So I really don't know what to call the titles of these blogs. What I have decided is that the blogs are not just for everyone to hear about my trip, but will be a great way for me to reflect on the day and have documentation of the day or few days as I blog.
Today was a good day, it felt like it went by sooooo slowly, we were all surprised the time that we had throughout the day.
In the morning we had a short history lesson about the history of Namibia. It is amazing to me as Americans how sheltered we can be to what is going on around the world, especially in non-European countries, and especially myself included. We buy into the idea that our "history" tells the truth to what really has happened and what is important. But every person and every group of people really have a story to tell, and when that story is left out, it can be really detrimental to the ability for progress to be made. For example, today we learned that the Holocaust was NOT the first German genocide, it actually was of the Herero and the Nama peoples of Namibia who were killed over land, control, and power.
Just to back track, there are three main stages of the Namibian History,
1. Pre-Colonial Namibia
2. Namibia under German Colonialization
3. Namibia under Apartheid
With that there is the history of Christian Missionaries, racism, Independence that has a very rich and complex history. I am obviously not doing the history justice, but it would be a lot to write out. Please research more if you are interested.
But for me, it is really important to see the connections between the history of America and the history of Namibia. Of course it is not exactly the same, but there is significant connection to the fact that the Native Americans existed on the land before the settlers, who took over land power and control and had a genocide of the Native Americans in the United States. We dealt with issues of colonization but in a very different sense, it was the Europeans wanting to be free from the British. Then the history of racism in America is all through out its history. The parallels are so apparent that there are a lot of left over problems from the period of official colonialization of power and control of resources that still goes on.
After that we got to go to a Museum that had a large overview of a number of things such as animals in Namibia and different tribal practices, and their transitions with Western influences.
Next, in the afternoon, we did a Team Bonding experience. It was great to see where everyone has come from, and especially learn the life story's of the staff that work for CGE. It is uncommon that at the beginning of an experience to really be able to get to know one another, and especially staff people. It was great to hear a small glimpse of people got to where they were to where they are.
Then the rest of the night was full of conversations, a braai, which is an Afrikaans word for Barbecue, and a bonfire. This was a really a great chance get to know everyone even more, have really deep conversations and continue to grow as a group. The food was also amazing. We had four kinds of really good meat, tasty side dishes, and bread. What was great to me is that they cooked the bread right on the grill by making little patties and flipping them. It was the best bread I have had in a long time! Also, one of the women who makes food at the house, her Daughter came, and she was adorable. Its always great to see people with their families, so I hope we get to do more of that at the house.
Thank you for reading. More to come!
Peace from Namibia,
Angela
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