Wow, I’ve been here over a year and just realized I’ve never provided a historical context of my home! Ready for a brief history lesson?
So, I live in Namibia in Southern Africa (I think we were all on the same page here?). Namibia, however, has only been Namibia for the last (almost) 30 years. Before this time, let’s go back to the late 1800s, it was known as South West Africa and was a German colony. Then after Germany’s defeat in WWI, the League of Nations passed Namibia to South Africa’s control. At that time, South Africa (SA) was still in the British commonwealth (but wasn’t exactly a colony–I’m not really clear on this). After SA’s independence, South West Africa was still under SA rule; so when Apartheid (legal separation between whites and blacks) became law in SA, it became law in South West Africa also. Afrikaans (evolved from Dutch Boers who settled in South Africa in the 1600s)– became the national language.
Starting in the 1960s, South West Africa decided they wanted out– they wanted independence. So began a 30-year war for independence. (Another interesting tidbit: it became a proxy war between the US and USSR–it was the Cold War era. The US supported SA and the USSR and other communist friends supported Namibia. So, Namibia didn’t see Americans in a very nice light for awhile. In fact, if you look at the diplomatic license plates, the number 001 on a plate basically means Namibia’s BFF. US diplomatic plates start with 021…).
In 1990, South West Africa finally won, and the newly dubbed country of Namibia was formalized. (Another fun tidbit: before there was even a country seal, the then Prime Minister–and now current president– Hage Geingob sent a letter to the US Peace Corps, inviting them to send volunteers to the country ASAP). Namibia decided on making peace with SA, and some documents/strategy used in this reconciliation process was adopted a few years later by Nelson Mandela after SA felt its own ripple of reform (But that’s for a different history brief). And here we are, coming up on 30 years later. Shortly after independence, English became the national language, as a way to unite the huge diversity found across the country (over 15 languages are spoken).
So there’s the brief. Ready for more? Remember how I live in the “thumb”, the Caprivi Strip? Let’s talk about that weird geographical anomaly. Let’s wind the time dial back, when where I’m sitting now was still German South West Africa. Germany didn’t have much of a presence in Africa, but they did control the colony of German East Africa, now known as Tanzania. And they were tired of going all the way around the Cape of Africa to get their trade goods to the other side of the continent. Enter Leo von Caprivi. He helped negotiate the exchange of a strip of land (later dubbed the “Caprivi Strip” and now called the Zambezi) that was British territory for Zanzibar, which was part of German East Africa. The grand plan was to open up a trade route over land. The grand failure was the absence of scouting, or good scouting, anyway. The Zambezi River was seen as the perfect route to send barges of goods. Too bad they didn’t keep going maybe 100km further east of the strip’s end, when you run into the biggest waterfall in the world. Yeah, Victoria Falls, the one that’s over 1km across and 100m high. Oops. So it didn’t become the great trade access Germany hoped for, but it did come part of South West Africa, and a part of Namibia it remained.
Until it almost didn’t…let’s wind the dial a bit forward again, to 1999. The Caprivi area was disgruntled over the new government and felt that they should have their own independence. There was a brief attempt at uprising, but this was squashed by the new Namibian government. It can still be a touchy subject so I don’t get into conversations about it (we’re not supposed to get involved with politics as Peace Corps volunteers), especially since some Caprivians are still in jail over it. But, nonetheless, here I am, in the Caprivi (now officially called the Zambezi) in Namibia. And based on the age of the baobab tree behind my house (my guess is a few hundred years old), it seems that regardless of the name of this place, the Zambezi has remained the Zambezi. A super unique, super beautiful place I now call home.
As a Peace Corps Volunteer one of my main goals, Goal 3, is “to help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the people served.” In other words, this goal is about helping other Americans gain a better understanding of my new community and country. (The other two goals summed up are 1: serving where needed in my country–so, teaching and 2: helping Namibians better understand American culture).
When I go back to the states, I think it’d be fun to give a talk on Namibia, the Zambezi, and my time here (I’m envisioning a cool Prezi presentation about the history, geography, etc. If Prezis are still a thing…?) and this is a first attempt at thinking about this. It may seem like a far away part of the world, but technology can make the world seem smaller, even if you can’t get here physically yourself. And I think it’s cool to learn about all the magical places in the world. Hopefully a few others back home agree. So if you have a specific history/general question, please ask!
**Disclosure: this is a brief history I wrote from memory–from many books, discussions with colleagues, visits to memorials, training, etc. I tried to be as accurate as I could remember but didn’t spend time rechecking facts. I tried to paint a general picture, not write a wikipedia article (but, here’s one if you want it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Namibia). Basically, don’t cite me.
***Disclosure, part 2. I’m a liar. I promised pictures this post, but I haven’t had the chance. Next week? The week after? Then I’ll give some life updates also!