My life stance is humanism and my values are based on human rights. This means I belong to a minority in this world since most people are religious. I have not really considered myself being part of a minority before I started my travels and talked to other non-believers.
But we are a minority. In Denmark approximately 1.500 people are members of the Danish Humanist Society and approximately 800 people are members of the Atheist Association – Denmark has 5.8 million citizens. So we are a minority in Denmark even though the country is considered to be one of the least religious in the world.
I’ve been a member of the Danish Humanist Society since it was founded almost 11 years ago. Since then the society has fought to be acknowledged as a life stance organisation to acquire the same rights as faith communities. We are not there yet but hopefully we will get there within a year or two.
I have been active in the society in some years now. It was my involvement in the international work which gave me the idea to Babelfish – it was meeting all the other humanist struggling to get recognised who sparked the idea. Even though I travel I am still active in the political work – you just need your laptop and your phone, and you can work all over the globe.
I have also
been involved in planning a lot of events culminating in our 10-year anniversary
celebration last year. 2018 was a busy year with a record high number of
ceremonies held and a lot of events. Last weekend we had our general assembly where
our President Lone Ree Milkaer again was amazed on how far we have gotten and
what we manage to do with very few resources.
At the
general assembly I was re-elected for the board and will also continue as vice
president the next year 😊
Today I am leaving Namibia. The only country where I haven’t interviewed any humanists. So far, I know the country doesn’t have any humanist or atheist organisations – or at least no organisations are members of Humanists International.
I decided
to visit anyway – purely for recreational reasons. So, I have been on holiday
the last week, experiencing Namibia. A fascinating country almost twenty times
the size of Denmark, but the population is half the size of Denmark. It is the
least dense country in Africa with only 3 people per square kilometre – In the
whole world only Mongolia is less dense (2 people per square kilometre).
Namibia has
is all, in great amount. Savanna, desert, ocean, mountains etc. And everything
is big – the national parks goes on forever, you drive for hours through each
park in search for animals. For the first time ever, I have been part of a
tourist group with people I didn’t know beforehand. I’m used to be the only one
or travelling with Sofie.
It’s been
interesting travelling with other tourists, even though it means you don’t get
as close to the guide or the locals. You meet people from all over the world
who are interested in the same things as you – to see some animals up close and
spend time in a 40-degree desert after hours and hours of driving. Canadians,
Americans, Namibians, British, South African and French – the latter has spent
the last 8 years sailing around the world in their own boat (impressive).
Cheetah in Solitaire
The wild
life is amazing – I saw my first leopard (2 actually) and my first cheetahs.
Black rhinos, elephants, zebras, Oryx’s and many other animals. It is much
drier here than in the other countries I have visited – Namibia is dry, but
also feels the consequences of the climate changes.
There has
never been much water in this dry land – maybe one of the reasons for the small
population – but it is getting worse. They change salt water to drinking water
to cover the need. And everybody is asked to save water wherever we go. On the
positive side the water is clean enough for me to drink – I don’t need to bye
water all the time.
The most
overwhelming experience was the Namibian Desert – especially the orange sand
dunes. This is the oldest desert in the world. The sun is relentless, the
wildlife is well hidden – but there are some. We managed to come across the
mountain zebra, many oryx’s, jackals and other animals.
Dune no 45
Some from
the group climbed the Crazy Dune – aka Big Daddy – it is 325 meters tall. You must
get up at 5 o’clock in the morning or else it will get to hot to climb. I
didn’t get up there but walked to Deadveil to look at a dried-out flood pan
with trees which have been dead for 800 years – a fascinating place.
We had a
nice view of all the ‘crazy’ people climbing the dune while the sand got hotter
and hotter. Soon we could all feel the hot sand burning through the bottom of
our shoes – and it was only 11 o’clock. The temperatures were reaching 40
degrees at noon.
Etosha pan
This
country was definitely worth a visit. It was a so-called protectorate of South
Africa until 1990 – or the real story is that South Africa didn’t follow the
agreements made in the UN, so they took power over Namibia and treated it as a
protectorate and even implemented apartheid rules. It took 35 years before
Namibia finally got its independence.
When I
leave Namibia – I also leave Africa heading home to Denmark. It has been an
amazing trip, and an experience of a lifetime – I have been away for 10 weeks,
2½ months. This was a test run. I wanted to find out whether I can travel a
long time on my own. I can. I do not have any problems travelling alone – I met
a lot of people on the way. I talk to locals, I talk to tourists – and I meet
humanists, atheists and non-believers.
They are
the heroes of Africa today. They are fighting for human rights and humanism.
They are fighting for their life stance in a part of the world where they are
the odd one out. Their stories deserve to be told – and to be heard.
When I
arrive in Denmark, I will start planning my next steps. I want to visit several
countries in Africa north of Equator. I would also like to cover some countries
in the Middle East. I hope to be on the road again in April, but I will
continue blogging about my experiences from Africa.