Traveling in Namibia

I’ve mentioned it before but travelling in Namibia can be quite strange. For one you never really know how long it will take, what towns you’ll stop in or even go to for that matter, and you never know who you will meet along the way.

I am currently on my way back to The North from Swakopmund, making a few stops along the way. Our journey began by walking a few kilos to the hike point where we were lucky enough to find 2 guys on their way to Windhoek and were willing to give up a free ride so my friend and I snatched it, but that also meant ditching our other 2 friends b/c there was not enough room in the car. Not to worry they also found a ride. The guys we rode with were really cool, both recently finished University a few years ago and one had even traveled to America and gone all across America in an attempt to experience what he considered the ‘real’ American life. They were both also pretty progressive as city dwellers in Namibia’s first free generation. We talked about how he believes that people from different tribes are beginning to become interested in learning about their neighbors. He says that this is working to help create a more unified and forward thinking Namibia. He also mentioned the stresses that come with being a first generation free Namibian where there is a tremendous amount of pressure to be successful and not let their parents down who fought for their freedom and the right to attend the same schools as whites. In a way he compared his generation to those first generation black Americans after the struggle for civil rights. Namibians have mentioned that there is a divide between younger and older generations and I have seen some of it but more so there seems to be a village versus city divide. One sign of it is at wedding when you will see the city people clumped in the corner. Even their dress is sometimes different. Instead of the modest traditional Owambo dresses you see modern dresses or even you see form fitting dresses sewn from the traditional pink stripped fabric. We also talked about the root causes for some of the problems in the education system besides the obvious one being the Apartheid, but another being after the fight for independence the government built many schools but did not equip them with proper resources, including teachers. Not to mention many of the resources are focused in the central part of the country around Windhoek instead of where the majority of the population lives, which is in the North. People from my village know this and those who can afford it send their kids to boarding school in Windhoek or at least in town. It was really interesting to hear his perspective and hear the optimism that he has for his own country. I’m not sure if I’ve shared this but one thing that I’ve learned thru the trials and errors of transportation in Namibia is that everything has a weird way of working out if you just allow it to.