'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again

So the last couple of weeks spent in Windhoek have been full of home work and assignments, but of course you have to celebrate your last little bit of time anywhere in the world and we are doin’ it up in style!

Last Thursday we went out to NICE, Namibia Institute for Culinay Education, a fancy schmancy restaurant. Since, it’s towards the end of the trip and I’m a bit broke I only got desert but it was delicious! I got profiteroles which were like eating a chocolate ice cream dream! Then we went to a bar called Dylan’s for karaoke! We had the most fun here, despite the slightly racist Afrikaaner vibe you can catch from the place. We sang Lady Marmalade, Benny and the Jets and so many more! We sang pretty much everyone else’s song too!

This past week has been our last week of classes and I’ve been excited and nervous to see them wrap up. This Friday was the last class I will ever have as a junior! It’s so exciting to enter senior year but nauseatingly scary to think about graduating and entering the ‘real world’!

On Wednesday for religion class we met up with Selma Sheavali who is a representative of the Council of Churches in Namibia. She showed us the office and the Diakonia in the City organization that funds and created some of the projects we saw that day. Then we journeyed into the informal settlements to see the two pre-schools that DIC helped create. The children there were very excited to see Selma, and sang “Grandma!” as she approached, which is a sign of respect and affection. They were so cute and sang for us! At the schools there is also a staff present that bakes bread and sells it in the informal settlements, where they cannot easily find bread otherwise. This project came out of community villages, which is what DIC set up with community members to identify their own needs and look at sustainable ways to meet them. The bread sales currently employ Namibians and sustain the school, which is crucial since the unemployment rate is between 30 and 50% here. Many of the DIC staff members studied community development in Dubuque, Iowa. After hearing the staff talk about the program and seeing the work done in the informal settlements I am very interested in this program for grad school, years down the line. I plan on making money! ; ) (Sarcasm, in case you didn’t get it.)

Thursday, we got let out of class early and ran off to the Namibian Art Museum. It was great to see Namibian art! There was a wide array of mediums from tapestry to etching to paintings to pottery and clay work. It was also very exciting because all of the work was done by Namibians and some was done by Namibian art students from Katutura. We were also allowed to buy this art, right off the walls! I bought TWO tapestries for under N$200! Normally I don’t talk cash but I want to explain to you, reader, that this was quite a steal. Most tapestries range from N$400-700 for just one! These two may have been my favorite buys for the whole trip! They are SO beautiful!

Anyway then we came back home for lunch just to jump in a cab to Northern Industrial to go on a tour of Namibia Breweries Limited. The brewery brews Tafel Lager, Windhoek Draught, Lager and Special, Club Shandy and Heineken, and only the last beer is not a Namibian beer! It was fun to see how the hops and barley was processed, stored, bottled and distributed. The brewery was founded 90 years ago, and is celebrating 90 years of brewing Namibian beer and 20 years of Namibian independence! At the end of the tour we got to have one on the brewery. I had a Club Shandy, which is a mix of beer and lemonade. I love sweet drinks!

That evening I went to the last Management Committee meeting for my internship at Friendly Haven. They said goodbye to me and thanked me for my good work ethic and cheerful and positive attitude. It meant so much to me as they all gave their input on my work and said their goodbyes. They wished me well and were so supportive of my future. I hope to see Friendly Haven be a sustainable shelter for women within the next couple of years, as it is their biggest and most important goal. My experience there has been an invaluable one and I hope to learn even more in the future, especially this summer at my internship in downtown Indianapolis with College Mentors for Kids.

Our last day of class, Friday, we went to Habitat Research and Development Centre, which is a government project that researches alternative sources of energy and waste removal. This centre was very innovative. Almost everything they used to build the architectural wonder was recycled materials such as tyres (as they spell it here), scrap metals, plastic, bags of soil, hay and styrofoam covered in plaster and even used fire extinguishers! They experimented with a lot of different building materials. They also use toilets that dry out the waste and only then need to e removed every 5 to 6 years. A fan that the wind blows eliminates the smell. It is truly ingenious! They use solar panels for all their energy needs and export energy to the municipality. They also have solar cookers that they sell in the north and a biogas project that collects human excrement and turns it into methane gas that people can cook with. The challenge of the biogas project is that it requires more waste than a single family can produce. Other challenges are that solar panels and energy is very expensive at first, and becomes economically viable after fifteen years which is difficult for Namibians to afford but is by far the most efficient ways to provide energy in sunny Namibia. They also lack funding for a lot of things because the government believes it should be sustainable after time and it decreases its funding each year.

We finished our class there. During reflection a lot was brought up. Namibia is very interesting and complex, in ways I never could have known before coming here. I’m sure I have so much more to learn, even though my time is up. I’ve also come to understand development on a deeper and more complex level. It’s a very challenging thing and every project, initiative or campaign must be questioned and carefully examined.

On a lighter note, that night we were invited by Imam Shafi, the imam at the Islamic Cultural Centre, to a Muslim dinner. The Imam and his colleagues were very hospitable. We ate delicious Muslim food and questioned the Imam about issues in the Islamic world, the Islamic Center, and Islam in Namibia. The imam was a very dynamic, charismatic and fun-loving leader. I learned quite about Islam that night.

I feel so many different emotions related to the rest of my time here and the adventure that presents itself in front of me when I come home. I’m so excited to come home and see the faces of those I love so much! Excited to start a new adventure, with a new internship and my last summer as an undergraduate in college. Scared to begin senior year and the “real” world. Sad to leave behind this beautiful country I have come to know, like the back of my hand, and the people that made this trip worthwhile. Poised on the tip of the edge, ready for the next adventure to start.

Windhoek: The Beginning

When I first stepped off of the plane in Windhoek I was stunned by heat and the intensity of the sun. Johannesburg had been a lot rainier, colder and cloudier than Namibia. Namibia was refreshing and warm and so green. After we finally got through the long customs line with our student visas in hand we drove to town. This drive amazed me as there was so much foliage and the mountains were so very beautiful! As we got closer to civilization, Kristin, the CGE intern, started telling me about all the fun places to go in Windhoek!

            Then we finally arrived at our home in Windhoek West, a neighborhood. It was so exciting to finally get to Windhoek and what we would call home for the next three months! I quickly moved in and got settled!

            In the coming days we did a myriad of things, such as start class and our internship. We also did team building in a park called Elisenheim, which is German for Elise’s home. This was a very fun day. We were assigned to make road maps of our lives and present them to everyone so we could all get to know each other better. This was an intense day. For many, sharing was difficult and I must admit that it was hard for me to hear people in our group struggle. It also brought up issues in my life which I had not originally thought of presenting. After the sessions a group of us climbed a big mountain. It was so difficult to do, especially when we ran out of path but it was also probably one of the most incredible things I have done on this journey. Climbing that mountain told me “Sam, you made it. It was a long and hard journey to get to this point in your life, but you did it! You made it!” Climbing that mountain is something that I will keep with me forever.

            We settled into our home and our way of life with classes and hanging out by the swimming pool on free afternoons. I am taking an internship at Friendly Haven, a shelter for women and children who have been domestically abused, the internship class, a religion class that focuses on Christianity in Namibia and Southern Africa, a history class which compares the U.S. and Southern Africa and finally a development class. These classes and my internship have presented various challenges to me so far in this trip and I have learned a lot through them. Another way in which these classes have really deepened my understanding of Southern Africa, the U.S. and the world is that we go to listen to speakers everyday. We are very fortunate in that we get to go listen to speakers from the National Planning Committee and other important officials such as, representatives of USAID and World Teach to name a few. We also have listened to a traditional healer and two church representatives which is probably the highlights for me as I am very interested in the role of religion in Namibia.

 

 The weather here is almost always sunny and warm, though it is the rainy season so occasionally it rains. Namibia is a dry country so I don’t think they plan on the rain a lot. For me this was quite evident as you could watch the sheets of water roll down the streets with no gutters to go to. It was a beautiful sight.

 

Oh by the way, the malls here are almost just as big as the ones in Johannesburg and you can smoke in them, bank in them and buy your groceries in them!