Thought Leaders

Ni Hao! The Island Province of Hainan with its beautiful beach city of Sanya, was warm, a reality far from the weather in Beijing. It felt like home, Swakopmund to be precise, just slightly more humid. 

Yesterday I was greatly honoured to welcome stakeholders who showed up at the official launch of the Sadc Regional Appeal for Humanitarian Assistance in response to Tropical Cyclone Idai that unfortunately heavily affected, last month, three of Sadc member states, namely; the republics of Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. 

On 20th March 2019 on my way to the 29th Independence Day celebration in Windhoek, I stopped in Rehoboth to pay a courtesy visit to a retired church minister whom I met in 2007 in Luderitz where he was preaching at a funeral of one of my deceased family members. 

Monday this week, 8th April, marked another anniversary of the sad passing of Ovambanderu Paramount Chief Keharanjo Nguvauva.

On the sidelines of a conference titled Colonial Repercussions: Reflecting on the Genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama Peoples 115 Years Later, held in Windhoek last week at the Goethe Institut Namibia, US- based Jephta Nguherimo, a co-founder of the Institute of the Nama, Ovaherero, Ovambanderu and Nama Genocide (ONGI) in the USA, interestingly observed that these days, if ever, Namibians more often talk about rain than they do about genocide and reparations. 

I recall visiting an elderly man who I proudly called “Baba” (father) in 2007. We had worked together in the Biomass Users’ Network.

An omundonga would say “ya vala oyiikutha molweendo” - loosely translated to mean he/she that has given birth has lessen their own burden. As such, the late Omukwaniilwa Kauluma Elifas’s burden is not only lessened by his biological children. It is also lessened by his extended children – the generality of the Aandonga people. 

Graduation time is a special time that signifies that students have achieved their qualifications, and that they deserve to celebrate with their parents, guardians, friends and classmates. It is a time at the end of degree programmes that crowns the work or qualification.

I had a hectic schedule last week, the ultimate in helter-skelter. I was on my feet every working day. And you need to understand early on, that I was not acting on carefully drawn plans.

As a big banner showing the words “One Namibian House” was displayed at the Independence Stadium on Saturday, 21 March 2019, during the celebrations of 29 years of the independence of Namibia, there was a huge ovation from every corner of the Stadium.