Homestay

Last saturday night I had a homestay with a family in Windhoek. From left: Ndapewa, Punya, Sigo, Peya and Max. I got to eat a lot of good food (including the freshest chicken I've ever eaten), go to church with them and then they took me on a tour of Windhoek. In the picture we are at Hero's Acre, which is like the Namibian version of Arlington Cemetery. All the great freedom fighters are honored here and from the top you have a panoramic view of all of Windhoek. Then they drove me from the wealthy, very beautiful neighborhoods to Katutura. Katutura was started during Apartheid, when the white people in Windhoek pushed the blacks outside of the city. Max told me that it has vastly improved since Independence in 1990. But it is like what you see in documentaries or the commercials asking you to help save children. It's a sea of tin huts. I didn't take any pictures there...it made me feel uncomfortable, like I was exploiting these people. But there were kids and dogs running around playing, many men hanging out at the shabeen (bar)...life was just going on.