Day 19: The big rebuild begins...

Today's Monday started like a typical Monday ... early and tired. The alarm clock rang at around 6:20 am. Then straight to breakfast, because the regular workday starts here on Ondombo at 7:00 am. Jakob and I were supposed to help with the renovation of a future vacation home for the first time today. The house is located directly next to the farm's garden and belongs to a German engineer who 'moves in' there every year from January to March. Now the house should also be available for rent to guests during the free months. However, since said engineer lives very simply and without much furniture and taste, a lot still needs to be done before. Bonny and Cornelius had already painted and worked on it in the past months. While Bonny wanted to install a decorative strip in the kitchen tiles today, Cornelius and I were supposed to cover the gaps between the plasterboard ceiling with wooden strips. These had to be brushed with a protective wax and dried in the sun. Then each distance had to be measured and the board cut to fit. Since the ceiling is partly not straight but wavy, we had to use quite a few screws and the whole endeavor was very time-consuming. At least we managed to do the entire living/dining room and the kitchen corner by noon.

The two bedrooms were supposed to follow in the afternoon. We also started preparing skirting boards for the bedrooms from the remaining boards. At 5:00 pm, it was time to finish work on the construction site. We were satisfied with our results and Bonny had also finished laying the decorative strip.

But back at the farmhouse, the next task was already waiting. In preparation for the morning 'store trip,' we helped Sylvia bring the associated bookkeeping up to date. 'Store trip' means: Tomorrow, Sylvia will serve as a mobile grocery store for the coal burners at the Okaue Farm. They live there about 100km away from the nearest supermarket under the most basic conditions. There is no sign of a car. But because they also need to be supplied with food, Sylvia brings the supermarket to their villages once a week. In return, the coal burners produce charcoal there and 'sell' it to Sylvia and Karsten. They export the charcoal to Europe, where we can find it, for example, as barbecue charcoal in the assortment of ALDI or REWE. Every coal burner living and working there has their own receipt book with Sylvia. There, all 'purchased' products are written down for every 'store trip.' At home, Sylvia calculates the value in Rand or NAM dollars for each product and notes the current debt. Once the coal burners have produced 2-3 tons of charcoal, they hand it over to Sylvia and receive their 'wages' minus the existing food debts. We helped her calculate the current debts so that everything can be recorded according to the system tomorrow. Jakob and I are expected to accompany her to learn the process and be able to independently carry out such trips in the future.

After dinner, it was time for a hot shower (the temperatures are slowly dropping below 5 degrees in the evening) and then off to bed - Until tomorrow.