A Weekend in Tsumeb !!!

Last weekend was the first time that I ventured out of town on my own. I desperately needed to rediscover my independence. Please do not get me wrong, I am truly blessed to have the colleagues and support unit that I have around me here in Namibia. From the time that I landed in Windhoek (the nation’s capital) on June 27th, they took me in as one of their own. From showing me around town, taking me shopping for personal items, hooking me up with a cell, and filling out all the administrative forms (visa extension, vehicle authorization, emergency contact information, etc.), they have made my rather abrupt transition from Toronto to Grootfontein a lot smoother than it should have been. Nevertheless, it was refreshing to once again go somewhere on my own, meet new people, and find my own transportation instead of asking for a ride. I hate being an inconvenience to anyone.

When I found out that I was offered this 6-month work contract in Namibia, I told myself that I would exhaust every opportunity presented to me to immerse myself in the local culture. I do not know whether I will ever come back to this beautiful country so I might as well make the most out of this experience. As some of you already know, Namibia is a very young nation relative to other nations on the continent (Namibia became independent from South Africa only in 1990 whereas most African countries attained self-rule around 1960) with a recent, painful history of Apartheid. Having said that, my personal objective, aside from my professional one, is to engage in countless conversations with the rich, poor, blacks, whites, coloreds, foreigners, town dwellers, location dwellers (similar to townships in South Africa or even favelas-style slums in worst cases) in order to get a fair balance of viewpoints and in turn devise my own opinion of this sophisticated society. Now this is no easy feat in just 5 months but I am going to try anyways.

I cannot possibly accomplish this goal of mine by only interacting within my work environment. Hence, I took off on my own with cash in my pocket, a cell phone for emergencies and a change of clothes for a weekend in Tsumeb, a more happening town 60 km from Grootfontein where I live and work. My trip got off to a great start as I met one cool taxi driver; the most famous person in Grootfontein according to himself, his name is Fish. He drives a stylish silver 2006 Volkswagen with a pretty mean sound system. The base was so loud I thought I was going to skip a heartbeat. For some reason Fish never thought about turning down the volume during our long conversation; we yelled over the beat the whole way down to Tsumeb. For a split second I forgot that I was in Namibia because Fish played the latest tunes any young person my age in North America would listen to in their car; from Kanye West, Akon and Lil’ Wayne to Alicia Keys, Rihanna, Chris Brown and Coldplay. He had it all, even songs I had never heard before, talk about American soft power.

His car was bought in the UK by an English lady who used to live in Grootfontein and recently moved back to London with her Namibian husband. She provides him with a cell phone and trusts him to run the business for her locally and deposit the earnings into her bank account at the end of each month. As he puts it, “that lady is very cool to me, she trusts me a lot, and she knows I won’t run away with the car and the money. She wants to bring me to England one day.” Indeed, it is a challenge to find trustworthy business partners in Africa due to poverty.

At least this type of business thrives in Namibia because the State saw to it that the construction of basic infrastructure is conducive to trade and commerce. The road network in Namibia is among the best on the Motherland behind the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and on par with Western Africa with examples such as Ghana, Ivory Coast and recently Senegal. You can reach the most remote rural towns on fully paved roads within reasonable time. That is unheard of and unseen in most parts of Africa, namely in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where the colonial infrastructure has been left untouched since 1960. Visiting Kinshasa, DRC’s capital, 6 months ago and now living in the small farming town of Grootfontein, Namibia 400 km from Windhoek is two completely different experiences: night and day.

Yes, different cultures, different history, different colonial experiences but the facts remain. One has 48 years of independence and the other has only 18. In Kinshasa, I stayed in a so-called affluent neighborhood yet I went 3 days straight in the dark without power and during my 2-week stay I showered with tap water only once. The rest of the time, water was fetched for me from God knows where in two buckets that I used to shower because tap water was cut off. Why? You ask. My dear friends, there are questions Congolese people do not bother asking anymore. And did I mention Kinshasa is the capital city??? In Grootfontein, I have yet to witness a power outage. I shower everyday with water coming out of the silver shower head and not from a bucket. Oh and get this, I even have hot water especially now that it is winter in Southern Africa. I can get on the internet any day whenever I please and the connection is fairly fast too.

Basically, my friend summed it up best: “Namibia is Africa for beginners.” And while some might respond by saying it is not Africa at all because it is not scary, violent and overpopulated like Lagos, Kinshasa, or Nairobi – as if these are attributes and a reputation to be self-righteous about – to those shallow, ignorant cynics I say yes, I agree, Namibia is not “true” Africa but it is everything Africa should be and more.

I almost forgot to mention that I was not the only customer in the taxi. I was one of five. I was sitting in front with Fish (the privileges you get for having long legs) and there were 2 women at the back and a young teenager with his 2-year old nephew on his laps. None of the passengers knew each other nor did we get off at the same stop in Tsumeb. Our kind driver took turns dropping each of us where we needed to go. The fare for each passenger was N$ 30. I took Fish’s cell phone number and made an appointment for pick-up the following day to return home in Grootfontein. I paid another N$ 30. In total, I only spent N$ 60 (Namibian dollars) for a 60 km drive there and back with great conversation and a fun weekend. That comes to just under US$ 10 for my roundtrip fare since US$ 1 = N$ 7.6. Pretty good deal I must say.

By the time I made it back home Fish and I were buddies. He told me all about how his girlfriend who works in the Big City (Windhoek) dumped him for no apparent reason. Although he suspects that there is another man with more money entertaining her. He claims that it is a trend with a Namibian girls and money nowadays. I told him that I find it is common everywhere else in the world (not always but we do see it in all societies, please do not crucify me on this one) for a female to make such tough choices when stuck in a financial bind with no way out. But Fish was not having it. He is convinced that it is purely a Namibian thing. He then announced to me that he is done being Mr. Nice Guy and will now sleep with many and leave them all. I again tried to convince him otherwise but he was not having that either. As we shook hands and said our goodbyes, Fish invited me to join him and his friends next weekend for a night out in the locations, where “the real people live”, as he puts it.
Stay tuned…