I thought it would be fun to do some information posts on the country of Namibia. This first post will focus on the geography, and people of the country. Namibia is a small country (just over half the size of Alaska) in the South Western part of Africa. It is bordered by Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, and the Atlantic Ocean. Namibia has a mostly dry climate with the Namib Desert along the coast and the Kalahari Desert along the Eastern border. In fact Namibia is so dry that it has less than one percent arable land. Natural resources found in Namibia include diamonds, gold and uranium.
Estimates for the population of Namibia range from 2000000 to 3000000 people. The estimate for Namibia has to take Aids into account, Aids causes high mortality rates and low life expectancy (the life expectancy is only 50 years). Fifteen percent of Namibians are HIV positive. The average Namibian is 20 years of age, and 40% of them live in the city of Windhoek (where we will be living for the first two years). Also half of Namibians live on two dollars a day. Namibia has over 30 distinct people groups,each with their own language and culture.
Take some time today to pray for the people of Namibia.