Another Country, Another Culture

Our first scheduled stop in Namibia, Africa, was cancelled.  This was to be a port requiring the use of tenders (our ship lifeboats) to get ashore, but the wind and waves were too high, just as it was at Easter Island.  At Easter Island someone from shore was able to board and give us a commentary about the island.  Here, not even the custom officials were able to board, so when we got to Walvis Bay, Namibia, we had immigration in the morning for us to enter the country and emigration in the afternoon to leave the country.  Bureaucracy rules.

There is a very thin strip of land along the Atlantic Ocean which provides a place for towns and a highway.  To the east there is desert, nothing but sand.  Even the small bushes which grow on the edge of the desert get covered by the drifting sand.
The tallest dune in the area, Dune 7, is over 1200 feet tall.  In other desert countries, irrigation make it possible to grow some grass.  Here there was none anywhere.  We had a stop at Dune 7  for refreshments.  People were crawling up the dune and running or sliding down.  Even our captain had a try at that.

Those spots on the skyline are
people climbing Dune 7.

Captain Olaf at Dune 7

We drove through Swakopmund, the first coastal town north of Walvis Bay.  This town was settled by the Germans, and it shows.  Streets are wide and straight, and the architecture looks Bavarian.  Individual houses are neat, but the yards, if any, are small.  What is the point of having a large yard if you cannot grow grass or a garden?   Every lot has walls to provide some privacy.  Then we entered the poorer section of town.



The first stop was at one of the street-side markets.  Unlike other countries we have visited, there was no central market.  Instead, vendors set up tables beside the street on built shelters out of any available material to provide a shop.  There were also charcoal grills long the street selling hot food.











Notice the man on the left.  He is using his cell phone while waiting for lunch.  Almost everyone has a cell phone, no matter how poor they are.  Cell phone towers, disguised as palm trees dot the horizon.

A cell phone tower.

Did you ever wonder what becomes of the clothing you donate to Salvation Army or Goodwill?  When an item does not sell or is in too poor a condition to sell, it gets bundled up and is often
sent to Africa.  There is a lively market for used clothing. Tarps are spread out and a bundle of assorted clothing and shoes is separated and sold on the street.  Some vendors sell anything; others specialize.  This stall was made of a board frame with black plastic bags as walls and roof.














All these pictures are from the "main" streets of the area.  Side streets are smaller, and business is conducted from each house, whether it is a beauty shop, car wash or food store.

A small cafe is called a Tuck Shop, probably from the British "tucker" meaning food.  No, they are not selling people.  Russians and Viennas are kinds of sausage.

We visited one of the homes and had a chance to look inside.  Everything was neat  and clean, but crowded, with several large overstuffed chairs in the living room.  The woman who lives there runs a daycare in here backyard.

The daycare center

Her daughter was home from college where she is studying business management.  She explained the traditional dress.  One of the tribes in the area wore only a piece of leather below the belt and nothing above.  Needless to say, you could get a real sunburn dressed like that.  They solved the problem by making a cream of ground red pigment and animal fat, and coating their body with the cream.  It is very effective.  However, when the Germans came with their fancy houses, they wanted to hire the locals as housekeepers.  Can you imagine how much of that red grease would rub off on the furniture?  Also the proper Germans found the state of undress offensive.  As a side note, wealth among many African tribes is measured in cattle, so cattle are highly regarded.  The solution was to have the housekeepers dress in a Victorian style dress.  However, the locals still wanted to honor the cattle, so they devised a headdress which features stiff cloth "horns" in the front.  The dress style may be Victorian, but the cloth color is strictly Africa.  Dress like this is now only worn on special occasions. The rest of the time, dress is Western thrift shop.

Next we went to a center where older children came and learned how to make crafts to sell.  The main part was an area covered with cloth or a tarp with a layer of straw on top to provide some insulation.   The area where the crafts were displayed had a pole frame with walls made of plastic bottles filled with sand and wired together.   Cement fill the spaces.  Actually it was a smart idea.  Bottles are plentiful and using them keeps them off the streets.  The sand provides insulation.

As we were driving along the streets, we saw houses of cement block with wooden shacks in the back yard.  Unemployment is close to 40%, so many people cannot afford a house.  Those who have houses need extra income to live, so they rent out space in the back yard to others.  At one time, there could be as many a 4 or 5 of these wooden or even cardboard shacks in a single yard.  There were no sanitation facilities and no electricity, so cooking was done on open fires or kerosene stoves.  Fires were frequent and devastating.  Now a homeowner is only allowed 3 shacks in a yard.


What do you do with all the displaced people?  You clear a large space, put in dirt roads, divide the area into lots and give a lot to each family.  Water is at a spigot down the street.  There is electricity, but no other utilities.  It is not ideal, but it is an improvement.  Private enterprise is common.  People turn part of their home into  a business to make money.  They are not allowed to build permanent buildings with block, just wood.  The government is building houses just outside the area.  When a person gets a job so he can make a mortgage payment, he can move into a solid house with running water.  It is working, but it will be a long time before the shacks go away.














Despite the poverty people are making the best of the situation.  Our guide's mother converted part of her house into a restaurant for tour groups and for locals.  We were served a delicious meal of local food -- chicken, stewed spinach, thick porridge and chewy bread. 

After the meal a local group serenaded us, much to our delight as well as the locals.  Children waved to us and enjoyed having their pictures taken.