The Day I Met the President and Sat Through an 8 Hour Church Service

On Sunday during my rural homestay, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN), one of the two largest Lutheran churches in Namibia, was consecrating two new bishops in Ongwediva, a short drive away from Oniipa. Will’s host father is a pastor in the ELCIN, which is how I originally found out about the service. Claire’s host father is the General Secretary of the ELCIN, so a small group of us ended up going to the service with Claire.

I was told to meet everyone at 6:45 at the guesthouse where our group met every morning. However, my host dad was working at the hospital that night, so I needed to walk to the guesthouse. This didn’t bother me, but it meant I had to get up at 6 because it was a 30 minute walk. I discovered that the sun doesn’t actually come up until 6:45 or so, which meant most of my walk was pretty dark. When I was walking along the train tracks my host dad drove by, having gotten off work early. He was a little confused as to why I was walking by myself in the dark, but ended up giving me a ride, which was really nice. As you can see, sunrise was beautiful that morning. The sky started getting pinker and pinker over the church as I was waiting for everyone else to arrive.

I waited at the guesthouse with Will, Joel, and Claire while we were trying to figure out how to get to the service. We were standing around waiting, and kept seeing bishop after bishop arrive. Many pastors and bishops were staying at the guesthouse, and Claire’s father was helping them figure out rides. Eventually, I rode in the back of a truck with Joel, Will, Hasser (friend of Will’s host family), and the clothes of one of the bishops. It was an entertaining ride, and we couldn’t get over the fact that we were riding in the car with a couple of the Lutheran bishops. We’ve never gotten that opportunity before!

Waiting for the service to start. We were still really excited at this point!

We arrived in Ongwediva and found seats together. Because we were in the fancy cars with all the bishops, we didn’t have to go through the security measures that other people did. We also ran into a few other girls from CGE, who were at the service with their host families. The tent holding the service was so big, and it maybe held half the people who were attending. We were in one of the first rows outside the tent, and hoped that meant we would stay in the shade for the whole service. Boy were we wrong! But more on that later. The service started almost two hours late, typical African time. We sat there, and had fun watching all the pastors and bishops arrive and line up. There were probably at least 100 pastors and bishops. We recognized our religion professor from CGE and another pastor we knew from Windhoek, and we marveled at all the Finnish and German pastors and bishops who were there representing their churches in Europe.

Bishops processing in. The tall one is the Finnish bishop

The service finally started with all the pastors processing into the tent, with the bishops at the end. However, they were all in their seats and we were still waiting for President Pohamba to arrive, because the service couldn’t start without him. Pohamba finally arrived with all his security guards, and the service finally started! It was hard to follow a lot of the service, because it was in so many different languages. There was one point where different bishops read passages from the bible. They always stated which passage they were going to read in English, and I raced to find the passage so I could follow along. This was a necessity, because passages were read in English, Oshiwambo, Finnish, German, Slovak, and other languages I can’t remember. The rest of the service was in a mixture of English and Oshiwambo. I followed along when I could, and watched as much of the service as I could on the TVs they had in the tent, but it was still difficult to know what was going on. We also kept thinking it had to be almost over. That was a mistake. It kept getting hotter as the sun was rising, and by about noon we were out of the shade. Claire’s host dad had told her that the service would probably be from about 8 to 2. We figured that was long, but totally doable. Well, the service didn’t start until almost 10, so by 2 it was nowhere near being over. None of us were really prepared for that long of a service. Claire shared one of her apples from her purse, which was a lifesaver. I ate a small breakfast at 6, then half an apple at around 1, and then didn’t eat another meal until almost 5. I was hungry, and a lot of you know that I can get cranky or grumpy if I don’t eat enough. Plus, it was hot, so we were a little miserable for a while there.

The service itself finally “ended” around 2:30, but there were still speeches from different pastors and church representatives. Representatives from Lutheran churches in Finland and Germany spoke a lot (the Finnish bishop was heavily involved in the service, because of the Finnish ties to the ELCIN). I was excited when the representative from the ELCA spoke. I was glad that someone was there to represent the ELCA, and I was excited that he was there representing me. The service finally came to an end when President Pohamba gave a speech, thankfully in English. However, he spoke for almost 45 minutes! We were not happy, because we didn’t want to sit anymore and wanted something to eat and drink. But, by that time the tree above our seats was able to give us shade again! We literally sat there and watched the sun travel across the sky.

Meeting President Pohamba!

After the service actually ended at around 4:30, they made an announcement about food and drinks. We excitedly got into line, before Hasser waved us over and told us to go find Claire’s host dad. We were a little upset about not being able to get food, until Claire’s dad told us to get in a different line for food. We ended up getting to go to the private reception for all the pastors, bishops, and President Pohamba! The food was delicious, and there were as many cold drinks as we wanted. We kept getting mistaken for Germans or Finns, because most of the whites there were from either Germany or Finland. After a while, we finally figured out where President Pohamba was, and we finally got up the courage to go and introduce ourselves. We ended up getting to chat with the president of Namibia for about 10 minutes! His security guards kept trying to push us away, but he just kept talking to us. We wanted to take a picture with him, but his security guards pushed us away. However, when we started to leave Pohamba got up to take a picture with us! It didn’t turn out very well because we were confused by his security and they wouldn’t let us take more than one picture, but there’s proof that we met him! That made the day more worth it.

Joel and I with Bishop Kameeta

I was also really excited about getting to meet Zephania Kameeta, bishop of the ELCRN (Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia, the other main Lutheran church here). I used some of his writing in my history paper last fall, and have read a lot about his involvement in Namibia’s liberation struggle. He helped draft the 1971 Open Letter, and is a major supporter of the Basic Income Grant. He was really nice, and Joel and I got to talk to him for a little while. Also, he gave me his cell phone number so I can contact him in Windhoek to hopefully interview him later! So, it ended up being a pretty successful day.

Smiles at the end of a happy day!

We finally headed back to Oniipa around 5:30 or 6. Claire, Joel, Will and I rode with Hasser and the bishop’s clothes in the back of the truck again. We were all kind of giddy with excitement because of getting to go to the VIP reception and meeting lots of cool people. It was a long day, but the final reception made it totally worth it.

Rural Homestay

During our trip to northern Namibia we had our third and final homestay of the semester. Everyone in the group from CGE was placed in a home around the village of Oniipa. This was the rural homestay, and was supposed to provide a different experience from the previous homestays in Soweto and Katatura. I know that, for a lot of people, mentioning staying in a rural home in agricultural Namibia for a week brings up images of African huts and no plumbing or running water. Let me make this very clear: there is a difference between a rural home and a traditional home. The traditional Oshiwambo home is a collection of huts forming a compound, with individual huts serving as the kitchen, storage room, bedrooms, etc. However, almost everyone in the group was in a rural home. My home for the week was fairly normal (for Namibia) house. One large brick/cement building with a kitchen, family room, bathroom, and several bedrooms. It was rural in that Oniipa is a rural village, we had to drive on sand roads and through some cornfields to get to my house, and my family had about 30 chickens running through the yard, along with their mango and guava trees. Although I did have to master the bucket shower, there was running water in the house (the shower was broken), and the food was pretty typical for Namibia (meat, pasta, rice at every meal).

My home for 8 days!

My Host family:

Gottlieb and Selma: They were my host parents, and they were really nice, but I never really connected with them. Selma just finished her master’s degree so she was in South Africa for the week, so I only saw her for two of the nights I was there. But she was fun, and made me feel really included. The first time I met her she was asking me questions about my school, and then wanted to know how far away PLU was from the University of Washington. At first I was a little skeptical, because most people here only know Washington as Washington D.C. But then I found out that she communicates with the UW for work (she teaches nursing at UNAM)! I was really excited, because it’s nice to find someone here who knows something about where I’m from. Gottlieb was also nice, but he worked the overnight shift at the hospital in Oniipa (7pm to 7am) four of the nights I was there, so I never really saw him on those days. This family also had more traditional gender roles, so there were several nights where he sat in the living room watching tv, and then had his dinner brought to him.

The whole family was pretty protective of me. They wouldn’t let me walk anywhere by myself, which was a little frustrating. They also kept trying to get me to eat more! I would eat a small breakfast and tuck some fruit in my purse for a snack later in the day, but then Gottlieb would get home to drive me to town for the day and would try to get me to eat more. This was the homestay I felt most at home in, but I felt like I didn’t have any independence like I’m used to having.

Sara: Sara was my 17 year old host cousin. She’s originally from Windhoek, but is going to school in Oniipa and so is living with her relatives. We got pretty close during the week, because she was the only one I really talked to most of the week. We cooked together at night, and hung out while she was doing other chores I wasn’t allowed to help with. We talked about school, and the future, and gender and cultural differences, along with just life in general.

Sara cooking dinner

Reuben: Reuben is in 8^th grade at the Oshigambo Lutheran Secondary School. It’s a boarding school, so I only saw him on Friday afternoon and Saturday, before he headed back to school on Sunday. He was full of energy though. On Saturday afternoon I went into town with him and Sara. We went to a hotel and got snacks at the restaurant there. It wasn’t too exciting, but it was good to get out of the house for a little bit and see more of the area.

Ombili: Ombili was in first grade at one of the elementary schools in Oniipa. I didn’t see him much because he was usually playing with the neighbors.

Ombili and Lalia in the truck outside

Lalia: Lalia (I’m not positive if that was her name, it was difficult to communicate with her a lot of the time) was my little sister. She was almost 5, and didn’t really speak English. But she decided she liked me on the first night I was there and would come and stand next to me in the kitchen or imitate the way I ate. She was definitely sassy, and had good faces and comebacks to the times her brothers would make fun of her. Every night we ate dinner on the couches in the living room, and she always came and sat next to me to eat. There was one night she started whispering secrets to me while we were eating dinner, and I would whisper back. It was really sweet, but we couldn’t understand each other at all.

Lalia liked to pose like this in most of my pictures

Another interesting note about this homestay: We had Oshiwambo language lessons in preparation for the homestay. I learned about enough to be able to greet people, but that was all. However, I would greet people in Oshiwambo and then it was like that flipped a switch in my brain. I knew I wasn’t supposed to speak English anymore, but the default language for non-English is not Oshiwambo, it’s Spanish. So I would start thinking in Spanish, with Spanish grammar and vocabulary, but with a few random Oshiwambo words thrown in. I guess it was good, because it made me practice my Spanish for a few days!

Ruacana Falls

So much has happened in the last 3 weeks! I’m going to try to get caught up, so bear with me if these next few posts get too long.

On March 7^th we left for our travel seminar to northern Namibia. It’s about an 8 hour drive to Oniipa, the town for our rural homestays. We drove all day Monday, and on Tuesday we went to a fish hatchery. They raise tilapia and catfish, which they then sell to farmers who have been trained in how to successfully grow these fish in ponds at home. These farmers can then sell the fish when they have reached adulthood to earn extra money. It seems like a good program, but I just wasn’t very interested in our visit there (it was extremely hot, there were biting ants crawling all over my feet, and I’ve been to fish hatcheries at home).

After the fish hatchery, we drove to the Angola border to the Ruacana waterfalls! The scenery in the north is very different than the scenery I’m used to around Windhoek. It’s very flat, green, and covered in water right now. Northern Namibia gets floodwater from Angola every year, so there are a lot of homes and farms that are completely flooded right now. There’s also a lot of livestock by the side of the roads, so we were constantly stopping so cows, donkeys, and goats could cross the road.

Wildlife crossing the road

We picnicked at Ruacana Falls, and had most of the afternoon to explore and really appreciate the beauty of the waterfalls. The Kunene River forms part of the border between Namibia and Angola. Ruacana Falls is huge! So much water, although it supposedly dries up a trickle during the dry season (apparently all of Namibia becomes brown and hot during the dry season, which I’m finding hard to imagine after seeing all the green lushness of the country right now). While I reveled in the mist coming off the falls, all I could think about was how in a couple of weeks I was going to see an even bigger waterfall! But it was a lot of fun to walk around the falls, sit on rocks with my feet dangling in the river, walk down a set of stairs leading to the bottom of the falls, which involved getting soaking wet from the spray.

Ruacana Falls

During the dry season, students can walk out into the river and stand with one foot in Angola and one foot in Namibia. Needless to say, the water level of the river was far too high to even think about attempting this, and everyone was disappointed that we weren’t going to be able to say we had been to Angola (Angola is one of the many African countries currently experiencing civil unrest, and we had been warned that although it might be easy to get to Angola, it would be far more difficult to return to Namibia. We were told not to cross the border). Some of us decided to be really rebellious and stick our feet through the fence so we could say we had set foot in Angola. Then we discovered, with the help of one of our drivers, that further along the path there were some rocks you could climb to actually get into Angola! Of course, everyone in our group crossed the border so we could say we had been in Angola. Angola was obviously expecting this to happen, as they had a stone pillar reading ‘Angola’ conveniently located five feet over the border so tourists could take pictures in front of it.

I'm in Angola!

So, I crossed into Angola and can now check that off the list!

More blogs to come in the next few days as I attempt to get caught up on all the happenings of the last three weeks!

Ituye! or, Let's Go!

We leave early tomorrow morning for our two week travel seminar to northern Namibia. We’ve been packing for the two week trip all night, and it’s been a little stressful rounding up everything that we need. After the two weeks I’m going to be back in Windhoek for a day and a half before leaving on spring break!

The north is much more rural than Windhoek, but it’s the part of the country that gets the most rain, so there are a lot of people who live there. I’m going to be in another homestay for 8 days. I don’t really know anything about the family yet, so I’m a little nervous. Hearing stories from past semesters, it sounds like the families really vary. Some students lived in what we consider normal houses, while others lived in huts. I’m also worried about the food, just because I know I can have a really sensitive stomach, and I tend to be a picky eater.

We’ve been in language class for the last month, learning some basic Oshindongo. Basically, I know how to greet people and some general vocabulary. Here’s to hoping that I don’t make any huge language or cultural mistakes next week!

We’re with our families at night, but during the day we’re going to be with the group traveling around the north, seeing different sights and meeting with different guest speakers. After the homestay we get to go to Etosha National Park, where we should see lots of African wildlife. It should be quite the adventure!

Side note: I won’t have internet for 2 weeks, but I would love to come back to Windhoek to lots of emails and messages from my friends and family back home (or wherever you are around the world)!

Reflections on a normal week in Windhoek

This week was pretty low key. We got back from Swakopmund on Sunday, and have just had a normal week of classes and internships. Sorry if this blog ends up being focused entirely on academics, but that’s what my week was like!

With a partner, I was in charge of leading our religion class this week. It was a little intimidating because class is 3 ½ hours long, and we weren’t able to get a guest speaker. But we ended up having an awesome debate about whether apartheid was right or wrong, representing the sides of the churches that both opposed and supported apartheid. Some of our arguments were a little absurd, but we were able to see how individuals born into a society in which they were extremely privileged would attempt to justify their actions. If I had been in that situation, would I have been able to stand up against a violent government and say they were wrong? I’d like to think I could, but I honestly don’t know.

In history on Thursday we had a guest speaker, Mburumba Kerina, who was involved in the Namibian independence movement from abroad. He was so entertaining! He told us funny stories about cultural differences in the U.S., including getting stuck on the subway because he wasn’t quick enough getting through the doors. Mixed in with his humor, though, was the story of making it out of Namibia and to the U.S., and the things he had to go through to get out of the country. Kerina was interrogated by the South African police prior to obtaining a passport, and even after he got on a ship out of the country, officials from the South African embassy in London attempted to detain him. Even in the U.S. he wasn’t very safe, because South Africa declared his passport fraudulent and tried to get him sent back (he was the son of a chief in Namibia, and they were worried he would present Namibia’s case to the U.N.). However, a friend reported his case to JFK, then a senator, who advocated for him to stay in the U.S. Kerina ended up testifying before the International Court of Justice, and lived in the U.S. for over 40 years before returning to Namibia (post-independence). He told us stories about his friends in the U.S., who of course included Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Maya Angelou. He was pretty amazing to listen to, especially since he helped author the Namibia’s constitution.

Development class today was also pretty good. We visited USAID (United States Agency for International Development) to learn about its programs in Namibia, along with the basic types of jobs at USAID and how people can get started working as a foreign service officer. It was interesting to learn about the role of USAID in Namibia, especially since our class today was focused on international investment and aid, and whether or not it helps the countries it was designed to help. There has been lots of criticism against the role of the U.S. in foreign aid, but after speaking to USAID it seems like they are taking the criticisms in stride, and that they are actually doing good. They definitely seem to be providing services to Namibia, and although it might not be the best aid approach for Namibia, they help fund many essential organizations. The woman we spoke to also wasn’t sure how the proposed budget cuts for foreign aid will affect these programs. It was interesting to learn about the role of USAID, and it was a much more positive view of foreign aid than we received in our class readings for today.

This week wasn’t too exciting, but I really enjoyed all my classes. They brought up many thought provoking issues, and I hope you enjoy getting a peek into what I’m learning here!