Kids in Katatura

Remember Marybeth – the American I met at Joe’s Beerhouse my first weekend here? She invited me to join her in Katatura Sunday afternoon to see the Center she runs, meet some of the kids who go there, and maybe play some basketball. The chance to get outside the city, learn about more the work she does, and hang out with some little people sounded like the perfect way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Marybeth picked me up around 2pm and we were joined by two students working at GTZ (basically a German version of USAID), Adam and Javier. Adam is German, about 6’4” and used to be a kids basketball coach. Javier is Mexican but studying in Germany, and fluent in five languages. They both have summer internships in Windhoek and wanted to meet with Marybeth to discuss the possibility of a kids basketball camp for the few weeks they are here. Though I wore my sneakers, I sat and chatted with some of the kids while Marybeth and the boys played basketball. Soo much adorable! I couldn’t believe these kids were 8 and 10 years old… they seemed so little. They had fun playing with my camera, and it was funny to hear the questions they asked… They asked who my favorite pro wrestling character was, if my eyes were fake, how much my clothes cost, and did I know that in Norway it’s sunny all the time? I was a little worried when they kept asking about all the spots on my face until I realized they were talking about my freckles, and I happily clarified my earlier explanation of pimples and described how they are different from freckles. I haven’t been gazing in mirrors very often since I’ve been here, but I was pretty sure I had more of the latter than the former. They had fun playing with my camera and hair – until Marybeth ran over and scolded them, apparently you need to ask permission to play with someone’s hair. I didn’t mind, though I did notice one girl in the group who seemed to enjoy testing authority a bit. They had a lot of questions for Javier – wasn’t he Indian? Why not, he looked it. How much did his shoes cost? Did he know that “Javier” means big gun?


After a few hours in the sun and a snack of watermelon and strawberry lollipops, we packed up the car and headed back to the city. I’m glad I spent some time in Katatura. I felt very awkward driving through the neighborhoods on the city tour last weekend – it just didn’t feel right. The living conditions in most parts are terrible, and it’s nothing like I’ve seen in the states, and much more condensed than some of the poor neighborhoods outside Shanghai and Beijing. But staring outside the windows of the white Gourmet tour minivan snapping photos of people didn’t feel right, even though some children waved at the van and happily smiled and cheered for photos. There was a really interesting talk on NPR a while back about poverty tourism a while back, and worth listening to:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101487893

Also worth reading: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/travel/12iht-14heads.10986274.html

For my two cents, I definitely think it depends on the tour group you’re traveling with (do your research for this one!), your conduct during the tour, as well as your motivation for going. What do you think?