Jumping in with both feet...

Sitting here at the kitchen table in CGEE (Center for Global Education and Experience) house in Windhoek, Namibia while half a dozen students do their homework and have great conversation. (I'm learning a lot about social media!)

So I asked them how detailed they thought we should be in this blog. Because the range was from "list the lunch menu" to "let them know we're all still alive", we came up with a creative solution.  We will offer a "just the facts" shorter version, and a "lunch menu" longer version. (Also tells me a little about the differences in your parenting styles. 😉)

Here's the quick and dirty (short) version:

Got to St. Peter's in Johannesburg and settled in - qaint retreat center

Lunch at Robbie's Place - delicious

Hector Pieterson and The Apartheid Museums - amazing and sobering.

Processing and dinner - awesome

Most of us were exhausted and asleep by 8 or 9 our time because...

Up and loading the vans for our 6:30 a.m. departure to the airport

Arrived in Windhoek CGEE House around 1:00 and had lunch

Short orientation and tour of the city from the President's residence to the informal settlements

Back to the house for dinner, homework, showers, relaxing, reading, and visiting.

And now for details and commentary:

So after getting cleaned up and settled into our digs Wednesday around noon, we headed to Robbie's 

Place for a wonderful buffet style authentic South African meal consisting of grilled chicken, beowors (South African sausage - similar to brats), stewed beef, dombolo (steamed bread), rice, pap (thick mealie-meal porridge-like), butternut squash, curried carrots, mixed steamed veggies, potato salad, colorful coleslaw, and a Greek cucumber salad. For dessert we had mixed canned fruit with vanilla custard. This was all served in Robbie's home which he turned into a B&B and now restaurant for groups such as ours. There was something for everything and the meal received rave reviews.

From there we stopped briefly at the Hector Pieterson Museum. If you don't recognize the name, you may be familiar with the famous picture - of 13 year-old Hector being frantically carried by a man (a stranger) running with a limp child in his arms having scooped him up after he (Hector) had been shot by the police. Hector's 16 year-old sister, is chasing next to the man. 

We heard this tragic story retold by that 16 year-old sister, Antoinette Sithole, now 55. Hector was the first of 566 people killed that day - in June of 1976 - during the Soweto demonstration of 10,000 school children marching peacefully to oppose Apartheid, specifically the Bantu Education Act, which created an inferior education system for Black students. 

What better way to begin our Global Search for Justice - Dismantling Racism class than carring that powerful first-hand account with us en-route to the Apartheid Museum.  Who would have ever dreamed we would meet the woman in this iconic photo that came to globally represent both the horrors of and young people's resistance to Apartheid. Amazing.

Due to our flight delays we were only able to spent an hour and a half in the Aparteid Museum.  We made the most of it. We encourage you to google it to get the full effect.  It was thorough, sobering, sad and empowering to experience the people and action that created, resisted and eventually overcame Apartheid. They did a marvelous job of using a variety of teaching methods- photography, video, simulated solitary confinement cells, hundreds of nooses hanging from the ceiling, newspaper articles, artifacts and testimonials. All powerful, moving and extremely informative.

We came back and talked about our travel fiasco and reactions to Antoinette and the museum. All came away with a deeper understanding of the realities of those lives impacted by man's ability to catagorize, dehumanize and kill based solely on the social construction of race. Comparisons to all that's happening in Minneapolis and the U.S. Regarding the police and Black Lives Matter were not lost on us.

We appreciated our dinner of rice, veggies, chicken and bread pudding with custard sauce.  Some of us visited with Milifi over dinner who was an activist during Apartheid beginning at age twelve.  We talked about South African politics, his lived experience and the youth that give him hope. So much more to say about his wisdom and life.  He had questions for us as well - some related to Donald Trump -a reminder of how small our world really is. He also stressed the significance of travel in building relationships, challenging stereotypes and creating more peaceful world. He applauded our students for their participation in this course.

After a good night's sleep we were all better rested and ready for our 6:30 am departure to the airport. We enjoyed shopping, eating and appreciated more deeply an on- time departure. South African airlines still serves hot meals and a generous selection of beverages on every flight.  We enjoyed the options and made sure none of the delicious tiramisu went to waste.

We made it to Windhoek, Namibia - our temporary home - in good spirits and in time for lunch. Trust that no one will go hungry on this journey. We so appreciate the wonderful CGEE staff - drivers, cooks, coordinators who, now that we have finally arrived, have made sure to attend to every detail.

After lunch we met everyone at CGEE more formally and received a full orientation from Linda including course objectives, our incredible itinerary, as well as health and safety tips.  After that we jumped back in the vans for tours of the city including a helpful history lesson of German colonization and South African rule of Namibia until they won their independence in 1990.  We saw hilltop views of the city, the parliament, the president's house and office, monuments to those that died trying to resist relocation and, where many ended up as a result of housing segragation - an area called Katatura which loosely translates to "a place where we will never settle".  In addition to this government-sanctioned housing, we saw miles and miles of newer tin shacks made of correlated steel - maybe 6 by 8 feet where black Namibians from rural areas are moving to have a better chance, for employment.  The poverty and sub-standard living conditions - another reality check. 

We're impressed with the students' dedication to learning including taking their assignments seriously. Many are feeling the impact of a severe change in climate from Minnesota - temps in the 90's and a drier air that requires a conscious commitment to hydration.  Please know we are all being "our sisters' keepers" in true St. Kate's form, to take good care of each other.  

Thanks for reading and parents, thanks for entrusting your daughters with us on this incredible experience.  It's been great getting to know them and being fellow travelers on this life-changing adventure.

Past our bedtime.  Stay warm,

Donna and Martha