Namibia

For next year's trip to Namibia we have two main questions so far: -What do we want to get out of this trip. -What do we want to give to this trip (give to the people, to the environment, etc.)

The following map is the map of Tsumkwe, which is the place in Namibia that we are going.



Tsumkwe is right by the border of Botswana and is basically a place where roads cross each other and keep going.

The following is an email that Ian and I received from Stacey Main, our contact in Namibia. She is an anthropologist there. She says she will answer the rest of our questions later over time (but they are not in red or blue because the color didn't copy onto this page from the actual email).

From: "Stacey Main"  Add Mobile Alert To: "Madeleine Docherty"  Subject: Re: Clayton School District Namibia Trip Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2008 10:31:10 +0300

Hello Madelein and Ian!

I am happy to hear from you. I am still in St. Louis and was hoping I might get a chance to meet you. I e-mailed your Mom a few weeks ago, but I am sure she has been very busy. I will leave for Namibia early Wednesday morning, so my time in the "civilized world" is truly running out.

But for now, we can certainly address your questions. I have spoken to the perfect people that could help to guide you throughout Namibia. I am happy that together we will have plenty of time to plan just the right adventure and learning experience for you and your colleagues. Planning the journey can be as much fun as the trip itself and the more research you do before coming to Namibia, the more you will grow from your experience.

When I first came to Namibia, I had planned my archeological dig for well over a year!

I am attaching a list of facts about Namibia that will also help to answer some of your questions. Please have them printed out and perhaps you can make copies for your colleagues who are also interested in visiting Namibia.

Thank you for giving me time to fully answer your very well thought out questions. For now, I will send short answers to some of your questions in blue, below. When I have more time and can get some other people involved, I will answer more fully. Sound OK?

Then let our journey begin. ..

Dear Stacey,

We are Madeleine and Ian Docherty, Donna Robey's children. We are writing to you regarding our interest in coming to Namibia. Recently, we held a meeting with other students who are also interested in possibly going to Namibia, and formulated some questions and ideas. Our two main questions are: What do we want to get out of this trip? and What can we do to help the needs of Namibia/What do you want to get from us traveling to Namibia? Furthermore, we came up with other smaller questions and ideas to help answer the main ones:

-How would we get there? (We know we would take a plane, but what city would we land in?

You will have two options. 1) You may fly from St. Louis to the East Coast, like Newark, New Jersey, or South Carolina, or maybe Philadelphia. That flight takes about two hours. Then you take another flight (9-10 hours) to Europe; either Frankfurt, Germany, or London, Heathrow. (I do not recommend flying through London, Heathrow.) Then you take one more flight from Europe to Windhoek, Namibia (another 9 hours or so), and you are there! This means about 22 hours in the air and lots of "lay-overs" in airports, waiting for your next flight. You will learn many things about different cultures even during the time you spend in the airports. In Frankfurt or London, you will see many people traveling from all around the globe! I like to try to pick out which people are Americans. Try it. You'll see; we are also "different."

2) You may take a flight from St. Louis to the East Coast, like Newark, New Jersey, or South Carolina, or maybe Philadelphia. That flight takes about two hours. Then you take a flight from the East Coast straight to Johannesburg, South Africa. That flight takes about 18 hours. Then you take another flight from S. Africa to Windhoek, Namibia. Windhoek is the capital of Namibia and it is pronounced like "Vind-Hook."

-What is the culture like? -What is the environment like? What can we do to help it? -What are the people like (we want to get their perspective)? What can we do to help them? -What is education like?

The five wonderful questions in red are questions that I would like to answer more fully. Please stay tuned. ..

-How safe would this trip be? Namibia remains one of the safest countries politically, in all of Africa. "Politically safe" means that there are no wars going on or people trying to work against the government, which may cause problems. No matter where you go, anywhere in the world, you must never forget to pack your "common sense." Crimes can happen anywhere in the world, but in general, the crime in Namibia is far less than even the crime rate here in our United States. This is largely due to the fact that there are so few people in Namibia! Namibia's entire population is less than the population of St. Louis.

-What diseases are present? Is there nodding disease, or other fatal diseases? Now I am also learning from you because I do not know what nodding disease is. Perhaps you can tell me a bit about nodding disease, then I'll check to see if it is in Namibia. Yes, there are other fatal diseases. Any fatal diseases that we have here in the United States, will also be in Namibia and other countries. Malaria is the main fatal disease that you would want to take preventive measures against. Malaria is something that you get from a mosquito that carries the malaria virus. Most malaria problems are in the far north of the country and usually mainly during the rainy season. You would like to come June through August sometime, which is Namibia's winter time. This is the best time to come as far as avoiding malaria. You can get it anytime, but it is more unlikely that you will get it during the winter time. Your doctors will give you some medicine to take on the trip which will help prevent you from getting malaria. During the evening hours, we recommend that people visiting Namibia should also put on mosquito spray as an extra precaution.

-Are there ways that we could possibly incorporate many different students' passions into the trip? (example:photography, birds, technology, fabric arts/crafts) Yes, we can most definitely incorporate your specific interests and passions into the trip. This is how you will get the most benefit from your well-planned journey. Namibia is a "photographer's paradise." We have over 630 bird species, elephant, lion, rhino, buffalo, cheetah, leopard, giraffe, 20 antelope species

240 mammal species (14 endemic), 250 reptile species, and 50 frog species. Endemic means that the animal is born, lives out his life and dies in Namibia and is not found in any other land but Namibia.

There are many ways to learn to appreciate the traditional crafts of the local people and you can also learn about what kind of technology is available. In Windhoek, the capital, the technology (infrastructure) is considered as good as in Europe. Most cities also have all of these modern conveniences. In outlying areas, or rural areas, there are many places that do not have electricity always, and water is very scarce.

It will be fun to learn different ways that people live their daily lives without things like electricity, running water and faucets like we all have here. It's very valuable to learn because if we do not care for our environment, one day we also will have to learn to live without luxuries like water. Yes. Water is definitely a luxury. Where I live, the people are very poor and families get into a wooden cart that a donkey pulls and they travel many miles into town to get fresh water for drinking, bathing and washing. Some people are not rich enough to have a donkey cart so they just walk, carrying empty bottles and buckets. Then they return to their villages with full water pails.

When you return from Namibia, you will never leave the water running when you brush your teeth again because you will remember what a precious resource water is. Then you will tell your friends and they will also help to save water!

Thank you Madelein and Ian for your wonderful questions. I look forward to hearing from you and I will also work on the five questions in red -

Perhaps I will also send you a few pictures.

Warm regards, Stacey Main

By the way, we were thinking of coming sometime between June and August, 2009.

Sincerely, Madeleine and Ian Docherty