The end

       Well, my gap year is near the end, the next week I'll be again in Uruguay. I'm glad to say that I succeed on helping these people. I made lot of improvements in some villages and towns for that the water could be obtained easier and cleaner. I helped the best I could so that they could have more food and I explained showed them some technical things that would help for don't loosing any food when eating. But I have to say that these people taught me lots of things. Things that made me open my mind and see that there are lots of things much more valuable than technology, or having the best things, or being the best doing something. As I lived this hole year among them and that everything I did I did it with them, I understood their culture, I understood them. They made me see how people can be kind, solidity and that everybody must help each other. I remember that my first day I was very nervous about thinking  that maybe these people were more similar to animals, but now I see that they are much more humans that what some people of the "civilised" world are. I would never forget Marcia, a wonderful guide and person. I would never forget the lot of meeting that we did with the local people around those huge and great fires.

My 3-days excursion

       I've already been in Oshakati for five days. Some of the people that live here manage themselves to talk in English, so our communication is quite good. As they understood the reason why I was there, they thought the best way that I could help them was to make an excursion around the Namibian North Region in order to discover which were the people biggest needs. A local woman, Marcia, who knew very well the region, offered herself for going with me so I wouldn't get lost. We decided to go to Omuthiya, to Tsumeb, and to to Okahao. To the first two town we'll go by car and then we'll get back to Oshakati. That part of the trip should take us no more than two days and then we'll go mounting elephants to Okahao. The hole excursion would last three days. We're leaving tomorrow morning, at half past six.

(Look at the Google map I created by clicking on the right in "my excursion map")

Day 1

        Today we have been first to Omuthiya. I saw the poverty of it population within my arrival. Marcia showed me the place and explained me how things were made over there. I helped some people with some activities, but what I principally did was to see how people lived there. After having been like seven hours in the town, we decided to continue the journey and to move on to Tsumeb. When we arrived there, the sun was starting to disappear. This village was much more developed than Omuthiya, despite that there were also poor people. Marcia showed me some parts of this small city and for when  the night had arrived, we were sharing dinner with some Marcia's friends. This helped me a lot in my study of their culture. Now I'm staying with them for passing the night.

Day 2
       Today we got up early and went to visit the outside of the town, after thanking our last hosts. Lots of people were already working and I didn't like the conditions in where they worked. Then, with Marcia as a guide, we travelled some ten kilometres walking and we arrived to a lake that has a very particular geographical structure called sink hole  After being in that extraordinary place for some moments we came back to the town. Not much later that day, we left Tsumeb for getting to Oshakati. We almost didn't stop there and mounted the elephants in order to get to Okahao. It was very exciting and funny, but when we arrived it was almost the night and as we were very tired, we got to a hostel and we went to sleep.

Day 3
       Today we got up at the same hour or nearly the same that yesterday. I founded this town quite similar to the first one I visited. I repeated the routine I been making these last days. For the end of the day I discovered that people had some problems with water: or because they hadn't or because it was dirty. I reminded the thought I had my first day about what should be the problems with the water of these people, and I decided one more time to help them in that aspect. We returned some hours after the getting up in elephants and arrived to Oshakati some hours later.

Day 1

        Finally I can say I'm in Namibia! It was a very long trip to get in here but I'm glad to say that it's finished. I couldn't sleep very much during the flights and I'm a little bit tired right now. When, in the plane, I and the rest of the passengers (that weren't many) were told that we were flying above Namibian territory, I didn't believe it. When I decided to go to Namibia, I thought that for one year everything I was going to see was desert lands,

almost any living creature and boring landscapes. But through that window I saw a spectacular combination of trees, waterfalls and rocks. I arrived some minutes later to the airport of Windhoek and took a bus in order to get to Oshakati. In that moment everything I could see was in fact, desert. Even if that was what I expected to see in this country, that image of the place depressed me. Sometimes, as I was in the bus, I saw people walking in the middle of the desert. I thought they shouldn't have easy access to water. In that moment, the feeling that I sart having some months ago, the one that was in some way obliging me to go and help people grew up and I decided that I was going to give everything I could to the Namibian people that needed some help. Anyway, when we were arriving, I appreciated again the same (or one very similar) landscape I observed from the plane. We made a stop and I could take a photo of it. The rest of the day was not a very important thing, I arrived to the village, got to a hotel where some employees helped me to unpack and then I stayed there, at the hotel. Tomorrow some local people will show me the place and we'll do some practical activities together. For resuming, today was all a combination of emotions and feelings all through the day. In this year, I'm going to have lot of difficulties and troubles, but I promise I'll do every thing I can in order to help. Tomorrow I'll know better the different activities I'll be doing in the next twelve months, although I guess more or less that I'll be helping in terms of health and logging.