Myths About Africa: Part II

This is my host brother's rockin' hut

In my last blog post, I discussed the misconception that Africa contains just one culture or identity. Before moving to Namibia, I imagined that everyone lived in huts and lions inhabited every corner. These were easy assumptions to make after a lifetime of watching “The Lion King” and the National Geographic Channel. However, the problem was that I assumed these images represented the whole of Africa, which is what I will discuss in this post.

Myth #2: All of Africa is impoverished.

Before applying for the Peace Corps, I assumed that Africa was a stagnant continent stuck in the past. This isn’t true. My village, country paradise that it is, is one of the ever-shrinking number of places in Namibia where people lead a pastoral life. However, even in my remote hamlet I can use my smart phone to facebook my friends back home (albeit I must sit on one particular tree stump to do it).

If I travel just 60 miles southwest, I’ll be in a large town called Ongwediva. There I can shop in a mall that would be at home in any new suburb in the States. Across the street I can use high speed internet while dipping my feet in a pool. A 3D movie theater is being built three blocks away. And if I’m hungry later I can eat at KFC. In Namibia, my electricity-less village and American fast food chains are neighbors.

America or Namibia?

When I first arrived in Namibia, I saw fancy restaurants and swimming pools as signs of wealth and huts as signs of poverty. I’ve since learned that such indicators can deceive. Take the Himba for example. I was first introduced to the Himba several years ago when I watched the documentary “Babies.”

Look a Himba baby!

At first glance I assumed this tribe from northwestern Namibia were poor, because they appeared “primitive”: huts, loincloths, etc. They are, however, one of the most successful tribes of cattle herders in Africa. If one cow is worth at least $1,000, and some herds run as large as 500 cows, then a Himba family can be wealthy by any country’s standards. I had just assumed that to be rich, a person had to drive a Mercedes and wear a Rolex.

Clearly the myths about African poverty are more complicated than I imagined before moving here. But I had a small number of notions that have proven true. In each entry, I’ll discuss one false myth and a true one. In my last post I described how women really do carry water on their heads. In this post I’ll also discuss water.

True pre-conceived notion #2: There really are the “rains down in Africa.”

If you don’t understand this reference, google the song “Africa” by Toto: I assure you you’ve heard it. I grew up in a desert. When I researched Namibia before my departure, I found the pictures looked identical to southern Utah. So I assumed I knew what to expect with weather. I was wrong. Little did I know that I would be moving to northern Namibia where there are two distinct seasons: wet and dry. During the dry season, I can go months without seeing a cloud. Then starting in November, I see clouds everyday—very angry clouds. The storms these clouds produce are simultaneously beautiful and terrifying. Whenever the thunder passes overhead, I cower in my bed waiting for the wind to tear the tin roof off my house. But other than a few leaks, my little house has managed to stand up splendidly to these storms.

Unfortunately, along with these storms come the seasonal illnesses. I have had some sort of respiratory ailment for the past two weeks. Nothing serious, I don’t have Ebola. In fact, I spend the vast majority of my time in perfect health, which will be the topic of the next blog in this series. Not everyone here is dying of famine, AIDS, or Ebola.

Myths About Africa

            Before moving to Namibia, I fielded a lot of concerned questions. Some were from others: will you be safe? Will you have enough food? Some were questions I asked myself: will a cobra kill me? Will I contract a tropical disease? Most of these questions, though well intentioned, were misinformed.

            Acceptance of these myths was not entirely my fault. My education completely neglected Africa. I only remember learning about the slave trade. Even then the textbook focused on the Africans’ deadly transit across the Atlantic or their dismal lives in the Americas. We paid no attention to their origins.

            The media weren’t helpful to me either. When FOX or NBC bothered to air a story on this continent, it was almost exclusively about child soldiers or AIDS (now ebola, I’ve heard). But after moving here, I’ve learned this picture isn’t fair. It’s not accurate.  There is much more happening here than a string of tragedies. For the next few posts, I’ll share what I’ve learned in my brief time in Africa. I’ll start with the grand daddy that spawns all other misconceptions.

#1 Africa is one country.

            Before joining Peace Corps, I knew in theory that Africa was a continent comprised of different countries. However, that didn’t stop me from thinking of Africa as culturally homogenous—that an Ethiopian wasn’t really that different from a Zimbabwean. Now I know that each of Africa’s 54 countries is bursting with different races, tribes, languages, and cultures.

            Case in point is Namibia. Two million people live here. My home state Utah’s population is about the same. Utah is home to mostly white, English-speaking folks, who almost all practice one religion. By contrast, Namibia boasts at least 14 distinct ethnic groups, each of which speaks a unique language (but who almost all practice one religion—Lutheranism). If I travel 40 miles south of my village, the people speak a different dialect than I know. If I travel about 300 miles in any direction I will encounter at least seven more languages (not dialects, languages). Each of these groups has their own rituals, customs, and traditions. And they don’t like being confused with their neighbors. 

            Now imagine this level of diversity applied to every country in Africa. Nigeria, with a population of 170 million, has hundreds of indigenous languages, and large Muslim and Christian populations. Clearly my referring to a Nigerian and a Namibian as “Africans” makes as much sense as referring to a Mexican and a Canadian as “North Americans.”

            So for the remainder of this series, I’ll stop talking about “Africa” and instead focus on the only country I know much about—Namibia.

            As I mentioned earlier, I had a lot of ideas about Namibia before moving here. Most of my ideas were wrong. However, a handful have proven true. In addition to discussing an inaccurate myth in each post, I’ll also elaborate on the few that are indeed true.

#2 Women carry stuff on their heads.

            When I first arrived I was amazed by this skill that everyone seemed to possess. I assumed it was an art they had honed since infancy (and I do see near infants carry bundles of sticks on their heads). I never imagined they carry buckets on their heads simply because it’s easier than using their hands.

            I learned this fact after a month of dragging my five-gallon water bucket 50 yards through sand. One day my scrawny 15-year-old host sister helped hoist the bucket onto my head. I was fully bracing for it to break my neck or at least be completely unwieldy. I even closed my eyes waiting for my sister to let go and the bucket to tumble. When I opened my eyes, my sister was walking home and I was left independently balancing my bucket.

            To be fair, not ALL Namibian women carry things on their heads—mainly just women from rural communities. I would be surprised to see a woman walking down the streets of Windhoek, the capital, balancing a basket on her head. She would more likely put it in her Volkswagen, which just underscores my original point—Namibia is diverse. In my next post, I’ll focus on this wide assortment of living situations in Namibia. Not everyone lives in huts.

           

Day in the Life

I worked abroad twice before coming to Namibia—once in China and once in Mexico. On both of these adventures, most of the pictures that crept online showed me playing: zip lining off the Great Wall China, cuddling baby jaguars, etc. The online portrait of my life in Namibia is following suit. This trend has led some of my friends and family to conclude that I don’t actually work. Now I understand most of the comments are just good-natured ribbing, but I feel defensive nonetheless. So today, in an effort to prove that I don’t spend all of time frolicking through sand dunes, I will walk you through my typical day.

***

6:15 am Shoot arm out of mosquito net. Fumble until I turn off alarm. Roll over and try to ignore wooden slats pushing on my ribs through the thin mattress.

6:30 am Mental fog dissipates enough to remember that standing is more comfortable that lying down. Stumble to outhouse and check corners for snakes.

6:45 am Wash face in bucket. Take malaria meds and attempt to swallow horse pill vitamins. Gag shamelessly and try again.

7 am Eat breakfast. My favorite time of day. Includes cereal, yogurt, juice, fruit, and peanut butter. Sit contentedly for a few minutes rubbing my belly. Realize that I am late and wash dishes. Dispose of water on unidentified squash growing under window.

7:30 am Walk 247 steps to school. Greet all teachers, principal, secretary, janitor, and miscellaneous memes (older women) crossing the yard.

8 am Start teaching.

10:40 am Break. Inhale sandwich.

11:10 am Back to teaching.

2 pm Open library. Try to convince fourth graders to stand in line quietly. They convince me to shut up, go inside, and ignore them as long as no one draws blood.

3 pm Close library. Exhale stress from teaching classes of 40 students and depositing books on 52 unruly children. Start planning for tomorrow. Lessons must be simple, engaging, appeal to various learning styles, and address some element of the 14 page nationally mandated curriculum. If I’m lucky, the kids might even learn some English.

4:30 pm Call it a day. Walk 247 steps home. Verbally unload day on puppy and chickens. They are quiet though inattentive listeners.

4:45 pm Eat a snack. Relish every spoonful of peanut butter.

5 pm Run through the forest. Belt Miley Cyrus to scare cows and goats off path.

7 pm Occasionally bathe.

7:30 pm Harass host siblings to play with me.

8 pm “Help” make dinner. Try to stoke fire; children laugh. Try boiling water; children laugh. Try stirring pot of porridge; this job is simple enough to trust to me.

9 pm Eat porridge and meat with family around fire. Admire stars.

9:45 pm Strap on head lamp to make final out house run. Still no snakes.

10 pm Collapse into bed, tuck in mosquito net, and pass out.

***

3 am Wake up because rain is pounding tin roof. Stuff in earplugs. Out again.

***

There is little variation to this routine. Sometimes my host brother takes me bow hunting (I watch). And sometimes we slaughter a goat. Sometimes I’ll even open a roll of two-ply toilet paper as a special treat. My life is quite monotonous, but I love it. I’ll admit, however, that I am counting the 26 days until my next vacation. Plan on my bombarding you with more pictures of frolicking on sand dunes.

Planes, Trains, and Bakkie-mobiles

I get lost easily. When driving to the community center where I regularly played ping-pong as a kid and took yoga as an adult, I still almost always missed the street. You can then imagine my discomfort in the African bush where every tree and sand road looks identical. It took me two full months to feel comfortable walking the seven kilometers from my house to the nearest busy, though still gravel, road. Despite being generally disoriented, I managed to navigate over 2,000 kilometers in one month and return to my village intact.

My first experience with Namibian transportation was the combi. A combi is a van. Some are large, some small. Almost all are in some state of disrepair. In my first combi ride, I sat on an armrest that unfolded into an extra seat. It unfolded a bit too close to the seat in front of me. As a result, some stranger spent a cozy six hours between my thighs.  I later maneuvered into the back seat only to find it was not bolted to the car body. Whenever we went over a bump, which was often, the seat and its occupants bounced a few inches off the floor.

The second combi I rode in was more comfortable but had its quirks. Most combies pull a small open trailer for luggage. In a feat of engineering, the drivers load these trailers 10 feet high with bags, tires, furniture, farm equipment, and puppies. Yes, puppies. About three hours into an eight-hour trip the driver stopped to give us a brief break. I was merrily eating a popsicle outside when I heard a puppy barking hysterically from the depths of the trailer. I tried rearranging the furniture and pitchforks to find the puppy, but at risk of toppling the carefully balanced pile, I gave up. I still feel a little guilty.

Even the best, puppy-free combies aren’t all that appealing. An eight-hour combi trip costs about 20 American dollars. Admittedly an eight-minute cab ride in the U.S. costs the same, but on my budget that’s a week worth of groceries.

Enter hitch hiking. I know what you’re thinking: I was mildly horrified at the idea when I first arrived. However, it doesn’t carry the serial killer taboo here that it does in the States. Hitch hiking is common in Namibia. All I do is walk to the designated hike point, usually marked by a universally ignored “no hitch hiking” sign, stick out my hand and eventually someone will stop. Sometimes this process takes five minutes, sometimes a few hours.

I usually hike with my friend Derek. Our story is we’re married. This arrangement is mutually beneficial. I get to enjoy a hike free from unwanted romantic advances, and Derek gets a hike at all (drivers are more likely to stop for women). Our first hike together was particularly smooth. We were standing in the rain, looking pathetic, for less than 15 minutes when a semi-truck picked us up. The driver was reasonably safe, but he had a bladder the size of a walnut. We stopped 12 times in seven hours. Other volunteers who left an hour after us arrived at our destination before we did. Frequent stops aside; this was still much better than a combi. It cost five American dollars, and there was air conditioning.

Derek and my second hike together was equally memorable. We were attempting a multi-legged trip from the capitol, Windhoek, to the resort town of Swakopmund. The first car to stop was an Audi, which took us about half way. When it dropped us off, Derek and I remarked at our good luck and thought it unlikely we would ride in such luxury again. Forty-five minutes later a Porsche pulled over. It was easily the nicest car I have ever been in. The driver and his friend, named Silas and Elvis respectively, were young and very stylish. 

All in all, the December holiday and its travels were a blast. Namibian schools take another month long holiday in April. I will probably hike some, but I am planning a trip to Cape Town, a solid 18 hours away. As an early birthday present to myself, I am going to take the fancy tour bus. It has reclining seats, air conditioning, on-board movies, and—best of all—no puppies.