NAMROCK...

WE WILL, WE'LL NAMROCK YOU!!!

I am proud to say that i have now been to Namibia, learnt how to setup and take down my own tent(i now own my own tent), camped in the desert, showered in a portable shower with freezing cold water for 3 days(and managed to wash my hair), used the smelliest long-drop toilets ever, and worn the most amount of clothing i own at one time!!! ;-)

NAMROCK was organised by Claude and Rudi (you guys are stars***) and was designed to be a weekend of worship in the Namibian desert, and that is was! It was also a great way for the churches in Stellenbosch to connect...and the bonds formed will not be easily broken!!

We drove up Thursday night around 23h30 and arrived at the site late morning, setup our tents, got cleaned up...and set-up our sound gear! Our first session was after dinner, and by this time we could imagine why we were told to bring our winter gear! ha! It was so cold there at night i must have looked like a snowgirl with all my layers!!! I could hardly feel my fingers and playing my piano was rather difficult! I'm surprised my fingers didn't stick to the keys!

The next 2 days were very full...planning worship sets, practicing, singing, eating, sleeping, enjoying the beauty of God's creation, being still, sitting round the campfire, meeting new people, and just getting involved in other peoples lives! I ended up spending most of my time with the band members...there were only 4 of us, so it was great to be able to form real, lasting friendships there!

Band members-NAMROCK 2007: Charl, Mark (also from Vineyard), Rochelle and Charis.

Charl (aka papa bear) leads worship at Stellenbosch Gemeente Church and is loads of fun to hang out with! He plays guitar and sings beautifully (check out http://www.charlfolscher.com/) !! His lovely wife couldn't join us, but we will be having our cheese fondue soon!! ;-) YAY!
Rochelle played keys too...(more pads Rochelle!!!)...and it was so great getting to know her a bit better too! She definitely brings joy with her uncontrolable giggles!

Mark played guitar and sang, and i sang and played keys!
The talented Gideon played keys the first night too...while Rochelle was driving up still...amazing bass buddy! ;-)

Naomi and i shared my tent and ended up really bonding and sharing some deep stuff...as well as a lot of sand and many a giant thorn!! She is a wonderful friend and i'm so lucky to have her here in Stellies! (she is from Glasgow is Scotland...and i LOVE the way she says "aRea"...reminds me of Alan Scott! ;-))

We were truly out in the desert...we drove for what seemed like days, on dirt roads, with a LOT of dust...but it was wonderful to get away into nature, to see the stars clearly, and to be far from cellphone signal! We had a generator for the sound equipment, but other than that, we lived the simple life! It was great! Each town we passed looked like a cluster of 10 houses and if we were lucky, a shop and petrol station...but this was a treat! I am still amazed that people actually LIVE there! hehe

We decided to stay a few extra days after NAMROCK and enjoy some of what Namibia has to offer! The first night we stayed at Ai-Ais resort...they have hot springs, so a lovely warm pool welcomed us...so great after 3 days of cold showers! The following day we went to see the Fish River Canyon...one of God's many masterpieces! So vast...and breathtaking! Kinda scary standing on top and looking down! As you can see...it is very dry there...and i'm not sure the Fish River is really a river?! mmm...

We stopped for lunch and i made friends with donkey...isn't she lovely?! So tame! ;-)
Then we headed to the Orange River which is right on the SA border...we got there around dusk and the sun was setting over the beautiful rockface directly opposite our campsite...with just one look, we decided we needed to stay an extra night!

So the next day we slept late, paddled upstream on a little inflatable raft, enjoyed the sunshine, attempted fishing, and ate some amazing food!(braai's are the bomb...and chicken CANNOT be eaten without mrs balls chutney!)

That night we packed everything up..including my tent...and slept under the stars so that we could get up and go in the morning! We left just after 7am and after 7 hours of smooth sailing...and a lot of nutella sandwiches...we found ourselves back in Stellenbosch...with one extemely dirty car!!
VuVu, BuBu and SuSu...on a NAM trip with AVO...long live road trips!!!