Namibia does not have city buses or any of the more traditional forms of public transport within cities that we would think of back in the U.S.  (Interestingly, Windhoek does have bus stop shelters randomly placed around the city, and yet I have seen no buses.  Perhaps there used to be bus routes – if so, they are now long gone.)  Instead it has taxis.  Taxis are everywhere in Windhoek and easily hailed.  Taking a taxi here, however, is completely different than taking one in the States or Europe.  First of all, there is no meter.  Rides cost N$7.50 (about US$1) per person to go to a taxi “rank” or traditional stop, and N$15 to go directly to a house or location NOT at a rank.  This system can get complicated, as ranks outside of downtown are not generally labeled, so if you are new here, like myself, you learn by trial and error where to get out.  Even more confusingly, not everyone agrees whether certain street corners farther afield, for example, are $7.50 fares or $15.  After dark, taxi drivers will often charge you more than $15.  As with pretty much everything here, negotiation is expected.

At least somebody is getting some use out of this bus shelter. In Katutura, down the street from my office.

At least somebody is getting some use out of this bus shelter. In Katutura down the road from my office.

To get a taxi, you do not have to go to a rank or a specific stop.  Just walk along a main road.  Cabs with empty seats going in your direction will beep and/or flash their lights.  (As you can imagine, there is constant beeping on main roads, especially at rush hour.)  If you want a ride, just hold out your hand and the car will stop.  All the taxi drivers are private operators – there are no big cab companies you can call to come to your house.  Well, there are one or two such companies that cater to tourists; I called one and they quoted me a price four times what it would cost in a regular cab.

Once in the taxi, there is no telling how long the ride might take, because the drivers try to pick up other passengers.  The fares are per person, so the more people they have in a taxi, the more money they make.  Generally though, the rule is that the first people in are the first to arrive.  There is very little in the way of traffic in Windhoek, which helps.

In many ways, I find this system of transportation more convenient than buses at home.  There are no transfers, and very little waiting.  There is also a little adventure to it – I’ve met some interesting people as fellow passengers or drivers, and also some amusing ones.  However, there is an element of risk.  Women (and some would say men too) are not supposed to take taxis alone after dark, as they could easily be robbed or attacked by the driver.  The risk is elevated for foreigners.  Drivers, too, court danger.  One night I got in a taxi with a friend and the driver told us that he had just been beaten up and robbed by two female passengers!

Drivers are sometimes talkative and I enjoy hearing their stories.  They usually come from rural areas of Namibia, hoping to make some cash and expand their opportunities in the capital city.  They work crazy hours, usually 5 or 6 AM to at least 8 or 9 PM.  Some work late on weekends.  Most that I have asked have greater ambitions – to own some farmland, or to go to university.  The life of a taxi driver is tough and for the young.

Driver Yambo with his chariot. The writing on the side lets you know that this cab is officially licensed.

Driver Yambo with his chariot. The writing on the side lets you know that this cab is officially licensed.

At the launch event for the Disarming Domestic Violence campaign, I met an amazing woman.  Her name is Rosa Namises, and she is the founder and director of Women’s Solidarity Namibia (WSN), an NGO that works with women in abusive relationships.  It was in this capacity that she was a panelist at the launch event.  Last week she came in to the BWS office to talk with us about partnering on some aspects of the campaign, and I got to find out more about her.

Auntie Rosa

Rosa Namises

Although WSN has been around since the late 1990s, Rosa has been doing this work for over 30 years.  She was even a member of Parliament for a few years, and gender-based violence was the main cause that she worked on while in office.  Because of her dedication, she is well-known in Namibia, and every day she gets at least one call on her cell phone from a desperate woman looking for help.  She handles many of these calls personally, going to the women’s homes to talk to them, even talking with the abusive husband or boyfriend if asked to intervene.  I think she is one of the bravest, kindest women I have ever met.  Many of the women she helps, or their children, call her “Auntie” Rosa.

Rosa told us a sad story, the story of a woman who has been abused for many years.  Recently, her husband was angry at her and he started “asking about his gun,” presumably to let her know he was thinking of using it.  Rosa intervened and demanded that the husband give her the keys to the safe where the gun was being stored, and thankfully he handed them over (see what I mean about her bravery?).  This woman has a good job and has the means to leave her husband, but she hasn’t managed to do it yet.  We hope she can find the strength soon.

But Rosa also told us some inspiring success stories.  A woman who was abused by her husband for 27 years did manage to leave him, and is now running her own construction company in Windhoek.  Rosa had a big smile on her face as she told this story.  But she also said that in her 30 years working with troubled families, only about 25 women have actually gotten out of their distressing situations.

Finally, she told us one more inspiring tale.  She had invited the women from the support group that she runs to come to the campaign launch event.  One of them did come.  The next week, at the end of the support group session, this woman asked to speak.  She then proceeded to teach the other group members about the link between guns and domestic violence, saying that she was going to bring the message to her home town of Khorixas and that the other women there should do the same.  It was wonderful to hear that the launch inspired someone to teach others, and that the message is spreading.

Yesterday I met Hans Pieters, a relative of my host here, Talita.  We started talking about my work here and he told me that one of the reasons there are as many guns as there are in Namibia is the war for independence that was fought with South Africa.  Many ex-combatants continue to carry guns, and Hans told me that he himself carried a gun for years after the war was over, for purposes of self-protection.  It was only when he realized that the people who were most likely to get shot with this gun were his friends and family, and not criminals, that he got rid of the gun.  In this brief video he tells his story:

ddv-logo

Every year in June, IANSA sponsors a Global Week of Action that highlights the negative consequences of gun violence around the world.  This year, one part of the Global Week of Action is Disarming Domestic Violence, a campaign to raise awareness about the link between guns and domestic abuse (I talked about this link in an earlier blog post).  Organizations in 28 countries are participating in spreading this message, and I am honored to be part of Namibia’s campaign.  You can read about how Advocacy Project Fellows are contributing to the campaign worldwide here.

The other week, the NANGOF Trust (the umbrella organization that represents Namibian NGOs, including the one I work for, Breaking the Wall of Silence) held a campaign launch event.  It was a panel discussion at a big hotel in downtown Windhoek, and we had four distinguished speakers, including two Members of Parliament and two representatives of civil society organizations.  All the speakers discussed the need for women to feel safe in their own homes.   Rosa Namises of the NGO Women’s Solidarity Namibia gave a particularly moving speech about women’s rights in Namibia and their continuing vulnerability to violence.

Pauline and the parliamentarians talked about how the firearms law here could be amended to improve safety – for example, by instituting a competency test that all gun owners would be required to take and renew.  One important part of any legal changes would be harmonizing the firearms legislation with the domestic violence legislation that they have here.  Harmonization simply means that the gun law prohibits ownership by domestic violence offenders, and the domestic violence law requires the removal of guns.  So far, harmonization has only been accomplished in four countries: Canada, Australia, Trinidad & Tobago, and our next-door neighbor, South Africa.  We’d like it to happen here in Namibia too.  It was great to see the two parliamentarians supporting these potential changes to the law.  Pauline hopes that debates in the relevant government ministries to institute the amendments could begin later this year.  It could definitely be an uphill battle though, as the gun dealer lobby and some in the hunting and farming communities are wary of any changes to firearm legislation.

Member of Parliament McHenry Venaani officially launches the campaign while MP Kaveri Kavari and Pauline Dempers listen.

Member of Parliament McHenry Venaani officially launches the campaign while MP Kaveri Kavari and Pauline Dempers listen.

Connected to the launch, Pauline and I were invited that same day to be interviewed on the national TV network, NBC TV.  We got up bright and early to be on Good Morning Namibia, the daily show that starts at 6 AM.  The anchor interviewed us for about 10 minutes live, and we talked about the problem, the legal side, and announced the launch event later that day.  It was a great opportunity to get the word out, and my first appearance on live TV!

We’ve also been working on getting the message out to the Windhoek community more generally through the Gun-Free Namibia campaign.  We visited two schools last week and talked to their staff to encourage their schools to become Gun-Free Zones.  Goreangab School in Katutura took on the challenge, so we’ll be returning soon to talk to the students and have an official ceremony.

It feels like the NANGOF Trust has a lot of momentum going with the campaign to end gun violence here in Namibia, and it’s very exciting for me to be here for it.  More updates soon.

Namibia, previously called South West Africa, was under South African control from 1915 (when South Africa wrested it from Germany during World War I) until independence in 1990.  As part of South Africa, Namibians were subject to the same apartheid policies as the rest of the country, although it did manage to escape some of these restrictions (laws against interracial marriage and integration of blacks and whites in the same neighborhoods) in the 1970s, well before the rest of SA.  However, lack of voting rights for black people, and general prejudice and intimidation, continued on.

One of the legacies of apartheid still visible in Windhoek is the different characters of the various “locations” – what would be called townships in South Africa.  In 1959, residents of the Old Location (a segregated area of Windhoek set aside for black people by the Germans in 1913) were forcibly relocated to another location outside of Windhoek, which the people called Katutura, or “the place we do not want to stay.”  On December 10, a protest against the removal in the Old Location turned bloody when 13 demonstrators were shot and killed by police.  December 10 is now recognized in Namibia as International Human Rights Day to commemorate the tragedy.

Katutura is still here.  In fact it has grown significantly, and now about half of Windhoek’s residents live here.  It remains the poorest location in Windhoek.  Although there are some nicer areas, a lot of the houses are just tin shacks erected by squatters too poor to buy or rent a house.  But Katutura is also a vibrant part of this city.  There are nightclubs, shops, markets, even a court, and teens walking home in their school uniforms.   I work here every day, as the NANGOF building is here (NANGOF stands for the Namibian NGO Forum, an umbrella organization that represents Breaking the Wall of Silence as well as many other organizations).  It is still an overwhelmingly black neighborhood; I have never seen another white person here, and people often look surprised to see me.  Recently, a taxi driver taking me home from the office joked that the longer I worked in Katutura, the browner my skin would become!

High school in Katutura

High school in Katutura

Kids at the school, in between classes

Students (called "learners" here) at the school, in between classes

The other locations all have their own character.  My host, Talita, took me to visit with some of her family in Khomasdal.  The houses there are obviously nicer, better-built and bigger.  She told me that it used to be the location set aside for the “coloured” people, or people who are mixed-race.  Now people of all races and tribes live there.

I don’t think the neighborhood where Talita and I live, Dorado Valley, used to be an official location, but it also has a mix of people.  There are black families of different tribes, “coloured” ones, and apparently even some white families.  I take this racial mix, perhaps somewhat naively, as a good sign of healing after the years of abuse and harassment under apartheid.  All is not perfect, however.  Talita told me that I will never see the white people in our neighborhood.  Apparently they only come out in their cars, never walking to the local taxi rank like others do.  And it’s true – at least at this point, I still haven’t seen them, whereas the other families all have children out playing in the yard or people hanging out on their front steps, listening to music.

My neighbor, Junior, in front of his house in Dorado Valley

My neighbor, Junior, in front of his house in Dorado Valley

Better late than never, right?  Filmed this on the Georgetown campus during the Advocacy Project training at the end of May, but I just figured out the editing tools this week!

A news story in the most popular national newspaper here, The Namibian, really hit home for me this week.  A woman and her mother were both shot and killed by the woman’s boyfriend in a small town in the northeast of the country.  The article indicates that there had been a long history of domestic abuse in the relationship.  It’s the kind of sad story that is plastered all over the news in the US more often than any of us would like.  It also illustrates in the most horrifying way the link between guns and domestic violence that IANSA is working to raise awareness about this year with their Disarming Domestic Violence campaign, and the reason I’m here.

Recently, Pauline and I were talking about the campaign with a man we had just met.  He argued that the problem is not guns, but domestic violence itself, and he said that the most effective way to deal with the problem would be teaching people about effective conflict resolution.  I agree with him that it is not only guns that are the problem, and that the roots of the problem lie deeper than the weapon that is used in a domestic violence situation.  However, as IANSA has noted, guns make domestic violence more deadly.  A gun increases the risk of death by 12 times, compared with other means of violence.  In Namibia, the majority of victims of gun crimes (assault, murder, and muggings) between 2003 and 2006 were women.  It is clear to me that something needs to be done to keep women safe, and that removing guns from the hands of abusers and other criminals would be an effective first step.

Pauline Dempers and Felix Muchila on his NBC Radio show, "The Ninth Hour"

Pauline Dempers and Felix Muchila on his NBC Radio show, "The Ninth Hour"

I had just met my new boss, Pauline Dempers, the national coordinator of Namibian NGO Breaking the Wall of Silence, at one of the central taxi stands (or ranks, as they’re called here) in Windhoek.  It was my first day in Namibia, and I had come directly from the airport – Pauline was picking me up downtown to take me to Talita’s house, where I would be staying for the next three months.  We sat and talked for a moment as we waited for Talita to drop off the keys: mostly small talk and getting-to-know-you chat.  Then she surprised me:

“I’d like you to come with me to the national radio station tomorrow.  We’re being interviewed on the IANSA campaign.”

And so the next day at 9 AM I found myself walking up to the NBC (here, it stands for Namibian Broadcasting Corporation) Radio building to begin the first task of my internship.  Inside, I met Pauline and Felix Muchila, host of English-language radio show “The Ninth Hour.”  NBC has radio shows in English, German, and Afrikaans, as well as several different indigenous languages, and it is broadcast throughout the entire country.  Felix informed us that we would be talking for about 45 minutes and would take calls from listeners as well.  This is where I started to get nervous: 45 minutes?  On my first day?  I hoped I had all the answers to the questions that would be asked of me.

I shouldn’t have been too worried.  Pauline took the lead, discussing the national Gun Free Namibia campaign that her organization has spearheaded as well as the link between guns and domestic violence that is the focus of the Disarming Domestic Campaign that we are launching here in Windhoek as a partner in IANSA’s Global Week of Action against Gun Violence.  Felix asked me how gun violence compared between the US and Namibia, and also what was being done to combat gun violence in the States.  I was not able to compare the level of violence in the two countries, especially as I did not have access yet to Namibian statistics.  But I did highlight that there are several organizations working on this issue in the US, and that IANSA is partnering with many of them.  We had one caller at the end of the show who commented on the difficulty of reducing gun violence, and the importance of ensuring that guns are stored safely.

Perhaps the best part of the whole experience was that since then, I have encountered two people that heard Pauline and me on the radio.  One of them is a freelance reporter, and we had an interesting discussion about gun violence in Windhoek.  It’s exciting to know that the campaign is already visible and sparking discussion.

I’m sitting in my tiny apartment surrounded by piles.  African history books and guides to the cultures of Namibia, boxes from Amazon filled with camera accessories, piles of clothes and shoes of which I will not be able to take even half, and above all, lists.  It is amazing how many to-do lists one person can write in a day.  But in this extremely busy last week of preparation for my summer in Namibia, the lists are necessary.

I am ecstatic about the opportunity Advocacy Project has given me to go to Windhoek to work with IANSA and Breaking the Wall of Silence on their “Disarming Domestic Violence” campaign.  This is my first chance to go to Africa and I can’t wait.  It’s also going to be my first experience working in a developing country, and that is both exciting and essential to my studies in international development.

But the fact is that because these experiences are firsts for me, I don’t really know what to expect.  This means that I have basically had first-day jitters for the last week, and they seem to be getting more intense as my departure date, June 1, gets closer (very close!).  I still don’t know a lot about the place I am going or what exactly I’ll be doing day-to-day.

I do know a few things about Namibia.  I have been reading guides and news articles online and talked to several friends-of-friends who have spent time there.  Here are the top four things people talk about:

-  Namibia is mostly desert and reputed to be incredibly beautiful. Many people go there on safari, as there is a huge variety of wildlife (lions, elephants, baboons, the whole nine yards).

-  It is one of the most unpopulated places in the world, with a population of only 1.8 million spread out over a space that is almost 4 times the size of the UK.

-  It is a middle-income country, but not everyone has benefited.  According to the UN, Namibia is one of the most unequal countries in terms of income distribution.

-  It was a German colony until the end of World War I, and then a part of South Africa until it became independent in 1990.  It is still dealing with the legacy of apartheid and the recent memory of its independence struggle.

These facts intrigue me.  I wonder what effect they have had on the people and their culture.  I have many questions, and most of them can’t really be answered until I get there and start talking with people.  I can’t wait to get started on my journey, and I look forward to telling you all about it.