I'm not even sure if I can put today into words.I will start from a happier stand point.This morning my mom and I walked into the city; about a 15 minute walk since we are so close.She needed to get a few things and find a travel agency so we can get to Etosha Pan and/or Victoria Falls and I needed to find an ATM that excepted MasterCard as well as I wanted to look around more.Windhoek is like any other major city except not quite as big as American cities.Stores run along the main roads and there are a lot of people walking around.Since today was Saturday, everyone was out with their families.After we finished our errands, we wandered around Zoopark, which is their central park.It was nice.Many people were just sleeping in the sun on the grass, meeting people, and a few were having picnics.We also went to their open market where they were selling handmade bowls and wooden animals and jewelry.Everything is gorgeous.Someone then told us that the craft center had a travel agency that wasn't closed on Saturday.So we walked another two blocks and I wandered around the fair trade store while my mom talked with a travel agency.It turns out we will have to wait until Monday to figure out more of the logistics about next weekend's travel plans, but it was still nice.They had a café there too and we sat and watched some of the birds for a little.I thought it was pretty funny that we were the only ones sitting outside except for a German couple.All of the natives thought it was too cold.It was a little chillier today unless you were in the sun, but I would call their winter equal to mid-fall.I am decent in my fleece with a scarf.Most of them have on thicker jackets and a hat; a few winter jackets with gloves.JWhen we were waiting for Hopson to pick us up, one of the Radio Taxi drivers asked us if we needed a ride.When we told him a friend was coming for us, he looked very surprised and then commented, "You have the Obama accent."He told us he likes to call it the Obama accent instead of the American accent and asked us what Obama was doing and if we liked him.The driver had forgotten that Obama is on his way shortly to South Africa.He was very pleased and said that Obama is definitely trying for the US.Then Hopson picked us up and drove us home so that we could put a few things down and grab a piece of fruit before heading back out again.

Hopson's friend Pandu is hosting a group of German students that are going to a Polytechnic School in Windhoek for the semester.All of us still hadn't seen Katutura and he thought it was vital for us to see.He also wanted to take us to Penduka.We went to Penduka first, which is on the edge of Katutura.Penduka is a store/hostel/work for abused women/recovery place for people with TB.Monday - Thursday they have a different group of women come and make table clothes, pillow cases, bags, all sorts of things and they sell them in the shop.Each one is kept track of so that the women get their pay.They also have a group of women in the North that send their embroidery down to sell.Some of their women make pottery.Lastly, during the 6-9 month recovery time for TB patients, they have them make beaded animals and key hooks/rings and napkin rings.When they are fully recovered, they pay them for each item they made during their recovery.Penduka also cooks food for the TB patients that come in.They showed us their work room and the process they used to make designs on the pillow cases and table clothes.It was very cool.

After that, we moved further into Katutura.I said yesterday that Katutura is known as a township, but I did not quite understand the meaning then.It was where the blacks were forced to live during the apartheid, but their housing even then is better than now.I will try my best to explain, but I have taken in a lot of information today.During the apartheid, very few people lived in Namibia compared to today.Even now there are only 2 million in the country and 250,000 living in the city approximately.Many of them had escaped to neighboring countries.The blacks that lived in Windhoek during the apartheid had cement houses.To get anywhere around the city, even within a two block radius, they had to present special passports and many could not find jobs.Thus many people did not live in the city.However, after the apartheid ended, people flooded Namibia and its cities.

Katutura now holds all of the people who could not afford or could not find homes closer to the center.We drove around Katutura for probably over 2 hours and never went down the same street once.I cannot even begin to explain how depressing it was.Their homes are made of sheets of tin.If they are lucky they have a piece to swing like a door or a piece of wood to make into a door.Most of them have been put together using many different colors and pieces of tin.They pile rocks and sticks on the roof to make sure it doesn't blow away.Their showers are four sticks with a piece of tin wrapped around about chest height.Some of them have pre-paid cards to buy water, others have to buy it when they get to the water locations, and some never get water.Sanitation and water is a big problem.You can look in every direction once in Katutura and all you see are thousands of these little tin homes only a few feet apart.You think that maybe, just possibly, past a hill there won't be any more, but the second you get to the top it just keeps going.It literally feels like as far as you can see you see the tin shining in the sun.Some of the older houses have tires buried upright in the dirt to mark their property and as chairs.You can tell the older homes have a little bit more than the newer ones, but hundreds of them have been built in just the past few months.Pandu kept pointing out all of the new areas.Some of the houses had illegal written on the side.Apparently, the people have strict rules to follow and papers to file in order to build a tin house.If they did not follow all of the rules, they come by and write illegal.That means that they will be taken down by the government.The kids are all out playing in the streets with whatever they can find and the mere thought of a white person driving by excites them so much that they run up to the car to see if you will wave.Their smiles when you wave are so wide that you feel embarrassed that you just made their day by waving at them.I wish I could do more.

Pandu explained a lot of things as we drove around.In most of the houses, most no bigger than my kitchen at home probably smaller, live about 5-7 people or more.These houses started in the early 1990's because of the overpopulation of the city.Some people lost jobs or the family members that supported them or just could not afford houses any longer and had to sell/rent their homes.Most of the people are not only supporting their kids (a typical African family has anywhere from 2-7 children), but any family member's children who were left without parents due to AIDS.Men usually support the family so Katutura is overpopulated with women and their children because of divorces, deaths, loss of jobs, and other reasons.Most of the larger families cannot afford homes so they live in Katutura.Also, most of the policemen and soldiers live in these tin houses as well.Their pay is very low and they usually have larger families to take care of.Anyone that still has a job, but lives in Katutura leaves their home at 4am to walk across the city.Even though it's about a 10 minute drive to the edge of Katutura from the main parts of Windhoek, the township is so wide that it takes a while for them to walk through it and then to the city and then usually to the other end.Very few taxis will go into Katutura and none of them after dark because of high crime.Thus, if any of the women go into labor or anyone is seriously injured at night, there is a high death rate.

There are almost no schools within Katutura.The children have to walk to the edge of the city mostly.Most schools in Africa look like American storage centers.They are long, but thin; about 5-10 buildings in all depending on the number of students.The one school that I saw in Katutura was made of tents.However, there are numerous churches throughout Katutura.Some look like extravagant buildings compared to the surrounding homes.Others look like circus tents.Some are just homes that are opened to a church service on Saturday or Sunday.Others are made out of tin.I saw one school and about 10 or more churches.Also, each part of Katutura is populated by a particular political party.And each part has a committee.If anyone tries to interview or meet with people within that part, the committee has to agree.They never let another political party meet within their "boundaries."Many of the people have been upset about this because they fought for independence and still they do not have freedom of speech in certain parts of Katutura.Their elections are in November so this is very evident right now.Flags of the different parties were very apparent.One of them had the Cuban flag.They also have a Fidel Castro Street in Windhoek.At first I wasn't quite sure what to think about it, but during the apartheid America supported South Africa as did most other prominent countries.Russia and Cuba however, supported what is now Namibia.They believe to a certain degree that Cuba helped them gain their independence.They do not understand anything beyond that though from what Pandu explained.We drove out of Katutura and arrived home around sunset.

Cooking dinner tonight was interesting.We have a lot of leftovers, but trying to reheat them without a microwave or oven, without overcooking or burning them is a challenge.It ended up very well, but we definitely take for granted the microwave. :) I believe that tomorrow we are going back to Katutura to the orphanage there that Hopson and my mom know well.Other than that, most things are closed on Sundays here.

If you have any questions, just message or email me.If I don't know the answer, I'll try asking Hopson or Pandu.I will upload some pictures later, but they don't even begin to express the poverty or the expanse of Katutura.China was overcrowded, but in my own opinion, I never saw poverty like this.Until later…bye.Sorry that was a long one!