BLOG WEEK 5

Kristin Rogers, Kayla Griffin, Liz Mook

We thought this week would be a less exciting week of transitioning between returning to the CGE house from our homestays and departing for Swakopmund, but we were pleasantly surprised by a few of the experiences we had while anticipating our trip to the coast. The two experiences that impacted us the most were the trip to The Gymnasium, Namibia's number one private school, and hearing the story of Pauline Themba.

As we were driving to The Gymnasium we jokingly asked Urbanus whether the brick building resembling a castle or resort was the school we were going to. Much to our surprise, it was. The school looked much different than the few other schools we had seen which had, for the most part, been ones that served students in informal settlements and black townships. For me (Kayla) this was a radical change from my experiences at the remedial school program I intern at that serves many children in the squatter camps of Katutura. Early this week, I was surprised that they put the trust into me to lead a math program and not only that, but that they couldn't even find enough pencils for all the children to have one. They had to share pencils to do their math work. At "recess" time I was surprised to see the kids becoming very excited when the teachers brought out games made out of shoeboxes and cool drink bottle tops. So, coming to Gymnasium, this huge castle of a private school, was tremendously shocking to me. It seemed unreal that one group of children in Namibia were getting in fights over sharing a pencil to do their work, while another group of children in the same country had access to Smart Boards in every classroom, a computer lab, a science lab, and many other luxuries and technologies. One group of children had learned to be content with shoeboxes and bottle caps, while others had access to music and athletic lessons. The Gymnasium field trip left me very conflicted. I don't want to take the educational opportunities that Gymnasium offers away from any child, as education is a key factor to the success of a person's future. However, it just seems that if one person should get this education, all children should. Otherwise disparity will continue as a person's future is already mapped out for them.

(Photo: The Gymnasium, the number one private school in Namibia, and recipient of Gold and Platinum education awards.)

Thursday morning we went to the beautiful Heroes Acre Monument, a tribute to many of the political heroes of the liberation struggle. The monument consisted of an obelisk and a lot of steps leading up to the obelisk that contained the graves of the heroes. At the top of the steps was a statue of Sam Njoma, the first president of Namibia, and at the foot of the steps there was an eternal flame symbolic of the memory of the heroes that will live on forever. We spent some time climbing the stairs, enjoying the beautiful weather and taking some great photos of the Windhoek scenery before begrudgingly getting back on the bus. We even tried to convince Romanus to conduct the rest of the class at the monument. Had we known how influential the speaker we were about to hear was going to be, we would have readily returned to class. We were visited by Pauline Themba, a woman from the organization, Breaking the Wall of Silence and as soon as she started speaking we were captivated by her heart-wrenching story. Pauline was taken from her family, placed in exile, and tortured for 3 years as a political prisoner of SWAPO, the party she was previously a member of and with whom she was working towards liberation. We were shocked beyond words when she told us that after visiting the Holocaust Museum in Germany the only difference she saw between that and her experiences in the dungeons was that there were no ovens to burn the bodies in the dungeons. Almost as disturbing as her recollection of her experiences was the fact that SWAPO still refuses to admit that this ever happened, and thus much of the public is unaware or disbelieving of Pauline's story, and many people even still consider her to be a traitor. Our usually bubbly and social group was in such awe that you could have heard a pin drop. After hearing Pauline's story and learning about the Herero genocide, Liz and I left history class wondering what other parts of Namibia's history have been left out of the history books and hidden from society by those in power. It also left us curious about how these omissions have impacted society and the way Namibians as well as the international community think about and react to current events and social life.

The Heroes Acre Monument that contains many graves of political leaders and important people in the liberation struggle.

Urban Homestays

BLOG WEEK 4

Elacsha, Kevin, Donald

This week we got to experience a taste of real life in Namibia during our urban

home-stay, some people loved it and some found it to be a challenge. All of our families stayed throughout Windhoek, particularly in Khomasdal and Katutura, two formally disadvantaged townships of Windhoek. During Apartheid, whites got big houses, coloreds got smaller houses, and blacks got even smaller homes with showers outside the house. Instead, they got little sheds with showers in the yard. Kevin says, "I stayed in an apartheid-era home in Katutura with a shower shed in the back yard. This was one of the most shocking and difficult moments in the semester so far. Finally being able to put faces to humans that were once thought so little of that they were not allowed to have showers in their house? But we cannot leave that too much in the past. While my family now has an indoor shower, I was outside in front of my house and a taxi started trying to get me to ride with him. He could not fathom why a white person would be in Katutura. While apartheid no longer exists, my home stay led me to believe Namibian society is as divided as ever" but the division in communities by race and class is also something that we struggle with in the U.S. For example Elacsha lives in Chicago and the population is over 2.8 million people. While Chicago is know for its diversity there are also a lot of different neighborhoods where you would find more of a particular race then others. Some examples in Chicago are Chinatown, Greek Town, Pilsen (predominately hispanics), South and West side (predominately African Americans), North and the Suburbs (predominately white). While the city is open to everyone somehow people still create systems and invisible lines of separation for them selves.

Kevin and host-family at dinner

A lot of different tribes exist in South Africa. Elacsha and Donald's urban home-stay parents are from the Herero tribe. The Hereros are a group of people known for cattle-herding. During the early 1900's the Germans came over to do business with our people. The Germans figured out quickly that the Africans were not as literate as them. The Germans used the Africans illiteracy against them and eventually persuaded them to sell their land and work for them. When verbal persuasion did not work they used other tactics like alcohol and violence. In 1904 the Africans rebelled against the Germans killing over a hundred of their people. In return the commander of the Germans decided to wipe out all of the Herero people. Day after day they killed hundreds of Herero people by using violence, denying them food and water, and weather conditions. The people that were left were used as slaves and lived in extreme conditions in five different concentration camps. One of the concentration camps we learned a lot about was in Swakopmund. The history of the Herero people is really important. I am very knowledgeable about the genocide on the Jewish community and slavery in the U.S., but I think Americans forget that slavery was taking place in Africa as well. In school we learn about our ancestors being transported against there will from Africa to the U.S. but we never learn about the people that remained in Africa and the triumphs and challenges they faced, this reminded me of the book Lies My Teacher Told Me that we read in History class. The book was about history and how important facts are left out of history or changed and taught differently to society. I am shocked that such a major part of my history was left out and I am only learning it now, when I go home and as I continue to write I will have to make sure that my people and everyone else is well informed about the apartheid system that took place here.

In addition to all of the things we learned at our home-stay about the history of our people Donald's family took him to one of the old concentration camp areas, Swakopmund which he described as an experience he will never forget. The game drive and the scenery were beautiful. However, what was particularly interesting to me was the learning experiences I encountered both while in Swakopmund and what I learned about the gruesome past in history class. While inSwakopmund it was pretty clear that even though its a vacation spot, the city was divided on racial lines. I remember thinking how beautiful all the houses near the beach were, but I was wondering why I wasn't seeing any Black people in those houses. However, when we went into the city of Swakopmund, the houses looked less luxurious and the white faces faded and the black faces multiplied. The most profound part of this trip however was when my host mom pointed to a restaurant and said "that is for whites only". My host day corrected her and told me that it used to be like that during apartheid, but I could still tell by my mom's face that the effect of apartheid is still very real to her. Our urban home stays was a very influential part to our learning and understanding of Namibia. We look forward to our rural home-stays and being able to greet our families in Oshindonga which is the native language spoken there.

Blog Week 3 Caitlin, Jessica, and Lauren

Making Windhoek Home

Now that we have had the opportunity to make the White House our home, we spent this week and weekend making the city of Windhoek our home. Many of us have ventured out into the city to work with a variety of organizations for our internships and volunteer placements. We arrived at our internship sites with the words of Ivan Illich floating through our minds; he stated "you will not help anyone by your good intentions." Each of us needed to determine how, then, we would be most helpful to our organizations. Even though we were apprehensive about our first day at our internship, not exactly knowing what the day would bring, we went into the experience knowing that we were not the only ones who needed to adjust. Caitlin has been working in a classroom, assisting youth who are attempting to enter into third grade. While she is excited for the challenge ahead, it is definitely an adjustment for her and even more so for the children she is working with. While she has taught in a classroom before, the barer comes in remembering that English is a second language for these children and they did not grow up in her same culture. This immensely changes and shapes the way lessons are planned, what words Caitlin uses to construct sentences and the examples used to further teach.

Along with beginning our new internship experiences, classes also began. In our history class, titled "Racism and Resistance in Southern Africa and the United States," we discussed the importance of history and what it really is: "history is what we choose to remember about the past." We also discussed what role it plays for us living in Windhoek today. Romanus, our instructor, stated, "We use the past to understand the present. The past engages dialogue with the present." It is extremely important for us to know the past of Namibia and southern Africa because we are presently in this city; the history here will immensely shape our present experience. We visited the Owela Museum here in Windhoek and had the opportunity to expand our knowledge on native African tribes. For Jessica, this greatly shaped her understanding of her host family. Many of the cultural traditions of the Damara are present in her home stay. These can be challenging at times because the practices are unfamiliar due to her American cultural background. For example, Jessica is a vegetarian, and the family brought home a meat pizza and a "non-meat" pizza; the "non-meat" pizza in fact was a chili chicken pizza.

Jessica with her mom, Catherine and sisters, Tiaan and Kelley.

Our ten-day individual home stay was the final step in making Windhoek our home. We were warmly welcomed into everyone's households where they had a significant impact upon our lives as we did on theirs. In Lauren's home, she is sharing a bed with a 21-year old nursing student. Within the house, there is a limited supply of bed space and hot water. While living with this family, Lauren has learned that many families are very close, and as a result personal space is hard to come by. This is counterintuitive to American culture because personal space is a high commodity. As a result, Lauren feels like a burden to the family and this cultural difference is a stressor. As you can imagine, complete immersion into another culture is growing and learning experience for both the student and the family. There is adjustment to schedules, food, and other traditional practices. Overall, the home stay has truly shaped our time here in Windhoek and makes us feel more at home in the city.