Human Rights and Development in Namibia

The course we took while in Namibia was titled Human Rights and Development. We had three intensive class periods (as well as several other pre-departure meetings) before we left, during which we got most of the traditional "academic" components of the course completed (including an exam!). We also read two novels entitled In Conflict and The Price of Freedom, which gave us the opportunity to gain a little insight about Namibia's struggle for freedom after the abolition of apartheid.

While in Namibia, we utilized the facilities at the University of Namibia (UNAM) to enhance our knowledge by having several guest speakers come and speak to our class about a variety of different topics. My favorite lecture was about domestic violence in the African culture, given by a man from Zimbabwe, which I found to be very interesting (and relevant to my social work major).

Our course also involved many "field trips" which gave us first hand experience with all that is Namibia. We visited the Heroes' Acre Memorial, National Art Gallery of Namibia, the U.S. embassy, the ministry of education, parliament, Catholic AIDS Action, and Penduka (a women's craft center in a post-apartheid community), just to name a few (sorry I went a little link crazy here!). We met many interesting people, and learned about things in the world that I would never have know about otherwise.