on our way to Gobabeb

Hi all, I've got an opportunity to fill you in a bit more on how things have been in Namibia. A few extra minutes at the internet cafe before we run off to lunch. It's hard to believe that almost a week has gone by since the students arrived. We have kept them quite busy from the minute they hit the ground and they have been real troopers about it. They arrived late last Tuesday night in the down pouring rain to our first housing option. We stayed at a placed called "Penduka" which means "make up" and is an organization designed to empower women through the sales of hand made crafts. It is located on the outskirts of town and is being renovated (so it is a bit shaby but will improve in the future). Despite the "improving" conditions and high density of students in the dorm style rooms...we heard no complaints.

We quickly jumped in the next morning with a visit to a TB control programme...right up my alley as the course I am teaching focuses on global health issues. We've also had a tour of the city and the students have spent some time with Namibians their age visiting one of the poorer areas and touring a market (where they ate mopani worms and drank sorgum beer).

Since that time we have had the opportunity to have several guest speakers in talking about the political situation in Namibia - both its fight for independence and continuing issues related to the high levels of economic inequality in society. On one side of the political struggle we heard from one of the founding leaders of SWAPO (South West African People's Organization - the party that lead the country to independence) who told us amazing stories about traveling to the USA at 19 years of age with a petition sewn into his underwear to the UN to hear about the human rights violations occuring in his country (the censureship was high so the message had to hidden on his person in order to be delivered to the UN in DC). In contrast, today we heard the story of a woman who was imprisoned by SWAPO for being an "enemy agent". She spent 3 long years in a dungeon, was tortured and beaten until she admitted being an "agent" (which she was not), and told a heart wrenching story of having to 'steal' her then 5 year old child back once she was released from prison. Her child did not even recognize her.

The students returned this morning for 3 nights of homestays with families in the Katutura area. While we had some concerns that it might be too long for a homestay (last time it was one night), they all enthusiastically talked about how much the learned from their host families and had wished it was longer. Their extended stay allowed us the opportunity to go down to Gobabeb, the research center in the Namib desert that Paul managed for a couple of years. So Erik, Paul and I headed off Saturday morning to make the drive through the very scenic terrain to Gobabeb. We had a nice overnight stay in this very remote area of the Namib desert. Quite fun. Well time is running out. Got to run. I'll write more when I can.
Kristy