Today was a rough day, for multiple reasons. I've been learning my language in leaps and bounds so it's only natural that I hit a rough day. We started learning about the irregular verbs and how to conjugate them. Not only that but we started forming our own sentences using multiple tenses. Otjiherero has 1 past tense, 1 present, and 2 future. Or at least those are the tenses I know. Anyways you only use the present tense if you are habitually in that state. For example if you are married you'd use the present tense. if you were currently in the process of drinking water you wouldn't use the present tense unless you were doing it everyday without breaking to do anything else. What you WOULD use to say i'm drinking water is the future tense. I like to think of it kind as I will continue to do this, as in the immediate future. Then I think the other future tense is for if you are going to do something in a days. Of course this is my understanding of the language thus far. I struggled conjugating the verb the right way and using the right prefix. However, I look over my notes every night so hopefully I'll understand it a little better looking at it on my own.
In the afternoon we started with a diversity walk to show what kind of diversity we had in our training group. Then we got a crash course on the history of Namibia. First we learned about all the different tribes and how they function. It was cool hearing about how some tribes have a king and how that king would interact with the President of Namibia. We also heard about the regions that each of these tribes were in and the reasoning behind their clothing. Then we did an activity where each group got a passage about the apartheid. Our group had a passage about the German administration. It talked about how the Africans weren't allowed to own cattle and in order to avoid the very strict laws against them they would run away from their farms to either try to live off the land or into town to get a job. Then diamonds were discovered and the Germans struggled to find a work force to create the railroads that would connect the diamond mines. So they began to use migrant workers and even pulled people from South Africa to work for them. Then the German force created a deal with local village chiefs that would provide a work force of natives in exchange for presents from the Germans. Once this was done we watched a video about the genocide in Namibia.
I have never learned that the first concentration and deaths camps were in Namibia years before Hitler came to power. After Germany gained control of Namibia they decided to try and colonize the country because Germany was running out of space for its people. They came to Namibia and at first things were ok. Soon though, a rift was created between the two people who inhabited this land and the Germans began to degrade the natives. Then it became more extreme. The Germans would rape the women and kill. So one of the tribes the Herero's decided to fight back. And that's when it began. I don't remember a lot that happened before this next event but it was pretty much a one sided war. The Herero withdrew and hid out at a watering hole hoping that negotiations would soon be coming. The German force then attacked the Hereros and chased into the Kalahari desert. Once the people were in the desert a barbed fence was placed around the people so that they couldn't escape. Many died then. The Germans then built concentration camps and rounded up all the Herero's and brought them to the camps. I think you all know what happens at a concentration camp so I won't go into that. Another tribe, the Nam ( I think...) heard of the Herero's pain and decided to fight back as well. This landed them in the first death camp on an island that is now ironically a camping site. This lasted until early 1900's (1909 I think). In 2004 a German Representative came to Namibia to apologize for what happened and to acknowledge that some of the events (not all of them ) were in fact genocide. I'm pretty sure that is an issue that is still being delegated to this day.
I was surprised not to hear of this. Even more that one of the major riots took place in Okahandja ( where I'm staying at). I hate to be one of those people who get's all offended without knowing all the facts but still. This shouldn't have happened, and I can't believe I haven't heard of this until now.
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