just for fun

Today is world action day against climate change.
I decided to tell what is happening in Namibia, one of the driest countries in the world.
My friends live near one of the few perennial rivers of the country, the (O)Kavango River. Read their letter from March and April this year (Namibia's rainy season) and see what that means for the poor communities that try to make a living there.

We had so much water, unbelievable.
n'Kwazi was totally "drowned", not a dry spot was left on the lodge. The horses went to the Kayengona side of the lodge. Luckily we did not have a lot of water in the chalets. We packed everything on 2 block bricks 44cm high, and locked the doors and sandbags outside and are going to open on Thursday and start to clean.

The dining room and kitchen had 2 stacks of sandbags on the floor, which kept the area a little drier and the whole swimming pool, lounge and bar-area was more than 2m deep in the water. The fridges and cupboards stood all on 3 block bricks high, and will stay for another week or so like this.

I only feel very sorry for all the people along the river, they all had to evacuate and in our area they are now all staying at Mayana school. Government suppose to provide food, but for how long? All the crops are damaged either by the floods or scavengers. We are also guarding the lodge day and night with watu's (local canoes). Not enough tents, just sleeping in the open and now is mosquito time.....

This month was again very rainy. The Kavango rose to its highest level in around 100 years. N’Kwazi was hard hit by the floods, due to this we had to stop work for most of March and concentrate on keeping the water out of the buildings. The pre schools also closed and will resume as soon as the water goes back sufficiently that the children can walk to school again.


Luckily the people that stayed close to the river are cared for. The red cross has been relocated people in tents and is distributing blankets and food to the displaced.