Texas A&M

Oshini

31Jul

By: Tobin Redwine

It’s written on walls, and buildings. We see it spray painted on the shambled brick shanties that dot the landscape of northern Namibia. O-S-H-I-N-I. I tried using context clues to get a grip on it. What could be so common that we see it almost as frequently as the shebeens and barbershops in this area? Is it a business? A restaurant?

My inquisitive nature got the best of me. While passing through Oshakati, I saw two buildings, back to back, in competing business parking lots. Both had OSHINI spray painted in large letters. I asked our driver, Dennis, “What is Oshini? is that the toilet?”

He looked confused, and then he thought for a little bit. “Oshini is hard to explain in English. It is a kind of wood used to grind millet.”

I thought back to our visit to the Nakambale mission museum, where we entered the working homestead occupied by Johanna and her family. They used giant wooden poles to grind up millet in a hole in the ground in traditional Ndonga fashion. Is that Oshini? Tall wooden poles? Are those buildings also housing holes for grinding millet?

Dennis continued to explain, “Oshini is also Oshini. It means truth.”

Here in the Osumusati region of Namibia, poverty is high. The unemployment rate is above 30%. The HIV infection rate is staggering in comparison to southern Namibia statistics. Land ownership is communal, tribal governances control purchases and schedules of homesteaders, shepherding communal herds of goats, donkeys and cows across roadsides. The landscape is busy with animals, disrepair, and people walking in all directions. Here in all the bustle of survival in the arid north, people feel compelled to write Oshini in huge block letters atop their buildings.

What is Oshini? It is a core value. At Texas A&M our values line the walls of the MSC, appear outside the Clayton Williams Former Student Building, and mark the bleachers of the soccer stadium; leadership, selfless service, integrity, excellence, and honor are carved into the rock around our campus. Those values define our community, our spirit, and our people.

Here, Oshini shows up on walls, buildings, and signs. Oshini. Truth.

Oshini is a waitress named Luise. The first night she served us dinner, we were leaving and she came running out the door behind us. She was holding $50 US in her hand. $50 US is equivalent to about $500 Namibian. She knew the Americans had to have dropped it, and she chased us down to hand it back to the student in our group who had dropped it.

Oshini.

After dinner, an old nylon string guitar would get passed around and I sang Roger Miller and Creedance Clearwater Revival to the desert. I finished a particularly lackluster version of Bad Moon Rising, and I heard thunderous applause from the door behind me. There was Luise, hands above her head, applauding.

Oshini.

When we left, she handed me a CD. She is a singer as well. Without expecting anything in return, she gave me primitively recorded album; Uuyelele. She sings gospel songs in her mother tongue. Overcome with gratitude, we gave her a t-shirt a student brought, along with a few other gifts we had for her. She told us it was the only thing form America she had ever held.

Oshini.

At the Ogongo campus of the University of Namibia, we got a tour from two students, Linda and Dash. These young ladies are studying crop science. They showed us the campus and the farm. They were patient with our questions, laughed at our awe of the termite mounds, and shared their culture and research with us. Linda is studying the effect that watering practice has on a maize crop. When I told her that her work was a-Maize-ing, she did a double take, and then threw back her head and laughed. Maybe it was at the joke or maybe it was at the groans from the rest of the group. Either way, a good joke goes a long way.

Oshini.

At the Nakambale community project, we entered the homestead of Johanna. She is 83 years old. She was born in the hut she now lives in, serving as the Matriarch of her community. She shared her millet with us, opened her home, and showed us their way of life, that starts with grinding meal using giant wooden poles that would give most full-grown, beard-wearing American men a serious shoulder problem.

Oshini.

At the Namibia Tannery and Leather Company, Kumbalani walked us through his factory. He talked about the process by which leather is made, and the economics of his business. He was most genuine when he talked about the treatment of animals in a humane way. He showed us a hide of a cow that had been branded more than 20 times. He flipped the hide over and you could see the brand marks, scarring all the way through the cow’s hide, in more than 20 spots.

Oshini.

I have thought a lot about that word, and the core values of the people we are meeting. Here is what they have taught me:

No matter your station in life, hard work is the foundation that feeds us, keeps us alive, and builds our community. Oshini is both the wood that Johanna uses to grind meal, and the truth that keeps her family working and living.

Our actions have repercussions. Our works leave marks deep beneath our hides and below the skin of others. Oshini is the truth by which our actions speak about our character.

Kindness to strangers is as universal as the pentatonic scale. Music is as universal as laughter. And everybody jams on CCR. Oshini.

Behind the Scenes

26Jul

By: Tobin Redwine

Imagine the sand shining in the sun, warmth radiating through the soles of your bare feet. Imagine looking in all directions and seeing the curve of the earth. Imagine your stomach dropping at the emptiness around you. Imagine the overwhelming emotions of gratitude, solitude, reflection, accomplishment and wonder that swim in your mind. Now imagine trying to capture all of that emotion and feeling in one image, from the top of a dune in the Namib Sand sea. That is the challenge that our students face.

Images are powerful, but do they match the power of our imaginations? Truly great images are not simply shot from the hip in a haphazard, luck of the draw fashion. Great images take planning, care, visual literacy, creativity, attention to detail, and patience.

Over the past couple of weeks, our students have shot more than 20,000 images. They have edited and selected with care, removing imperfections and identifying the quality works. After hours and kilometers (we are still learning to speak metric system), we delivered 437 images of Namib desert flora, fauna, landscape and scenery to the researchers and scientists at the the Gobabeb Desert Research and Training Centre. We will deliver a hand picked selection of 20 high quality images to N/a’an Ku Se Wildlife Refuge. We have shared and interacted with nature, people, culture and spirit across thousands of kilometers in Namibia.

Here is a behind the scenes look at how they go through the process of capturing some of the images you can see on this blog, and on our facebook page. Students have mastered photography techniques such as manipulating depth-of-field, capturing motion, seeking the best light, and navigating the features and capabilities of their equipment. Not only do they quickly ascertain the proper techniques to employ in any given scenario, they do so in the face of unquestionable danger.

Teamwork is essential. It is common for students to be scattered around a site,lenses to their faces, shouting aperture settings and shutter speeds to one another. Discussions about leading lines and framing are common. Students assist each other by pointing out angles, directing shadows and people, holding wayward limbs and leaves, and even braving the unknown by scooping up a burrowing desert beetle so that a classmate can get the shot just right.

Photographers’ schedules are not dictated like the rest of the world. We seek the bestlight. Here in the arid lands of Namibia, the sun rises between 5 and 6 AM. While much of the staff at each place we stay is asleep, we are scouring the countryside in the warm tones of the early morning light. Similarly, our students declined group meals and volleyball outings to capture the fading rays of the setting sun on the sands of the Namib. Even those hours fail in comparison to the dedication they showed when, two consecutive mornings, the rose as early as 4:00 AM to get a shot of the blanket of stars in the desert. We had a narrow window of time between when the full moon set and the sun rose to get a clear, unpolluted night sky.

Whether they were chasing luminescing scorpions in the riverbed before sunrise, staring unflinchingly into the mouth of lions, or scaling the towering dunes of the desert, this hearty group of artists and adventurers continues to remind me of the beauty in our world, and the power we all have to relish in the miracles of each moment. I am lucky, I am blessed, and I am grateful to be part of a world so big, and to see our students sharing it in such a unique way.

One of those blessings is to see the students learning and mastering these techniques. They speak like photographers with decades of experience. One of our students was approached by a researcher at Gobabeb with questions about his camera. The student was able to explain the exposure triangle, principles of composition, and basic photography techniques in a concise, impromptu crash course. Learning is truly alive with this group. They were even asked to Gobashare. A group of scientists and researchers at the centre asked them to give a talk about their group, their photos, and the process by which they were collected for the archives of the newly-deemed UNESCO World Heritage Site. Our group presented their efforts to a global community, speaking to EU delegates, international collaborators, and worldtravelers. This led to a discussion about night photography, career choices, theory and principles, and more. The Oxford researcher who was sharing some of his research after our group even remarked about the quality of our students’ photos, commenting that they were a tough act to follow.

These accolades do not come easy. Dedication, patience and planning are the tools of the trade. These Aggies are no stranger to those values.

A Sea of Sand

24Jul

I’ve got sand in my ears. I’ve got sand in my nose. I’ve got sand in places I didn’t even know. That is what staying in the Namib Desert is like. It’s a sandy void where not much else stirs.

During our last day here we hiked up to the top of the dune one last time to enjoy our last sunset staying at the Gobabeb Research and Training Center. My adviser, Tobin Redwine asked us, “Doesn’t this beat working at the bookstore this summer?” That’s when it hit me that I was in Africa. It took me being on top of the dune, watching the sun go down over the mountain to realize how grateful I was to be in Namibia, sifting my hand through some of the oldest sand in the world and laughing at silly jokes.

The last week of my life in Africa can only be described, in my mind, through one word: adventuresome. The tempo of the trip has been a constant go, go, go and we have hit the ground running. Whether it be gallivanting around the desert dunes or taking long exposure photos of the Southern Hemisphere sky at 4 am, it is always an adventure with this group.

Through our adventures our first priority here is as photographers. On June 22, 2013, Gobabeb has been certified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On behalf of their new certifcaition, the center requested that we assist them in updating their fauna and flora photo archive. Our driving force the past couple of days has been to capture as many living creatures that crawl around this desert. With the submission of hundreds of pictures, we have successfully improved their biota register.
What is so interesting about the trip and our “job” here is a group of students, just like us, from Texas A&M visited the Gobabeb Center last year making posters and mottos to promote the application to be certified. With success, it is wonderful to get to carry on their legacy. The old saying goes, “If an Aggie does it once, it’s a mistake; twice, it’s a tradition.” Being our second time at Gobabeb, a new Aggie tradition was started in 2013.

Even through all of our adventures and fun, it was quite strange to be at a place so far from civilization. Social interaction was limited. Personally, it is already hard being so far away from home, with so limited communication, and putting an isolated setting into the mix made it just that much harder. The adventures here are real and lively, but the solitude of the center’s community is often eerie.
Nonetheless, the adventures here in Gobabeb have been unforgettable. It has been cool to get to experience the different aspects of a place different than any other I have visited. The center has created ample opportunities for us by asking us to take pictures that could open many doors in the future. The memories of hiking up the dunes and sunsets will be engrained in my mind, as we travel elsewhere.

If you want to keep yourself updated on our travels like TAMU ALEC Namibia Abroad on Facebook and follow #TAMUSafari on Instagram.

Country or Continent?

20Jul

As I told people that I’m going to Namibia this summer, I got many blank stares. I found myself explaining that Namibia is a real country and where it is located. The other issue I’ve faced is the “country versus continent” topic. Africa is a continent; Namibia is a country within Africa – not a state.

Africa is not frequently discussed or taught in the United States. In fact, I just learned that less than five percent of Americans have traveled to Africa. People know Nelson Mandela, Hotel Rwanda, Madagascar the movie, rioting in Egypt, and malaria, but that’s about it. Africa is so much more than that. It’s a continent with 54 countries and 11.7 million square miles, two thousand languages, and one billion people. Thinking about the size of this continent and the rich history it contains is mind blowing. There’s so much to learn and to experience.

Every country in Africa seems to have a rich and complex history of how it came to be. Namibia is a fairly young country, only gaining its independence from South Africa in 1990. Before the South African rule, there is a long history of German rule. This is extremely evident with the prevalence of European architecture, German speaking people, and an abundance of high quality chocolate in the grocery stores.

I honestly didn’t know what to expect from Namibia. But I’ve learned that it is approximately half the size of Alaska with a population density of only five people per square mile. Agriculture makes up only 5% of the GDP and the main products are livestock and meat products, crops, and forestry. Only 2% of the land in Namibia receives adequate water/rainfall. (And it looks a lot like west Texas!)

I feel that the more I learn about the history, the people, and the workings of a country, the better appreciation I have for my experiences. I gain more respect for the development work being done and the progress that has been made. I also become more aware of the luxuries of my life in America – my safety, connectivity, conveniences, and so many more things.

Traveling is always an eye opening experience, but it feels even more impactful in Africa. I have heard similar things from my classmates here as well. I just hope that we can help share our experiences and knowledge gained with everyone back in America!

A Home in Namibia

19Jul

By: Trotter Heady

Day six of being more away from home than I ever thought I could be, and I feel as if I’m surrounded by my friends and family back in Aggieland.

Before entering Namibia all I could think about was being alone in a country that everyone saw my group and I as tourists with nobody to greet with a “Howdy!” I assumed that we would be seen as these rich Americans that nobody would show any kindness to unless they were tourists themselves.

My opinions were dramatically and instantly reversed as soon as we arrived at the University of Namibia’s Neudamm Campus. Our group has been greeted with kind smiles and warm hearts despite of the cold weather, which hasn’t gone away since. We are constantly embraced with Namibia’s “Ultra Cool Super Secret Handshake,” and big hugs everywhere we go.

Yesterday at the American Cultural Center the class was able to meet multiple individuals who are American but work in the city of Windhoek, Namibia. Here we were finally able to get our “Howdy!” and “Whoop!” greeting, because one of the workers was a Texas A&M alumni. Even though we have only been in this foreign place where everything is constantly new for five days, you could tell how excited we all were for something familiar.

Her hearty greeting has helped me to look back and truly appreciate all that we have already encountered. That same night we were able to experience an amazing home cooked meal prepared by Dr. Martin Schneider, the former Dean and current professor. We were welcomed into his beautiful home and feed a delicious, home cooked, Namibian meal of oryx stew. We were again surprised with friends and colleagues of Schneider’s that were so happy to speak to us about our journey thus far and where we plan to be in the future.

Now we head toward a new destination, the Gobabeb Research Center, and I’m thankful to be able to look back at the large amount of connections we have already made. We have met an amazing group of people already and are sure to continue to meet more along the road.