A lot of people in the States are surprised when I tell them that I have only 5 cousins. In turn, they’ll tell me they have 10 or 12, sometimes quite a few more. I never really thought my family was all that unusual, but hearing about families here in Africa is a whole different ballgame.

First, most everyone I have met have several (think 7 or more) siblings. Their spouses have the same amount. Then those siblings usually all have kids, most often several. You can see how quickly that adds up! In addition, families typically live very close to each other. Therefore, cousins grow up as siblings & aunts and uncles often function as second (and third, and fourth) sets of parents. The family works as a team to instill culture, values, and norms in the children.

Alright. So we have the blood relatives. Then, add some non-blood relatives into the mix. Many places you automatically become relatives after getting to know the family well. For example, during my urban homestay I became family right away. My host sister’s son has been lovingly calling me “Auntie” all week.

It is interesting to observe the dynamics of Namibian families. As I type this in my bedroom, there are several cousins running around outside playing basketball, a couple aunts chatting over “cold drink” (a southern African phrase for what is usually a soda), and uncles chatting in the corner: just a typical Saturday in Windhoek.

You might have guessed by now that I am really interested in the eating habits of people around the world (I’ve only posted about it 3 times!). Namibia is no exception. From my experience, South African and Namibian food is blander than American food. That is not to say that it doesn’t have flavor, it is just that the flavors are on a smaller scale with fewer extremes. In my opinion, food here tastes more “natural” somehow. Things in general are less processed. It is not unusual to pet a chicken in the morning and the eat it for dinner.

Fatcakes on the top, then macaroni salad, fish, and potato salad – all homemade by my host mom!

I’ve found that many people here don’t let many things go to waste. It is not unusual for people to eat every part of the chicken, including the feet and insides. Luckily people are also very understanding that those parts are not in the typical American diet.

I have also found some of my favorite foods here. I mentioned in an earlier post about the amazing ice cream. I have also had some delicious stews and potato dishes. Just the other night my host-sister and I made something that was a cross between a French fry (called “chips” here) and a potato chip (called “crisps” or “crispies”) by slicing potatoes into coins and frying them in oil. YUM!

One last comment about food: THERE IS A LOT OF IT! Especially at my homestays, I was stuffed full at all hours of the day. During my Soweto homestay, there were a couple times where I was having multiple lunches and multiple dinners in the same day. People love to cook for guests and serving food is one of the ways people welcome you into their home. You’ll never go hungry at a homestay!

The chocolate chip cookies I made for my Urban Homestay family. Very yummy, despite having to alter some ingredients.

Whenever I’ve been abroad and staying with a host family, I have found that it is a good idea to bring along some of my favorite recipes. I have done it with past trips to France and Germany, and now to Namibia. Host families enjoy getting a little glimpse into the culinary aspect of American culture.

Five things to remember when cooking for your host families in Namibia:

1.) Not all of the same ingredients are available – avoid recipes with bizarre ingredients or recipes that require very specific name brands; get creative if things can be flexible (ex: there are no chocolate chips, but a chopped up chocolate bar works just as well)

2.) Accommodate cultural norms – Namibian meals are not complete without meat & vegetarianism is not widely understood. If you’re planning vegetarian meals (like me), be sure that there is a way to add meat to them for your host family, such as adding (a lot of) browned ground beef to a sauce or perhaps cooking an entirely separate meat dish in addition to your planned dish. Sometimes it works to do a dish with half meat, half vegetarian (think pizza).

3.) Cook with your host family whenever possible – this goes for the food that you are making and the food they make

4.) Bring a variety of dishes – main courses, salads, soups, sides, and desserts

5.) Don’t be offended if your meals are not outwardly well-received – some Namibians don’t care for very sweet things, but they will be glad that you put forth the effort to make something for them

**Helpful hint (that I wish I would have thought of before): Have recipes converted into metric units prior to trying to make them!

Some ideas for American recipes to make: Rice Krispy Treats, chocolate chip cookies, homemade macaroni & cheese, no-bake cookies, lasagna, brownies, French toast, pizza, homemade French fries, apple pie, American chop-suey, Shepard’s Pie, chicken parmesan

Bon appétit!

Boy, do I wish I had an urban dictionary this week. I am spending 10 days with a host family in Katatura, which is an urban part of Windhoek.  Although most people in my area speak English, I am always curious to know what they’re saying when they’re speaking Afrikaans or their native tribal languages. The sounds are so intriguing.

There is no language requirement for the Namibia program, which is nice because it makes it open to everyone. In my opinion, that is good because you get a variety of majors and people with a variety of interests. It is also less stressful because we don’t have to adapt to a whole new culture AND try to figure out the language.

Later in the semester we will be doing a rural homestay in northern Namibia. There, they are much less likely to speak fluent English. The program requirements say that during each homestay the host family will have at least one person in it that speaks basic English. To prep us for the language barriers that we might encounter, we have started Oshindonga lessons at our house. Oshindonga is similar to Oshiwambo, which is one of what are called “recognized regional languages”. It is a tough language to learn, but once you learn a few things it comes to you more quickly. I am feeling confident that by the conclusion of our lessons I will be at least fairly prepared to communicate with my rural host family.

We have been in Africa for a while, but we’re just starting to buckle down and start the semester. It is a strange feeling going from what was basically a vacation to having to do real work.

As part of the CGE Program, you can pick between 4 classes (Political Science, History, Religion, and Development), an internship, and an independent study. I am taking Poly Sci, History, Religion, and doing an internship. I started my internship at Oponganda Center for Children with Disabilities on Monday and so far so good!

Now we have also started classes. And with classes comes homework. However, I have discovered that homework is a lot more bearable when you can do it poolside.

The delayed start of classes illustrates the general feeling here well. The day-to-day pace of Namibia is much slower than in America. 5:00 means 5:15…or 8:00. It really just depends on how a person is feeling that day. At first I was really anxious about the time of things, but over the last couple of weeks I have learned to be more relaxed about it. I won’t say that I enjoy it, because it still seems to me like I am late, but I am getting used to the slower pace and actually starting to enjoy it. It is much more relaxing than in America where we are go, go, go all the time. Without strict time constraints I have met and talked with many people I wouldn’t have been able to talk with had I been speeding through my life. And here, spending time together in conversation is one of the best ways to show someone you care about them. I hope that is a lesson that I will be able to bring home with me.

This week is our first week in Windhoek. We flew in and moved in on Wednesday, August 25^th. Moving in was a very chaotic, but very fun ordeal. I have never lived with 22 other people in one house before, so that was definitely something to get used to. I have 5 roommates, which seems like a lot (especially as a person going from no roommates to this many) but it isn’t bad. Most of the time we’re not in our room anyway.

On our first day, we got a tour of Windhoek. The next day we took a tour of Katatura in small groups with a guide who was from Katatura. Katatura means “the place where we don’t want to live”. Although it isn’t like the shantytowns in Soweto, it is by no means great. The meaning of the name describes it pretty accurately. It isn’t a place you’d want to spend your life, but that is what happens to many people there.

This past weekend was the first time where we had nothing pre-planned for us. We were able to relax and get a feel for the city. We spent some time by the pool that is in our backyard, spent a few evenings enjoying some “Cokes” up the road at the local backpacker’s hostel, and just get to know each other better. It was great to be able to just have some down-time and finally be able to settle in to our home for the next three months.

Our trip to Pretoria was quick – only one full day. On our first night in, we had a braai (a South African barbeque) at the hotel. The next morning we had a gigantic breakfast buffet. There are so many foods that South Africans have for breakfast that we would only find on a lunch or dinner menu, like baked beans, fish, and vegetables. At first I was thrown off, but I have really started to enjoy eating those things in the morning…After all, isn’t breakfast the meal that is supposed to get your engine revved for the day? That doesn’t always happen for me with french toast and sausage.

On the full day we had in Pretoria, we went to the Voortrekker Monument. The Voortrekker Monument was built to commemorate the Afrikaners who left the Cape Colony to find other places in South Africa to colonize and raise their families. Unfortunately, their decisions involved encroaching on the land of African natives. It is a controversial monument because of the history of the Afrikaner tyranny, but I am glad we got to get both sides of the story by going to visit it.

We ended our stay with a delicious buffet at a restaurant in town. There were all types of African food, as well as some food that was influenced by Western culture. They had salads, main dishes, meat, desserts, and everything in between.

One thing I don’t want to forget to mention is the ice cream (the had plenty of it at the buffet). If you love ice cream, you belong in South Africa. I thought Europe had it all, but in all honesty, I have to say South Africa is a strong contender. It is just so delicious and creamy and wonderful. You can’t go wrong, even with a plain vanilla cone (which says a lot, coming from a chocolate lover like me!).

That night, most of us hit the hay pretty early because of our early flight into Windhoek the next day!

Way back on August 14^th the seven of us from Valpo embarked on what would be a long adventure. Not only long in the sense that we were going to be in Africa for nearly four months, but also because our flight to Johannesburg was going to be 17 hours long!

Our first few days in Johannesburg were jam packed with fun, but still taught us about the history of South Africa. We toured several places in Soweto, which is the historically black impoverished southwest township that began as part of Apartheid in the 1960s.

One that was particularly moving was the tour we took of Kliptown, one of the many shantytowns in Soweto. I had never seen some place so poor, so destroyed. There was trash and sewage in the streets, shacks packed together like

sardines, unemployment. I wondered to myself just how people could possibly live this way. They don’t choose to; nobody would. The government seems to have turned a blind eye to them and ignores the fact that so much work needs to be done there. There is so much to reform and the people who live there have no power to change their situation. The government uses that to their advantage and walks all over them. It is truly heartbreaking.

Throughout the week we heard from different presenters who spoke about the South African political parties, their experiences with Apartheid, and organizations that are working to help change South Africa’s government. Some of these organizations are referred to in links at the end of this post.

We also visited several museums. One of my favorites was the Hector Pieterson Museum. Hector Pieterson was a young boy who was killed during the student uprisings on June 16, 1976. They were peacefully protesting the use of Afrikaans (the language of the white elite) as the language of instruction in schools. At the museum, we were lucky enough to have a meeting with Hector Pieterson’s sister, Antoinette Sithole. It was very interesting to hear her first-hand account, since she was right there when Hector was shot and killed. There is a very famous picture of Hector’s dead body being carried by a man and Antoinette running behind them. The other museums we visited are referred to in links at the end of this post.

Our first full weekend in South Africa was spent staying with host families in Soweto. We stayed with middle-class families, not in the shantytowns (although I would have really liked getting to experience that). My host family were some of the most welcoming, wonderful people I have ever met.  At first I was a little nervous, but I was quickly feeling comfortable and “at home” in my host family’s house. During the weekend, I got to do so many things I would not have otherwise gotten to experience. I got to eat a TON of homemade delicious African food, try on some beautiful traditional dresses, and do many other things I hadn’t done before. I attended a traditional healer graduation ceremony, went to two different churches, and even got to pet a lion at the local Lion Park!

Groups/Organizations we heard from:

The Democratic Alliance
The African National Congress
Gender Links
Treatment Action Campaign
Khulumani Support Group
Dale McKinley

Some of the Museums we visited:

Freedom Charter Museum
Hector Pieterson Museum
Apartheid Museum