Tuesday, December 9, 2014

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.

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