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As a Grinnellian you probably know the feeling when you sit at a computer and have to write something but just about nothing wants to emerge from the depth of your brain. Well, that's kind of how I feel about writing this report. I really do not know how to properly start and convey a sense of how my life has been in the last few months. I hope the description of the following events will give you an adequate idea.
One of my biggest projects in the last few months has been the annual Summer Desertification Programme (SDP) of the DRFN. Preparations for SDP have started as early as the middle of last year although I have only been involved since October, when I had to shortlist and interview applicants (we had about 150 overall). The goal of SDP is to provide "future decision-makers" (I love that phrase) with the tools to manage the country in a sustainable way. In practice it means that postgraduates (i.e. they have a diploma or a B.Sc. or similar degree) from universities in Namibia are given the chance to work and design a project that deals with an environmental and/or sociological problem. The topic of this years' SDP was "Cuvelai Basin studies in support of monitoring water, land and environment for sustainable use and management". The Cuvelai is a densely populated region in the north of Namibia (roughly 50% of the population lives there). Our goal was to establish a monitoring system so that a newly formed regiona
l committee will be able to observe and assess development on a long-term scale.
Besides the interesting fieldwork in the north where we conducted interviews with local communities as well as government agencies, I was especially interested in talking to the students about their perspectives for themselves as well as for Namibia. What struck me most was the fact that these kids (well, they were as old and sometimes older than me but they are still "my kids" to me) have never been trained to think critically. Namibia is practically a one-party state. Swapo, the former revolutionary forces, has ruled the country with overwhelming support from the population since independence in 1990. In last years election they received about 75% of all votes. So the kids have been indoctrinated by Swapo propaganda since their early childhood and thus have an extremely black-and-white view of events and particularly history. Sometimes discussions simply ended with some kind of reference to my background and that I should be more critical in what I believe, which I found quite amusing because that is exactl
y what I thought about them. These incidents made me realize that these students still have a long way to go if they want to start thinking independently. Government, church and family practically determine what they think.
Family is another aspect of Namibian life that I found very interesting. Family incorporates practically everybody who is somehow related to you. And you have a special duty towards your family. For example, one girl told me that she wants only one child because she knows that at some point she will be given a child to take care of by one of her cousins or relatives and she cannot say no to such a request. I was also amazed that some of the girls already had children, who were taken care of by their parents. Along with this duty towards the family goes the respect that is shown towards elderly people. Their wishes should be obeyed and one should not argue with them. This reverence for age can be observed even if there is only a small age difference. For example, Natalie had trouble with two interns who were five years older and would not do what she asked them to do. They just wouldn't accept the instructions of a younger superior.
All in all, though, SDP was quite entertaining and the kids did a good job with the project. Maybe they even learned a little bit of how to think critically as well.
Other interesting events in the last few months have been one weekend of extraordinary weather and the flowing of the Kuiseb River. During one weekend when we had several VIPs at the station (the ambassadors from Germany, Finland, Sweden, France, Britain) we had the highest ever-recorded temperature (45° C; ~ 113° F), a huge sandstorm and a thunderstorm with 2mm rainfall that got everyone soaking wet because it started pouring down instantly while everybody was sitting outside and lasted only 15 minutes.
The other fun event was the flowing of the Kuiseb River. What struck me most about it was the color of the river. Unlike normal rivers the Kuiseb has a chocolate color and together with the quick flow of it (it carries with it tree stems) give it a surreal appearance. I am very glad that I had the opportunity to see it flow because it had already flown twice in the season before and it is extremely rare for the river to flow thrice in one season.
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