settling in

well if I had to pick one work to describe the past couple weeks it would be overwhelming

not to say that I'm not glad to be here, in fact being overwhelmed comes from good things too, I'm just really overwhelmed with everything I've been experiencing, learning, seeing, and doing

so last week was a "normal" week of classes and internship. we had 3 speakers that week for our different classes and that was really interesting
1st speaker - incredible - I think his name s professor Karina - but anyways he named Namibia and co-founded SWAPO (south west africa people's organization) the leading anti-apartheid group and now the leading political party of namibia. he was the first namibia to go overseas for education and before that learned from mandela, dube, and other famous south african leaders. he lived in the us for 30 or 40 years because he had trouble getting back to namibia and it was still under apartheid rule. during his time in the US he was very active in namibia politics and the civil rights movement in the US. he spoke in front of the UN about namibia and later helped MLKJ (they were good friends) get a slot to speak in front of the UN, he had dinner with Malcolm X every friday and was close friends with Maya Angelou. so big deal. he shared a lot of things that need to be done in namibia and sad things that were going on but he also reminded us that namibia is still a teenager - it is celebrating it's 17th birthday next month.
2nd speaker - used to be the minister of education in namibia so talked a lot about education here, he was okay but mostly it is just hard to think about how much needs to be done to get the masses educated. education is required here but people have to pay school fees so many people do not complete education and a lot of schools are full. for example today I went to 3 different schools for my internship to try and see if we could get this boy into 10th grade and none of the schools had room for him - so even if he could pay for school he couldn't get in! that is just absurd to me.
3rd speaker - a guy from the US embassy in namibia. very fascinating. told us a lot about what is going on in namibia and what the US is doing. the US is actually doing a lot and is starting a new program which sounds really positive but who knows what kind of strings are attached because of it. however we learned a lot about AIDS and different issues facing Namibia. For example, as I've said before, Namibia has the largest gap between the rich and the poor. Around 80% of the population makes an average of US$100-200 per year while the top percentages make US$200,000 to 1 million per year and there aren't too many people in between.

moving on...
we are currently doing a home stay from last thursday until this upcoming sunday. we still attend our internships and classes but the rest of the time we spend with our home stay family. I live with Sam and Trudy and two girls (16 and 17) who are relatives living with them for a while because they needed some help and one of them is an orphan. They are a very nice family and I especially like the girls. However we haven't done a lot and they just can't compare to my last home stay. We don't really talk with the neighbors or talk much in general - just eat together then go our separate ways. But I am enjoying being there and just spending sometime away from the center and with a family. this weekend we are going to their house on a community farm which should be fun. over the past weekend we just hung out a lot and on saturday I went to a funeral (interesting) and then we went to this park just outside of Windhoek to go swimming. It was absolutely beautiful there. And I saw giraffes!!! We were driving out and there were a bunch of wildebeests then 4 giraffes really close to the road, I was excited. pictures will come if my computer ever lasts for more than 30 minutes at a time.

So it's been good but hard at times. I struggle a lot with how I fit in here and especially at my internship. I really want to positively impact my internship but I don't know how. My advisor is never there and when she is she is not very helpful. I enjoy the people and the kids (who knew I liked little kids, not me) but I don't feel like there is a project for me to work on. And then I talk with people about possible ideas and everything seems so impossible. Namibia does not have the same programs and outlets and resources as in the US so I feel more or less helpless in doing anything. I really enjoyed it today when we went into the community and visited people - also I just feel like I belong there now, and that is a nice feeling. I'm going extra tomorrow to visit the youth club which should be good and I'm trying to brainstorm and research but haven't had much time for that either. But hopefully I will think of something and I'm enjoying it in the meantime.

Well that's it for now....
hope you all are well

oh snap!

picture time!


welcome to south africa! this is an old powerplant in Soweto that was shut down because it was causing health problems to the people but has not been transformed into a city symbol in preparation for the 2010 world cup that everyone seemed to be excited for









this is the hector peterson museum, a memorial of the 1976 student protests and those who were killed during the protests - this was dedicated by Nelson Mandela himself and Bill Clinton. We got to speak to a photographer who witnessed the whole thing.







this is at the apartheid museum in Johannesburg, it represents the 8 pillars of South Africa













this is the south african parliment building in pretoria (capital)










some girls from my group when we were in pretoria












some beutiful girls at the birthday party (larato is the birthday girl in front) in soweto during my homestay












cutest boy ever! (at the birthday party)












my beautiful little "sister" Mapule













this is the house of my favorite person who's door (can you guess who?) which we rang 5 times but alas no answer - and his spot as my favorite person was only confirmed by visiting south africa :)









here is the whole crew plus a couple who were like family and missing a couple who were like family - from the left: karabo (20) and her baby (9 months), saza (15), thandi, emmy, mabule (5), moureen (mom), me, and I can't remember her name she rented there








welcome to namibia and its beauty!!!














my home for the next few months, windhoek!

























these 2 are from camping this past weekend - this is at a dam/lake


















more beautiful namibia - there are mountains everywhere you look, I really hate that (not!)











and that my friends is a taste of what I've been doing/seeing, hope you enjoyed

well toto, we're definitely not in kansas anymore

As the title implies, namibia is different than any place I've ever been, particularly kansas (or valpo for that matter). but I do like it...
first week of classes went alright, not too much exciting during the week except we went out for dinner on valentines (all 20 of us) and ended up waiting 2 hours for our food that wasn't very good, and my internship went better (but still not sure what I'm gonna do the whole time), and I think I'm going to enjoy my classes.
so 11 of us went camping this past weekend. we left friday late afternoon for Rehoboth, a town about an hour away from Windhoek with a population around 20 or 30 thousand. The make up is different than I've seen before, almost everyone is of mixed race, and they refer to themselves as basters. we ended up at the wrong camp grounds, but it ended up working out. just chilled on friday and saturday we went to a dam/lake and hiked around. very very beautiful. there are so many mountains around. namibia is very dry but some parts still seem to have lush looking plants, though overall the look of the country is dry (it's dessert). just radically different from the midwest. came back to the camp grounds and met some locals and spent the evening talking, dancing, relaxing with them. incredibly welcoming people. one man offered for some of us to come stay at his place for a month, others offered to have us over if we were ever in town again. a couple girls took us on a walk to a stream/waterfall the next morning which was beautiful and we got to see some of the city that we would have never seen if it wasn't for them. since the town is smaller and racially different than windhoek we got some different reactions from the people, but overall people were friendly and wanted to make sure we enjoyed Reho, which we did. It was a fun weekend, though apparently we missed out, because some girls met the first prime minister of namibia and hung out with him all saturday evening! however, I saw two baboons near the road on the drive back and that secured it for me that we're definitely not in kansas anymore. :)

it's summer time in namibia

I stole the title idea from courtney but it seems fitting because it is hot here, but I'll take this over the freezing weather in valpo right now
so namibia is beautiful
we flew in last wednesday and the airport is in the middle of no where so we had a nice long drive to windhoek and enjoyed the scenery. so apparently there are mountains here, lots of them and it is so nice to walk around and every where you look there are mountains (pics will hopefully come soon if I can ever get on with my comp). the 20 of us got settled in to our very nice house and met our profs and the CGE staff.
Some things I've done and seen:
we took a tour of windhoek and learned some history of the segregation and apartheid within namibia. we drove through katatura (part of the city) which was really hard to see. it is an informal settlement but there are street names and everything. thousands of tin shacks were everywhere, too short for people to stand up in and I'm sure multiple families living in each one. it's really sad too because the government isn't doing anything about it. at least in south africa they are building houses for people for free, here they just seem to ignore it.
we went to the soweto market (yes soweto is in south africa) which is just place in katutura where people have little shops and sell different things. we ate lunch there and helped a lady make fat cakes which was fun. the people seem a lot more hesitant to us here than they did in south africa becasue there is still a lot of race problems. so people look at us and seem uneasy but once they know we are americans (and not afrikaaners) and are okay then they warm up a lot. we learned some prices of different things and then calculated the costs for them in us dollars for an average namibia worker and a liter of milk would be US $ 13 and a roll of toliet paper US $ 3.50, crazy, no wonder there isn't much of either around.
we had 15 or so students from 2 local (and only ones in namibia) universities for a forum/social get together. that was really cool. It was fun to meet some namibians our age and get their perspective on things. some of them took us out to a club that night which was fun.
Sunday we went to this ridiculously long church service (3 hrs) and basically none of it was in english except when they invited us up to introduce ourselves (imagine 400 people turning to look at the 5 of us) and then later one of the pastors came over and interpreted the sermon for us which was really nice. Afterwards we met a lady who we asked where we could get food and she took us to her house then went to the markets to eat with - how incredible!
Monday was my first day at my internship and well... it is at a place called Beautiful Gate and it is a really cool organization started by this couple from South Africa. It has 61 kids (3 to 6 year old) during the day who come and learn some basic english and other things and get a good meal or two in them and get some love and play time. A few days a week they have an after school type program for older kids but unfortunately not on the days I'm there because little kids can make me nervous sometimes. Anyways my supervisor was only there for about a half an hour then I just cleaned dishes and floors and made jello and stared at a tree for an hour and half and watched 50+ kids run around screaming and climb all over me. So not my favorite but maybe it will get better and I have to sit down with my supervisor and set goals and come up with a project to work on so hopefully I will get valuable experience not just screaming kids and making sandwiches and jello experience. It was a little disappointing too that only a couple of the adults are from namibia while the rest are from SA, Holland, US, and maybe australia. C'est la vie, n'est pas? Just have to stick with it for a while.
It was really difficult seeing all the kids though - a lot of them suffer from serious malnutrition, have TB, have HIV/AIDS or their parents do, or are orphans living in abusive homes. And the neighborhood it's in is really sad too, especially when I can leave and come back to our nice house and lots of food.

south africa!

So the time has come to tell of South Africa, a beautiful country with even more beautiful people that have captured my heart a little. Sorry for such the long post - it could have been much longer though - I'll keep it shorter from now on, hopefully.
No pictures yet because I still can’t get on the internet with my computer, but hopefully soon. Anyways…..
The 20 of us flew into Johannesburg on the 28th of January and just got settled in this guest house right next to where Desmond Tutu went to school :)

The first day we took a tour of Soweto, a township/”suburb” of Johannesburg. Soweto has about 4 or 5 million people in it and Joburg totals around 14 or 15 million people, so a lot. We toured around and saw a lot of houses, ranging from very large nice houses to tiny shacks. We went to the school where the 1976 student protests started which sparked a lot of international attention but mostly added a lot to the anti-apartheid movements within South Africa. We went to the Hector Peterson (first boy who died during protests) museum which beautifully portrayed the story of Soweto and the protests. People in Soweto are very proud of their city and all it’s history, rightfully so.

The next day we went to the apartheid museum which was incredible. It was constructed and planned out so wonderfully. It brings forth a lot of deep emotions and is very informative. It is so nice to be able to see what I have studied and discuss it with other people. Sometimes when I stop for a few minutes and think about what South Africa has experienced as a country I'm overwhelmed. The pain and hurt is unimaginalbe and the struggle was so strong, but the people are so happy now because they have gained their independence. After that we visited an orphanage in Soweto which seemed to be doing a lot of good for those kids and the community it was in. Then we went to a park and discussed what we had experienced so far, which was nice because it is hard to take in everything I’m seeing and feeling.

Next day, we went to the Khotso House which I had read about because it was bombed during apartheid. It hosts the South African Council of Churches and we got to talk to the Secretary General, Eddie Makue, who was brilliant and absolutely fascinating. The churches in South Africa were such an important role in fighting apartheid and are really working hard for economic justice now. That night we headed to Pretoria, the capital of South Africa, which was about an hour away. We just went around and ate out that night which was fun.
Pretoria is definitely different than Johannesburg and especially Soweto. There is a lot of white influence there and larger Afrikaner population. We went to this one area that was completely Afrikaners which was good to see, to know that separation still occurs, but sad to see because it shows that there is still a lot of apartheid occurring. Anyways that day we went to the Voortrekker Monument which was strange. It is hard to visit a monument which celebrates a history of a people who oppressed and killed so many South Africans. Then we ate at the Parliament Building gardens and walked around the Parliament. Urbanus, our professor who is from Namibia, said it was very difficult for him to come there because of the history of Pretoria, it was the think tank and enforcer of the apartheid regime so it brings back a lot of bad feelings. However I have been surprised of how forgiving most South Africans are and how accepting to others most are; there is so much hope in South Africa, you can just feel it.

Next day we went to the US Embassy which was really interesting. Needless to say I don’t agree how the embassy works but it was interesting to learn about it. Then we came back to Joburg and packed for our home stays.

The home stay has been by far the best part of the trip so far. Friday night we headed over, we did this one in pairs. We arrived at our host family and meet everyone: Moureen, our mom, Karabo, 20 year old sister with a nine-month baby, Saza, our 15 year old sister, and Mabule our 5 year old sister, plus all the neighbours and family friends who we spent a lot of time with and were basically family. That night we ate cow intestines which was probably the most disgusting thing I’ve ever had in my life, but I managed to eat about half which I was proud of. Then we walked around and met people. Everyone was so welcoming and giving towards us. The next day we woke up and ate an enormous breakfast then walked around to meet more people. It is so incredible how friendly and loving every person we met was, just amazing. We met this traditional healer which was fascinating; she talked to us about what she did for about an hour. She had a patient with her and told us what everything she used was for. It was interesting because she did it all in the name of God and has had a lot of success. It was incredible. Then she danced for us and the whole family joined in and it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Then we went to a birthday party for a 10 year old. By the end of the night there were at least 100 people there. It was defiantly a cultural experience I won’t forget. I played a lot which children and danced and ate a lot and met so many people. The race politics is very interesting in this country. People in Soweto are surprised to see us there. Most children are fascinated by us, and the more elderly people are so appreciative to see us there, and it differs as lot with everyone in between. The next day we went to church which was beautiful. Then we walked around the neighbourhood again and met with people and just talked. The sense of community here is so strong. Then we went to this soccer meeting, which was kind of confusing but it ended soon and we just hung out with the people for a few hours. Everyone is so excited about 2010, when South Africa hosts the world cup. Then we walked by Nelson Mandela’s old home and Desmond Tutu’s new home (we tried ringing the door but no answer :) ). We came back to our home and relaxed and talked with people. That seemed to happen a lot, just sitting around and talking or dancing which was wonderful. Alcohol seemed to be a big problem in my neighbourhood however. Our mom sold beer on the side so we hung out with a lot of hard core alcoholics. They were all wonderful people though. Overall the weekend was one of the best experiences of my life and I will never forget the beautiful people and how wonderful I felt living there, despite the awkward circumstances at times and cultural differences. I fell in love with Soweto that weekend.

We just reflected and relaxed the next day which was a nice change of pace.
Next day we went to Museum Africa which was kind of a bust but the part where we saw the migration compounds where workers stayed who worked in the mines during apartheid was good to see. They looked like concentration camps. We went to a market and a play the evening which was interesting.

And that my friends was South Africa. I hope to go back this summer/winter. I loved it and saw so much beauty, not just in the landscape but the people. It has such a rough history and has a lot of work to do before real justice is done, but there is so much hope and beauty in the people. It was a truly inspiring trip.

I'm here!!

yes friends I'm here.... still can't believe it sometimes. we just got to namibia yesterday after a 10 day stay in South Africa - incredible. however internet is currently limited because it is not working throughout the house so I'm going to have to update what I actually did later. so just checking in, expect a detailed account of south africa soon. thanks and hope you all are well