March 8

On Saturday we went to a wedding reception here at St. Mary’s. The matron of the mission health center married the local bishop. The groom knows a lot of people in government, and even the president was invited to the wedding, but he didn’t come. We did meet the Minister of Information. The reception was fun. They served lots of food. We finally tried the local staple food, porridge made from millet. It has the consistency of mashed potatoes but it’s a grey-purple color, and it doesn’t have much taste. After dinner, the older women all gathered in the front of the hall. They formed a big circle, and sang songs about their farms. (Some of the kids translated the lyrics for us; most of the songs were about cattle.) During the songs, a few women at a time would go into the center of the circle and dance. They all took turns and everyone got a chance to go in. The dance had a lot of stamping, and at a certain point in the song, the women put the hands on their heads, to imitate cattle horns, and everyone laughed. There was a lot of joyful yelling and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Other than me and a few others, the women were all wearing the traditional Ovambo dress. It has vertical pink and red stripes and a matching head scarf, and they wear beaded necklaces and beaded waistbands with it, and a few people were wearing seashells around their waist, too.

We had fun yesterday afternoon, too. We paid a visit to the bride and groom’s homestead. Initially, we just planned to take a short walk around the village to get some fresh air with our friend Mandume. (Mandume is from Windhoek. He is here for a few months as a computer trainer. We hang out with him a lot.) On our walk we bumped into the chief of Odibo, John, who is a really friendly guy. He walked with us, and told us stories and jokes and he held Inbal’s hand. He wanted to visit the bride and groom with us. So we all went over to their homestead, which has a large yard, a house, and about 6 or 7 huts around the house. The bride and groom and lots of their friends were sitting outside under a tree, drinking some homebrew. They invited us to sit with them, so I practiced speaking Oshinkwanyama as much as I could, and they taught me some new words. They gave us each a big mug of homebrew. It’s a very alcoholic traditional drink made from millet. It has a sour taste. Inbal and I had trouble finishing ours, so when Mandume finished his mug, he drank Inbal’s and mine. When the sun set, John went back to his place, and we walked back to St. Mary’s. It was nice to hang out and make some new friends in Odibo. John asked us to come visit him sometime. He’s a very nice guy.