Oh shucks - it's Untag - Part 2

Rundu ... the village where it all happened.

                            

Erna van Wyk de Vries                     

Meintjeskop Courier, August 1992, Volume 4

Surely, during the last two thirds of 1989, the tiny little village of Rundu was more cosmopolitan in character than cities like Rome, London, Paris or New York!

UNTAG sent its personnel from all over the globe to work together on the largest operation ever handled in the history of the United Nations organisation! Russians, Malaysians,     Australians, Finns, Swedes, Dutchmen, Canadians, Ugandese, Libyans, Japanese and even a most charming gentleman from Haiti! When one of my stepsons, Johan during their July holidays remarked : "Gee, Serge, you look just like Eddie Murphy!" I overheard the Haitian reply smugly: “I should hope I'm a little bit more handsome" .

Like the transition government, UNTAG also vested its headquarters for the North East in Rundu. Because the Department of Housing and Manpower had no office in Rundu, our Department (Governmental Affairs) had to act as their agents. 

This meant that my husband Wytze served on the Housing Committee and Diana (the office secretary) and I used to do all the "housing" administration. We had a huge map of Rundu in our office keys of all unoccupied caravans and houses and we knew exactly who lived where and what his or her position was, how many children etc. You see, Rundu is situated on the communal ground of the Kavango people so nobody can ever "own" a house, it is all Kavango Administration property. That is why a "housing committee" was needed to allocate houses, to listen to and consider everybody's motivation why the caravan or house he occupied was too small/dilapidated, etc.

Wonderfully interesting to curious creatures like Diana and myself! And you have guessed it! Every UNTAG official also needed a roof over his or her head. The Swiss medical component sent a haughty letter requesting "Luxury accommodation" ! What a laugh - in the middle of the African bush! They declined what we had to offer and pitched tents. It was clear that they knew nothing about the rainy season in that part of the world: buckets of water pouring from the skies for days on end and after that the mosquitoes would soon have them out of their tents. Our predictions proved correct! 

They moved into the brand-new nurses' quarters to the annoyance of the nurses.During the day there would be a constant flow of house-hunting. UNTAG men - some handsome, some not so handsome, but all very friendly! - filing in and out of our office!

Diana and I were never out of chocolates or flowers! Wytze cast a beady eye on this and stopped our fun by deciding that all the UNTAG housing applications would be channeled through one of their officials Serge, the Haitian! So whenever a bunch of new UNTAGS would arrive looking lost and forlorn for lack of housing, we regretfully had to refer them back to Serge!

Sooner than we thought, trouble started. An electrician (working for Kavango Administration) complained that one of the Austrian police contingent's men, Rudi, wascourting his wife by sending her chocolates and flowers and taking her out to lunch during hubby's off ice hours. How did Diana and I know about this?    He made the complaint in our office, to the handsome Dutch Head of the UNTAG police contingent in the North East, who was (like most afternoons) leisurely  taking his coffee with us. The Major immediately transferred the amorous Austrian to Katima Mulilo : whole 500 kilometres away! A frightful distance for a Dutchman, out "just the next town" for a Namibian. 

In fact, the electrician's wife was able to manage a lift to Katima the very first week- end! This was when our office also turned into a marriage counselling bureau having to listen to the endless laments of a tearful suicidal electrician, holding an eight month old baby in his arms. The Major would have fared much better in transferring Rudi to Lii deritz or Keetmanshoop in the South!