Flooding

The Efundja

This week was one of disaster & amazement for several regions in the North of Namibia....and our little village managed to make headlines for NBC (Namibian Broadcasting Corp) on Tuesday. The reason was the rain and the efundja. On Monday night we barely slept as the rain pounded our little home, the wind beat the trees & the lightning and thunder crashed & banged. Honestly, living in Victoria you usually don't even see rain like this...rivers and lakes (or Oshana's as you call them here) formed overnight and the rising waters beside our village tumbled and turned into a raging river---right through 1/2 the town and over our main exit route to the glimmer of the big city of Oshakati.

Tuesday morning found me fully clothed in plastic, and wading through rivers and Oshanas with frogs & fish! Just to get to school...and my walk is only 10 minutes from home. Needless to say, many learners were late---we only learned later that many are now homeless or have their homes surrounded by water. About half our stores in the village had to evacuate their wares and our road was essentially cut off for several days. Over 119 schools closed that day, some for several weeks, although all those in Omungwelume remained resolutely open with regular hours, study periods, etc. It was quite a spectacle after school to go wade through the streets and watch fish & other creatures scurry past---for more photos go to our flickr page!

The Efundja isn't really just the rain...its the flooding that occurs from Angola every year as rivers in the north overflow and flood our flat land...as mentioned in one description "The north of Namibia would be a big murky swamp if it wasn't a desert climate." So the waters flow in & stay for awhile and the local rain augments the flooding.

Most years aren't, of course, like this...however last years flooding was as bad (or worse depending) and this one has turned out to be as predicted. Exciting for us, although devestating for some families & it makes for 2 very stinky dogs in our house & a LOT of mosquitoes. But such is how things go. Think of us fording our river to leave town in our little VW!

---and an update: So Wednesday this week, a week after the flood a helicopter landed in our village---with the President of Namibia! He had come to see how the flooding damage really was. This caused absolute chaos in our village--all the kids and most teachers took off towards his helicopter in a mad dash--many of them had never seen a helicopter let alone the president! Several classes were spontaneously cancelled for this educational experience. Ah, Namibia!