Lena Kristin Lillestøl
c/o Ruusa Iitula
PIBAG 2081
RuNdU,
NAMIBIA(AFRIKA, var det en postmann som har skreve på et av breva eg fikk....)

Mailen min er: lenakristin_@hotmail.com

Telefonen min er: +246 812 19 4555

Om du vil lese reisebrev fra dei andre frivillige eg reiser sammen med:
http://www.nif.idrett.no/t2.aspx?p=14011

hiv og hei og sjangala bangala

Morten is here.. Etosha is there...

2006-11-20T05:13:00.000-08:00

Morten- my friend from Norway came a week ago! (we took PE at the teacher-college together, and he’s just a friend… ) It’s great to have somebody from home coming.. Nice to show him around and nice to have somebody to talk norvegian to!! The week have been different… The schools have started their exams, so now the kids are busy. We had two trips to the schoolyard for after-school sport, whereby NOBODY showed up..That’s just how it goes this time of year… but we’ll try again.. and again.

Friday afternoon we went for ETOSHA- the biggest national-park in Namibia. We went to see the animals and also to enjoy ourself with my friends Jonatan and Fransiena. We had a great weekend!

Morten became quite sceptic when he realised how you travel in Namibia. We were waiting for almost two hours at the gas-station before we got a ride—A bucky whereby we were placed in the back. Luckily there were a mattress, so it wasn’t as painful as it could have been! When we arrived Etosha after 5,5h we decided to go for the free accommodation Jonatan had arranged for us. Again: Morten Sceptic! (He’s used to a travelling-budget far bigger then a regular backpacker would have had… read. Accommodation which includes good beds, taxibills far over the normal, eating out every night etc.) All we had was our sleeping-bags, Morten one of those thin-thin ones.. and we had to sleep at a classroom-floor!! A cement one.. Quite funny, at least I got a pillow from one of the girls - so I slept like… not an angel- but good.. Morten on the other hand… had a hard- but ok night. (The second night we rented rooms at the lodge…!!)

Anyway. Etosha = Animals!I finally saw my Elephants, my giraffes, my lions, my zebras, my springboks and so on… It was a great time. Maybe we didn’t see as many animals as we expected, BUT we saw 12(!) lions and as long as I got my elephant everything is fine! J Trust me: to see an elephant close by like this is different from those dirty, old, abused elephants you find in a circus!!! Amazing how big they are… and amazing how bad skin they have.. Some moisturizing lotion wouldn’t be a bad suggestion for these poor fellows…!

After 5hours in the park- we were satisfied and decided to ENJOY the rest of the day by the pool!! And all of you know: Sun, Blue Sky, Good Friends, Pool and Beer = PERFECT. And this time was not an exception… J I’ll try to put out pictures that can tell more than my poor words.

Lena.

My friend Morten and me... :)

2006-11-20T05:08:00.000-08:00

AN ELEPHANT...........!!!!!!!!!

2006-11-20T04:58:00.000-08:00

Can we have it better?? Blue sky, palm-trees, pool and beer... NICE

2006-11-20T04:50:00.000-08:00

Different ways of entering the pooooool

2006-11-20T04:35:00.000-08:00

Jonatan show us how to do CPR--- on a chair. Serious CPR.

2006-11-20T04:23:00.000-08:00

Morten = crazy (in a good way)

2006-11-20T04:14:00.000-08:00

this is where we slept... Mortens queen-bed on the picture.

2006-11-20T04:09:00.000-08:00

Fly high my friend...

2006-11-20T04:05:00.000-08:00

DIVING FROM THE SKY... it's a must...! it's-----

2006-11-15T06:09:00.000-08:00

------

2006-11-15T06:05:00.000-08:00

---------------hihiiiiiiii

2006-11-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

Nede.. kjempe-kjempeglad for en fantastisk opplevelse

2006-11-15T05:54:00.000-08:00

QUADBIKING... a blast!!! (sara and Raviv under...)

2006-11-15T05:47:00.000-08:00

SANDBOARD... utrulig konge..!

2006-11-15T05:28:00.000-08:00

Swakobmund- the German city in the middle of nowhere..

2006-11-15T05:24:00.000-08:00

Last weekend me and my friends (Jonatan, Terje, Sara and Raviv) decided to spend in Swakobmund- a German city placed at the westcoast of Namibia. Except from Desert on the right, Ocean on the left, it was like coming home for four days, weird-but nice. Anyways. Swakob is the tourist-capital of Namibia. This is where you can do all those things you have been dreaming of doing for a long time. For me- this was the place where I could go SKYDIVING for the first time. FINALLY!!! J I’ve been dreaming of doing it for.. ever. And now I had the chance. I was so eager, and I surprised myself by not being nervous AT ALL. I enjoyed every minute of it, and I’m pretty sure it must be like being on drugs! I JUST WANT TO DO IT AGAIN,.. AND AGAIN.

But this was not the only fun we had. J We also went SANDBOARDING and QUADBIKING in the desert. Both: A BLAST! Party is also a MUST in Swakob- and I had the hang-over of my life in the middle of the desert! Actually had to extend my stay with one day… because when the others had a great time Saturday, I was sleeping on the dunes- not able to move. SHAME. Anyways- I just extended my stay, and did all the fun things on Sunday instead- after my friends went home..!!

Sandboarding was quite much like snowboarding, but not as cold and not as hard. I saw my friends doing the jumps on Saturday, so when I tried- I couldn’t be any worse! It was great fun… and I actually got an offer from the guys running the whole thing, to come back next weekend to compete in the yearly sandboarding-contest they have in Swakob. They wanted me to run for their team, thought it could be good promotion for their club to have a crazy norvegian GIRL on their team! They wanted to pay both my trip and my accomandation, which actually is a great offer! BUT… I guess I’m to proud of making such a fool of myself, I don’t feel confedent in participating in any contest, after sandboarding one time… so I think I’ll just stay here… J

Quadbiking was also GREAT fun. The weather was nice and the dunes amazing. We were divided into groups. Fast, middle and slow- and of course I had to try the fast-guys, and trust me: We were riding the bikes FAST, I had serious trouble keeping up with those guys. … hehe. But I’m still alive and I had a great time- so then it’s all good.

After staying in Swakob for the weekend, I went to Windhoek to fetch my friend Morten- who came from Tanzania to visit. He’ll stay here for 10 days, and I hope we can do some fun things. I guess I have to do some work in between to, but that’s fine. The schools have started their exams now, so the rest of their lifes have kind of stopped. But we’ll find something to do! I’m working on an event for the World Aids Day the 2nd of December at the moment. An event I hope and think is going to be a success… as long as the participants shows up!! (I’ve promised them something to drink and eat--- so I guess they will)

That’s it for now. I just HAD to put out the Skydiving Pictures.. I’m so proud and glad that I finally did it. And I just have to say: YOU HAVE TO TRY!! You’ll have the time of your life.. SERIOUS. It can’t be any better than this!!!

Love Lena.

Rundukids by the river... happy as always!! :)

2006-10-23T05:29:00.000-07:00

TAXI-BOAT from Angola to Rundu. (1 N$ --- 1KR)

2006-10-23T05:27:00.000-07:00

me and my swedish friend JONATAN.

2006-10-23T05:23:00.000-07:00

Summer and culture-differences, both has taken me with a BANG and a BOOM.

2006-10-23T05:13:00.000-07:00

Ok.. long time no blogg. Finally I got the time to struggle with this internet, and put in a few words. And even a few pictures. JMy life in Rundu goes by, I’m struggling my own struggles. Aiysh… I’m so… not patient. I thought I’d gotten better, but the last week I figured I haven’t! K I guess I had some kind of culture-shock last week. I’m not used to lick peoples back to get what I want, I never had and I thought I never would…. But if I’m going to fit into the African culture in Namibia I guess I will have to swallow my pride -and lick… K
Norwegian white, blond girl working with women-soccer- not a good combination. Not in this world. I should have been a big black guy working with men-soccer--- it would have been so much easier. But I guess I would just have to look at it as a challenge and move on. Move on, and calm down. I’m not here to fight all the fights. I’m not here to change Rundu or change the people here. I’m only here to help out where I am needed. If I actually makes a different - I would just have to look at it as a BONUS at the end of the year. K that’s the story of our lifes.

Rundu is still good though. It’s starting to get HOT. In the middle of the day it’s boiling, and all you want to do is to dig a big hole and jump in! But I’m not complaining. If I could choose Norway in November or Namibia in November I would defiantly choose Namibia. (Except from the Cobra-snakes that is going to live in my garden over the summer… I would put them on the first plane to Norway if I could…) The schools are great, and I’m starting getting jused to get up around 6am. NO PROBLEMO. I actually even get up 7am in the weekends, that have to be called IMPROVEMENT?!!! (those who knows me- know I like to zzzzleeeeep in the weekends!)

Vumisa and Raymond - Mr Mayisela and Mr Freeze (-ooops, don’t know how to write this name..),are the two people at the head-office for SCORE-Namibia. Friday they were here to check out if I’m doing anything while I’m here. I don’t know what they found out. I think all they found was a small little girl in kind of a culture shock, who finally had somebody to talk to about all her concerns and frustrations. I think I forgot to tell them the good things, but It was good to have them here. If I could be only 1/10 as calm as Vumisa (Mr. Mayisela) is, I would have been a much better and more happy person….! Aysh.. wish there was a cure…

I miss the simple life in Norway, but right now I wouldn’t have changed it for the world. This is my way of learning. I learn A LOT about myself, and I learn A LOT about the African culture and the people here. Ok, I might struggle now and then, but here they use the expression: “what doesn’t kill you- can only make you stronger”. So I’m hoping to be a stronger person after this year. (And just let it be said: I’m not even close to get killed… as long as the Black Mamba and the Cobra stays away from my face….)

My English has gotten… I don’t know. Better or worse. Better I suppose. I realised that my English is.. poor. I worked in California for one year, but working with a 3-year old girl for one year doesn’t give you an advanced language, It’s simple - Easy as that.
Now I have my simple English pronounced with cleaR R’s.. In a good old fascion AfRican way of pRonouncing them. gReat. J I’m just hoping to get a few new words in soon, so I don’t sound like a… 3-year old….

Okidoki. That’s it for now. Putting in a few pictures. Hope you are doing fine. And: if you read my blog, please put in a few words in my guestbook, just so I know I’m not writing for the birds. It’s easy… J Have a nice week. Love Lena.

Ps: if you are writing a letter.. don’t forget to put NAMIBIA on it. I forgot to say it the last time. So my address is still:

lena kristin lillestøl
c/o Ruusa Iitula
PIBAG 2081
RuNdU, NAMIBIA

tlf: +264 812 19 4555
(you wont find me at SKYPE, but you can still call this number from it…it’s cheap and the signal is good.. )

e-mail: lenakristin_@hotmail.com

i HAVE actually coocked... once or twice... :)

2006-10-23T05:09:00.000-07:00

My new office outside...LOVELY!

2006-10-23T05:06:00.000-07:00

My inside office

2006-10-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

My noughty neighbour-boys and my friendly neighbour-man

2006-10-23T04:54:00.000-07:00

Ruusa cleaning the windows with a VACUMCLEANER!! :)

2006-10-23T04:46:00.000-07:00

my norvegian friends... and the swedish one...!!

2006-09-23T13:33:00.000-07:00

Ok.. a few pics from cape town... The pictures are of my norwegian fellows, working with the same as I am... in South Africa, Zambia and Namibia. ..
I hope you're all doing great.. I AM.
HIV OG HOI. love lena

Finally... SKYPE!!

2006-09-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

Check out this guy.. talking to his sister...!!
DORKY system if you ask me... :D

Anders on the wheelchair. He suits it doesn't he??

2006-09-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

Britt..! Trust me.. we had our few drinks that week...! Cape town it is..!!!

2006-09-23T12:57:00.000-07:00

RANDI IN HEAVEN!!! Long Street it is....

2006-09-23T12:50:00.000-07:00

Table Mountain- Laila and Terje

2006-09-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

U made it.. I didn't. I had a better lunsh in Long Street instead.. Bad Lena. Bad.

FINALLY

2006-09-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

Ok.. I’ve finally started my real work here in Rundu. Monday I started working in the schools, and I find it GREAT! Feel like I’m doing something useful here, and that’s a good feeling!! J
Of course there are some things I wish were different, but there is nothing I can do about it, so I would have to deal with it, and believe it or not: I’m fine by that!!!

these are my to main questions:
1.who the h… came up with the idea of starting school at 0700??? If I found that guy, I would for sure tell him where I come from!! Tuesday I had to be at the school 0640, and it takes me 20-25min on these gravelled roads. Which means I had to leave my house at 0615- the latest. And now you can use your own imagination to find out when I had to get up that morning…!!! CRAZY

2.Who decided that it should be so dammed hot in this country?? Gosh.. I’m boiling, and I got my first real sunburn IN MY FACE. But I don’t complain.. I don’t mind a tan now.. finally. It’s amazing how much fresher and nicer you feel like when you get some colour…! Wish I was black/brown/coloured… white is not my thing.. hehe. J

Anyways. Things are going great here. I don’t miss home one bit, and I wish some of you guys could save up some money and come down here to check it out. You would like it!! I’m pretty sure of that!!!

Last sunday I went to church!! The 0700-service. CAN YOU BELIVE IT? I can promise you one thing: It wont happen again… *laughing* emagine: ME, 7 o’clock in church. And this wasn’t the church where they are singing out loud, dancing, clapping and cheering—like in the movie “sister act”. This was a catholic church, pretty similar to the church at home /Except from that is is catholic of course…) and the songs sounded for me like…lullabys!! I felt like sleeping the whole time… J but still: nice. I’ve been there-done that.

I’m putting out some pictures we took when we were in Cape Town, this is my norvegian fellows- working in Zambia, South Africa and Namibia. --- I hope you are all doing good/better. That you get enough food, friends, guidance and leisure-time!! See you in december! MOSAMBIQUE it is.

Okidoki. Better go fetch something to drink. (water of course… I’ve become a health-freak--- need to loose those 5kg I gained on my failed try to stop… you know. …water, carrots and outmeal it is!!)

See you. And I can’t say it often enough: I LOVE every e-mail and sms I get from home… THANKS!!!*lena*

And one more thing: I just have to tell you guys. Especially my fellow teacher-student-friends: Tuesday I had 80(!) 4th grade learners for PE…. ALL BY MY SELF!!! …think about that next time you have 25 kids in your class… and you feel like complaining…!!! J

hej, Lena har en plan

2006-09-16T13:04:00.000-07:00

Hei
Eg begynnte å tenke på en ting. Det er fredagskveld, og eg ligg her under hønsenettingen med pc’en på fanget og funderer på alt mulig rart. I dag var eg på røde kors-senteret, der traff eg blant anna 3 barn som nettopp hadde blitt plukka opp. 2, 3 og 6 år, mor og far døde av aids, bestemor og bestefar for fattige, gamle og sjuke til å ta seg av dei. Leverbrødet deira var bestefaren som plukka opp tomflasker i byen og panta dei så han fikk pengar nok til brød og anna nødvendig til seg og bestemor. Ungane derimot klarte han ikkje å fø… Røde kors senteret har 150(!) av samme slag…. Ganske sjukt. Eg møtte også Maria Magdalena(!.. ho hette faktisk det!) på 20, som sjølv betalte skulegang og skuleuniformer til 12 av ungane der, det var så mykje ho hadde råd til.

190kr i året pr unge, pluss skuleuniform!!!! Det er jo ingenting nesten… men likevel, så utrulig mykje for desse barna her!!! KA SKAL EN GJERE??? Eg vil jo så gjerne hjelpe, men eg veit liksom ikkje kor eg skal begynne….

Det eg tenkte no da, var berre rett og slett å lufte dette for dåkke der heime… kunne DU tenke deg å hjelpe en foreldrelaus unge i Rundu, så den får sjansen til å gå på skulen``?? 190kr I ÅRET. Eg må sjølvsagt snakke med MariaM om korleis vi evt skulle gjere det… men eg tenker: ”alle monner drar”, og om vi i sammen kan hjelpe kanskje… 10 ungar, så er det jo 10 fleire ungar med skulegang enn før vi kom inn i bildet!!! Kanskje ikkje veldig bærekraftig om vi betaler en unge for 1års skulegang, men dersom eg lovar å organisere det, så kanskje vi kan fortsette å gje pengar til dei same ungane i… 10 år?!!
Eg veit det finnes titals andre hjelpeorganisasjonar en kan støtte… men eg føler liksom at dette blir litt anna. Eg er her.. eg ser at pengane kjem fram, eg ser ungane som treng det og eg kan kjenne på gleden av å få hjelpe andre--- og kanskje etterkvart formidle det vidare til dåkke. Gjennom bilder, brev, video og…. fjasete reisebrev over nettet.

Ka seier du`? la oss seie… 300kr i året?! Da inkluderar det skule, skuleuniform og kanskje en ny genser og et par sko.

Eg hadde sett så utrulig pris på om du ville hjelpe desse barna her. Husk: det kan forandre eit heller håplaust liv…. ”send en mail da vel...” eg ville bli saa glad saa glad... og eg veit naaken som ville bli enda gladare.... J

Med beste helsing Lena.

PS: IKKJE UTSETT MAILEN TIL EN ANNEN DAG... da glommer du det. Eg snakka av egen erfaring....!!! send den no... saa har eg deg paa lista mi, og lovar aa komme tilbake til deg snart. Plutselig starta mi ega lille bedrift her... Og da er du lova julekort i posten neste aar.

Blogg me here and blogg me there

2006-09-11T13:32:00.000-07:00

Hoho.. directly translated norwegian-english is always a good one. I’m finally back in Namibia. It’s great to be “home” again, after some though 10 days in Cape Town. Namas-house is full of norwegian students, so it’s actually like being in Norway again, except from the warm weather. Namibia is starting to get HOT.

Cape Town was GREAT. If you ever get the opportunity u have to go there!!! Table mountain standing there all majestetic, the harbour, the beaches, the friendly people, the malls, the market and last but not atleast LONG STREAT with all the pubs and discos. Jippi.
We had 5 days of studying at Eastern Cape University, where we learned a lot about apartheid and the south African School-system.++ Most of it was interesting, but it’s the same as at home. Somethings are better than others. OF COURSE!
It was nice to see the other norwegian volunteers again, nice to exchange experiences and good to see that most of them are doing great! (Laila have for example had diarea for 3 weeks so I don’t know if I can call that great or what?!) STOP TAKING THAT MALARIA-MEDICINE LAILA!!!!

Anyways. Things are good in my world. My friend Shadrack from South Africa gave me the best complement today. He haven’t seen me in 5 weeks and he sayd this, in exact words: “you’ve grown big Lena, look at your cheeks your almost too fat…” So that’s my world. FAT. Jippi. But give me a few weeks in Rundu now, and I’ll show you guys, I’m starting a new and better life. (hehe… heard that before or what?) I started smoking again. I’ll rather be a smoking, fit, happy Lena—than a “non-smoking fat bitch.” So here we go…. (4,5weeks though… I was close.)

Hope you are all doing great. Love to hear from you soon. It takes you…. 7 min of your life to tell me how you are doing…!!!! Love Lena.

Cape Town... igjen og igjen

2006-09-09T09:17:00.000-07:00

..og det blir bare bedre og bedre.
No har vi vært her ei veke.. og det er en fantastisk herrlig by. fiiiiin by.
Og eg skulle så gjerne ha skrevet masse masse her, men plutselig så har all tida mi bare forsvunnet ut i ingenting, og plutselig skal alle sammen på middag hos ei svensk jente -malin- og spise middag og drikke vin. Blir stas.
Utrulig kor rart det er å leve uten internet.. eg merka det spesielt no når eg plutselig kunne logge på med mi eiga maskin.... nesten som en lykkefølelse..*ler* JA, eg e litt sjuk... og når en får "lykkefølelse" av trådløst internet så er det vel et tegn på at eg hadde godt av å komme meg vekk fra den verden ei stund?!!
Uansett. Godt er det. Og i dag fikk eg endelig snakka med Ane og Camilla igjen... eg skulle så gjerne ha ringt til mange mange fleire, men det var den tida da... :( SKYPE. det er suverent!!!! Det kostar under ei krone minuttet... trur eg. Og da ringte eg FRA skype TIL norsk mobiltelfon!!! HØRTE DÅKKE DET??? Det går an... SKYPE.COM - kjøp ringetid og RING. eg blir så glad så glad. Akkurat no sitt eg berre og gliser- og har trua på en finfin tur på byen i dag. Long Street it is.

NO begynner dei andre å bli stressa rundt meg her, så e vel best eg avslutta og hiv meg i nåken av dei nye kledene eg kjøpte i dag... :) Håpe alt står bra til med alle der heime.. og husk: ET ORD OM DAGEN GJØR GODT I MAGEN! Så om du har fire min til overs: "send en mail da vel..." :)

hepp fra Lena.

black sister and WHITE sister

2006-08-31T12:30:00.000-07:00

it can be sooo nice when the sunset comes...

2006-08-31T12:23:00.000-07:00

my garden

2006-08-31T12:19:00.000-07:00

My house inside

2006-08-31T12:13:00.000-07:00

the gates to my house (RVTC)

2006-08-31T11:57:00.000-07:00

2006-08-28T06:36:00.000-07:00

Her er forste reisebrevet som eg har sendt til NIF...
Kan jo lese det om du faar tid og lyst en dag... det er langt!

http://www.nif.idrett.no/t2.aspx?p=14011&x=1&a=174511

end of august--rundu

2006-08-26T09:47:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody
A few words from me…I’m still doing good. Or let me say: ok. I decided to stop smoking 2,5weeks ago.. and that might not have been the smartest thing I did in my life. Or at least START smoking was not the smartest thing I did in my life… L I guess I’m a bad person.At least I’m trying to quit now.. so bare with me. I don’t get it. The day I quit, I became this… not nice person. I feel like a ticking bomb, who can go of any second. It doesn’t feel good at all, and I really don’t feel like going out to get to know a bunch of people. I feel like being inside, with me, myself, my lap-top and my books. And of course: my food, my snacks and my coffee(!). Yeah.

Jepp. That’s my mood. But even though my mood is not on top I have had some ok weeks.The Namibian people are so nice and welcoming, and it feels good to greet the people you meet. It’s not like at home, where you almost cross the street if you see a person at the same side as yourself. It’s “hi! Ngapi! Hallo! How are you!” All over… all day long, and it feels good. J (come down and check it out guys!!)

Last weekend I spent in Windhoek- having a course for the so-called NAM-VIP’s. Those are the community-volunteers, working towards the same goals as we are. So this is the guys I’m going to work close with here in Rundu. In my case: It was a intensive weekend, but I think we got some good things out of it.

Me and Jonatan took the bus down, the in-liner(!), and that is something. Just imagine: Lena- like a ticking bomb--- taking the in-liner to Windhoek. For those of you who knows the African way already know: it’s not a good combination.
They told me to meet at 7am. I already know a little bit how it is, so I left my house at 8am. When I arrived the bus-station, we were 11persons on the bus. I asked how much longer I would have to wait, and I was told: 14 more persons!!!! So this is how it goes: We don’t have a schedule, we leave when the bus is full!!! Amazing. The bus left around 11, so it wasn’t that bad actually--- I guess I just have to get used to it! J It was the same when I went back, only 2 hours to wait, but this time we were put 15(!) people in a Combi!! That’s a lot of people in one small car!!!!! But I’m back now, and alive—so I can’t complain.

Next week I’m leaving for Cape Town. (put in a pray for me…. That I get a privat ride!! Please. J) We’re going for our “NSSS-studies”.(norvegian: NIH)) I’m taking a year at NSSS (NIH) called “ Sport, Culture and Development-studies” , and we are taking the theory at Western-Cape University in Cape Town. Hopefully all the Norvegians can make it there, not everybody is taking the course, but they can still make the trip to Cape Town!!! I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE ALL OF YOU!!!!

Leaving Rundu on Thursday the 30th and will be back the 11th or 12th of September. And when I come back to Rundu the schools have started again, and finally my real life as a SCORE-volunteer can get started. J

Hope to hear from you people. I still want to know what’s happening in your lifes.SEND ME A POSTCARD!!!

tlf: +264 812 19 4555
e-mail: lenakristin_@hotmail.com

adress>
c/o Ruusa Iitula
PIBAG 2081
RuNdU

TOUGHEST IN TOWN: MADELEINE

2006-08-07T06:55:00.006-07:00

KOM SNART TILBAKE TUPPSI!!! SAVNER DEG........ :)

OK... YOU HAVE TO CHECK THIS OUT!!!
(I'm sorry Raviv and Terje... but I HAVE TO show this!!)

This stowe looked like this after Terje and Raviv made 'the best dinner' in Windhoek!!! It took them 3hours and 4 exploded(!) squash.
And they had to clean up after themself... :D

But I have to say> the dinner was good... when it finally came. :)

Drop-off through Namibia.. We're talking STRAIGHT ROADS.

2006-08-07T06:55:00.005-07:00

Moses.. and my sister from another mother: Ruusa Iitula, 27.

2006-08-07T06:55:00.004-07:00

Sunset at Kavango River

2006-08-07T06:55:00.003-07:00

SCORE NAMIBIA

2006-08-07T06:55:00.002-07:00

In the back> Madeleine, Stefan, Raymon, Vumisa, Pemyah,
Terje, Meg and Shadrack
In front > Sara, Jonatan, Raviv and Nyasha

DONKEYS MAKING DONKEYS

2006-08-07T06:55:00.001-07:00

rundu-aug

2006-08-07T06:55:00.000-07:00

Hey guys… whats up??
Finaly I got to update this blog… the internet is slow, so I usually get turned down when I try… anyway. Rundu is still great!!! Yesterday we went canoing on the river for two hours. It was great.., and not exactly what I thought I would be doing in “Namibia- the desert country – land of the brave.” Of course.. we had to look out for the crocodiles and the hippo… but we didn’t see any, thank god. I would have freeked out…!!! And finaly I got sunburned.. hehe. J As long as it turn into brown and not pink I don’t care. I want to mix with the people here… and If I’m going to do that, I can’t walk around being all white/grey…!!!

My home is great, and my friends the same.I live with my "sister from another mother": Ruusa Iitula, and we'll have a great time for sure!!

I haven’t really started working yet.. it’s mostly LLL (look, listen, learn) and I enjoy it. I’ve just talked to the school next door, so after the holyday I’ll start working at KEHEMU junior secondary school, a school in the RURAL aerea here in rundu. I can’t wait to get started!!! J

I’ll try to put in some pictures… but can’t promise anything…Hope to hear from you.. whatever you’re doing….
*love lena*

Namibia - the land of the brave!!

2006-07-25T01:08:00.000-07:00

FINALLY! I'm here.. :) Now I know why they placed me in this country: It's called THE LAND OF THE BRAVE... !!!
We've been in Windhoek (the capital) since friday, and in an hour we're starting on our trip to our communities. I think I'll arrive in RUNDU on saturday, so I'm kind of excited right now. First we'll spend two days in Jonatans community and than one night in Pemya's town. And THEN: RUNDU.
I have no idea how much internettaccess I'll get up there... but I cross my fingers and my toes and everything else that can be crossed... :)
I got a new cellphonenumber, and that mostly workes everywhere, so if you don't hear anything, and wonder if i'm still alive: send me a message. I think that'll make my day. I miss u guys...!! But I don't miss you so much that I feel like going home. NO WAY. This is going to be one h.. of a year. I wouldt be without it.. YOU SHOULD COME VISIT ME!!!!

Ok... guess thats it for now. I'm sorry my spelling is pretty bad... i guess that's something i have to work with... hehe.
Hugs and kisses from lena!!

PS: How's everything in South Africa? And how's everything in Zambia? I can't wait to hear from you guys...!!!

RUNDU

2006-07-18T12:27:00.000-07:00

Jess. Da veit eg kor eg skal.
Heilt opperst i landet. På grensa til Angola. Eg som trudde eg skulle til ørken uten do og uten dusj et heilt år, tok kraftig feil gitt... Nesten som litt skuffa for å være heilt ærlig...
I Lonely Planet står der som følger:" Rundu- a sultry tropical outpost on the bluffs above the Okavango River, has little of specific interests for tourists, but it's great to laze at one of it's
very nice lodges and take in the riverside scene" Så der vil dåkke altså finne meg det kommende året... med både dusj, do, badestrand, kjøpesenter, kino osv... jadda jadda. blir sikkert bra. Eg kan ikkje skape meg nåke bilde av det før eg faktisk e der... Eg spurte en på gruppa mi her om kor mange folk som bodde der. Sau( han heite faktisk det altså...) e en arti liten skrue- fra nettopp Rundu. han sa det som følger: "there lives about 5000, pluss minus 5-6000...." så da kan dåkke jo regne det ut sjøl..!!! :)

Skal holde dåkke oppdatert. Men akkurat no e eg- for å være heilt ærlig- DRITLEI av det kurset her.. eg vil berre komme igang!! Vil berre ut i verden og leike med ungane... DET E DET KJEKKASTE AV ALT EG VEIT trur eg....!!!