A Most Unusual City Tour: Katutura

    This tour gave us a view of not only Namibian history but of some of the concerns for the daily lives of the Namibian people. Namibia was colonized by the Germans. The Germans left and the apartheid government of South Africa decided that Namibia should become a province of South Africa. What followed was a brutal war of the attempted colonization of one African nation by another. Since Namibia has gained independence the country has dealt with corruption of public officials, high employment—50%, increased dependence of the people for survival on the federal government which is running low on funds with an increasing debt to nations such as China. Dennis and I came into this incredibly uninformed.

    This tour brought us many insights into the amazing people of Namibia. We are staying at a smaller and incredibly comfortable hotel in Windhoek, the Auas City Hotel. The staff are attentive, friendly, and dressed neatly and uniformly. The chefs provide excellent food along with a selection of either Portuguese or South African wines. The staff whether at the front desk, cleaning staff, or restaurant staff are all friendly and accommodating.

    Linda picked us up at at 2:00 PM and we set off for the landmark Christ Church, a  Lutheran church. Here we received our first lesson in the history of Namibia. One of the many things that Linda said was that English is the official language of Namibia spoken by almost everyone. There are at least 8 distinct ethnic groups in the country. In order to be able to communicate with each other, a common language was needed. 

    From here we left for the Katutura Township tour. To bring us up-to-date on this very large township, we stopped at a national memorial where we learned the story of Katutura and its sense of community. It reminded me of one of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novels where one character asks another, Do you think that because they have less, their joy is any less than yours?  He was describing a wedding party on the beach of clearly impoverished people who were having a fabulous time celebrating. That scene has always stuck with me. I have seen newscasts of royal weddings, of celebrity weddings but cannot believe that they are experiencing more joy than I have had at weddings of those I love. And so I know that regardless of economics, joy comes form the heart not the purse. Still what we saw and experienced affected both of us deeply.

    Though there are streetlights there aren’t lines running into homes. In the section below Dennis explains this in more detail. Our final stop before returning to the hotel was at the Oshetu Market. Two young boys ran up to me and asked to have their picture taken. Of course I was only too happy to do that. The grandfather (uncle?) sitting behind them joined them to see the photo. “Very nice photo!” They all agreed. This was followed by hugs for myself and Dennis. I loved it.

  

  Next came the stop at the Kapana vendor where we bought the grilled meat for Linda and for 4 boys who were standing there drooling at the smell of the grilling meat. We hoped we didn’t do more harm than good. Linda assured us it was all good. The boys loved it and we left the market smiling. 

 

    This may seem to be an unusual tour but it was one that we are very glad we were able to do. All countries have internal issues and most tourist tours and events cover them up. It was a privilege to take part on this tour with Linda and Anchor Adventures Namibia.

Dennis and notes of his day…

    I know she’s going to ask me to write, so tonight I’m beating her to the punch. I started today at 33 1/3 RPMs and I’m finishing the same way. Nineteen hours in the air on 2 flights plus 9 hours of layover are responsible. Most people reading this are most likely “older” adults but for those stray pups, Google 33 1/3 RPM.

    Cindy started the day with a 10 AM zoom with a team in Ethiopia so I went for a walk around our hotel here in Windhoek, Namibia. Windhoek has a population of about 500,000 people, a good sized city. I visited the mall across the street that sells just about anything you need, from auto parts to zucchinis. I returned to our hotel and got ready for our tour of the city with our local guide Linda. She’s very nice with a thorough knowledge of the town’s history and development.

    After working our way by car in and around the city, our final stop was a market in one of the suburbs. It was surrounded by thousands of make shift houses constructed of wood, plastic, tarps, corrugated sheet metal, and whatever could provide shelter. Linda said there were community toilets but most had problems and most of the houses didn’t have electricity. Oil lamps and battery powered lanterns provided the light. Wood from the surrounding mountains is used for cooking when it can be found. See Cindy’s pictures. 

    Two boys about 10 -12 years old with bright smiles followed us and asked to have their picture taken with the condition they could see them. When they saw them, their smiles grew even bigger. Vendors were grilling beef and we asked four boys if they would like some. they agreed. We bought some for Linda as well and some spices from another vendor. Here’s my dilemma, we were the only white people in this mass of humanity. Was I uncomfortable? I have to admit I was. Did I have reason to be. No. Everyone we encountered, treated us well. The discomfort I felt was in “my” mind, not theirs. I gotta stop. I’m even getting too deep for me. Thanks for listening. 🤔