Our Last Trip Out of Town

By Hal W.

We jumped into our CGEE van as a group for the last time last Thursday. This weekend we went to Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, two coastal towns on the mighty Atlantic ocean. The sun was shining and the air smelled like salt water. Swakopmund is a beautiful city, it is one of the main tourist attractions in Namibia, for both foreigners and native Namibians. I have learned throughout my semester here that Swakopmund is where a lot of Namibians go for vacations and holidays. Swakopmund has a busy season stretching from November to January. We were obviously not there during this time, so the city was often quiet.   

The controversial statue commemorating German soilders

We arrived mid-day on thursday. After lunch at the Art Cafe in downtown Swakopmund we met up with Laidlaw Peringanda who gave us a tour and history of the area. Swakopmund is similar to Luderitz in it’s dark history. Both coastal towns had concentration camps that held local Namibian tribes. They both also struggle with the recognition of these mass killings. In Swakopmund there is a monument commemorating the German soldiers who died in the area. These soldiers were also the oppressors and murderers of thousands of Herero and Nama people in the early 1900’s. The statue was defaced with red paint by local activists to bring awareness to the killings. Laidlaw is a local activist who has been trying to get Namibian and German officials to recognize the genocide, but has met much resistance. He has been offered bribes and threats because of his work to expose the true history of the area.  

Lamont telling us about the unmarked graves

Afterwards we went to a local graveyard. The graves of the white people were decorated with flowers and marble slabs, and a brick path meandered between them. Off away from the white section there was a single epitaph for the native people who died at the hands of the Germans. The plaque said that the natives died under “mysterious circumstances”, a clear example of the ignorance of the whites towards what has happened here.

Laidlaw and Lamont in front of Laidlaw's office in the DRC

 After the stop at the graveyard, Laidlaw took us to the township Mondesa, outside of Swakopmund, to the informal settlement called the DRC (Democratic Resettlement Community). He used to live in the DRC and now uses his old home as an office to teach people about the genocide. The office has pictures of dying and wounded Namibians from the time of the genocide. Laidlaw Peringanda is one of the few activists in the area who is trying to shed light on Swakopmund’s dark history.

We ended the day on a lighter note with an extravagant dinner on the shore at “The Tug” restaurant. I ordered a delicious seafood platter, and we drank wine and made merry until the sun went down.

The following day, Friday, we drove to Walvis Bay to have a tour of a fish processing plant called Seaworks. We geared up in white coats, big rubber boots, and hairnets and were taken throughout the building by Douglass, a higher up in the Walvis Bay fishing industry. The tour was interesting and informative, despite the fish smell and the cold working areas. Seaworks employs a lot of Namibians. The line workers, who would descale, chop, clean, and cut the fish were almost all women. While the forklifts, heavy machinery and supervisor positions were almost all men. The discrepancy between the two genders was clear. The role of gender in Namibian culture is strong, specifically the belief that men  and women are built to do different types of work, men doing heavy labor and women doing the more meticulous tasks.

Line workers [predominantly women] at the fish plant

 

After Seaworks we went down to the shore in Walvis Bay where we had lunch and looked out over the water, watching the tour boats come in and out of the port. After lunch we went to the Namibian Dolphin Project, a small, one-room building on the shore. We talked with the researchers there who were studying the dolphins of the area. They told us about the diverse range of animals they get in the area, and how the fishing and tourist industry often can hurt or confuse the animals. They have documented cases of dolphins getting too close to tour boats and getting badly wounded from the propeller of the motor. They are the only ones in Namibia who are studying these majestic creatures.

A handstand was needed at the top of Dune 7

After the Dolphin project we hopped into the van and drove to Dune 7. Dune seven is a famous dune outside of Walvis Bay. We had our traditional race up the dune, which I won. Being at the top of the dune was surreal and beautiful, the sand stretched all around us and we could see for miles. If you ever get the chance to go to Namibia, Dune 7 should be a top priority.

We ended the day by cooking a nice meal at home, our accomodation was slightly under-equipped for cooking but I made do. After the meal we all settled in and reminisced on the past two days, as well as making plans for our free Saturday.


Largest Quartz crystal cluster on display in the world

The next day we did not have anything planned for the group, so we all went our separate ways to a degree. Me and Alexis visited the Aquarium, the Gemstone museum, and a place we stumbled upon and named “Camel Land”. We were walking down a trail outside of town when we ran into around 30 camels grazing in the brush. It was an unexpected but very cool experience. The Aquarium is small but cool, it was nice to see what kind of creatures are just a mere hundred meters from where we were staying. But, the most fun thing we found on Saturday was the Gemstone museum. I am a sucker for gems and minerals so I was in awe as we browsed through the huge deposits of Amethyst, Malachite, Quartz, Sulphur, and Tourmaline. 

We wrapped up our time in Swakopmund with a reflection the following morning. We discussed the hardships people like Laidlaw have endured, while also talking about how we have a duty to continue the fight, even after we return home from Namibia. Swakopmund is a beautiful, salty, amazing, and historic town. I recommend it for a relaxing vacation on the ocean. But also I challenge any visitor to learn the true history of this place, the good and the bad.

The misty pier in Swakopmund, it was so foggy we couldn't see the shore when we
went to the end

 

A Home Away from Home

By: Camryn C.

Almost two months in and I feel although I have had a world wind of experiences already. I quickly realized this learning experience would not be one about adjusting but rather enjoying. Traveling all through South Africa to get to our final destination of Namibia where we would continue learning for the next three months.  A big part of our learning is being hands on, truly living as if Namibia was our home for good. As students we get the pleasure to live with a Namibian family for a week and experience with them their day to day life. I personally would like to believe that no other family could compare to mine. They were truly absolutely outstanding. I had three sisters, two older and one my age, two lovely nieces seven and nine years old, and of course an amazing mom and dad. During this week I continued classes and internship as scheduled during the day, until my host mom or dad picked me up at the CGEE house after work. The correlation of what was taking place in my classes and at home were unreal! I felt as if I would learn one thing in class and before I knew it was a topic at the dinner table.



Photo taken at local museum, exhibiting the San people's homes

In our history class we are studying the different ethnic backgrounds and population that make up Namibia. This week we attended a local museum studying the different populations, such as the San people and Oshiwambo. We learned about what made them who they are today and why they currently live the way they do.  This was super interesting especially because my family had come from a mixed ethnic background. My dad’s family are Oshiwambo and my mom’s family are Herero, besides language differences the greetings were also very different. As my mom felt it normal to step into a room and greet everyone as a whole, my dad only saw fit to greet everyone separately and personally. Albertina our history professor and CGEE staff member also comes from a background of Oshiwambo, and throughout the week as we do our check-in she will ask us all individually how we are feeling and what is going on, which lines up with her heritage of greeting as well.  Finding those connections between what I was learning and where my family came from really helped us to have good conversations and bond over the week.

I often spent a lot of time with my host mom and host sister who was my age, we were practically two peas in a pod. If we weren’t preparing dinner together then we were often listening to music together or I was getting taught Afrikaans which was a blast to learn.  It was really interesting to me to chat with my sister about our generational issues and what that looked like here in Namibia and also in the U.S. I quickly found that our generation didn’t care as much about where you came from or to which tribe you belonged, but more about similar interests. My sister and the majority of her friends can speak Afrikaans but prefer to speak English. They do not feel racial discrimination is as noticeable because in their minds things such as the Apartheid did not affect them directly. I take we had two women speakers come in from the University of Namibia who touched on this topic more, explaining that my generation has no problem living in harmony together, it is their parents who have difficulty accepting who their children are friends with. Some issues Namibia faces today in regards to division are present due to who has the political power, and since that still remains an older generation it is hard for any political turnover.

My host mom and I enjoying some great conversations at dinner together.

My mom could also recognize the generational gap, especially because of how her and her sisters grew up were separated not only by ethnic background but by race as well.  As we have traveled and learned more about Apartheid the three groups as classified were white, black, and colored. Today colored is a very offensive term and their were test done to see which category you would fall into, in the view of others being considered colored wasn’t as bad as being called black. So my aunt at only twelve years old had to go to Cape Town to a boarding school to pursue her education. Overall not only did I take away so much educationally, but I truly made lifelong connections with my family. Whether it was through conversations, watching African Soap Opera’s or the endless laughs at the dinner table, I wouldn’t want to change a thing.

From Ocean to Ocean

By Caroline Pratt

Appreciating the Durban skyline

Still recovering from the busy month of October, I was exhausted and excited about the last few trips of the semester. While all of the CGEE trips are great, some independent travel has made my study abroad experience so much more impactful. Last weekend I traveled to Durban, South Africa. One of the other students and I caught a plane after class on Friday and made our way to a city so different from Windhoek. Durban, a common tourist destination for South Africans, was like no other South African city we had visited so far. It was so diverse and full of surfers and beach goers. Walking around, I felt just like I was walking down the boardwalk of California. While we were just there for the weekend, we filled our time with people watching, eating the local cuisines like Bunny Chow (half a loaf of bread filled with curry, one of the most filling meals of my life), and spending time on the beautiful Indian ocean. We also visited the Moses Mabhida Stadium, constructed for the 2010 world cup, and the Ushaka Marine world, the largest aquarium in Africa. It was incredible to have the freedom the explore the city independently and see an entirely different part of South Africa, far different than what we had seen in Joburg, the Eastern Cape, or Cape Town.
 

Coming back on Monday, there was no time to waste with classes and internship Tuesday and Wednesday before the entire group left for Swakopmund. One of my highlights of the week though was visiting the local Mosque in religion. Being Catholic and never having the experience of going to a Mosque before, it was eye opening to see a place of worship that functioned very differently than my own. We spent most of the lecture learning about the history of Islam in Namibia and about the teachings of Islam. With the Muslim community making up such a small percentage of the Namibia population, it was cool to see how they functioned as a minority religion.

 



Becca and I enjoying the Swakopmund Atlantic Ocean

Come Thursday the group headed to Swakopmund, a coastal town on the Atlantic Ocean, known for its German architecture and beautiful beaches. On our first day, we took a tour around town where we saw the many lasting memorabilia to German colonialism. In the center of town, we saw a giant sculpture commemorating the fallen German soldiers and went to the glamourous German cemetery, located just next to the large resting place of the Herero and Nama that died during the genocide, with graves unmarked. In the very corner of the cemetery is the monument to the Hereros and Namas that was removed a few years prior because it ‘smelled’ and was moved back after it received some push back. We then saw the townships and where most of the population of Swakop lives. Laidlaw Peringanda, our tour guide and artists/activist, did a great job of providing a holistic view of Swakop and we saw it for what it was instead of the German tourist town that looks like it could be straight out of the German section of Epcot.

The second day of our trip we spent learning all about foreign investment in Namibia and conservation. We visited Sea Works, a Namibian run fishing factory. We learned about all of the laws and regulations put in place to ensure Namibia benefits from the industry such as 51% of all industry must be Namibian owned. Unfortunately, we went while the factory was closed because Namibia has a law that there can be no fishing done during the month of October. This was great though because it allowed time for employees to return home and still received compensation. Later that day we went to the Namibian Dolphin Project where the two employees were working to do research and help the local industries. 

Group photo during our ATV Dune trip in Swakopmund

On our free day, the entire team went ATVing all around the dunes and I spent the rest of the day enjoying life on the Atlantic. It was truly a week to remember, from the Indian ocean to the Atlantic in just seven days. Study abroad is something.

Week Six: Realities of Reconciliation: Acknowledging complicity amidst a deafening silence

by Kitty McGirr & Emily Owens 

Between 1904 and 1908, German colonial forces conducted a massacre of 110,000 Herero and Nama people in Namibia—the scale and sheer brutality of which constituted the first genocide of the 20th century, and the practices of which laid basis for yet another genocide 30 years later in Holocaust Germany. More than a 100 years after this systematic extermination occurred, Germany has only recently agreed to recognize the genocide in a formal admission of historical guilt. 112 years for an apology. 112 years for acknowledgement. 112 years for no trials, no truth commissions, and most pertinently, no reparations for an annihilation order that wiped out 70% of the Herero and 50% of the Nama tribes’ entire populations. Our first speaker of the week, Uruanaani ‘Scara’ Matundu, a local lawyer and scholar on the Ovaherero genocide, shared with us his conviction that reparations remain the most suitable political response to the mass violence perpetrated by the Germans in Namibia. His was an advocacy radically inclusive in nature. Indeed, as a Namibian born in exile in Botswana himself, Scara was keen to underline to us the necessity of justice being instituted to all Herero and Nama people, irrespective of whether they were living in Namibia or were still residing further afield in the countries to which they had been exiled.

Mural displayed at the Independence Memorial Museum
in Windhoek— a space dedicated to the acknowledgement of
Namibian historical events such as the genocide and the
commemoration of Namibia’s journey to independence. 

As it stands, Germany is refusing to enter into discussions about the payment of reparations to Namibia, proposing that it provide developmental aid packages as an alternative form of redress for past atrocities instead. The allure of foreign aid has tended to quell any contributions by the Namibian government in furthering reparation initiatives on the ground due to the widely held belief that demanding redress in any other form would threaten the country’s preexisting dependence on foreign monetary support. To compound this lack of official support on an institutional and governmental level, Scara lamented the distinct lack of white, and specifically German, allyship in his and other Herero and Nama-speaking people’s struggle for economic recompense. I felt especially galvanized by the fact that not one German person sat on the reparations committee with Scara. Namibia, in contrast to its South African neighbor, chose to engage in a policy of silent forgiveness subsequent to the overturning of apartheid. No Truth and Reconciliation Project was conducted within its borders after independence. Instead, the common refrain has been one of unity and forgiveness, of inclusive rhetoric that asserts with the utmost conviction “we are all Namibians now.” Yet in spite of black Namibia’s almost supernatural capacity to forgive centuries of white racial violence, the majority of white Namibians have yet to truly earn that forgiveness by struggling to secure justice for their fellow citizens. I am struck by the audacity of white silence and inaction in the Namibian reparation struggle, but I am perhaps more confounded by the sheer consistency of complicity with injustice that whites continue to exhibit in other global contexts, including that of my own home.

As difficult as it can be to admit, we as individuals grapple with these same issues on a daily basis- and oftentimes, we fail to meet them with integrity. We lie complacent in our circumstances of relative privilege and comfort, while simultaneously remaining complicit as beneficiaries of a network of systems that deny so many others the same comfort we enjoy. Communities in the States, particularly white communities, equally fall into Scara’s categorization of inaction: we deny, we sometimes empathize, but very rarely do we act. What do long overdue reparations for communities of color mean for us on an individual level? What do our claims to support racial equity truly mean if our “support” is contingent on our own sense of security in an unwavering systemic advantage? What effect would recognizing the significance of these reparations for ourselves—to move past denial and empathy, into a trajectory of intentional action and solidarity—have on our communities, our societies, our national and global interactions? And beyond clear instances of marginalization and visibly unjust circumstances, just how often do we commit this disparaging complicity within our everyday lives?

Herbert Jaunch, an active force in the promotion of equity within Namibian trade and labor unions, provided our group with yet another avenue for critical thinking on this topic through his presentation on the influence of Chinese foreign investment on both the Namibian economy and labor force. Jaunch cited numerous instances of unethical wages, exploitative practices, and an overall lack of concern for the wellbeing of Namibian citizens enacted in the name of profit and economic growth. These human rights violations are not unique to the case of Chinese investment; when we choose to examine our own government’s foreign investments and even our individual purchases, we easily uncover an ongoing history of corruption- a history which we continue to write through our everyday capitalistic entanglements. Yet again, we are forced to acknowledge the significance behind our silence—while we can profess our disgust toward injustice and exploitation, we are concurrently supporting corporations and labor practices that drive this inequality through actions as simple as visiting the grocery store. 

So where does it ever end? How can we even begin to detach ourselves from what seems to be an inescapable network of chaos?

The reality of reconciliation is that none of us truly know the right way to reconcile. We glorify the concept of reparation without ever pausing to acknowledge or attempting to repair the broken perceptions that exist within ourselves. It is when we not only recognize, but push forward through our silence that we begin to combat our own complicity—in turn, ultimately coming to terms with the vital role we each must occupy in shaping a more just global society. 

Sources: 

Uruanaani ‘Scara’ Matundu, Namibian lawyer and scholar on the Ovaherero genocide; conversation on September 20, 2016 in Windhoek, Namibia. 

Herbert Jaunch, trade and labor union activist; conversation on September 23, 2016 in Windhoek, Namibia. 

Week Seven: The Forgotten Genocide & (Sweaty) Sustainability Under the Desert Sun

by: Emily Simpson, Ashly Brun & Beatrice Misher

The Forgotten Genocide

Have you ever heard of the Herero Genocide? Chances are you probably have not. Understanding the reasons why this history is often neglected in our classrooms  is something that we have had to come to terms with. This week in our history class, we spoke to Uranaani Mantundu, a genocide scholar, whose ancestors escaped the very genocide we are discussing.

According to Mr Mantundu, The Herero genocide occurred  between 1904 and 1909, but is often referred to as the German-Herero colonization. The ideology behind German settler colonialism stemmed from the idea of spreading the wealth and seed of Germans to the land known today as the Erongo region of central Namibia. The German colonization of South West Africa was built on these colonialist ideas and also served as a response to overpopulation and poverty of Germany in the late 1800s. After a period of time of  what Mr Mantundu called  “slow colonization,” the settlers became restless for their promised land. However, central Namibia was already home to the established empire of the Ovaherero people. In the beginning, the Herero people maintained control over their land by renting it out to German settlers. The Germans violently sought to take over this land through means such as ambush attacks on the Herero people and rape of Herero women. Under General von Trotha, the German colonists began the systematic annihilation of the Ovaherero people. As a form of resistance, the Ovaherero people fought back to reclaim their land, but were ultimately  victims of genocide. Through a propaganda campaign in Germany portraying the Herero people as dangerous savages, a wave of racist sentiment spread throughout the country resulting in the official declaration of war against the Herero people. As a result, von Trotha issued an extermination order to kill any Herero man, woman, or child, armed or not, who was found within German colonial territory. Any Herero person who was not killed during the war was subsequently rounded up into concentration camps, some of which were labor camps and some, like Shark Island off the coast of the town of Luderitz, were strictly death camps. By the end of the genocide in 1909, approximately 65,000 Herero people had been killed. Many still lay in unidentified mass graves that are used today as ATV tracks for tourists in the Swakopmund area.

After this lesson and our new knowledge of this genocide, the German influence here in Windhoek, such as street signs in German, made us think harder about the historical context of the city we are living in. Today, the Herero people are asking the German government to acknowledge this genocide and pay reparations of $2 billion. According to Mr. Matundu, in the US, 48 of 50 states have officially recognized the Armenian genocide, yet none have done so for Namibia. While horrifying, the silence of this genocide was not surprising given the western lense through which our history is taught. Why do we selectively choose whose genocides to remember? There is a specific narrative chosen that neglects the stories of black and brown bodies, and their stolen land. Only through decolonizing our minds can we acknowledge forgotten history, and allow the voices of the oppressed to be heard.

(Sweaty) Sustainability Under the Desert Sun

The following weekend we traveled to the Namib Desert Environmental Education Trust (NaDEET) to camp sustainably in the middle of the oldest desert in the world. Upon arriving, we made our way to the main building for a solar cooked dinner and a brief orientation of NaDEET. Viktoria, the founder, explained that NaDEET is focused on providing environmental education to Namibians and promoting sustainable lifestyles. In addition to education, Viktoria also explained that NaDEET believes in practicing what they preach, and therefore the entire center is as sustainable as possible. It is fully equipped with solar cookers and ovens, an extensive recycling and compost system, solar electricity, and bucket showers to promote water conservation. I was amazed by NaDEET’s ability to build a nearly 100% sustainable organization in the middle of an inhospitable desert with limited access to necessary resources. If NaDEET can do it so well, why can’t the rest of the world?

As the sun burns the back of her legs, Beatrice
realizes that the same sun can be used to
beautifully cook a vegetarian pizza.

The next day, we woke up early to embark on a dune hike before the scorching heat took control. As we crawled up the bright orange sand dunes, we stopped to identify different tracks in the sand and learn about the survival mechanisms of the animals and insects. The sun was scorching by the time we finished up our hike, creating perfect conditions to cook our lunch in the solar ovens. After feasting on our pizzas, we spent the rest of the day hiding from the heat, planting native trees, and experiencing our first Namibian sun-downer, which involved us dune boarding as the sun set. It was the perfect ending to our long and educational day-- an evening full of laughter, sand-beards, and the reminder that the natural world can provide us with overwhelming amounts of joy. We ended the day with an astronomy lesson as we gazed up at Africa’s first International Dark Sky Reserve, learning about different constellations and squealing over every shooting star. 

As an environmental studies major, I've thought a lot about how to effectively demonstrate the need to live sustainably, and I've become very frustrated by my lack of a solution. However, this weekend at NaDEET helped me realize a major theme in promoting environmental consciousness: access. In order to get to NaDEET, we drove through dozens of dried-up river beds and hiked through sand dunes that provided views of a water-empty landscape, demonstrating that we did not have easy and plentiful access to water. Consequently, water instantly became more valuable and we all became conscious of our water use. The location of NaDEET, and the limited access to water that comes along with it, makes it the perfect place to teach water conservation and other sustainable practices. But the instant we gain more access to resources, we forget the importance of conservation. 

Ohana in the desert

This is a large issue with conservation at home in the US, and also at our house in Windhoek. In most places in the United States, there is an abundant access to water, causing people to mindlessly run the tap. Even in dry areas, such as the Southwest, we have manipulated natural waterways to provide an endless supply of water to deserts. This has seemingly provided us with too much access to water, creating a disconnect between us and our natural resources, and thus diminishing our value of water. The same is true in Windhoek, which is in the middle of a huge water crisis. Despite the drought, water magically pours out of our faucets, falsely making it seem as if we have unlimited access to water. This contradiction can make it extremely challenging to understand the value of resources.

But thanks to NaDEET, we were fortunate enough to fully understand the importance of sustainable living. Therefore, when we arrived back at our home in Windhoek, we all got together for our community meeting and discussed our plans for living more sustainable lives. If NaDEET is able to inspire this same reaction in all their visitors, they are effectively changing the environmental mindset of Namibia.

P.S. We also visited the water treatment plant here in Windhoek that transforms our sewage into drinking water but we are legally bound to not disclose this information. Bye.