Blow the Whistle on Corruption!

Hello everyone! I am so happy to be able to finally post on this blog and confirm that I am indeed alive, despite seeing a lion, having my friends get mugged, and not taking malaria pills! The past two weeks were fraught with culture shock and general frustrations in Opuwo, but now I am settling in, getting used to the culture, and finding the humor in the sometimes ridiculous day-to-day happenings here. Take today, for example, or rather last night when I was trying to sleep and all I heard were the sounds of shrill whistles outside my window. I live right next to Mureti High School, which is a hostel (overnight) school, so I can usually hear them chatting away in Otjiherero in the evenings following their mandatory study time. This week, a man from a government-funded program designed to combat “corruption” is at our school, and last night he gave all the 11th and 12th graders whistles, which they have been instructed to blow every time they see something that seems “corrupt.” Well. I have to say, 11th and 12th graders, regardless of where they are from, are still 11th and 12th graders. All I’ve been hearing for the past 24 hours is TWEEEE! TWEE-TWEE! TWWEEEEEEEEE!!! (For those who are Arrested Development fans, this situation directly references that episode where Michael gives whistles to the investors to “blow the whistle on corruption” and they all just start blowing the whistles as soon as they get them!) So please, don’t send me a donation of whistles from America, I will feed them to the goats.