About Kamanjab

 Kamanjab is a village, but not in the sense of huts and typical African attire. According to wikipedia, there are about 6,000 people so the size makes it a village. It’s laid out over rolling hills, so it is a bit challenging to get a feel for the place. Basically, the main road comes into Kamanjab, there are a few businesses on the main road and there is an intersection. Right (north) takes you to Opuwo, strait (west) takes you to the farm areas, left (south) takes you to more of Kamanjab and to Khorixas, and they way you came (east) takes you to Outjo, Otjiwarango, and down to Windhoek. By taking left, you’ll pass a few stores, a motel, a place for food and a bottle store (alcohol). If you keep going, you’ll pass a combined school (all ages on one campus) a clinic that’s being upgraded to a “hospital” and down the hill is the turn off for the locations. Past that, the road turns to gravel and takes you to Khorixas.

I really enjoyed Kamanjab. There is another volunteer there, he’s a little over half way through his time, and he teaches math and science at the combined school. We met up for lunch one day and made pizza. He was cool, showed me the town and told me what’s up. He also showed me how to hitch hike. It’s relatively easy to do and much safer than in the States. Most people know the PC and will give rides, which is nice. The people in the locations, although they were fascinated by a white person, were really friendly to me. When I return I hope to be in my own flat (apartment) and will attend various churches to introduce myself and integrate into the community.

The goat head.

Through Pots of Hope, I met several people on the local governments and will meet many more. We even went with them out to the farms to distribute blankets and towels. While we were out there, I got to visit a few farms. One of the farms, with a very important family of the area, offered us a goat head! Apparently there is no greater sign of respect and welcoming into a community that to be offered the head of a goat. It was cooked, boiled I think. It was actually pretty good, but I didn’t eat anything too crazy. There was a lot of meat around the head and neck that was good, and I even had the tongue. It was much better than beef tongue and I’m really starting to like goat. It’s a bit tough but it’s lean, has a good taste, and cheaper than lamb. By the time the others I was with were done with the head, it was basically a skull, it was picked clean! The farms though were very beautiful, they’re quite far from Kamanjab but the scenery was amazing. There has been a LOT of rain, so much that a small area of the north was evacuated, and everything is green. There were a few rivers that were a little tricky to cross, but our driver handled it like a champ.