Red Light, Green Light

We have officially taken our last trip in Namibia.  As we all try to comprehend this fact, we also are registering for classes at our respective universities for the spring semester.  Constantly there is the reminder in the air that our days in Namibia are almost over.  This is challenging, throwing my thoughts from here to there to everywhere.  So in an attempt to keep my body and mind united, let me focus on telling you about some Namibian travels in the south.  We left Thursday afternoon and got back on Sunday afternoon.  We camped each night at a different campsite- the first was run by the government, the second by a community, and the third by a private organization.  It was interesting to learn about the pros and cons of each campsite and how they are run.  The trip was relaxing and very enjoyable-the last night most of us slept out under the stars.  Good thing the lions weren’t hungry that night…just kidding  J

Monday morning greeted me with the bright faces of 5 year olds at Bright Hill.  Last week I left frustrated from here (the pre-school where I volunteer at each week).  The children had been naughty, fighting and refusing to listen to instructions.  This week, however,  was rewarding.  I think part of this was because the children listened more attentively, and partly because I did a better job thinking on my feet.  My friend Kayla had reminded me of the importance of praising the children who were listening, instead of just trying to get the attention of those not listening.  I worked hard at this, at it worked!  We also played an adapted version of “Red Light, Green Light.”  It was fun to see the children enjoy themselves when I had pulled this game from my memory on the spot.  That place always tests me!

Monday also brought a new intern into the house.  The intern that had been living with us had to return to the States early after learning of the unfortunate, unexpected death of her father.  She was able to catch a flight home the very day she found out, which was fortunate, and I hope she has been able to be held in the arms of family and friends back home through this time.  The intern term is two years, and her term was up in December. The new intern for January 2011-Dec 2012 was working in South Africa and was able to come up to Namibia for two weeks to fill in for us.  I couldn’t believe how that worked out, and it’s been fun getting to know her.  She will be another great addition to the program.

Today for Religion class we drove into the informal settlement by Bright Hill in order to learn about a church program called “Diakonia in the City.”  This program has a school component, adult programming, bread baking business, and church all in one place.  I really enjoyed talking to Selma, the woman taking us here, and asking her questions about the program.  It was interesting to compare this program with the programming at Bright Hill.  The more I learn the more I realize there is so much more to learn! 

Well, I’m all out of words.  Sometimes I am very bad at articulating what is in my head, and sometimes the words just run out! I hope you are doing well and your days are filled with hope and love and beautiful things. 

Many blessings,

Sarah

Fall Break 2010: African Road Trip

Last week we had our fall break.  Actually, I keep calling it fall break and all Namibians look at me funny. It is spring here, and I keep forgetting!  Any who, on this break from classes, five of us decided to roadtrip across Southern Africa.  We packed up the truck-a 4X4 Toyota Hilux-with our tents, sleeping bags, water, cooler, food, and suitcases.  5 seats, 5 friends, and 8 burned CDs and we were ready to roll.  We headed east into Botswana.  The drive was hot, beautiful, and flat.  I thought of Grandma Peters as we drove into Botswana, wondering if we would run into the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.  Alas, I didn’t see a mystery solved, but I did see lots of animals and beautiful landscape.

After two long days of driving, we made it into Zimbabwe and stayed at the town of Victoria Falls right next to the falls.  Vic Falls is one of the seven natural wonders of the world-the first natural wonder I’ve seen in person!  The falls stem from the Zambezi River, which is the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.  This river is the 4^th longest river in Africa after the Nile, Congo, and Niger Rivers.  We were there during the low season, so the falls weren’t roaring too much.  This was all right, though, because we got to see the length of the falls without mist covering any of our sight.  We spent about 5 hours looking at the falls, eating lunch, and hanging out.  One evening we ate out at a fun restaurant called Mama Africa’s Eating House.  They had live music and traditional dancers come.  One song the traditional dancers sang and danced to was a revised “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from the Lion King.  I thought this was a little sad that it was part of their “traditional” repertoire, but also rather funny.  Overall, the food was delicious, the atmosphere wonderful, and the company great!

We decided while we were so close we should walk to Zambia.  On our way through “no man’s land” between the exit and entry border posts we ran into some of our friends staying on the Zambia side.  This was a fun surprise.  We spent the day with 2 of the girls who had stayed at the hostel, walking around the town of Livingstone for the afternoon.  We went to a craft market where I almost traded my hair tie for a bracelet.  Then the vendor wanted $2 as well and that was just too much J  We had a fun day and went back to Zimbabwe for a relaxing evening before our return trip.  I must thank Alissa, Jessica, Alison, and Kevin for a great road trip!

Now I am back at the house, re-entering school and city life.  It has been a bit challenging finding the motivation for homework, but then I am reminded that we only have 3 more full weeks of classes and then our end of the year projects.  Time is flying!  I am working on homework, as well as soaking up all the time I have left to spend with students in the house and people I’ve met here.  It is a funny emotional place to be at, where I simultaneously want to continue this Namibian adventure with all of these people here, while at the same time so looking forward to being in the States and sharing in face-to-face relationships with family and friends again.  I guess this emotional struggle is part of the deal! 

I hope and pray this blog finds you well, and I continue looking forward to seeing your faces soon.  

3-2-1 Go!

What a few crazy, packed couple of weeks of October.  From the first day of October life has been pushing me with experiences of African proportions.  The first weekend was filled with 120 elementary aged youth at a Christian camp just outside of Windhoek.  My friend Jessica has an internship with an organization called Scripture Union, which goes into schools to lead assemblies, help teachers start after school groups, and leads camps in order to spread Christianity.  Jess asked if I would help out at the camp, so of course I said “Yes, please!”  I’ve been a counselor before, but this was a whole other level of  craziness.  Children kept showing up to the camp, which meant that many children had to share beds for the weekend, which they did happily.  We staff were in charge of the entire camp: curriculum, games, worship, cabins, and kitchen.  I was ready for some good sleep after that weekend!

 

Sleep came on the van ride up to the North the day after camp.  We, as a CGE group, all took two weeks together  to learn about the rural areas in northern Namibia.  The first week we each stayed with individual homestay families.  This time around my mom’s name was Sarafina.  In Oshiwambo the word for mother is “Meme,” which you use for all women older than you.  Father is “Tate.”  My “tate” was in Swakopmound, but I did get to talk with him on the cell phone!  My brother Kristof is 14, and my sisters Kandali, Paloma, and Ndeshi are 4,4, and 3.  I learned a lot about hard work and simple joys from my family, who had no lived on a farm, raising chickens, goats, cattle, and mahangou-a type of grain.  We also had donkeys, dogs, and puppies.  There was no electricity or running water, and they cook all of their meals on the open fire.  This was a fun, stretching week for me!  The hut in this picture is one of many in their home enclosure, and is what I slept in all week.

From our homestays we continued our adventures, first camping next to a Himba village and then going to Etosha National Park.  The Hima people have maintained many of their traditions, but our speaker for the week believed that withing 30 years these traditions would disappear.  The men are herders, and dress with a small clothe around their waist.  It is a patriarchal society, where men are the leaders, set the norms for the society, and can have more than one wife.  The women also wear small clothe around their waists, and are bare chested.  In order to keep their skin soft from sun exposure, they cover themselves with a red okra rub.  They also put red clay in their hair.  At night the children would come around our campfire to sit, laugh, and eat.  It was fun interacting with them.  It was a struggle for me to find a balance between respecting and enjoying their traditions while also valuing things like women’s rights and freedoms.  This tension is good for me to wrestle with.

When we left the Himba village we went to Etosha National Park, where we saw lots and lots of animals!  It was exciting to see giraffes, rhinos, zebras, springbok, lions…We all kept singing Lion King songs. Haha! 

 One downer of the trip was that a lot of the students got pretty sick.  The sickness traveled around the group, with some still recovering.  Overall, the entire trip was incredible, with lots of trying moments, pushing each of us to think in different ways, try new things, and discover more about African peoples, as well as discover more about ourselves.  I pray discoveries and blessings for each of you today!

Taking to the Sea

Hello!

One of the only consistencies so far on this trip has been the constant challenge of new thoughts, or old thoughts with new frameworks, combined with crazy schedules.  Last week was no exception, and this past week was full of fun by the Atlantic!  Last Wednesday we drove to the west coast to a town called Swakopmund.  This small town is supported mainly through the mining industry (minerals such as uranium and salt) and tourism.  We got to meet the mayor, as well as other speakers in other organizations.

On Friday we climbed “Dune 7” in the desert.  That was awesome.  It took a while to get up the dune, but once on the top of the dune we could see more and more dunes on one side and flat desert on the other side.  I can’t imagine getting lost in a desert, or riding camels over dunes J 

On Saturday, four of us decided to go sea kayaking for the morning.  This was the first time kayaking for me.  At first I was nervous about not being able to paddle, stay in my kayak….but it was great!  It took me a bit to get the hang of things, but once I got it I paddled around to different seal groups and got to watch lots of seals.  I almost touched one, I was so close!  The guide was great, and there was a French couple on the kayaking trip as well.  This was a great way to spend the morning.  On the way to the sea we also passed by salt fields.  They pump sea water into large areas and then wait 9-14 months for evaporation to go to work.  The water turns bright pink in the process due to the microorganism called rododaubson (spelling?) that lives in salt water.  This was pretty great to see!

The next 3 weeks we will be in the North and on fall break, so this will be the last blog for a while.  I hope you are all doing well.  I will hopefully have some great stories to share when I get back!

-Sarah 

Nothing is as it seems.

Hello dear friends and family,

The longer I am here, the more settled I feel.  After moving around from place to place, event to event, it has been wonderful staying in one spot in order to get my feet on the ground.  This week has been filled with lots of homework, including lots of reading and a few papers.  I thought when I left Valpo I’d have a break from reading so much for school, but alas-we must take classes that involve readings here too! 

Before the school week begins, however, I get to spend my Monday mornings hanging out with 4 and 5 year olds at a pre-school in an informal settlement.  The pre-school is called Bright Hill, and it is a Christian school set up to prepare children of this informal settlement for school, which they start when they are 7.  There are about 80 students who come to school everyday.  I help in a classroom with a teacher named Francie.  I helped three of the students try and learn their colors.  I’m not sure if they learned much, but maybe it was a stepping stone for them.  I also taught the class the Hokey Pokey.  There is nothing like giggling with a bunch of 4 year olds as you sing and dance and say “That’s what it’s all about!”  I’m looking forward to next week’s school day J

Yesterday for religion class we met a woman who is a traditional healer.  I was expecting this woman to have special remedies that she used to heal those who came to her.  As we walked into her house and started talking with her, however, it became clear that she is a Christian who is a healer who firmly believes that all power comes from the Holy Spirit.  She prays and does use medicines and wraps in these healings, but with the firm belief that it is not her but the Holy Spirit who does the healing.  I was surprised at this Christian woman with the title of “traditional healer.”  Nothing is as it seems. 

Today we went to a monument named Heroe’s Acre in honor of the people who fought for the liberation struggle in Namibia.  We all thought the monument was very well done, and appreciated this part of history being remembered.  Then we met a woman who shared her story of being persecuted by the current party of Namibia.  This party, SWAPO, led the liberation struggle of the 1960s-1989 and is the group represented in the monument.  Her story was one of deception and corruption by the party she had trusted and fought for liberation with.  She candidly revealed to us that she can not go to the Heroe’s Acre monument because it is too painful for her.  She felt the monument did not tell the whole story behind the liberation struggle.  Again, nothing is as it seems.

Tonight is a pretty relaxing night, writing to you and hanging out in the living room.  I pray that your night, or day, or whenever this blog finds you, is wonderful and full of rest as well.  To keep you updated on the weather: there were more clouds today, but the rain won’t come for a couple more months.  Hot and dry is the constant J  God’s blessing to each of you.

Learning from others' perspectives

Friends and family, let me introduce you to some additions to the family:

My mom’s name is Hileni.  She works for NBC, which is Namibia Broadcasting Company.  My brother’s eighteen and his name is Gaint (Giant), but his friends call him Stix.  And finally, my little sister’s name is Kandeshi (Kandeshee).  I am getting to know Hileni slowly, as we find things to talk about, but we can still be shy around each other as well.  Gaint has been introducing me to his friends and showing me around the neighborhood.  Kandeshi really enjoys coming into my room around 6:45 a.m. to crawl into bed next to me.  She’s too cute to get upset at!

Everyday I’m learning something new from my family, whether that is from what foods we eat to forms of respect for elders to ways of greeting each other.  We also went to church on Sunday.  My family is Lutheran, so I was interested to see how similar the service was to the Lutheran churches I know.  One thing that didn’t cross my mind was that the service might not be in English. Ha!  Needless to say, I couldn’t understand a word of the service.  But leave it up to a Lutheran church to follow a liturgy J  I understood when we said the Apostle’s Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and two of the hymns were hymns I recognized.  It was also baptism Sunday, which meant close to 30 infants were baptized!  This experience was enjoyable, even though I couldn’t understand the word part of the service.

Sunday afternoon I went swimming with my friend Liz from the program and her host family.  We were the sole white people at the pool, meaning we drew a lot of attention to ourselves.  Liz and I sat on the side of the pool.  Soon multiple guys came up to us to talk.  One man brought us into the EMT area to introduce us to his friends.  This was strange, and reminded us how separate the Windhoek area, as well as Namibia, is in terms of race relations.  We carry our white privilege with us whether we like it or not.  How do I consciously acknowledge this and work towards equality?  That’s a big question I’ll be working on for all the days I’m given.

Classes have been good.  Today’s class focused on the genocide of the Herero people under German colonization in 1904.  History is almost silent about this period of time of concentration camps and massive murder under German rule, mainly because of the Holocuast which fills our historical memory of genocide and concentration camps.

On a different, less heavy note, I saw my first cloud in the sky yesterday!  I was so excited, I almost took a picture! 

The highs and lows, joys and sadness are constantly juxtaposed next to each other, challenging each of us to make sense of history, inequality, global relationships, and our role and responsibility in all of it.  Big questions, complicated thoughts, and slow (if any) answers.  But I continue to pray that I might have the patience and courage to continue to struggle with these important issues, love in my understanding, and humility to see another’s perspective.

 I hope you are all well.  A great big hug to all of you.

Settling in

Hello dear ones! 

I hope this blog is finding you well.  I am sitting outside the house right now, which is 4:15 pm.  We are all waiting to meet our homestay families, who are picking us up in 45 minutes.  This week has been full of adjusting to life in Windhoek.  The house situation has actually been going very smoothly.  Finding alone time is a challenge, but other than that, the only mishap has been that I washed my washcloth and hung it on the line outside to dry and now I can’t find it J  That’s a mishap I can handle!

In other news, on Sunday a group of us went to church at a Methodist church, which is a 30 minute walk from our house.  The choir was practicing outside as we walked up.  We sat down inside and I noticed that it was quite a racially diverse church.  This was encouraging to me for all churches everywhere.  And then the choir came in, singing a beautiful song and swaying as the processed down the aisle.  I think when all peoples sing at the throne of God with the angels it is going to sound like this choir!  They were passionate, and their voices were beautiful.  The Women’s Fellowship led worship that Sunday.  This meant, among other things, that 5 women shared different parts of the sermon that all came together to make one large (and long!) sermon.  They were great.  All visitors had to introduce themselves during the service.  After the service a man came up to my friend Jessica and asked her if we were the new students from the States.  She said yes, and he proceeded to ask her if she was interning at a place called Scripture Union for the semester.  Yes, she answered, in fact I am.  He was one of her bosses!  He told her that she was going to be doing painting the next day.  Before I knew it, I asked this man if I could come along.  Oops!  He said sure, and the next day turned into a fun day of getting to know Scripture Union, painting, and hanging out with Jessica.  She’ll have a good time at that internship.

We had a retreat on Tuesday with all the students and most of the staff of CGE.  I really enjoyed getting to know everyone more, especially the professors and house staff.  We played games as well as shared our personal “life-maps” with each other.  This took up most of the day.  I could listen to people’s life-maps for hours!  That night we had a pizza party-a good end to a good day.

On Wednesday night a few of us went to Windhoek’s Theatre school for an event called “Spoken Word.”    This was a lot of fun.  The room was full of students/ young adults who loved poetry and art and rap and music.  The night was full of listening to poetry and songs, just enjoying young, aspiring artists share their works with us.  This was a fun way to spend the night before classes started, which brings me to today.  Today we had our first day of class from 9-1.  Bummer.  I had forgotten about the class part of this adventure….No, I’m excited about class and today went well.  I’ll have lots of things to share with you all soon J

Thank you for the comments on the blogs-I’ve been enjoying reading your thoughts as well!  I pray God fills your day with peace and love.

Where am I? Jo-burg to Windhoek

Trying to start my second entry (yes I know-I already haven’t been very prompt in blogging), I am stuck at the question of how to address my readers.  You are a mixture of family and friends, all of whom I consider important people in my life.  So I think I shall address you as dear ones, because you are dear to me! Now, my dear ones, on to this African experience…

We arrived in Jo-burg (Johannesburg) South Africa after two 8 hr flights.  The first flight was rough because I couldn’t fall asleep, but the second flight went by in a flash.  The time spent in SA (South Africa) was spent learning a lot of history about the apartheid, either from speakers, museums, monuments, and speaking with our home-stay families.  Brief apartheid history: After British and then Dutch colonization and a long struggle between Africans and these colonists, the Dutch-now known as Afrikaaners-gained political power and established apartheid in 1948.  This included segregating peoples by color as well as tribe, and controlling all aspects of non-white’s lives, from housing to employment to education.  This continued until Nelson Mandela’s release in 1990 and subsequent election in 1994.  More than the civil rights movement in the U.S., this history reminds me of our history with the Native Americans.  I think I’ll struggle with how we rectify/reconcile that history in the U.S.

I am also having my eyes opened to the world wide struggle for racial equality, especially with the help of my African American friends who are in the program.  But for now, I must segue way to Windhoek, Namibia, which is where the majority of the program takes place.

During my stay in SA, I never had that moment where I felt “Wow- I’m in AFRICA!”  This was bothering me a bit, but then came the drive from the Windhoek airport into the city of Windhoek.  As we were driving, we were looking out the window and flew past a jackal walking along the road.  Awesome.  Then, a few kilometers later, we passed some warthogs (or at least warthog looking animals).  Even more awesome.  Then-and this was my “I’m in AFRICA moment,” we drove past a baboon sitting next to the road.  Excitement, pleasure, peace-so many things hit me as a smiled at the site of this unknowing creature.  So here I am, finally feeling like I’m in Africa, when I come to a strange but wonderful realization.  The landscape reminds me of the Badlands-dry and desert-y, with strange shapes popping up in the landscape. The irony and paradox of finally feeling very much in Africa while feeling very much in South Dakota was, well, wonderful.

Now I’m living, for the next 3+ months, in a 5 bedroom house with 22 other students.  Talk about learning to live in community!  There are so many experiences and thoughts it’s hard to process it all, but thanks for listening to a bit of the process.  God’s blessings on your week J

The night before a big adventure

So here it shall begin, one large adventure along the Great Adventure.  Really, getting ready for this semester in Namibia started over a year ago.  And through some trials, mishaps, and successes, here I am awaiting my dreaded alarm to go off at 3:30 tomorrow morning to begin the travel part of the semester.  I think the week before going is the worst, because I have no idea what it will be like when I step off the plane-and so now I wait.  But waiting has challenged me to take deep breaths, remember my blessings I have in family and friends, and continue to pray for peace, trust, and the courage to lay my hopes and fears at the feet of Christ.  Thank you for taking a moment to read this, mixing your adventures with mine.  Blessings on your day, and pray that the next post you read comes safely and with joy from Southern Africa!