Rural Homestay

Hey everyone,

Once again, it's been a very long time since I have posted. For three weeks, we were on the road without extended periods of internet access. And this past week I was just lazy or forgetful. Because we did so much over the past month, I'm going to break the posts up into two.

When we embarked on our three week long trip, we began with our rural homestays in a town called Khorixas, which is about 4 hours outside of the capital, Windhoek. I had to admit, I was nervous for the homestay. I had anticipated feeling as if there would not be enough to fill the day and that awkward silences would be all too frequent. These fears were exacerbated when I found out that my host family was just an elderly woman and her granddaughter, both of whom spoke no English. However, I sound found that these fears were unfounded, both because another family member who was my age was also staying for the week (and he spoke English), and that while I was sleeping and eating with one family, the farm had such a community feel to it that the line between nuclear and extended family was blurred. Everyone was one large community, and they went to each other's houses freely.

In our time there, we did many different activities, both productive and for recreation. On the first day, my host brother and I went with another family, in the back of a pick up truck, to collect wood for the farm from a dried up riverbed. We also rode horses bareback, which was absolutely terrifying. I did not want to go fast, but some of the other students on my program told the guy leading the horse to really gallop, which I was not prepared for. Luckily, I was wearing sunglasses, so it looks like I was really into it and in complete control. On a particularly hot day (who am I kidding. Every day was a particularly hot day), we filled up a small pool with water from the well that is used for the entire farm for a swim, which felt really good. Because it was so hot in the middle of the day, most people would stay inside and nap, which was great for me, as I nap regularly, regardless of the temperature. The farm was surrounded by mountains, so one evening we hiked up to the top. While our sunset beach at Cape Cod is always nice, I have never seen a better sunset than that one, especially due to the view. I've also never seen the sun set so fast.Along with the entire group of about 15 people came all of the dogs of another family (the one who I went to collect wood with.) A combination of pitbulls and greyhounds, they totaled 14. Even though they don’t have collars, probably have not been given their shots, and definitely were not formally trained, they are some of the most obedient and loyal dogs I’ve ever met. When we hiked up the mountain, they would go and run ahead of us, yet would come in an instant of called or even heard a whistle. I had never thought I liked big dogs, but those greyhounds were great.

Each morning, we would wake and go fetch milk from the goats in the pen nearby. After failing rather miserably the first few times, I finally got the hang of it and was getting a good amount of unpasteurized milk that I was afraid to drink. For food, CGE actually provides a small amount of food to each family so that we could know that at least we had a little that we could be familiar with. In previous programs, students were not given any food by the prgoran and had their time marred by a lack of food, especially vegetarians. We also introduced American football to our families, which was great because I hadn’t gotten to throw a football around at all my entire time. It was also nice not to have our program heads continuing to remind me not to play because of my shoulder, which is slowly but surely healing on its own.

One night, my friend JB and I went into town in the back of the pickup, which was really fun. We stopped and got cool drinks (which is what they call sodas) and rode around running errands with his host father and brothers. One stop in particular was especially interesting. We stopped in a rather suburban area and got out. I thought it was a customer of their livestock. However, it turned out to be their house, which completely threw me off guard. What they said was that many families live in town in modern houses with modern amenities, but maintain properties on the farms that have been passed down for generations as a way of continuing tradition and maintaining their roots to their people and culture. It made me question exactly the constructs for which I saw the concept of poverty. I had assumed that they were living on the farm out of necessity, when it was out of choice and out of a need to maintain their originality as people. Understanding this was very enlightening for me and I now question more critically what is and what is not poverty. It does not mean that I automatically think that everything that appears to be poverty now isn’t. But it also doesn’t mean that the stereotypes of who is poor always hold.