Welcome to Arandis

Arandis is a small mining community about 65km inland from the coastal city of Swakopmund. The town was originally built for the employees of Rossing Mine, the fifth largest producer of uranium in the world. Today most of the town's 5000 occupants are still somehow connected to the mine. Arandis is also home to Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology (NIMT), Arandis Christian Center, and Hope’s Promise Orphan Ministries.

I first came to Arandis as a driver for the dance team in 2005 and have been back with teams every summer since. Pastor Tresford Banda and his family have become dear friends and have an inspiring vision to see God move in this community. In my many visits this year I’ve also gotten to know many of the youth through the church and the school. Much of my ministry here will be partnering with Boniface who leads the youth ministry at the church and Scripture Union, which is a Bible club at the secondary school.

Lately I’ve been involved in planning for youth group this next term and an outreach we’ll be having next week with some Windhoek youth. In the mornings I’ve found the library a nice place to do some studying as well as meet new people. I love the community aspect of walking around town. People around the neighborhood already know where I live and greet me by name. But it’s been less than a week, so I still do feel very much an outsider. I’m wondering how long it takes for that to wear off.

Thank God for my can opening merit badge

I just went to open some tuna only to discover Mike doesn’t have a can opener. Unfortunate. But thanks to the Canadian scouts, I now know how to use the old fashion can opener on my pocket knife. I’m glad the Swiss are so handy.

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Since Pearl was in the hospital a few months back Fabiola got this great idea to help volunteer fixing up the hospital in Swakop and use that as an inroad to minister to the patients. This morning I joined the group washing and painting the hallway. So many people were walking by saying how much they appreciate what we were doing and asking if we were getting paid.

While at the hospital some of us visited Chriszelda in the maternity ward. Yesterday morning she delivered a baby boy, Immanuel. No, I didn’t ask for all the specs for the ladies, but I did take some pics. Both mother and son are now home and doing well.

Moving On

On Sunday, Don, a repeat visitor, and his niece Kat came to visit Okahandja on the back end of their trip. We spent some time at the Ark, they visit the preschools with Joan, then we spent some downtime at the Okapuka Game Lodge. Though not as big as Etosha, they have thousands of hectors where the animals roam freely. We got up close and personal with rhinos, crocodiles, and giraffe and saw some other game antelope that you can’t find in Etosha. After the game drive we watched the lions get fed, from so close that if I stuck my hand through the wall it would’ve been bitten off. Check out more pics on Flickr.

After I dropped Don and Kat at the airport I spent some last time with the Canadian team over dinner at Joe’s. Then it was time to pack, clean up, and head out to Arandis. Grace and Victoria from the Ark are spending their school break with their mother out in Swakop so I had some company for the ride out. I arrived in Arandis after dark and made my way to Mike Dunne’s house which will be my new home for the next 2 and a half months.

It's only been one night but I’m still convinced that living with other people is a positive thing. At Dieter’s place I was quite secluded and independent. Here I have neighbors quite close and share a living space. Living in community creates tension and the bumps and rubs along the way remind me that I’m not the center of my own universe. But for now I’m still just settling in and excited to be here and start getting involved in ministry.

Photo of the Day

Went to see the wildlife at Okapuka with Don & Kat
and got some great close ups. I shot over 280

frames of the lions. Love the bloody mane! ;)

Boy's Night

Saturday night was boys night at the Ark. We kicked all the girls out, blocked off the sitting room, and did some serious guy stuff. I brought my laptop over and we ate lots of junk food and played lots of Super Street Fighter II. Then we settled down with some ice cream to watch one of the ultimate guy movies of all time, Gladiator. Since they usually only get female volunteers at the Ark they always have girls nights where they do girly stuff and watch girly movies. So needless to say, the guys were pretty stoked to finally have a boys night and wouldn't stop reminding me about it the whole week leading up.

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Good news! Buddy and Julia got a call from a guy in Windhoek who found some of their papers. It appears whoever stole the stuff just shook all the papers out of their books since those were worthless to them. They also found Julia’s ID and cancelled bank cards. And it seems the insurance will cover all the other stuff. Now they’re just having trouble finding a place that can fix the windows on their car since it’s an import. Please pray that they can get that fixed soon because they’re getting tired of walking everywhere since they can’t really leave their car unattended.