Texas Hold 'Em with Afrikaners

OK, I only have a minute to update because I DESPERATELY need a shower (I haven’t been bothering to shower so regularly because I have just been wearing dirty clothes anyway, but my laundry is clean and dry – I’m so excited). I’ve had a good couple of days. A little slower pace than before, which is nice. I’ve finally (mostly) gotten over the flu and cold symptoms I’ve had for the past couple weeks.

So Tuesday morning I had my politics class. We discussed the education system in Namibia. The lack of education is considered by some to be Namibia’s primary obstacle to development, and is a topic I am seriously considering for my senior thesis. After lunch, I had my internship class. We are all doing presentations over the next few weeks about our host organizations, and watching the first presentations gave me some good ideas for my presentation. Tuesday night was pretty quiet at the house – we had our first papers due (2 in my case) so we were all spending the night working.

On Wednesday I had religion class. This is probably going to be my favorite class because it’s so different from my other classes. There are only 12 students with a whole range of religious beliefs. We went to a guest speaker’s house. This man is a retired Lutheran pastor and I think the only way he can be described is as an “old quarterback.” I was unknowingly the honored guest because his oldest child is also named Margaret. The speaker’s hour long talk was not even close to the topic he was supposed to be covering, but I really enjoyed listening to him. He clearly knows a lot and just kept getting distracted by his own ideas. I could have sat on his fluorescent striped couches all day, eating peanuts grown on his farm, listening to him talk. Wednesday afternoon I went to my internship and did some lesson plans for Monday’s class. Wednesday night was a lot of fun. The nightlife here is primarily centered on clubs. That’s not really my scene, since I’m such a terrible dancer. I’ve been going out and I think I have a pretty good grasp on all the clubs in Windhoek (though I’m still working on discovering the Katutura clubs), but I have also wanted a change of pace. On Wednesday I got it…I spent the whole night playing cards with some Afrikaners who had some very...interesting…views on politics and life in Namibia. A totally different viewpoint than those I’ve heard, a viewpoint that most would probably consider offensive, but still something that I’m glad I heard. I am really trying to understand how all different groups of Namibians feel about the current political and economic situation, since I think that will make my ideas a lot more valid.

Thursday was history class, with 2 of the best speakers we’ve had. The first was Paul Helmuth, one of the primary players in Namibia’s liberation struggle. We seem to get really impressive speakers – last week we heard from Professor Karina, who was the Namibian who spoke in front of the UN for independence and an even more important part of the liberation movement. Helmuth was great – we spent twice as much time with him as we were supposed, and he still had so much more to tell us. A theme with our speakers seems to be that they are surprised by our time constraints. There is a definite difference between my sense of time and what is commonly referred to as “African time.” After Helmuth, we heard from the national coordinator of Breaking the Wall of Silence (BWS). BWS is an advocacy organization that is seeking recognition from SWAPO (the ruling party) of the torture and illegal detainment that occurred during the liberation struggle. Since we had just heard a very positive account of the liberation struggle, the second speaker provided an enormous contrast as she told us her story of being tortured and detained in a dungeon for three years. This happened because she was falsely accused of being an enemy agent and tortured into confession. She is one of among more than 2000 who faced similar treatment under the hands of SWAPO, and since independence no recognition or reconciliation has occurred. Thursday night was pretty low-key. I watched a movie and sat on the roof looking at the stars.

Today, I am going to hear a speaker from Basic Income Grant (BIG), going to my internship, writing a paper, and going out with some friends to Katutura. Tomorrow I have a big meeting for my internship’s youth economic empowerment project at 8 followed by a braii. Should be a good couple of days.