Contrasts Emerge
From taking strolls outside of Windhoek city centre I've started to see the contrast of lifestyles in Africa. There are some leafy suburbs that wouldn't look out of place back home except for the electric fences and constant barking of guard dogs. I walk out to Avis Dam, a beautiful reservoir where the people of European decent go to jog, fish and walk their dogs. On the way out I pass a dog club where all the dogs are being trained to obey orders as their owners bring them around an obstacle course. The dam is lit up beautifully when I get there at dusk and I get some great shots. I meet a German guy who I talk about travelling with (he tried to travel from Germany to Namibia in the 80's but couldn't get into Tanzania at the time) and things to do in Windhoek (after his nightlife advice I get my upteenth warning about staying away from the local women!!). He offers me a lift for the mile or so it is back to the house which I gratefully accept because it's just gone dark.
The day I leave Windhoek I travel out to the black township of Katutura. This is where most of the poorer people live and is a startling contrast to where I've been living for the past 4 days. Since I have arrived here people have told me that if I do travel there, I should be careful as there is quite a lot of crime as a result of unemployment in the area. I ask my taxi driver to show me around but doesn't understand what I'm saying so he drops me off at the Northern end of the township and I'm out on my own! I try to look as confident and purposeful as possible and walk down the street toward the local market. Half way there a young guy stops me to talk so I sit down and have a half hour chat with him about foreign countries he's been to and wants to go to, his foreign friends (which I've been added to!) and his business idea to build a rest lodge in Katutura. I walk around the market, buy a 5c doughnut from one of the ladies, and have a chat with a stall owner over a fanta orange. Unfortunately I couldn't really take photos as I was on my own and with all the characters of questionable quality lurking about I didn't really feel safe taking out my camera. Nearly all the people there though where fantastic, even if a little surprised to see someone like me in their part of town!
--Note: The internet bandwidth isn't fantastic at all so I'm having a bit of difficulty uploading photos. As soon as I get a decent connection I'll post them up. For the mean time you can see some of the latest photos (without explainations unfortunately) at
http://www.netsoc.tcd.ie/~notoole/africa
First Impressions of Windhoek
I guessed that meetings with Government top brass was not exactly par for the course in Windhoek and I've been exploring the city for the last few days to find out exactly what goes on in Windhoek. The city centre is about a 30 minute walk or a 80c taxi after a few walks in I've reverted to the lazier method! The first thing you notice going around Windhoek is it's place names. For example, I don't think you would find an intersection of Independence Avenue and Fidel Castro Street in
many international capitals. The British High Commission is on Robert Mugabe Avenue and they obviously weren't too happy when this became their new address!
On the way into town I stop outside the house of parliament called the tintenpalast, literally the ink palace - a dedication to the pen ink sacrificed for bureaucracy!
It's a beautiful building with lovely gardens and statues outside. Outside there is a momument remembering the German soldiers who died in Namibia. I can't really believe it's still standing (it's probably the equivalent of Nelson's
column
in Dublin or the Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad!) but I'm told the Germans (of which there is still a sizable population) wouldn't be too happy to put it mildly.
The city itself is really relaxed and it's been a great choice to start the trip here because there just doesn't seem to be any stress here. Everyone is friendly and willing to chat. The closest I come to being hassled is a teenager asking me to bring him back to Ireland but he gives up when I tell him it's like the raining season all year round!
Allowed in and mix it up with the top guys - 20th July
I get about three hours sleep and wake up over Angola. The sunrise is beautiful and I get my first sight of Africa. As we land in Windhoek I see springbok or eland running across the bushland and the fact that I'm here really sinks in! Thankfully the immigration queue is long and the woman was trying to get through as many people as possible. The printed e-mail confirmation just about managed to convince her I wasn't here to stay and she grumpily allowed me to pass!
My uncle Michael had a driver pick me up and bring me to his office. He works as Chief Technical Advisor to BCLME, a UN Development Programme project that manages the marine eco-system of Namibia, Angola and South Africa. He is about to go into a big meeting and asks if I want to come along. So, I put on my unironed shirt, trousers and shoes, have a shave and within two hours of almost being denied entry into Namibia I shake hands with three cabinet ministers and high ranking civil servants! My two main contributions to the meeting were setting up a backup projector when
the first one failed mid-presentation and holding up a broken window that wouldn't shut from time to time so that the hammering on the street below would be less audible!
The meeting was a summary of Mick's work to date where he outlined his concerns about Namibia's fragile marine eco-system that has been hit by scandalous levels of foreign fishing fleets, a large seal population (On Wednesday in London there was a small demonstration against Namibia for starting a seal cull) as well as low o2 levels and toxic algae blooms. Mick's presentation was followed by protocol discussions over the signing of a convention with Angola and South Africa that Mick has been working towards and it looked like everyone was onboard.
The journey begins! - 19th July
After so many months of projects, exams and anticipation I couldn't believe I was finally heading off to Namibia, kicking off my travel plans. After an uneventful flight to Gatwick I decided to check into my flight straight away.
This turned out to be a great call because I was informed that without proof of onward travel (my plans are very flexible timewise and I don't like to book too far in advance) I would not be allowed into the country! To let me travel they made me sign an indemnity form meaning that if I didn't get past immigration I would have to get the next available flight out at my own expense. After two hours on the net, a faulty website, half an hour of roaming calls to South Africa (not looking forward to my next bill!) and multiple mis-spellings of my e-mail address later, I managed to get a printed booking confirmation that would hopefully save my trip before it even began! Despite having a four hour stopover in Gatwick I only had time to grab a sandwich and sprint to the boarding gate.
On the flight I was seated beside a Spanish woman who I didn't think would be interesting but, as always, looks deceive. She works as a social worker on HIV/AIDS education with an NGO call Total Control of the Epidemic in Ondangwa near Namibia's northern border with Angola. A heroin addict as a teenager and HIV positive she told me about her fascinating career helping people to cope with both in Spain, Norway, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Botswana before ending up in Namibia. She talked very candidly about anti-retroviral drugs and the need to shift the AIDS programmes from treatment to prevention. After the airplane food, a glass of Namibian wine and a terrible movie I fell asleep hoping I was going to be allowed into the country!
