When Christine Mboma got nominated for the BBC sports personality of the year award, I was overjoyed to read the news, and couldn’t wait to share it with listeners on my radio show the next day. She burst onto the scene out of seemingly nowhere, and rocked the world of athletics by not only breaking records, but also going on to win a silver medal at her first Olympics appearance. For me, her winning was a given, mainly because she had proven herself to the world as the victorious underdog, but also because I was biased. I wanted her to win because she is Namibian, from my motherland, and I knew if she won, it would be directly associated with my Namibian-ness.
Imagine my shock when I started hearing and reading comments about how Christine didn’t stand a chance against a Senegalese goalkeeper called Edward Mendy. All of a sudden, this young lady who captured everyone’s attention couldn’t do it because of a footballer who plays for a European club?!
Why not? For as long as I can remember, as a nation, we’ve always had low national esteem. Whenever we would compete on an international stage, we go in with a losing mindset; doubting our people’s ability to come out victorious. We are grateful to compete, instead of being in it to win it. It’s almost as if we look down on ourselves. For myself, it took a conversation with a professional athlete to realise that this feeling of inferiority could stem from watching many of these music and sports stars on TV.
Thus, come the time for us to compete against them, we don’t see ourselves winning. This could be because we don’t see ourselves on these platforms regularly enough, or even at all. This inferiority complex is a mindset we should work on emancipating ourselves from. I’m sure you’ve heard the ‘small population’ excuse many times, and that was used to justify why Christine couldn’t win as well. Well, Dillish won Big Brother Africa with an even smaller population; the same with The Dogg, Gazza, Gal Level and Lady May, who all won Channel O awards. We were competing against top creatives in Africa, from countries with much bigger populations, and still, we won.
Christine eventually won too. It has nothing to do with our population size. If you think you can’t beat your opponent, why would your nation back you to win? And if we don’t think our own are up to scratch, why would they give it their all? It’s a vicious cycle that we need to break out of at some point. Let’s start walking around with a winning mindset, the kind of national esteem that aids in the confidence and morale of those representing us. This patriotism is a cornerstone of nation-building.
Let’s not make excuses for why we can’t, and start believing we can because it is possible. Ronaldo, Osaka, Hamilton, Edward Mendy, are all just as human as we are. Yes, they may have had a better foundation, better resources or training, teachings and systems, but they’re human. We are just as capable as they are. Sometimes there is a clear gap in natural talent, but sometimes the only glaring difference is that we see them on TV. Many times, nothing makes them more significant, or makes us less. So, come time to compete, let’s go for it. Vote, write your messages of encouragement, and believe we can because we really are ALL THAT!!
*Paula Christoph’s column concentrates on positive and inspirational write-ups every second Friday in the New Era newspaper.