The North

After a week at the rural homestay we left to drive further North. We did two days of Game Drives through Etosha- where essentially we drive in our busses through the park and stop a lot to take a million pictures. We saw lions, giraffes, elephants, two rhinos (one was dead), zebras, peacocks, warthogs, water buffalo, basically almost everything.  We even saw a dead giraffe and the lions that had eaten it were resting under a tree right next to it- it was crazy, disgusting, and smelly. While staying in Etosha we also got to visit a snake farm for a short demonstration on poisonous snakes- Then we drove further North, near the Angolan Border. We met with a few non-profit organizations like the red cross, and had a bunch of free time. We also went to visit a Dam on the border of Angola, where we got to hop over the border for a few minutes (I peed in Angola) and then we spent the rest of the morning rock climbing and hanging out at the Dam. We also visited an official border crossing as well, but we didn't have visas so we stayed in Namibia and looked at Angola. While we didn't really do much in the North it was pretty great because we stayed in gorgeous guesthouses with TV and air conditioning-so we were all happy!!! 

On the drive back down we stopped at a refugee camp, which I was very excited about. I requested at the beginning of the semester to arrange a visit for myself and any of my interested classmates to go to a camp, but in the end the director arranged for all of us to visit one in the north. We went to Osire which is a camp predominantly for Angolan refugees, but it also houses refugees from the DRC, Sierra Leone, Liberia etc. In terms of refugee camps it is relatively well established and has been around since the 90's- the school has been around since early 2000. We met with teachers at the school there who are all refugees and they talked to us about their lives there. They told us that being a teacher was one of the few jobs available for refugees within the camp and that refugees are restricted from leaving the camp regularly and can mostly only leave on day permits that can be difficult to obtain frequently. The teachers expressed a general sense of hopelessness about the lack of opportunity in the camps. We were also informed that their food rations had been cut in half and the UNHCR has been talking about shutting down the camp.

I was particularly taken aback by the dis-empowerment that took place by being preventing from making a living and relying solely on handouts from the UN and the government. It was so frustrating to talk to people who want to work and make a living and just have no way of doing so.  As sad as I was from this trip I was really happy that I had the opportunity to see firsthand such a controversial establishment that I have spent so much time learning and caring about.