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July 5, 2012
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saying goodbye to namibia

Sitting in the lobby of the Hotel Safari this morning.  We've checked out and are just hanging here until about 11:00 before we head to the airport.  It seems like a lifetime ago that we checked in here, exhausted, and grubby after 39 hours of travel from the USA.  Now we are refreshed, our bodies are on the right time zone and heading on to the next segment of our journey.  Its really strange to think that I'm heading to Israel, while the rest of the group is heading to cape town.  One consolation is that I'll be enjoying nice warm 90 degree weather, while they will be in Cape Town's winter at 59 degrees.

Last night we had a very nice dinner at Nampa and Matty's house.  I'm very jealous of Matty's indoor wood fired oven.  He had obviously been grilling meat for us all afternoon.  Not only does it make delicious meat but it also heats their family room.  It was amazing to hear the story of these two Luther College Alums.  They were at Luther in the mid 90's, but by the time they found their way to college in the USA they were married and had small children.  They are so grateful to the people of Decorah for their hospitality and help that they are always eager to open their home to Americans who are traveling in Namibia.  We worked hard on their youngest daughter to convince her that she must come to Luther to go to college.

As I think about the two purposes of our trip, the philanthropic, and the cultural I am inspired to try to return someday, and to help to keep up the good work that EmpoweringLearnersNamibia has started.  There is so much more we can do to help, and it really doesn't take much money to accomplish a lot here.  For example a new Kindergarden school could be built to replace the 10x12 metal shack for about  $5000.00 US.