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
posted by Niall at
5:06 p.m.
1 comment(s):
The gods made our bodies as well as our souls, is it not so? They give us voices, so we might worship them with song. They give us hands, so we might build them temples. And they give us desire, so we might mate and worship them in that way.
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Cheap Flights to Windhoek, at
11:33 a.m.
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