This blackout happened a few weeks back.  The story was reincarnated last night when I learned that the two surgeons actually quit their jobs over this incident.  Obviously they were unwilling to sacrifice their professional careers for some weak infrastructure.  Hospitals are required to have a back up power source for such a situation.  The generator at this hospital was not automatically programmed to start when a power failure strikes.  It took hospital officials a few hours to realize they had to start the generator manually. 

Doctors at the Windhoek Central Hospital were on Sunday night forced to abandon surgery after a power outage in the capital affected the medical institution.

Back-up generators failed to kick in after the power went off at around 20h30 - while some doctors were performing surgery.

One doctor, who did not want to be named, said a colleague of his had already started operating on a patient undergoing back surgery when the lights went out and forced them to abandon it.  "They had to sew him up in the dark," he said.  When the patient woke up, he was informed that the surgery had to be postponed.  

"It's not a safe environment.  We're going to get in trouble if something happens to a patient," the doctor stated.  "We'll end up in front of the courts if someone dies," he said.

Excerpt from Source

For the Love of Brangelina

Dear Friends, thank you all for reminding me that Anglina Jolie is with me in Namibia. I have been keeping a close watch to see if we might cross paths. A friend of mine actually stood in line behind Anglina at the supermarket in Swakopmund a few weeks ago. I hear she quite likes fancy cheeses. This picture made the front page of the Namibian Newspaper today.

 

Pictures from the Polytechnic of Namibia's Graduation Ceremony 2006

Our Rector Dr. Tjama Tjivikua enters the graduation ceremony.


The President, Hifikepunye Pohamba, stands centre flanked by the rector and head of senate. On stage are Polytechnic academics to the left and members of senate on the right.

Faculty members anxiously await the ceremony's opening. This photo also gives some indication as to the scale of this event.


Eager students listen to the President delivering his speech.


Ex-Prime Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab and his wife. I am sitting in the second row at top right. Left of me is Rochee (Public Relations) and Barbara (International Relations) .

The President maintains this smile nearly all of the time.


Our Registrar Mr. Corneels Jafta hoods a happy graduate.

Bottle Stores of Ovamboland

Google Calendar

Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 20:26:43 -0400
From: Michael Paskevicius

Subject: A Suggestion - Knowing you, you're already on it

Google is constantly surprising me, surpassing all my expectations.
Kudos to you.

I would like to suggest an online organizer built into gmail. I would
love to schedule events in gmail for sync with my palm device. I
should be able to look up my calender online, add events, and sync
with my device via hot sync. How secure and private could it be? I
would be willing to take the chance and find out.

This is bound to be an easy task, although colluding with the palm os
may be a roadblock.

Again, wonderful work. Love the new satellite map feature.

Michael Paskevicius
Toronto, Ontario Canada


I sent this email to Google last year. I was not surprised at the official release of Google Calendar last week. It really is a great idea, and with a few minor modifications in the way it interacts with Gmail it will make my life a whole lot easier. I would like to see an export feature so that we could sync with our portable devices.

Check it out at:
http://www.google.com/calendar

When I first heard that they were opening a sushi restaurant in town I was naturally very excited. It was supposed to open last Friday. Quite a few of my colleagues were also excited about the opening. We opted not to go to the grand opening on Friday and avoid the hype.

On Tuesday I was joined by Unomengi (left) and Cyrlene with hopes of having some sushi. Unfortunatly the restaurant was not yet open! The sushi chef was having trouble getting his work visa and was in limbo in South Africa. (Big surprise!) So no sushi for us. The staff advised us that 'maybe' tomorrow we could try again.

Not all was lost and we did find a nice place to dine. This photo was taken at the French restaurant on the other side of town. Unomengi and I had steak and Cyrlene had a lamb curry. And of course a bold and beautiful red wine!  

Graduation Party
Last Saturday after the graduation ceremony I was invited to a party for a couple of the happy graduates. My friend Sylvia from Human Resources got me the invite so we head over in the early evening. I was pretty tired from the graduation ceremony which started at 7am.

The hosts were really kind. No sooner did I step in the door did I have a new friend and a drink in my hand! Everyone was in really good spirits from the graduation. The party was at my colleague Lucrichas Mother's house in Klein (little) Windhoek. The house had this little sheltered patio with a bbq and built in bar!

What follows are a few pictures from the night. Things got more and more wild as the night went on.
 

Sylvia and Lucricha 

There were quite a few babes at this party ;)  

 

Bartender, dj and new friend Ryan.  

Garo and I.  

Fairwell to Our Friend Jim (aka Scooter)

I can honestly say that Jim was one of the most genuine and laid back American citizens I have ever met. He spent his time between undergraduate and law school helping Marybeth with the orphans of Katatura. Even after running around all day swamped with kids he always found time to hang with boys and left us with many great memories. Jim is seen here on the left with Tobias, Mark and Sebastian to his right. 

We head over to the Cardboard Box Hostel just moments from our house for the lst night. The Cardboard Box is well equiped with a pool and outside bar. We sat around the pool for a last round of gin tonics and draft brew.

Katrin made good use of the house hammock. 

Apparently, some young lady fell in love with Jim and called relentlessly for one last rendevous on his last night. Jim was not overly excited. 

More Fun with African Insects 

The graduation ceremony was a grand affair held in the Safari Court
Hotel in Windhoek. I would guess there were about 3000 in attendance
for the 1000 graduates less absentia. I expected a pretty standard
affair and that was what we got. The Polytechnic uses the traditional
gowns and funky hats with the little tassel. All of the head
academics were represented by their department's color.

We had front row seats for the affair and I sat with a number of
members of parliament. The president and most of the council are
responsible for attending all graduation ceremonies at each of the
universities in the country, Polytechnic of Namibia and the University
of Namibia. All of the students had an opportunity to shake the
presidents hand.

I almost fell off my chair when I noticed that one of the graduates
named in the program was Ozzy Osborne Peheeeru. You often see
interesting first names given to people in Namibia. Examples include;
Freedom, Consequence, Ozzy Osborne, Patience, Doctor…

As the graduates were called there were frequent outbreaks from the
back of the room as parents and relatives so overcome with joy jumped
up hooting and hollering and trotted to the stage. One couple started
dancing around feverishly as their son accepted his qualification.
From what I understand, horse tail hair tied into a ponytail was waved
around to signify rejoice. Students were offered plastic bouquets of
flowers and hugged strongly as they left the stage. It was a really
nice sight to see.

Many of the parents coming from the rural areas of Namibia had
sacrificed immensely to send their children to a tertiary institution.
I was told that in some cases entire villages sponsored one special
student.

The president gave an excellent speech about the challenges facing the
country and the benefit of a knowledge based economy. It was great to
finally see the president speak; actually my first presidential
address ;) His ability to inspire was obvious based on the crowd's
response.

I was not granted access to the event with my camera. Only media were
allowed to enter with cameras. I will try and get at least a few
photos from the Polytechnic's official photographer.

Mon Apr 10, 2:29 PM ET

Tomorrow I will be attending the Polytechnic of Namibia's graduation ceremony for 2005 graduates.  I am very excited to be going to this ceremony although most of my colleagues have been doing everything in their power to escape the obligation of going!  I remember how exciting it was at my graduation ceremony only last August.  I am told that many of the parents can not contain their joy in seeing their son or daughter graduate and often jump up and start screaming or run on stage when their child is called upon.  Their will be speeches by the president and prominent business figures.  Looking forward to hearing the president again, this time at a much closer range. 

I have built a webpage that allows you to upload files to my webserver via your browser. You are therfore able to upload pictures, movies, music, software executables, or whatever ones and zeros you want to share with me. I am currently testing it out with one of my special users. It is password protected to ensure only ligitmate users can submit files. If you would like to have access to this feature please let me know via email.

Just returned from an evening at Joe's Beer House in Klein Windhoek.  I was introduced to a neice of one of my colleagues and we spent the night getting aquainted there.  We were not too hungry so just split a plate of food.  On recommendation by my new friend we had the Zebra Steak.  It was surprisingly nice, most resembling beef but extremely tender.  It was topped with garlic butter and served with roasted potatoes and a salad.  We requested it medium rare and it was cooked perfectly. 

If you have the chance, get the Zebra...its delicious !

Journey to the Gobabeb Research Centre

I took Friday off from work so that I could travel with colleagues to the Gobabeb Research Centre in the middle of the Namib-Naucluft. The Namib desert is considered to be the oldest desert in the world, having endured arid or semi-arid conditions for at least 80 million years. Its aridity is caused by the descent of dry air cooled by the cold Benguela current along the coast. It has less than 10 mm (0.4 inches) of rain annually and is almost completely barren. (Wiki)

On route to the desert we took one of the back roads. These roads require a 4x4 vehicle but are well worth it. I traveled with Barbara and Uli from the Polytechnic. They invited me along to attend their annual Rotary Club meeting which this year was held at the research station. Gobabeb is not really a place that tourists are allowed to visit openly so it was a great opportunity for me to experience the desert.

En route this valley opened up to us. It was a really amazing sight to see. I don’t think these pictures really captured the magnitude of this outlook. I could easily have stopped and spent the remainder of the weekend right here.


You would almost expect a dinosaur to stoll through this terrain. ;)



Going to the desert this year is said to be a very unique experience as this year there have been unheard of amounts of rain in Namibia. For the first time in ages the desert is covered with growth. It was amazing to see the desert like this. Being as flat as it is you could see for miles. It was covered in only one type of growth that resembled a wheat plant that was a vibrant greenish-white. It looked as though you could lie down and take a wonderful nap in the field, but actually the ground underneath is very rugged and rocky.



Here we see the desert research station main building in the middle left. This was the view from our cabin. In the background you can see the massive red sands of the Namiib dunes. between the station and the dunes you'll see a stretch of green which is actualy the Kuiseb river which flows frequently in the rainy season. It is the most fertile area in desert and splits the rugged rocky desert and the fine sandy dunes like a knife.



Currently inside the desert you can actually see some growth forming. In some areas you would think you were on a golf course. The desert researchers actually say that it is a fairly good thing for the desert to get this once and a while. I just hope that the climate has not changed so much that this desert's life may soon be ending.



One of the few regular plants that lives in the desert. The name has escaped me. I managed to get a close up of the flower of this cactus being harvested by a desert beetle.



Another sign of growth in the rough desert climate. It sure is beautiful contrast, but is it natural?



The classic Namib Desert shot. Just do a google image search to see about 30 variations on it. Unfortunatly this one was taken from the back of a moving vehicle so there is visible camera shake.



Abandon ship! On the return trip we drove through the Kuiseb river bed. It looked dry for the most part. We rolled over a low area of the river where some water had collected underneath. Really no one could have guessed this happening. I was the first off the truck and when my feet hit the ground it was like landing on the skin on top of pudding. The ground was dry on top but entirely liquid underneath. It wobbled but I did not fall through. Really it most resembled walking on thin rubbery ice.



Getting stuck in the mud gave me the opportunity to get some fantastic ground level shots from the river bed. The rock formations were absolutely incredible here. Does this resemble a giant set of toes?




This is my new found friend Jack Daniels from Scotland (No seriously that's his name and he IS from Scotland!) Jack works part time post retirement for the St. Andrews University in Scotland which is one of the oldest Universities in the world founded in 1413! Jack is about 10 years old at heart and a wealth of information. Jack has found another soft spot in the river and at this point is sinking fast!



Here you can really see how the sand dunes are seperated by the fertile area of the Kuiseb river with the rocky moon landscape in the background.

About 500 metres down the road from getting stuck the first time we found another sink hole. This second time became more serious as we were at this point out of water, miles from base camp, and had the sun beating down on us with very little shade. We had elderly people with us, one autistic boy and one very young boy. The situation went from funny to scary very quickly and the more susceptable of the group began walking back. When we finally freed ourselves from this second time getting stuck we found them not 50 metres up the road suffering from near heat exhastion.


Thankfully we all made it back to base camp without getting stuck a third time.

On Saturday evening we set off to enjoy the sunset from the top of the dunes. These beautiful rock formations provided scenery for the trek.



The wonderful formations of the Namib dunes really stand out in the sunset.

At the top bathed in sunlight we had a lesson on the formation of the dunes over millions of years. It was so quiet at the top less the soft sound of the wind on the sand.

On Saturday evening we went hunting for scorpions. Did you know that nearly all scorpions glow under ultraviolet light? No one really knows why this is the case, but its likely something in their blood. We set off with a battery powered black light and I used my flash to capture this little fella.

On Sunday we could not resist popping over to the coast for lunch at the Tug Restaurant. After all in this land of contrast you can go from one of the driest places on earth to the Atlantic Ocean in under an hour. The Tug is built inside a landlocked tug boat and has some of the most wonderful seafood in the country.


The beach was pretty much empty on this day but I did find these little beach bums perched under a rock.