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:

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

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.