Spring Break Pictures

Spring Break!

After our homestay, CGE went to Etosha National Park and spend a day driving around checking out the wildlife. The most exciting part was watching a pride of 11 lions stalking a flock of kudu in the morning, and then returning in the evening to see them relaxing in the last rays of the afternoon sun. Other highlights included seeing the rare black rhino and countless giraffes and zebras. After that, we traveled south to Windhoek, but my traveling companion Emily and I were let off in the town of Otjiwarongo, where we stayed with a lovely American missionary that I was introduced to via Facebook by my college friend's mother. She showed us around the town, which was much more Afrikaans speaking than any other town in Namibia we had visited previously. We were treated to a delicious home cooked meal before heading to bed in a beautiful guest flat behind her house. The next day, we visited the Cheetah Conservation Fund, that was founded by a women from Roseburg, Oregon! And our tour guide, a Namibian, had studied at the University of Washington for four years. Such a small world. We got to learn about the interactions of cheetahs with nearby farmers, and watch them get fed lunch. Afterwards, we hopped on the Intercape Mainliner, a "luxury" bus to Livingstone, Zambia. On the bus, we met up with several others from our group who were headed there as well. Twenty hours later, we arrived in Livingstone and checked into our amazing hostel, Jollyboys. It was constantly busy with fellow travelers sharing their stories either around the pool, at the bar, or in the pillow pit- a massive network of couches and pillows in the center of the hostel.

The main reason we all headed up to Zambia was to see Victoria Falls, one of the seven wonders of the world. I visited both the Zambian side of Victoria Falls and the Zimbabwean side. Each were stunning in their own ways, and each reflected the flavor of the country. The Zambia side was much less developed, and you could see the falls very close up and intimately-- there weren't guard rails anywhere and you could hike down to the bottom to see the whirlpool, or to the top and stand in the water a few feet before it spilled over the edge. Don't worry, Mom, I was a wimp and only dipped a toe in the water! Most of the other travelers we saw were either young backpackers, or African tourists. The Zimbabwean National Park was the exact opposite. The trails were well paved and fenced, and we saw many well to do travelers accompanied by guides. The view of the falls was much more majestic and you could see a lot more of the falls, but there weren't any places where you could just sit and soak up the beauty and power of nature like there were in the Zambian park. I was very glad I was able to see both sides, because I liked them both for different reasons. The rest of our day in Zimbabwe was quite an experience. I had been warned that it was very unsafe and that we would be hassled a lot on the street, but we arrived to a very clean and orderly town with the most souvenir shops I have seen in all of Africa! We did have a couple dozen men approach us on the street but they were mostly selling us the old Zimbabwean dollars, which I happily purchased (once). How cool is it to hold a $5 trillion dollar bank note??

For the middle part of our trip, Emily and I headed into Botswana to go on a safari in Chobe National Park. We went on a morning boat cruise with a variety of travelers of all ages and walks of life. We had a delicious lunch, which was a welcome change from the peanut butter and apple sandwiches we had been living off of at the backpackers! In the afternoon, we split up into smaller groups for the game drive, and Emily and I ended up with two Australian girls in their 20s, which was perfect for us. We drove in an open safari truck down a bumpy track right next to the Zambezi river, and we saw dozens and dozens of elephants! The park alone has over 120,000 elephants. We also so herds of water buffalo, warthogs, and various antelope species. Just as we were turning back to leave for the day, another safari vehicle came barreling down the road at us. The driver shouted a few words to our driver and we immediately turned around and followed suit. Turns out, someone had spotted (pun intended) a leopard!! This completed the "Big 5" list for me and Emily. Almost more interesting than the leopard itself was watching all the tourists watch the leopard. At night, we camped in the middle of the park (with our guides) and we even had an elephant come up to the camp at dusk.

After saying goodbye to our Australian friends, we headed back to Jollyboys for the night, and confirmed the last leg of our trip-- a stay on a remote island in the middle of the Zambezi. We weren't getting picked up for the island until 2, so we had a morning free in Livingstone. As we were eating breakfast, the owner of the hostel approached us and explained that her boyfriend was filming a promotional video for the Royal Livingstone Hotel's boat tours and asked if we would like to be in it. Naturally, we jumped at the chance to be famous and see a fancy hotel. So after entering the hotel, we got sped around on a speedboat for a few hours getting filmed watched hippos and elephants. So surreal.

After a bumpy hour and a half in the back of a pickup, we arrived at Jungle Junction and Bovu Island and got canoed across to our accommodations. We had paid for a package deal that included 2 nights in a hut, all meals, all activities, and transport to and from Livingstone. When we got there there were only a few other travelers there, so we got upgraded to the fancy river-view chalets. The rooms were made from bamboo and elevated so you could see the marsh and the river flowing by, the front wall of the room was entirely mesh, so it really felt as if you were sleeping outside, we could even hear and see monkeys chattering in the trees. Complete paradise. The island was one kilometer long, beautiful and lush, and had no electricity so the stars at night were amazing. We ended up spending a lot of time with two British guys, and then the 2 Australian girls from our safari ended up joining us on the second night. It was so nice and refreshing to just totally relax with fellow travelers-- read in hammocks, play cards, and shower outside (but in real showers, not buckets!). We took a sunset canoe ride and managed to catch some fish, which I had never done before. We were extremely sad to leave such a beautiful, relaxing and magical place, but the day came and we bounced and jolted our way back to Livingstone.

Our bus left for Windhoek at 11:30am on Sunday and we arrived at 9am on Monday. Quite a lot of traveling! Our bus driver decided to slow down to a STOP for every pothole we encountered. And for some reason, we kept getting stopped at police checkpoints by Namibian customs agents who demanded everyone off the bus so they could throughly search it. They never found anything, but it sure delayed things. Now we are back to the routine in Windhoek, although I really feel like I should be in Malawi right now, since everyone we met had either just visited Malawi or were on their way. In all, break was a wonderful chance to meet fellow travelers, do things at our own pace, relax, and re-instilled my desire to seek out further opportunities for travel in the future.

Rural Homestay

I'm back after 3 weeks of traveling! I'm planning on posting a couple blog entries to get you all caught up.

In early March, CGE loaded up the van and drove 9 hours to the Northern Omusati region, close to the border with Angola. Each of us lived with a different family on a "homestead" for the week, getting picked up each day to travel around the region and listen to various speakers. My family consisted of Meme Saraphina, one of the toughest and hardworking ladies I have ever met; Kristof, a 16 year old boy who showed me the ropes around the place and kept me very very active; and Angula, a darling 3 year old boy whose antics kept me constantly amused. Their father lives and works in Swakopmund and only comes home occasionally, but I got to talk with him on the phone once. My homestead was about a 7 minute walk from the road, surrounded by fields of maize and mahanghu (millet). The house, which was more like a compound, was fenced with sticks and the open air rooms were defined by smaller fences. My room, like the others, was a hut made of mud bricks and thatched with grass. There were huts for storing, huts for sleeping, huts without walls for shade and relaxation, and huts for cooking.

On a typical day, I would wake up around 6:30, hear the crowing of roosters, watch the sun rise over the baobabs, and drink a cup of coffee and eat some bread with peanut butter. CGE gave our families a supplementary box of food, so we ate a mixture of traditional and pre-packaged foods. Then I would walk to the road and wait for the CGE van to pick me up for our day of activities. In the afternoon, I would arrive home around 4 and socialize in the shade with whatever neighbors were visiting. Afterwards, we would all go to the fields and "cultivate". This primarily referred to hoeing and weeding rows and rows of their fields. I took awhile to get the hang of it and they found my poor attempts hilarious. After cultivating, the sun would begin to set and I would don my "mosquito proof clothes" and go with Kristof to collect the goats. Animals are turned loose onto the roads in the morning and brought back to their pens in the evening. This is to prevent them from running loose in the fields and eating all the people-food! So it was a common sight to see donkeys, goats, and cattle roaming the roads everywhere in the North. Once we returned home, we would sit by the fire and cook oshifema-- a thick porridge made from water and millet flour, and either chicken stew, fish, or spinach. Promptly after the dishes were cleaned we would go to sleep, usually around 8:30 or 9.

Going to bed early was completely find with me as each day presented itself with many physical and mental challenges. It was considerably hotter in the North than it was in Windhoek. Additionally, there were no toilet facilities, you just found a place to go in the fields. Water was collected from a nearby pond, a fact I did not realize until I had been drinking it for half the week-- we were advised by CGE not to drink pond water, so I lucked out by not getting sick. Bathing was done using buckets outside, which was surprisingly invigorating and refreshing.

My experience with my homestay changed my opinion on a lot of things. The culture was very open and positive, I did not hear a single complaint from anyone the entire time I was there, even though there was tons of hard work to be done daily. Neighbors and family frequently stopped in to visit and lend a helping hand, or take a jug of the Marula juice my Meme made. The culture, like many other non-American cultures I have encountered, really focuses on politely greeting everyone you meet, which helped me feel welcome and accepted. In addition, one of my friends observed that people in the North seemed more satisfied with their lives than many people in the United States because they work all day to produce food for themselves and their families. They also follow the patterns of the sun, rising and sleeping as it rises and falls and resting during the hottest part of the day. This is potentially more rewarding and fulfilling lifestyle than spending days indoors securing profits for a company that you may not even believe in. There was also much less noticeable inequality, everyone has land to cultivate and some animals to raise and eat. It is no wonder that many people in Windhoek talk fondly about life in the North and want to return. Windhoek is seen by many people as a place for work and education only, and the North is the place where people hope to raise a family and retire.

After my time in the North, I realized why tribalism is such a large issue in Namibia. The area where we stayed was almost entirely Ovambo and Oshiwambo was the language spoken everywhere, even in schools and on billboards. The people I met identified as being Ovambo first, and Namibian second. This sentiment obviously poses problems of national and political unity.

Lastly, despite the positive attitudes of my family, I still witnessed the affects of extreme poverty. Most children I met were very small for their age, and most did not have proper shoes or clothes. And there was no "clean" drinking water, or sanitation services, or electricity. In the eyes of the Millennium Development Goals, my family was severely underdeveloped, yet they still led a happy and full life. It made me realize how easy it is to generalize poverty and turn it into statistics, without understanding the other factors contributing to a person's well-being, or understanding the lifestyles that have been in place for generations. It also made me realize how difficult it would be for an international development organization to come into the region and "modernize" because of differences in the community structures, a huge lack of English, and a lack of understanding of traditional practices and values. And why spend money to create water taps when each family has access to ponds that provide them with plenty of water that does not make them sick?

Overall, my homestay experience was both rewarding and challenging. It altered my perspective on rural life, development plans, and how we view poverty. I also learned to appreciate being disconnected from the world I am used to with cell phones and laptops, and take time to appreciate sunsets, stars, and a variety of (somewhat terrifying) bug life!