Hi! I’m Christiana Redman and I will be taking you on a journey through southern Africa! I am a junior at Valpo and majoring in Social Work. I have minors in Psychology and French.

Right now I am in Namibia participating in Augsburg College’s semester-long program called “Nation Building, Globalization, and Decolonizing the Mind”. It is put on through their Center for Global Education (CGE). Valpo partners with Augsburg to send students on this abroad opportunity. CGE has permanent status in Namibia, with professors from the area who teach classes and a house where all of the students live, just down the road from our classroom.

Besides myself, there are 6 other students from Valpo. The rest of the students are from all over the country, but mostly the mid-west. There are 23 of us total. Many have majors focused on social justice or political science, but we also have math majors, biology majors, and Social Work majors like myself!

Let me share with you a little about the program. The semester in Namibia begins in with just over a week in Johannesburg, South Africa to learn about the history and politics about the area in order to form a firm foundation of knowledge. Then, upon arriving in Windhoek, things focus more on Namibia. The last week of the semester is spent in Cape Town, South Africa. During the semester, there are many program-planned and unplanned travel opportunities, such as trips to Etosha National Park, Swakopmund, and a week of fall break that is open for whatever plans you want to make!

I am excited to have you traveling with me through my experiences! If you ever have questions or are curious to learn more about something, please do not hesitate to shoot me an email at Christiana.Redman@valpo.edu. You can also follow me on Twitter. Look for @valpochristiana.

Looking forward to getting to know you!