It has been a wonderful exerience living in Windhoek. We met some amazing people, have begun seeing much more of the city and its nightlife, as well as got very comfortable with the surroundings. I am very happy there is another Ole on this trip, not because we like to stick to each other, but because we happen to be so similar in our passions, expectations, lifestyles, comfort zones. We have made some long-lasting friends: Dario, Ramy and Meke (a Croatian and two Egyptian guys), Alvaro, RJ, Crystal (they all work at Ernst and Young), and of course George and Chuck (a singer living in London next to Jude Law, and a male model--no joke). I feel I have seen more of the city, learned about its social structure, life, division much more than from the classroom.
Classes are ok--they get too much sometimes, so getting out of the house is neccessary. Work on the other hand, does get too much very often, yet is hard to duck. There are days when I am surrounded by such poverty and witness such economic discrimination that I become pessimistic and hopless. Especially days when I feel I cannot do anything to make a change, as I am just another foreigner attempting to "help". Its hard. However, there are those days when I find that hope keeping me motivated and passionate. For example, I aided my NGO in welcoming two UNDP reps, and though their questions were so ignorant and frustrating in the beginning, after a 3-day exchange and meetings with the slum community, their views appeared to have changed. The male rep even declared that the heirarchy system he wished to see in Shack Dwellers does indeed not fit the type of community initiative the NGO attempts to create. I also met a lot of members from up north who came down to educate each other with our members, and just sitting, listening, watching the communities share how they organize their community development, was so rewarding! I also got to speak to them and get their concerns and opinions concerning small business loans. Due to this conversation, I am off to the Angolan border, to spend 3 days in Rundu, guiding/observing a microcredit information exchange. I am SO VERY EXCITED!
Now I would do little justice to this blog post if I dont write a bit about my urban home-stay. I was chosen to live in Shandumbala, Katutura for 1 week with a family of 4: Selma (mom), and her 3 daughters Betty, Kewii and Nati. The first night I felt like an alien. Shandumbala is one of the all-black townships of Katutura, where paved roads and concrete houses are not too common. Just walking down the street to the store with one of my sisters, I felt the doubtful eyes of the people around us, wondering and even voicing "What is this white person doing here".
The attention was overwelming and I felt an emotion so foreign to me; a mixture between guilt, shame, awkwardness and alienation. However, day by day I grew to become so used to the neighborhood, the people, the attention (positive and doubtful) that my family laughed at me when I convinced them to let me walk to the store and the bus stop on my own. I was being careful, aware of the situation of the nieghborhood, yet began to view myself a human being in a place full of other human beings. During class, I began to feel weird being in a room of all white people. Emotions changed by the day, my mindset wondered in all directions. I began to love my family. They found me unique and different, not what they expected, they kept repeating. Braiding my hair, talking about guys, chatting about the education here, going to a few local shebeens for dancing and a beer or two...I very much enjoyed them all; and when i say all, i mean the 3 cousins that were constantly in the house, and my brother who actually lived with the grandmother.
During the weekend, it was my mom's 1st year wedding anniversary, a celebration as big as the wedding. Cooking, 30ish people in the house running around, meat, beers, dancing, hair preperation...it was such an experience. The ceremony began with the bringing down of the flags from Selma's mom's house, elder dinners, traditional singing and dancing. It all continued with Henry's mom's welcome at her house, more eating and drinking there....and ended by 5 am after a crazy celebration back at our home! I love it! They were all so accepting, and I felt so at home. As if between family. I cried my eyes out when we said our byes. However, as I am so very familiar with the neighborhood, I am surely going to visit them soon :) What an experience; such differences, scary changes, open hearts full of love. We humans are more the same than we think we are...
Classes are ok--they get too much sometimes, so getting out of the house is neccessary. Work on the other hand, does get too much very often, yet is hard to duck. There are days when I am surrounded by such poverty and witness such economic discrimination that I become pessimistic and hopless. Especially days when I feel I cannot do anything to make a change, as I am just another foreigner attempting to "help". Its hard. However, there are those days when I find that hope keeping me motivated and passionate. For example, I aided my NGO in welcoming two UNDP reps, and though their questions were so ignorant and frustrating in the beginning, after a 3-day exchange and meetings with the slum community, their views appeared to have changed. The male rep even declared that the heirarchy system he wished to see in Shack Dwellers does indeed not fit the type of community initiative the NGO attempts to create. I also met a lot of members from up north who came down to educate each other with our members, and just sitting, listening, watching the communities share how they organize their community development, was so rewarding! I also got to speak to them and get their concerns and opinions concerning small business loans. Due to this conversation, I am off to the Angolan border, to spend 3 days in Rundu, guiding/observing a microcredit information exchange. I am SO VERY EXCITED!
Now I would do little justice to this blog post if I dont write a bit about my urban home-stay. I was chosen to live in Shandumbala, Katutura for 1 week with a family of 4: Selma (mom), and her 3 daughters Betty, Kewii and Nati. The first night I felt like an alien. Shandumbala is one of the all-black townships of Katutura, where paved roads and concrete houses are not too common. Just walking down the street to the store with one of my sisters, I felt the doubtful eyes of the people around us, wondering and even voicing "What is this white person doing here".
The attention was overwelming and I felt an emotion so foreign to me; a mixture between guilt, shame, awkwardness and alienation. However, day by day I grew to become so used to the neighborhood, the people, the attention (positive and doubtful) that my family laughed at me when I convinced them to let me walk to the store and the bus stop on my own. I was being careful, aware of the situation of the nieghborhood, yet began to view myself a human being in a place full of other human beings. During class, I began to feel weird being in a room of all white people. Emotions changed by the day, my mindset wondered in all directions. I began to love my family. They found me unique and different, not what they expected, they kept repeating. Braiding my hair, talking about guys, chatting about the education here, going to a few local shebeens for dancing and a beer or two...I very much enjoyed them all; and when i say all, i mean the 3 cousins that were constantly in the house, and my brother who actually lived with the grandmother.During the weekend, it was my mom's 1st year wedding anniversary, a celebration as big as the wedding. Cooking, 30ish people in the house running around, meat, beers, dancing, hair preperation...it was such an experience. The ceremony began with the bringing down of the flags from Selma's mom's house, elder dinners, traditional singing and dancing. It all continued with Henry's mom's welcome at her house, more eating and drinking there....and ended by 5 am after a crazy celebration back at our home! I love it! They were all so accepting, and I felt so at home. As if between family. I cried my eyes out when we said our byes. However, as I am so very familiar with the neighborhood, I am surely going to visit them soon :) What an experience; such differences, scary changes, open hearts full of love. We humans are more the same than we think we are...
