Greetings from Namibia!

Katja Haapanen and Antti Saloranta on behalf of the whole research team

It was already clear during the planning phase of the project that our research team would need to visit Namibia during the first spring in order to properly start working. Therefore, in April it was time to pack our bags and head to Windhoek. There was a lot of excitement in the air before the trip, as for some of the researchers this was their first trip to Namibia and not everyone had flown to another continent before. The long flight took its toll, but once there, excitement and relief took over. After a good night’s sleep, it was easy to start work with a refreshed brain. Before data collection could start, we had to make sure the laboratory equipment survived the trip and make final adjustments to the experimental set-up.

On the first day of testing, we threw on the lab backpack and headed to the outskirts of Windhoek to the main campus of the University of Namibia (UNAM), which was surprisingly green and welcoming. After some navigational difficulties, we found our way to the Future Tech Lab, which served as our base of operations for the duration of the trip. We were welcomed by our hosts, Professor Erkki Sutinen and Campus Coordinator Lannie Uwu-khaeb (University of Turku Future Tech Lab). Through Lannie, we were able to get UNAM students from different language backgrounds to be the project’s first participants. We were delighted to have volunteers for both the phonetic training study and the interviews that will be archived later. During the testing, we also had the opportunity to discuss the project with UNAM linguists and to meet the Finnish Ambassador at the Embassy reception. The project attracted a lot of interest.

Along the way, we also got to spend time in the unique nature of Namibia. A morning hike in the Daan Viljoen Nature Reserve provided much needed invigoration and gave us the opportunity to admire the giraffes, antelopes, wildebeests and warthogs that roam the hillsides. To the Finnish eye, used to forests and flat farmland, the mountains and hills covered in grass and trees and rising up on the horizon looked inconceivably beautiful even from a car window, let alone on the hiking trail.

We left for home with a backpack full of new data and a head full of ideas. Next time, we hope to travel to the north of Namibia to gather more data and see what Namibia is like outside the capital. Until then, our researchers will stay busy with data review and analyses.

Thank you Namibia and UNAM, until next time!