This weekend we went to Swakopmund which is a small tourist town on the coast. Those tourists who come a almost all white Germans. Our weekend in Swakopmund made me really begin to think about the social structure of this country and culture. I was not quite prepared to come to Swakopmund and see this very apparent social economical divide between the white German-Namibians and black Namibians. It makes me feel uncomfortable to see this divide between the two races and makes me feel guilty to participate in it. For instance, going to a restaurant where all the customers are white and the servers are black makes me feel like I am contributing to this divide rather than trying to make the social-economical divide more equal between the races. I have to remind myself that this is not the American culture that I grew up in. This is how this culture functions, and that the country is still young and developing their own identity. It is okay that this culture functions differently from my culture and it is okay to feel uncomfortable at first. However, it is important that I am aware of the social-economical divide, but I must not see Namibia through those lenses but rather see where they are at this particular moment in time and go from there. In this way, I can best serve my students and participate in this culture.
On the positive note, Swakopmund was very fun. We first got to go on a catamaran boat tour of the Namibian coast. We saw a herd of flamingos and the biggest pelicans I have ever seen. As soon as we got on the boat, a seal came aboard! He is a tamed wild seal that is very friendly. We also saw dolphins in the water, they followed our boat. It was seriously soooo cool. We also got to sand dune sled, which is actually what you are thinking. It is basically sledding on a cardboard box down the sand dunes. It was quite the workout but totally worth it. You can go seriously fast on the down those dunes. I went 71kph!!!
This is the town
This is the coast
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