We finally have internet access in this house that is consistent, so I hope to be able to post on my blog a few times during the next week and a half...
I cannot believe that I leave Namibia in 10 days, and then I get to spend 10 days in Cape Town with my classmates, and then an additional two weeks in Cape Town with Dan! It seems like so recently that I was overly nervous about getting on a plane to fly to Johannesburg, and now the end is in sight. Yet I am not allowing myself to dwell to much on that, or else I won't enjoy the time I still have!
Since it has been a while since my last post, I will write a few highlights, and some things that I have been thinking about lately.
~I just wrote a paper on how HIV/AIDS is deeply related to poverty in this country. While the disease does not discriminate based on economic status, it surely is affecting poverty-stricken communities the most. In talking with Namibians, especially Aunty Clara from my internship, I've come to realize that the most affective way to combat and prevent HIV/AIDS from spreading is by seeking to alleviate poverty. So often the government and international aid agencies seek to treat the symptoms of HIV/AIDS through education and campaigns about getting tested and knowing your status, but they fail to really fight HIV/AIDS at the source--and a major source--in my opinion--is poverty.
So often with problems in life we just like to fight the symptoms, and we do so much of this fighting from the top down. Yet, to really get to the root of the cause, we need to fight from the bottom up. Sure, that often takes more work, but in the long run it pays off. In regards to HIV/AIDS, poverty stricken areas are plagued by high unemployment, lack of social opportunities that do not revolve around alcohol and promiscuous behaviors, and lack of access to education. Also, as people are literally starving, they may be more willing to sell their bodies for money... and these problems all lead to the spreading of HIV/AIDS.
What if the government and other agencies really sought to alleviate poverty? Would that slow the spread of HIV/AIDS? I certainly hope so, and I believe that through programs that seek to create jobs and positive social opportunities for young people, to make education truly available for all people, and to improve sanitation, the spreading of HIV/AIDS will slow down.
While this process is not quick or easy, it is not impossiblem, yet it will not happen on its own...
~Today I went to a restaurant and a meal that included Zebra, Kudu, Crocodile, and Ostrich. Who would have thought that I'd be eating the animals that I got to see in the game reserve earlier this semester?
~I got to spend Easter weekend with Aunty Clara--from my internship--and her family at her parents' farm. I was blown away by the hospitality. Firstly, Aunty Clara and her husband serve so many people in the community that money is usually pretty tight for them. They also have not been back to the farm since 2003... When they invited me to go along, I was humbled that they would see me as part of their family enough to join them for an entire weekend! Aunty Clara, her husband Moeshe, me, and 11 children and teens--some of whom are her children and grandchildren, and some of whom she's adopted over the years, crammed into a pick-up truck and headed west to the farm. Talk about bonding times! I was blessed to be able to spend a weekend relaxing, climbing some beautiful neighboring rock mountains, swimming in the freezing cold Atlantic Ocean with Clara's entire family, and seeing some of the most beautiful stars in Namibia. Yet the highlight of this weekend was feeling adopted by a second family. While I have felt close at least in some level to all of my host families, this weekend I felt the most accepted. I was even offered to slaughter a sheep for dinner, but politely refused (while Namibia has shaped me a lot, I still can't cut an animal's throat open!)
I just hope to live out the warmth, love and hospitality that Aunty Clara and her family lived out to me... They are incredible people and I am so blessed to have known them.
~In classes we have been talking about the reconciliation process which has been exceptionally necessary in Namibia after the painful history filled with colonialism, apartheid, and a violent liberation struggle. One of the readings we had expressed how reconciliation seeks to face the problem square in the eyes, and then deeply cleanse it from there. We cannot merely sidestep the problems, for then they will continue to linger.
How incredible would it be if we sought to live reconciling lives? Lives where we sought to find healing and wholeness in the relationships around us instead of merely ignoring our problems and letting them fester...
I must go to bed! But more thoughts to come!!!
also, unfortunately our internet at the house does not allow me to upload pictures on this, so we'll have to wait til I'm back in the States for some pictures :)
peace and love from Namibia :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
kim! amazing! i love hearing your thoughts and the things you are discovering. have you read "white man's burden"? you should because it def addresses the top-down failure at change. i miss you bunches and hope that the remainder of your time in africa is equally amazing. and we will have to have reverse culture shock parties next semester. mad quacks, mad hups.
wow kim! sounds like you've loved a lot and learned a lot too. i look foward to hearing all of your stories when you return home. you are a gift! blessings to you.
Post a Comment