Finding My Inner African

Cooking dinner on the last night - I managed to burn off all my arm hair.
Hardap Dam


"In Namibia you cry twice. Once when you arrive and wonder where AM I? The second time is when you leave."

Right now it's a little chilly and smells like fall in New England (not sure how that happened). I just started the mountain of work I have to get through - plenty to do this week. This weekend we had a travel seminar down south, stopping in Mariental and Berseba, which are not as far south as I traveled on fall break. But we got to see the area in greater depth, stopping to talk to different organizations about how they are attempting to develop their communities. When you drive through Namibia there are huge stretches where there is just NOTHING but farms and mountains and fields. We camped the whole weekend, starting off at a government owned campsite, then a community owned site, and then a private campsite. It was really interesting to compare approaches to development just in terms of the campsites. Despite my socialist leanings I found that the private campsite had the best toilets. Communal land ownership is a lot more appealing when it involves indoor plumbing.

I don't think I gave much thought to this trip before we left, it was just something to check off at the end of the week. But I do feel like I learnt a lot about different forms of development and how different approaches each have benefits, and how it is important that they are all implemented. I think it is important for communities to decide how their land is used (such as the Berseba community) but the Kalahari Anib Lodge (privately owned) had a lot of great ideas for land conservation and education, and has the resources and training to carry it out. Development is never straightforward...what did I get myself into ;)

The quote above was something that the representative from the Kalahari Anib Lodge mentioned, and it stood out to me. I remember landing in Hosea Kutako airport and thinking "This is some sort of joke, we are in the middle of a desert...we are going to refuel and take off again in a minute right? WHERE AM I?" Romanus got a good laugh out of my face when I turned around and demanded an explanation. He then pointed to a hut and said "oh look, we're home!" It was not appreciated.
Skip ahead two months, and I have been reminded that I am capable of adapting. I enjoy internet that is slow enough that I have the time to go and make a cup of tea while I wait for my page to load...I appreciate the view of the stars that you get when you use the outhouse on a rural farm (hopefully that is the only view people were getting)...I will miss going round our house yelling at people to do their dishes. In all seriousness, I realized today as we were driving through the mountains while listening to some traditional African CD that I really love Namibia, and as excited as I am to come home (I already started my list of things to do...of course) I will miss it here. Starting with the unbelievable sunsets...it's like every night is out to top the last. It kind of took me by surprise, because before getting here, Africa was somewhere that I wasn't familiar with and it was not somewhere I had any background in. Once again, I find somewhere else in the world where I feel comfortable...