Reflections after over a year and 4 months in Namibia

My last post to this blog was in October of 2024, so there is a great deal to catch up on. In general, life in Namibia has been great and full of lessons learned.

At the time my blogging efforts halted, it was soon after we began moving full-force in business, so my priorities shifted to partnering with my husband to establish financial strategies here in the country.

At the time of writing, we have built the foundations of our company, Shofar Business Consultants, where we help members of the African diaspora abroad learn about Namibia and connect via business opportunities on the continent. We also started building an online network, Diaspora Development Hub, where we host networking meetings and share what we learn that will help others who desire to relocate.

We hosted our first-ever African Diaspora Investment Tour and had a beautiful turnout for our first business conference that was hosted as part of that tour event.

We have made more great connections, and as I write we are in the midst of investing in a very promising business in the marketing/print industry in Namibia.

Follow me on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@alnuryahnamibia

As of October 2024, I'm a vegetarian and learning how to cook yummy, nutrient-rich foods.

We visited Swakopmund and rode on a boat in the Atlantic during the diaspora investment tour. It was exciting, and cold!

We took a short trip back to the USA, mainly because we didn't have valid drivers licenses anymore. Our licenses expired in December 2024, and even getting a sticker mailed to Namibia from Colorado didn't suffice because the little extension stickers are not accepted. So we flew hours just to get back and get those renewed. We flew Ethiopian Airlines for the first time, which was lovely, but my husband got a couple of nice shirts taken from his suitcase, and I got some food poisoning that lasted about 5 days of misery. It was rough.

On the bright side, I got to taste so many of my favorite foods that I missed. I wish I could bring all those foods and brands with me back to Namibia.

I finally learned how to grow food in my backyard garden, and we've had incredible veggies straight from creation.

The spiritual journey

As far as the spiritual journey goes, there have been so many new revelations that it's hard to even start with how to share them with others. In the beginning, I was so overwhelmed with the desire for everyone to understand what I was seeing and experiencing, but after many interactions, I now realize that so much of this is a personal journey, and no one can truly understand unless they experience things for themselves.

I've also seen and experienced conflict with others who don't see things the same way and believe their way is the truth. So I realize when people are on a journey, taking them a different direction, they will often push others away who seem to be different. I'm not sure what that is about. I tend to see us all as being connected, and our journeys are often the father giving us specialty areas or working with us in a way that makes sense for our personal backgrounds and ways of thinking. I'm still open to conversing with others, even if they don't think a scripture means what I see in it.

I believe there are many interpretations of scripture, and The Most High can use any scripture to teach us what we need to learn. Yah can also use a scripture in different ways at different moments to teach us. That means a scripture may not have one meaning, but it is a teaching tool for our heavenly teacher to help us grow in the way.

One day I will find a way to articulate more of what I've experienced, but I've now gone so deep with my spiritual walk that I'm sure it would feel like a heavy load to those who haven't gone through the things I have at this point.

I've read SO many books. I've had SO many words (or downloads) from the father. I've had spiritual moments that were just rich with understanding. And I now know that it's living these things that changes us from the inside out. We can go to church and have someone preach to us day in and day out, but if we aren't living the walk, we cannot be transformed.