Christine Hugo
Christine, a writer in residence at SCHLESIEN – Earth Unearth in 2024, captures her unique experience at our residency through her poetic reflections.
The road to the Namib Naukluft is a lonely one, deserted but for the odd farmer or tourist vehicle. You can travel for miles without seeing another human begin.
The gravel route winds through the bushy semi-desert, through yellow grassy plains, thorny acacia trees, over hills, and dry river beds to the central northwestern part of the country. Slowly, you navigate the loose stones and gravel down the Gamsberg pass, descending to the level road that takes you to the simple, wired farm gate, the place of entry to Schlesien Farm.
Secured with a manual padlock, you must get out of your air-conditioned car.
The heat strikes like a serpent. It is immediate, and it is severe.
Namibia is a tactile land. Luxury travel and accommodation can help you escape or bypass raw nature, but you will miss out on the existential experience.
This is a country that demands sensory observation. Your skin will expand under the heat, and your brow will be continuously damp with sweat. You will squint your eyes to the glare, feel the dust and sand in your nostrils and in your shoes, and feel the saliva thicken in your mouth. The wind will toss your hair.
From there, the road travels uphill, a slow climb over rock and sand obstacles until you reach the summit, where the land falls away under your eyes, and you fail to catch your breath as it flies away to sweep over vistas, to float and skim the rises and falls, the light and the shadow, the soft and the severe field of vision.
It is not an easy place. It is all-consuming and unassuming. It is the ever before and the ever after. This is where the Commiphora grows, the Kanniedood—can not Die.
We are so programmed to avoid and outsmart the natural elements that such a brutal encounter initially seems unnatural, yet what you will discover here is most natural. If you allow it to unfold and can breathe past the discomfort of a different normal and wait for the wires and webs you have woven in your mind, you will slowly begin to unlearn. To unknow and unthink. And when you are ready, when the voices in your head and the faultlines and the deadlines and the flatlines have stopped beeping and pulsing, you will find your truth.
There are drastic contrasts and tension between extremes in this unpeopled place, lightyears away from human drama, the pull and push of millions of opinions, the race against time and one another, the lovelessness, the unkindness, the struggles, and the existential complications that come with it.
All of this gives way to a quiet knowing. A healing. A being.
All you have to do is to wait. To surrender. To be here long enough for the dust to settle inside of you. Only then will you find what you didn’t even know you were looking for. And when that happens, if you are willing and ready, a palette, paintbrush, pen, clay, charcoal, whatever you are waiting with, will move towards this truth.
Christine Hugo is a passionate writer and a Creative Thinking and Communication Specialist. Beginning her career as a copywriter, her interest in human behavioral science has influenced her work as a writer, creative thinker, business leader, and brand specialist.
With over 25 years of experience, Christine’s writing has appeared in prestigious travel and lifestyle magazines. She has also scripted and produced documentary films and co-authored three award-winning culinary books. Her copywriting and concept development have garnered awards in South Africa and Namibia.
As Managing Partner of 99FM Radio Station for ten years, Christine led the station’s rebranding into a platform that empowered young Namibians and developed successful initiatives like Conversation Café and Life/Art masterclasses.
In 2018, she founded OnceUponMind, a platform for personal development through talks, consultations, and workshops. Writing remains her first love, and she continues to work on passion projects that inspire and nurture the soul.