The real world Namibia

16 strangers picked to live in a house………but really this is like the real world African style. We arrived in Windhoek yesterday and our house is INCREDIBLE. It’s more then anything I could have ever expected. All the staff members in the house are so nice and the women who cook our meals are so impressive. FRESH baked bread everyday! When we arrived the view was breathtaking will hills everywhere, no wonder the altitude is the same as Colorado and I saw baboons chilling on the side of the road, yes BABOONS! It was everything I could have ever wanted. Today we took a driving and walking tour of the city. Went to the white, coloured, and black parts of the city, including the informal settlements. Like in South Africa the people in the informal settlements do not have running water or electricity unlike the South Africans Namibians in informal settlements are isolated from the city. They are within the hills outside the city and taxis do not go close to their houses. Most kids wont see a computer until they are an adult and even then some never do. There are men who sit on the side of the road and are picked up if someone needs them to do work. Many of these men are illiterate and from the northern villages, they walk 50km every morning and every night and only make 2 dollars a day on a good day! This brings me to the real point of my blog today; the idea of poverty and what do people need instead of what they want?  In the past two days I have seen the poverty at its extremes, here in katatura (the township outside the city) they have an outhouse where they go to the bathroom in a hole(I will be staying here next week). Meanwhile I get to come back to this beautiful house in the city, have every form of technology imaginable, and not just one house but a summer house too. How is this fair? Are all these things necessary and what can I do to have an impact not only here but in the states too? These are the questions I have been asking myself all week and politicians/other members of civil society do everyday. Sadly I have not come up with an answer yet and only have a few ideas about the small impact I can make.  The internship I’m doing with the Labor research and resource institute should be helpful here. I will really get a chance to work within the community. At home I want to work towards policy action or work with a non-profit. Most importantly I want to make people(aka the people reading this) that no one should have to live the way some of the people I met live and people should develop a sense of an international community. Everyone should look at each other and not see a stranger but a brother or a sister because at the end of the day we all deserve the same basic necessities. It’s a little food for thought. Anyhoo on a lighter note, I’m pretty sure this experience will make me into a vegetarian I saw cows brains today and all the meat being chopped up also all we do is eat meat! Vegetarians do not survive in Africa! Also, I’m having to accept third world life even with internet no watching t.v. online, very little chance for video chat, and everything else moves very slow. Looks like I will be disconnected for awhile rough outing….. It will make me appreciate life in the states so much more, but if you have an iphone I can text you yay!

Later,

Mary