Caterpillars, US AID and Recycling.

Hello everyone!  


We have had a mix of cook experiences the last twenty four hours I wanted to share. 


Last night for dinner we had caterpillars, cooked with onions and carrots.  I did try a small one, but the consensus was that they did not have too much of an appealing taste, but some people eat them here.  You will see them dried out at the market for people to buy next to the beans and what not.  We were joking that it was like being on fear factor. 


This morning we had the chance to speak to someone from USAID, the US governmental organization that distributes money in different countries around the world for development projects.  We heard about their process, what they are working on and how small NGO get grants. We met the director of the program in Namibia.  


It was very interesting because a lot of NGO's in Namibia are very reliant on foreign aid in order to run their business.  Despite the fact that Namibia has one of the highest income inequalities in the world, Namibia is now classified as a middle to high income country. With every city, there is former township and informal settlements that have not been developed in the same way as the city. Yet, the speaker was saying that a lot of the funders that are in Namibia are now starting to pull money out, including US AID because of the change in status. 


Unfortunately, these funds have such a large impact on the economy here, and bring so much money in that has created a cycle of reliance that must now be redirected in new ways to support the necessary programming. 


Lastly, today we went to a recycling plant in the afternoon, just to see how it was done. We found out that the plant was only build a few years ago, and it is one of five recycling plants in Africa.  It was amazing to see the amount of recycling that was sorted through.  The guy was saying that 90 of the trash is usually recyclable.  At this plant, they employ 250 workers that work shifts both day and night 24 hours a day. It was interesting to me to think about the number of jobs that could be created if the recycling process was utilized more. In this community, right now they have only started recycling in the town, and not in the other areas outside of the main part of Windhoek.  Hopefully they make efforts to expand. 


At the end we had some fun, and we broke bottles against the wall that needed to be smashed against the wall..  I will be posting some pictures when I make it home. 


Thanks for Reading, 
Angela