Chicago ----------> Namibia

Visiting Namibia was the first time that I was able to leave the United States of America. The travel was long, and it was very thought provoking. International flights have a way of humbling you in a few ways. The first being walking past the first and business class seats. As I walked past the spacious area with the big screen monitors, a little of my enthusiasm for traveling for what was over 24 hours slowly leaked like a punctured balloon secrets air. Then there was the flight path map that displayed our travel time, distance, speed, altitude, and destination. Here is where I realized that I was just now taking my first trip to another country. I was leaving the greatest country on earth yes but relatively speaking it is only one country in a world with so many. When I made it to my first layover in Doha, Qatar there was another humbling moment. I remember thinking to myself “What do I do now? Who can help me here? Where are the black people?” Surely enough I was in India, given the opportunity to experience new things and new cultures but I was only focused on finding what is the most familiar thing to me. The airport was amazing every famous designer store that you could imagine. It was here that I did my first purchase in a currency that was not US dollar. As I walked to the register unknowingly expecting to pay $60 dollars for some gifts to take back home, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that it was not $60 dollars but 60 Qatar Rial which is $16 dollars!!!!

My flight from Qatar to Namibia was very much different in terms of noticing a shocking demographic change. Qatar airlines very much looked like what I expected a flight to India would, it hosted most people from that region of the world, no surprises here. The Qatar airline departing from Doha to Namibia however, where I expected to see most of the people from Africa, hosted a predominately white occupied flight. During my 10-hour flight I was able to have a conversation with a father and daughter who were vacationing to Namibia for the summer. They shared with me that this was the daughter’s first time attending her father’s annual hunting trip. I later found out that it’s not proper etiquette to ask someone what they are hunting. I unknowingly did so, and they looked at each other in a way I can only describe as when a child first asks their parents about sex.

Upon arrival into the airport there is an immediate shift in the race of the employees, drivers, and everyone involved with airline functionality. To me it seemed like everyone was moving kind of fast. Driving from the airport, it was almost overwhelming in the change in scenery (desert, mountains), and seeing all the wild animal life (baboons, warthogs), and feeling like the cars are going to drive into you because the driver side is on the opposite side of the car than what I am used to. Before hearing about the study abroad trip being coordinated, I did not know where/what Namibia was. I came home and had to google search it. I remember typing “Is Namibia a safe place to travel”. Not only did I research online, I even verified with Ndako and Colin, black men that owned the transportation company we partnered with, once I got there. Reflecting now it feels completely ridiculous that I was even concerned about that because I felt safer in Namibia than I do in my own neighborhood in Chicago. From the moment my plane landed until we left, I completely felt safe in every space I went, and I always felt welcomed.

Namibians are extremely proud of their country, they encourage visitors, they are extremely unselfish, and being polite is a normality. Upon arrival, a lot of people asked, “what did you think/expect of Namibia before you got here?” This continued throughout my time there because they have a genuine curiosity and demand for swapping stories with what they know about America. Reading Understanding Namibia did not prepare me for these exchanges, for the long-time friendships that I would establish by discussing politics and education. I was not prepared to have my life touched in such a way that I feel connected to the plights of other black individuals in an entirely different country. To be honest nothing could have prepared me, and nothing that I type will have the same effect as being there and personally experiencing it.