New Car!

We finally have a car! Yeah! We are heading out to Daan Vijoen Game park tomorrow. This is the smallest of Namibia's game parks and does not have any large predictors, so you are allowed to hike trails. It is noted mainly for birds and terrific views of the country side. I am very excited to get out of the city for a day and see more of Africa.

We have begun to notice how wealthy we are compared to the majority here. We live very comfortably, but not what the U.S. would call affluent. However, listening to the local news last night, we learned that half the population of Namibia live in temporary housing. That basically means a corrugated tin shed. Some are supplied with power, but many just run extension cords to have access to electricity. When shopping for laundry detergent, I found the isle mainly contained detergent for hand washing. It took a bit of looking to find automatic laundry detergent. It is the little things like this that has made me realize the poverty here. Due to a lack of a car and transportation, we have not really seen and been exposed to that poverty. The average retirement income was just raised to $N1,200.00 a month. That doesn't seem bad until you realize that a $N1.00 is worth U.S. $.07. So that is about $92.00 U.S. We have found the prices of food and such to be about the same here as in the States. We pay about 2.00 U.S. for a loaf of bread. It is sobering to think about.