The dream finally became a reality once we hit the tarmac in Windhoek Namibia. A place only a year prior most in the group had never heard of... let alone pronounce. With all the media attention constantly shaping a world we only know through their eyes, it was hard to have any pre-conceived notions of what we had just signed ourselves up for.
Our team consisted of 10 people all current or former Whistlerites from Church on the Mountain looking for something to do in the off season. When the rains come.. the people disappear and time off from work is easy to justify. We had a dental hygienist, hairdresser, banker, ziptrek guide, cab driver, architect, mountain safety, nanny and pie shop worker.
The fund raising starting in Feb of 2007 all the way till May a few weeks before our departure date of the 19th. First was the freak show at Moe Joes, then bands against hunger reggae fest at Buffalo Bills, a garage sale at the “Brio Barn” and a slide show showcasing local photographers at Dustys.
The decision to travel to Namibia came through a local connection with Pat and Brenda Montani who live in Whistler. Both founders of Bicycles for Humanity had donated a container of bikes to Tsumeb a small town in the north of Namibia. It didn’t take long to realize that this was going to be an adventure of connecting with people and organizations that all stemmed out of the people we knew here at home.
Our trip was divided in two. First we were introduced to Marybeth an American working through the rotary club and Monica who oversees a network of 120 kindergarten and preschools in the captial Windhoek. The bicylces for humanity chapter came later in Tsumeb.
We all traveled half way around the world, taking 2 days to get there via Germany, South Africa and then Namibia. We stayed in a hostel of international backpackers trying to keep our costs low for the trip. The first night was an orientation session with Naftali a local who worked educating the U.N., U.S. Peace Corps and Unicef about the culture, history and geography of his country. I think his personal presentation became key later on in our understanding of the racial tension you could feel in the city. Knowing the history of the whites and blacks helped us not to get too upset over attitudes, but allowed us to have sensitivity as to why this tension existed.
To give an overview, the population within Namibia is about 1.7 million (not even the size of Vancouver) The capital Windhoek is 250,000 (40,000 children in the city have been orphaned by AIDS) Monica’s observation, being a native Namibian, was that while she grew up playing “house”, many kids today are seen playing “funeral”. "It is such a strong reality in their lives". The country was colonized by Germany in the late 1800’s but was later handed over to South Africa after the World War because of their alliance with the winning side. It wasn’t until 1990 that Namibia gained their Independence.
Naftali said that the Germans brought many good things. You can see it in the buildings, roads and infrastructure. But with it came the segregation, the movement of the blacks to poorer neighborhoods on the outskirts of Windhoek and rural areas. And without a public transit system, the city center is not accessible to them so they are deliberately kept out of the more industrialized and progressive areas of the country. He told many stories of how he was affected personally. How he still grieves the loss of friends through acts of violence, war and protests. There was a heart of reconciliation in what he spoke. Yet a dimmed hope for his people of an ongoing struggle to co-exist.
Windhoek has the largest separation of rich to poor in Africa. I think that was one of the problems a lot of our team members had to wrestle with at one time or another. Seeing the large houses on the hills, billboards, paved roads, shopping malls made us think, “Why are we here”? Naftali made a statement that helped. He said everyone from the West comes in and says we want to see the “real” Africa. People in mud huts and traditional dress but it would be the same as everyone coming to Canada and wanting to see us living in igloos and wearing fur coats. This is the emerging Africa. Namibia is one of the countries at the forefront so we should be encouraged with the positive side of their development.
We first went off to a pre-school daycare center in Katutura. One of poorest all-black neighborhoods on the outskirts of Windhoek. The task was to renovate a school with cement walls, no running water or plumbing. Where the kids played on broken glass and tin scraps, with the general public strolling through and urinating on the property. We spent long days in the baking sun painting, building fences and a playground.
After 10 days it was interesting to watch the transformation not only in the physical building but the relationships and perceptions that began to change while we were there. The children loved us and came out everyday to play and help. It was the parents and adults that watched with a cautious eye for days. But later realize that we were from Canada and we just came to help out as friends.
The local radio station caught wind of what was happening and I found myself along with Kelly and Nathan doing an interview and sharing our story. Moses the DJ commented that Africa has been helped by the west so much, he feels that it is time for them to start giving back. He personally wanted to organize a team of young Namibians to head into Liberia (in West Africa) on a volunteer basis. He said he was inspired at that moment by seeing that we had come so far to help out in his own neighborhood.
Next we headed up north to Tsumeb where the bicycles were sent. Our contact Edward Amadhila enthusiastically invited us to come and visit them. Arranging ahead of time for us to stay with host families. We still had lots of money to spend and it didn’t take long to realize that we found the right people at the right time moving in the right direction.
Let me introduce Edward. He is a natural born leader who has many friends and influences in Tsumeb. Among teachers, policeman, volunteers, government agencies, foreign embassies, local parents and children, he is known for his work serving the town. He is currently feeding about 35 orphaned and vulnerable kids on a daily basis. They run a school for up to 90 children. He has attained 85 hectares of farmland through a government tenure by fundraising (riding 40 kms on bikes to bring awareness) to start feeding the community.
He started the development of the farm first by digging a hole 65 meters deep to an underground river running south from Angola. There are solar panels in place to run the pump to fill four 10,000 liter tanks of water. They have begun testing soil to see what grows best on the land. There were a few chickens, fruit and vegetable plants to start things off and he sent workers to the north of the country to get trained in pig farming. At the bicycle shop in town four local technicians have been trained and are running a business to help fund the other efforts of the farm and feeding programs for the kids.
“The conflict with the local government, relief agencies and foreign embassies is an old mindset”, Edward said. “They continually want to see the immediate numbers of mouths feed and how many people they personally are reaching out to. As soon as you ask for money to invest into a farm there is a hesitation. As if you have now become a business man. They only want to put the band aid on the problem and its taking us a long time to paint another picture and show them that costs can be reduced. If the farm is successful I can get 90% government funding down to 15%. It’s all about doing more with less”.
Our first few days were spent meeting the people, learning about the infrastructure and discussing ideas under the shade of a tree in the backyard. Talks of micro financing, small businesses and farming techniques were all in the air. We decided as a group (Whistler crew) that we would invest the rest of our money into the farm knowing it was the immediate need with a food shortage. If the basic human needs were met first, then the rest of the community would have a chance to become more sustainable.
Fruit trees and vegtable seeds were bought, as well as chainsaws to help the farmers make headway in clearing the property. They had already spent three months chopping down trees with an axe, and only had a couple of acres cleared. Their hope was to get the land ready for planting by the fall. We also donated money to buy a pair of pigs, sheep and goats. Upgrades to the chicken coop, fencing, wheelbarrows and other helpful tools were also purchased. We also made a contribution towards developing bike trailers to transport water to the poorer areas in Tsumeb.
We had a lot of fun with 7 of the TOV staff (our new found friends in their mid 20’s who were working hard for minimal pay) and ten kids from the neighborhood, by bringing them with us to Etosha National Park. We visited the Environmental Education Center, camped out in the desert and went on a safari. We saw lions, zebras, giraffes and rhinos. We all froze our butts off in the night when it got down to 0c.
One of the biggest things that I have learned from this trip was that we could come up with all the solutions in the world and have the ideals to come and do the work. But until the local people in the community catch the vision and put it into action, the cycles of poverty will go on.
It’s kinda the same here in Whistler. We talk about sustainability all the time. It is that buzz word that has infiltrated into our very DNA. It’s an awesome concept and need to keep planting those seeds of change. But until someone actually puts the plastic bottle in the bin or a business reduces the amount of paper it uses everyday or we have somewhere to put our compost... we won’t become a sustainable community.
When I got back to Whistler a friend of mine from Ziptrek said, you know I never thought about it like this before, but it is really about all the small steps coming together for the answer. Instead of it being some grand plan to make a difference. I couldn’t have said it better.
Our relationship with Tsumeb looks to be bright in the future. Kelly Mabey, myself (Jill Marie Stokes) and a few of our other team members have started a Bicycles for Humanity chapter in Whistler and hope to get a container of donated second hand bikes ready by the fall to send to Tsumeb for the ongoing business of the bike shop.
We know many of you who love this kind of stuff so if you want to get on board you can contact www.bicycles-for-humanity.org and we will let you know of upcoming events.
Filling 2nd container in Whistler October 13 2007
