Windhoek thoughts

Sitting in a nice Portuguese restaurant in central Windhoek last night, surrounded by a very mixed group of locals, I started thinking about how Namibia is so much farther along in terms of development and getting past its colonial past than so many other Sub-Saharan African countries. While there is definitely still a lot of poverty here, a small middle class is emerging over time, as was evidenced by the crowd enjoying their meals around me.

As I waited for my food to arrive, I read the last few pages of my book - a travel log of a British reporter who followed the explorer Stanley's route across the Congo from Lake Tanganyika in the east to where the Congo River meets the Atlantic in the west. His experiences during the trip showed how once fairly developed towns/cities in the Congo had deteriorated into crime ridden, isolated outposts where no road or river navigation is now possible - an example of how some countries have actually "undeveloped" since independence from colonial governments in the face of widespread corruption, plundering and civil war. There are actually people in the Congo who say it was better under Belgian rule. Considering how brutal the Belgians were (cutting off people's hands if they didn't procure enough rubber to pay "tax"), you know things are really bad if the comparison is favorable. By contrast, traveling in Namibia is what I'd call Africa "light". Roads are in great condition, tourists can drink water from the tap in the main towns, no garbage or litter are on the streets, and you can drive safely all over the country without any issues. As I walked around today, I stopped into several South African and German chain stores, where you can buy anything from Italian coffee makers to the finest European towels and linens. I can buy Ritter Sport and Lindt chocolate in the Spar supermarket, which made me feel a little giddy after weeks on the farm. Right now I'm sitting in an internet cafe where I have a 100 MBps connection. This is not to say that all of this is affordable for the average Namibian, but the fact that it exists here shows a level of organization and infrastructure that simply doesn't exist in many other countries in the region (excluding South Africa, of course).

All that being said, there are major strides that need to be made in healthcare and education. The fact that Namibia has much higher rates of primary and secondary school enrollment than in many other parts of Africa should not be cause for celebration, as the common denominator is very low. Most teachers teaching in public schools don't have sufficient qualifications themselves, and, from what I've read, many either don't show up or may not present a lesson when they do. So, while attendance is high, the rate of passing grade level exams is dismal. I also heard from local Namibians that all of the mattresses in the main hospital were recently stolen, so, if you can't afford private care, you could end up laying directly on springs after having an operation. There's still a level of chaos even in this relatively well-to-do environment.

From my conversations with people on the farm and in Windhoek, I get the impression that many whites here use these as examples of why blacks are totally to blame for the fact that they earn only a small fraction of what an average white person does. One white Namibian guide who visited the farm expressed amazement that USAID and any other foreign aid agencies would invest development money here when it was so poorly managed by the government. His point of view was that he had worked for his money, and everyone should just have to "pull themselves up by their boot straps", as it were. We had a bit of a debate, as I argued that what he considered "big" aid money was, in fact, peanuts by European or US standards. Also, I pointed out that while he was at a German boarding school in Windhoek in the 50s and 60s, black Namibians didn't have access to public education. His point of view was that this was the government's problem, not his. I was heartened to hear the farm owner argue against this kind of thinking. He basically said - if you care about your country, don't you want it to be better? If the government isn't getting the job done, should those of us who have the resources and/or businesses just sit around and wait?

As I finished up my Kingclip dinner (delicious fish) and Caipirinha, I saw an advertisement on the television for a company who guaranteed to get you an American work visa. The words "American dream" scrolled across the screen as a busty blonde woman in a swimsuit seductively pulled herself out of a huge swimming pool. The ad ended with people partying on a boat near what looked like Miami. At best, this company was overpromising; at worst, they are ripping off Namibians who think they will soon be living large in the US. I guess it's true that everyone really wants the same thing.

Etosha National Park photos

View from the main farm house & last day at kindergarten

Last Day

Well, it's my last day on the farm, and I'm feeling a bit sad to be leaving. I think what I'll miss most is playing with the kids in the kindergarten. They are so sweet and smart, and it was great to be a part of their school experience, even if it was just for a short time. Being an only child (and not having done any previous teaching), I have often felt a bit clueless about little kids, so I think I might have learned more than they did! I sent a long email to the next volunteer with a detailed update on what we've covered so far and what they like / don't like and what songs we're singing, etc. He probably thinks I'm being a bit over the top, but I get the impression that kindergarten lesson planning is a bit haphazard as volunteers come and go, so, in my usual style, I'm trying to inject a little structure into the process;)

As far as the other projects go, it's been a busy 4 weeks. The owner and I have worked out a sustainable development management plan for the farm, and we have a series of goals and timeframes for projects relating to wildlife conservation, water conservation, energy efficiency, waste management, and staff and community development. These are based on recommendations from the Eco Award Namibia organization, HAN (Hospitality Association of Namibia) and MET (Ministry of Environment and Tourism). I've also drawn up some employee annual review criteria and forms so that the owner can start giving staff more regular feedback on how they are doing, as well as communicate expectations and goals more clearly at the beginning of the year. This is part of an overall push to improve guest services (since we have mainly European clients, and African levels of service are quite a different thing from European style interactions). To relate the annual review objectives to measurable goals, I've revised the guest feedback questionnaire to include some more metrics on levels of service and satisfaction with the different activities, etc. To bring all of this together, we now have a staff "best practices" handbook for the different areas (reception, meal/drinks service, guides, etc.) as well. So, as you can tell, I've been running around the farm from kindergarten to computer to put all of this documentation together. It's been really interesting, though, and I know I've learned a huge amount just by being here and seeing what ecotourism means in the context of a developing country, as well as what sorts of social development projects are working well in the community vs. what has not gone so well.

I hope you have enjoyed the blog - I haven't been as prolific a writer as I'd hoped, but it was still nice to know that my friends and family were following my adventures. If I get internet access during my time in Etosha or Sossusvlei, I'll probably post again. Otherwise, it's back to the UK on the 16th!

Pics from Swakopmund and the Kindergarten

last days on the farm

Yesterday, I went to Windhoek again with the owner to do the weekly errands and shopping. I got supplies to make natural, homemade cleaning products for the farm, so that there's no water pollution going into the septic tank system. A much more interesting stop was to the Windhoek taxidermist. Yes, I was in the middle of piles of dead animals in supposedly "lifelike" poses that were going to be sent back to hunters in the US and Europe. There's limited trophy hunting (about 20 hunters per year) hosted here on the farm, so the owner needed to check on a couple of orders the taxidermist was working on. The manager showed me around the factory, so I got to see how they do everything (this was a fairly big operation, by the way, and all done by hand). There was everything from giraffes (where do you put that?!) to oryx to zebras to ostriches. Apparently, the men do a lot of the shaping of the bodies and stretching the hides over it, and the women do the
detail work on the eyes and faces. I saw a woman teasing eyelashes on an ostrich head to make it look as realistic as possible. What a bizarre thing to do for a living! What was really interesting was looking at where the boxes were going to. The majority of boxes were being shipped to Texas (I won't go there!) and Wyoming, although I saw one being shipped to Wall Street. Some rich dude in NY is going to have a stuffed leopard or something in his office. I guess there's no accounting for taste.

Normally, this kind of thing is totally not my bag. I'm certainly no friend of the hunter - I just don't get why people like to kill things they aren't going to eat - but the fact that there is more wild game on private land than in national parks (excluding the Big 5) here speaks for itself. The saying among farmers here is "if it pays, it stays". In other words, the private land owners have been much better at managing wildlife effectively and generating jobs for local people. For example, a farmer might allow private game hunters to do limited trophy hunting, but he and every other farmer in the area have a huge incentive not to overhunt the Oryx or Kudu that the tourists come to see on game drives and to hunt, as it would reduce their business from year to year. So, if the balance is right, the farmer is incentivized to only use what's necessary and take steps to ensure proper game numbers. On the farm here, the meat is actually used to feed guests
and staff, and the hunters just get the trophies (there's no predator hunting on this particular farm). By the way, oryx steak is one of the most delicious meats I've ever tasted:)

Well, I am only on the farm for 5 more days, and then I take off on a 7 day trip to Etosha National Park (in the north) and Sossusvlei (southeast, desert area). After my quick trip to Swakopmund with the other volunteer, I got the travel bug again and realized I needed to explore a bit more than just the farm. It should be fun!

I'm off to teach kindergarten now. We are learning parts of the body today, and I'm just getting them to sing "head, shoulders, knees and toes" on their own. Super cute.