The rhythm of the day

I might have mentioned this in previous posts, but most afternoons in Namibia the temperatures peak well above the 30C mark. The sweltering heat causes people to slow down their daily activities and retreat into the shade.  That’s why most of the kids in the SOS village try to complete their house chores before the sun rises at 6:30 a.m. In the home that I visited, their day began around 5 a.m.

It’s fascinating to watch how different cultures adapt to their local climate. Namibia is known for its consistent, harsh heat. We travelled to the country at the start of the rainy season. Since Namibia doesn’t yet have the infrastructure for an advanced sewer system and the landscape is very flat, the rainfall had nowhere to go. The land became spotted with large puddles of water.

Back home in Canada, where heating and central air conditioning are easily accessible, our everyday lives aren’t nearly as affected by weather as the people in Namibia. We might change our wardrobe according to the season or re-calculate our travel time to work, but the transition is a lot easier to make. Even though most of us are exposed to bone-chilling temperatures for a significant part of the year, technology allows us to make very few changes to our daily routine. In Namibia though, the heavy rainfall or extremely high temperatures bring everyone indoors.

With my young children and entrepreneurial lifestyle, I almost never get to slow down in Toronto. But at the village—whether it was the scorching sun or tap-dancing raindrops that forced us indoors —Namibia’s weather created cozy moments of reflection and togetherness.