Having attended ACS for ten years, it would have been hard for me not to have been affected by the Namibia expeditions. I discovered the trip when I was in fourth grade and my tutor went on the schools first expedition. Throughout middle school I was shown presentations by the Namibia groups, and my family has frequently donated old toys and other items for previous expeditions. When I arrived in Windhoek and took my first step on African soil, it felt unreal that I was finally on a trip I had anticipated for over half of my memorable life. After going to Namibia, I see the expedition as having positively affected both the Namibia expedition team and the communities we visited. I am aware that not the entire ACS community shares this opinion, and have heard a wide range of criticisms. I do not intend to dismiss or rebut any criticisms, I even agree with some, but to put them into context with my experiences on the Namibian expedition and with the benefits we did bring.

Upon our arrival, many of us had doubts has to how affective our charity work would be. One story from a previous expedition seemed discouraging: they had given school supplies to primary school children. The next day, it was not the children who had them but their parents. The night we arrived in Kutenhaus, a poor village of roughly 1,000 people in southern Namibia where we would do the bulk of our charity work, we discussed this problem, which was relevant to us as most of our project was aimed at helping children. The conversation approached the verdict that adults were more valued than children in Namibian culture, and that great care must be taken to ensure that our aid reaches the children. Then our guide Mandla, a man from Zimbabwe who was born and raised in a town very similar to Kutenhaus, pointed out that to a person as desperate as those in Kutenhaus, a pencil case can be a very valuable item. Just as a western parent would not trust their 5 to 9 year old walking around with an item worth a good portion of their annual salary, they would not trust their child walking around with something so rare and valuable. Although this is only logical, it did expose an obstacle in providing aid to children. On our expedition we thankfully did not witness this problem: each child had their own pencil case, and the parents left them alone. 

I would now like to address a criticism I have heard from my peers,

The work you do and the donations you bring would be better spent in an area like Dafur Yes it is true that by African standards Namibia is wealthy, free, devoid of malaria, and very safe, but before one makes the criticism that our aid would be better used elsewhere, they need to be realistic. The Namibia expedition was a World Challenge Expedition, Word Challenge is a company with a reputation for having safe expeditions. For example, they promise massive compensation for death on an expedition. Sending 18 teenagers into a war zone like Dafur, Somalia, or Congo would be both impractical and dangerous. Also, the type of aid we provided would not have been practical in these areas. Pencil cases are useless where there are not any schools; books, and bicycles would be impractical where there is serious food shortage, or a great risk of destruction from warfare. This point does, however, expose a different problem with our Namibia expedition, not all the aid we provided was basic enough to meet the needs of the people in Kutenhaus. Some of it was superfluous: the people had little use or room for our old furniture, pianos, and computers. The degree of help donations offered to a community where there is only one tap of running water, one barely functioning toilet block, and three buildings with electricity, is questionable. Thankfully, the school is developing a scheme for selling excess donations or donating them to local programs where they wo ld be better used.