Shopping

There is a small shopping centre in Ongwediva where I am living, but we usually travel to Oshakati which is about 10 km away to do most of our shopping, Here there are modern shopping centres where you can buy all the essential things you need, though they do not have ready meals or many frozen items.

Local shops look more this this one which is flying the SWAPO flag. SWAPO fought for the country's independence and now governs it.

It is most difficult to buy fruit and vegetables. One day you will go to the shops and there are lots of bananas and apples for sale. The next time you go there are no apples or bananas but lots of cabbages and carrots! It is difficult to plan what you are going to eat! This photo shows me in a shop called ‘Fruit and Veg’ where there is the biggest selection. Margaret is trying to remember the name of the vegetable I am holding. She lived in South Africa for a while and most of the food seems to be imported from there. One difference is that, to prevent shop lifting, you have to hand in all of your bags before you enter the supermarket. The first time I did this I queued like you do in England – but I didn’t get anywhere. I soon learned to stand up for myself! When you have paid for your shopping and before you leave the shop, you have to show your receipt to security guards who check it against what you have in your bags. There are also open markets which sell more local produce. The main food eaten by Namibians is ‘porridge’ or ‘pap’. This is the same as in Zambia though they call it ‘nshima’ there. Sometimes it is made from ground maize, but mainly from ground mahangu, a kind of millet grown locally. They are very worried at present that this crop will fail as the rains which fell during the first week I was here have been replaced by dry, hot weather and the this year’s crop is beginning to wilt. I have also been given a glass of a local drink called ‘oshikundu’ brewed from ground mahangu with sorgum; I’m not sure I will ask for another. It is very different from anything I have ever drunk before and impossible to describe.

Another great delicacy is the omanugu worm which you can see for sale in the photo below. These are dried, but the season for harvesting fresh ones is approaching; apparently they hang from branches of certain trees. Will I try one I wonder?

You can see mahanga growing to the left of the termite mound.

Here I am, in the market, trying on a dress in the Namibian style! It makes me look a bit like a highly decorated Christmas pudding but is cool to wear and cost me 100 Namibian dollars (a bit less than £10) with the head dress thrown in – a bargain!

There are not many places you can eat out. There is Kentucky Fried Chicken in Oshakati.

In Ongwediva there is an eating place where I had the worst pizza ever! I ordered one with tomato, salami, garlic and cheese. After about an hour and a half it arrived; however there was no tomato and no cheese on it (they had run out) and the salami was actually cubes of luncheon meat which fell off whenever I tried to eat.

Here you can see all the food which we bought on Friday to last us for the coming week. How many things do you recognise?

South African World Cup official footballs are on sale here - would you like me to bring one back for school or are they on sale in the UK too?
Tangi unene (thankyou very much) to all of you who have emailed me. It has been lovely to hear from you all. Kalei po nawa.