US Elections in Namibia

We stayed up most of the night last night to watch the election results from our African vantage point. There has been a huge amount of interest in the United States election since we have arrived here in January. By far, the question I have been asked most often since I've been here was what I thought about the elections, particularly about Barack Obama, but also about Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin. The amount of details that people know about American politics is amazing. We were at a party last week, and one of our Zimbabwean friends said, “We must not forget about the Truman/Dewey election in 1948”. I thought that was so funny, as most people my age in the United States would not know what he was talking about, but other Africans at the party did!

Last night we went to an event at the American Cultural Centre about the U.S. elections, and they had the largest turnout that they had ever had at any event in Namibia. Many of the Ministers were there, including the Prime Minister, and the Secretaries of various departments. The Namibian mock vote at this party was 78 Obama, 2 McCain, and 2 for the write-in candidate, Hilary Clinton. There were some very interesting discussions about US and Namibian politics. We went home to nap for a few hours, and then woke up at 3 am to watch as the polls closed across the USA. When Obama was declared winner, along with getting goosebumps, we also got text messages and calls right away from Namibian friends who had also been up all night or woke up early in the morning to watch the returns. We had a small early morning party at our house with coffee and a few friends where we watched the concession speech and victory speech, and there was not a dry eye in the house during either speech (probably a mixture of staying up most of the night and the historic night).

After I finally made it to the office this morning, I have had a steady stream of well-wishers. It seems that most of Namibia was up at 4:00 am watching the returns as well as the Americans. To a person, Namibians are excited about Obama being president, and loved his victory speech and the general sense of hope Obama's win brings to people in Africa. Most have also commented on the honorable and gracious concession speech of John McCain, which was quite touching.

I am very, very proud to be an American today.

Halloween in Namibia

Halloween is not a holiday that is normally celebrated in Africa. But, as we are big Halloween fans, we made the most of it. The kids first went to a Halloween party at the U.S. Embassy, where they trick or treated in the offices. Even though the U.S. Embassy has not received any threats in Namibia, it is like a fortress! Even though I’ve been there a ton of times, I have to have a guard follow me around at all times when I’m in there. However, for Halloween they did let in a pirate (Ruby), a ninja (Alice) and Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt (Maxine). I also was allowed to bring a camera in, as I told the guards that it was a U.S. custom to take photos on Halloween (then after I went to all that trouble, I hardly took any photos). The kids also got to wear their costumes at their international school, which was experimenting with celebrating Halloween this year for I believe the first time. Finally, we had a Halloween party at our house. Our Namibian friends and friends from other parts of Africa were very curious about Halloween, and I think they had a good time at our party. I kept getting text messages before the party: “what is Halloween?” “why do you wear costumes?” “what do you do at a Halloween party?” They seem to like the concept of Halloween, and we had fun trying to explain the whole thing to them. We’ll have to leave them our meager decorations when we go. At the witching hour, the kids all took off their costumes and jumped in the pool.

Last day of lecturing

I taught my last class today to my second year students in Social Development (sophomores). The students have a week off for studying/reading, and then have a full three weeks of exams similar to the British model. I think I have finally figured out the whole examination thing, but it took me all year to do so. I still have to give exams, and I’m doing the final oral examinations for the 4th year students in a few weeks, so there’s still quite a bit to do here before the university closes for the end of the year.


A UNAM classroom


My co-teacher watching, as a group tries to get the right Jeopardy "question"


It was a bittersweet class for me today. I prepared a “Jeopardy” board and we did a review game with the students, which was quite fun. They all had team names, and it went down to Final Jeopardy bidding to see which team one. There was lots of cheering and revelry. I then had to say goodbye to this group, the class I had spent the most time with here in Namibia, teaching them 2 or 3 days a week both terms. They were very sweet to me, and gave me a big Namibian cheer, which is impossible for me to do, but involves a lot of screaming at a really high-pitched level. They also told me that they liked being able to debate in class and try out different views, which we did a lot of in this class together. I tried as much as possible to draw on what they already knew, so our class discussions would involve such topics as “what good is it to raise a chicken to maturity when you are starving today” to “how many feet away from a hut you need to dig a latrine”. I had very little to add to these conservations, but they often got heated, in a good way. I was pleased to hear that it seems that I was able to run classes in a way that was useful and interesting to most of the students, and led them to some critical thinking. I told the students today how much I learned from them, which I truly did. I'm a little sad that it is all over already. I feel lucky that I had the opportunity to teach some of the brightest and most committed young people in Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and the rest of Southern Africa.


My co-teacher and I with some students


Here I am with a bunch of students.

My social work school back home sent me a bunch of t-shirts, and I gave each of the students either a bag or t-shirt (and my business card), which they loved. I think there are a number of new University of Minnesota fans here in Africa now. It was a pleasure for me to see them around campus the rest of the day in their maroon and gold.

Shannon goes to the Kunene

Our second visitor was Auntie Shannon, who came all the way from Bremerton, Washington to visit at the end of September. We were so excited to see her that I think we ran her ragged with our touring. Just a few hours after she arrived, we took her to a benefit for an NGO. She got to witness first hand how formal events are in Windhoek, with all the protocol that must be followed when Ministers and other important people are present. The speeches lasted for 2 ½ hours and we didn’t get served dinner until after 9:00. The next day she was allowed to “rest”, if resting means going to a Girl Guides meeting and having a Braai at our house. We then went off on a five day trip through northeastern Namibia. Our first stop was Etosha, where we had another magical night at the waterhole (elephants, giraffe, zebras, rhino, gemsbok, wildebeest, jackal, etc. etc.). After Etosha, we went over the stunning Grootberg pass in northern Damaraland towards the Kunene region and Palmwag.

Shannon on the game drive

The highlight of the trip for me was a tour that Shannon and I took up into Kunene region to visit a Himba village. With our private guide, we went about two hours north of Palmway on a gravel road, passing one car in the other direction and almost no settlements. This area just grew more and more beautiful the further north we drove. We then came across a few small settlements, and then came across the outpost town of Sesfontein, which is home to Damara and Herero people. This is the Wild West region of Namibia, where there are hardly any people, any roads, and anyone visiting at all. Sesfontein does have some shops, and a surprisingly nice lodge which we stopped by, that was made out of the old German fort.


Beautiful scenery on our drive

We then to pick up our Herero guide. The Himba are closely related to the Herero, and they speak very similar languages. Then we drove over to the village. We first waited while the guide went in and asked an elder for permission for us to enter, then we entered. The only ones in the village were women, children, and older men. The younger men were all out tending their goats and cattle. They follow their herds for 20-40 kilometers today, out in the hot sun walking barefoot in the harsh terrain. Sometimes they are gone for days at a time. The women were cooking, making crafts, and making buildings.

The Himba are one of the last nomadic tribes on Earth, and still lead a very traditional lifestyle. They have retained much more of their culture and traditional ways than the Bushmen, probably because they are in such a remote region. The women are famous for their red skin. They make a mixture of red ochre and fat that they rub all over their hair and skin. They also perfume themselves by burning herbs and sitting in a closed up hut (essentially smoking themselves). The women were very beautiful, and had perfect skin. They were very much into having their photos taken, but were concerned about their appearances. They had to have their hair, hairpieces, etc. just perfect, and laughed and laughed at each others’ photos. We spent a lot of time taking photos and showing photos, and they could have posed all day.


Shannon showing a photo to the women


Himba woman with her baby

One of the woman was in the process of making one of their mud huts when we arrived. She showed us how they mix cow dung with mud to make the thick walks of the huts. It is apparently very good insulation, keeping the huts cool in the hot summer days and warm in the cool winter nights. She was very proud of the hut, and wanted numerous pictures taken of it.











Many of the children do not go to school, though there are some mobile schools for them set up by the government. These women did not know how old they were are what day of the week it was. But, when they sold us crafts, they were shrewd businesswomen and were experts at accounting.



After meeting the Himbas, our guide drove the 4x4 into a dry riverbed about 30 minutes away, and we had lunch with goats, cows and children sitting around. It was quite funny.




While Shannon & I were gone for the day visiting the Himba people, Ruby and bill went on a game drive.

We then had a long drive down the skeleton coast, stopping at shipwrecks, the Cape Fur Seals and even running out of gas at one point (don't ask, but it was a small adventure). We stayed for two nights in Swapokmund and had a nice time at the seaside, before returning to Windhoek.


Skeleton Coast Ship Wreck


Alice is a big fan of the skeleton coast!

In Windhoek, we went for another braai, visited "Heroes' Acre", the Namibian national monument to the War Veterans that looks a lot like the Washington monument, and a rest by the pool.


Climbing Up Heroes' Acre


We were so happy that Shannon could come! Anyone else? Your time is running out...

Rain at last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It RAINED last night! it has not rained since early April until last night. I (Maxine) was reading on our back porch, which has a tin roof, so the rain goes pitter-patter (or BOOM BOOM). The smell was wonderful, it was like all the desert sand suddenly disappeared, it was all refreshing, and relaxing. It was sunny again today, and I was practicing my diving in the pool after school.

Cheetah Conservation Fund

We are very fortunate to have spent a day at the international headquarters of the Cheetah Conservation Fund near Otjiwaraongo last weekend, about 3 hours north of Windhoek in the heart of Cheetah country. Namibia is the Cheetah capital of the world. Here is how Alice described it:

We got back yesterday from the Cheetah Conservation Fund, aka CCF. It's a farm where they take in orphaned cheetahs and take care of them because their mothers died from the farmers shooting them. They also raise guard dogs to give to farmers. The dogs scare away big cats like cheetahs, and then the cats won't get to the livestock and the farmers won't kill the cheetahs. It was cool. They had a predator playground which had 9 steps to being like a cheetah. It showed you what they had to do in childhood and such.

Here is how Maxine described it:

This weekend I went to the Cheeetah Conservation Fund, a place where they keep orphaned cheetahs because they can't live in the wild because only their mothers can teach them about surviving. There are 51 orphan cheetahs there, and the farmers have been hunting them, so cheetahs are starting to become a really endangered species. We saw three cheetahs named Harry, Ron and Hermione. Harry was actually a girl though! They also train guard dogs that can scare away the cheetahs and other big cats so that the farmers don't kill the cheetahs for killing their livestock. There are about 3000 cheetahs in Namibia (15,000 in the world), but I have not seen any in the wild, except the blur of one running off the road.

I (Liz) had a better glimpse of that Cheetah, which we saw on a gravel road awhile back, but they are so fast that they are hard to see. Cheetah’s can go 110 km/hour (66 miles per hour)! The girls are especially fond of cheetahs this year since they are in the “Cheetah house” at Windhoek International School (like "Gryffindor" house in many ways!). The one big animal we have yet to see in the wild is the leopard.












The main road leading to CCF. We have spent a lot of time on gravel, dirt and salt roads like this. We only spent 48 km on this one though.







The entrance to CCF.






This is Harry the Cheetah (or maybe Ron or Hermione, it's hard to tell)

Spring Term at WIS

School started again in August. Maxine started junior high. She is finding 7th grade much more enjoyable than her previous grade. She has something like a dozen subjects, including science, Portuguese, health, Maths (they add the s to Math here), social studies, drama, etc. Her afterschool activities are chess and working at the Orlindi orphanage. She'll be going back down to 5th grade when return to St. Paul. Alice has a nice new teacher for year 4 from England. She’s still enjoying playing with her good friends from Namibia and the rest of the world. Alice is playing on the Netball team this year. Netball is derived from girls basketball in the USA, and is played in more than 70 countries. Ruby is enjoying kindergarten, and has a new best friend from Australia.

The kids just had sports day at the school. It started out with all the flags parade around the school from where the kids were from, followed by a full day of sports for kids in pre-primary all the way up to the ones in Matric (senior year). The Lightfoot girls were excited because their house, the Cheetahs, won sports day!


The Opening Ceremonies, with flags of each nation represented in the school


Ruby is a natural bucket racer



Alice and her Cheetah friends