Quad Bikers for the Soul

Beyond those hard-working camels down that gorgeous Swakopmund road that separates the desert from the ocean, a reception area welcomes visitors to what seems like another planet.

The excited tourists who queue to race up and down the expanse on one of the adventure company’s many shiny quad bikes look like they’d risk it all to take up residence in the sand.

They’re grinning and they’re game. But their enthusiasm pales in comparison to the large group of Namibians I see whose thrill of enjoying their own country comes to life in peals of laughter and happy yells. There’s no place like home.

As I watch, over 12 locals hop onto their bikes and turn towards a dune crest. It’s a celebration of some sort. I think I hear someone say “happy birthday!” before a rowdy response. Regardless of the specifics, I can’t help but be impressed that such a large group trip actually made it out of the group chat.

In the wake of what has been a pretty depressing few weeks for the nation, given a spate of suicides, the sight of this big, happy ensemble is like balm to the soul. Something or someone has brought all these people together and the mood is enlivening and electric.

Over the last few weeks, there’s been a lot of talk about feeling alone, about withdrawal, isolation and the negative emotions that can grow in such empty space. Watching the group of quad bikers, I wish everyone could tap into such joy, friendship and celebration.

A birthday is a special occasion, but building a village, a community and relationships you can lean on is lifelong work. Days, weeks, months and years of showing up for people in the ways that we hope they will show up for us too.

As the world becomes more individualistic and social media encourages us to turn the camera on ourselves as ‘reality’ brands, we must remember to build real and connected lives beyond the frame.

Before this era’s glut of entertainment, need to personal brand and to visibly keep up with the Joneses, this was much easier to do.

We were thrown together through sheer boredom. Though it seems hard to believe in an age of phone-clutching isolation, yesteryear’s glorious lack of online distraction had us knocking on each other’s doors just to talk, to watch a movie newly out on DVD or to ask if our friend could come out and play.

If nostalgia is worth anything, it’s to remind us to take the best bits of before with us. Through the years, despite technological advancements, the human need to connect in person is one that has been drowned out by the noise but is no less life-affirming.

The illusion of intimacy fostered by constantly seeing people’s updates online doesn’t build relationships, even if you like or comment on them.

Real life makes real friends. It builds the real-world community that we all need and lights the dark of isolation where disconnection, negativity and hopelessness thrive.

Not everyone can afford big group quad bike excursions, but we can all step away from our phones, our work and our worries for an hour to sit on a stoep and talk.

We can all check in on friends or family we haven’t seen in a while, whose posts have grown dark or disappeared completely and try to bring them some life, some light and some care.

At the reception at the foot of the dunes, I watch the quad bikers go. Nobody races ahead just yet and no one leaves anyone behind.

They go as they should.

Together.
– martha@namibian.com.na; Martha Mukaiwa on Twitter and Instagram; marthamukaiwa.com

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