Beth's second home....Uis
Trip Start
Oct 17, 2007
1
15
37
Trip End
Dec 19, 2007
Uis,
Namibia
Friday, November 9, 2007
Beth was able to reconnect with most of the teachers that she worked with and we actually had a Braii (BBQ) Sunday night, our last night in town. Some of the teachers and a couple of students who had a major impact on Beth had moved on, but we were able to get contact information for most of them and will be meeting up with them later in our travels.
We were also lucky enough to run into the son of the "Namib Cowboy" in town and asked if they would sing some of their songs that night at the local bar
Beth and Erik in the Namib
. He agreed and we were fortunate enough to hear "Rocks and Stones" live and record them forever on video.We climbed to the "White Lady" rock paintings that are estimated to have been painted 5000 yrs. ago by the San "bushmen". Beth's old friend Terry was working at the visitors center. The visitors center has grown and the country of Namibia has declared it a protected Heritage Site. Through him we were able to connect with more of Beth's students.
Monday morning before we left, we were able to go to Beth's old school and hear the children sing. The school now has a choir that performed the Namibian national anthem, the school song, and some local Damara music. Again we were fortunate enough to capture it forever on video and will be on YouTube as soon as we get back to Minnesota.
The administrative building has been rebuilt and looks great! The laboratories are under construction at the moment, but they expect it to be finished soon. It is much better than the burned concrete blocks that Beth remembers in 1999-2001.
The whole visit was amazing for both of us.
Comments
Namibia
Beth, I was reading an article in Time magazine yesterday that ranked gender equality in the different countries. United States ranked # 31 and Namibia beat the US by a few points! Wow, I was surprised to see that, I thought you would like to know...hope you guys are having fun!!!