University of New England

Beth Bongiolatti in Epupa Falls with a woman from the Himba tribe. The woman and her family live near the Kunene River, which is the border with Angola in the far north of the Namibia.

Windhoek, Namibia
During her study abroad in fall 2003, Bongiolatti spent most of the semester at the Augsburg College Center for Global Education in Windhoek, Namibia with 10 other American students, living both at the center and, for a period, with a local family, studying the politics and history of Namibia and southern Africa, and international development.

As part of her studies, Bongiolatti developed a literacy program as an intern for The Big Issue, a British-based news and current affairs magazine sold on the streets by homeless or near-homeless vendors.

Bongiolatti worked with Windhoek vendors in writing and editing articles to submit to the magazine, for which they would be paid extra. Because many of the vendors had never gone to school or had very little education, the work she did also included basic literacy instruction and related activities.

"It really changed my perspective," she explains. "I was in Africa, the big unknown, where everyone believes 'everything is screwed up,' working with a homeless population that is similar to those present in every city in the United States."

Beyond Theory
She adds that "because of that internship - which was the most powerful thing that I did while I was there - my perspective on the commonly perceived 'differences' between notions of 'first' and 'third' world nations have been transformed beyond theory, into tangible living relationships that continue to shape how I am choosing to live my life."

Namibia is about twice the size of California, but only has a population of about 1.8 million people, made up of 11 major cultural groups. Located west of the Kalahari Desert, the climate is very dry, with lots of rocks, trees and amazing wildlife. The city of Windhoek has a population of about 250,000. Many of the Namibian people, however, live in small rural villages.

Beth and friends in Sossussvlei, a region in southwestern Namibia that is renowned for its red sand dunes. "We'd hiked and camped for a few days in the region for our long weekend break. This being our last morning in the region, we drove 40 minutes out into the silent wildnerness to hike out and up into the dunes at 3:00 a.m. to catch the sunrise."