One of Namibia’s leading Kwaito stars, Morocky Mbwaluh, aka The Dogg, recently published his autobiography titled,Ther Dogg: Untold Story. As part of the reading culture campaign launched by the New Era Publication Corporation (NEPC) in conjunction with the Minister of Education, Honourable Dawid Namwandi, Artlife is serialising this autobiography each Friday.
A village boy coming to the city for good- that was me. Coming from the village to the city of Windhoek for visits and holidays was different to this experience. I was confronted with new ways of doing things.
One of these things was wearing uniform at my new school, which was new to me, considering I came from a school where we just wore what we had and this was not an issue. Most people back then spoke Afrikaans in the city, be it on the streets or on the sports grounds. Even with my friends, Afrikaans was the means of communication. That same year, in 1997, I learnt how to speak the language. I must, however, mention that I did not have Afrikaans as a subject at secondary school, while everybody else was studying it. The school allowed me to do Business Studies instead.
This still puzzles me. Now, that I am starting to like Afrikaans, I somehow regret missing it at school as a subject.
Back in the days, the residents of Khomasdal were regarded as the few non-white people who had made it. This suburb housed the middle class citizens, although society perceived it as a Windhoek residential area for Coloureds and Basters- non-whites are not dark in complexion. The most spoken language in Khomasdal was Afrikaans.
Katutura and its surrounding settlements (ghettos) is without a doubt Namibia’s equivalent to South Africa’s Soweto. The low income Windhoek residents and most blacks live in Katutura, die lokasie or the location as it is commonly known. Historically, the apartheid system isolated the Katutura area for blacks after the forced relocation from the Old Location (the current Hochland Park suburb) in 1959. Despite Katutura being the place where most blacks have lived in Windhoek, my aunt, Esther Taati Kalambi, had a house in Khomasdal. It was fair to presume that Khomasdal was perceived as a more prestigious neighbourhood than Katutura. This is where I came to stay. Augustineum Secondary School was within walking distance from our house.
As a post-independence product of Augustineum Secondary School I feel obliged to provide a brief historical perspective of the school, which shaped the struggle for the independence of my country.
Augustineum Training College, as it was known back then, is one of the oldest schools in Namibia. It was owned and run by the Rhenish Mission Society in its early years. Augustineum started as a training college based in Okahandja before its relocation to the capital city, Windhoek.
When one thinks of the school’s pre-independence history, it is fair to conclude that the school brought together people who would later play an important role in the struggle for the country’s independence.
For example, both Hon. Dr Theo-Ben Gurirab, the current Speaker of the National Assembly, the second Prime Minister of Namibia and President of the International Inter-Parliamentary Union, and Hon.
Dr Hage Geingob, the current Vice-President of SWAPO and first Prime Minister of an independent Namibia, completed their teaching diplomas at Augustineum Training College. During the late 1950s and the early 1960s, the liberation struggle was gaining momentum, if one considers various resistance activities of the workers, in particular the transformation of Owambo Peoples Organisation (OPO) to SWAPO. Students were no exception to apartheid resistance as evidenced by the expulsion of Hon.
Dr Geingob from the training college for taking part in a march protesting the quality of education for blacks.
Other scholars of Augustineum Training College who emerged as prominent role-players in the struggle for an independent Namibia are Hon. Marco Hausiku, a dedicated SWAPO servant and current Deputy Prime Minister; Hon. Hidipo Hamutenya, a liberation struggle hero under the guidance of SWAPO and current Member of Parliament for the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) where he serves as its President; Hon. Justus Garoëb, who has been a member of parliament for over ten years and President of the United Democratic Front (UDF); Hon. Philemon Moongo, who has also been a member of parliament for over ten years and Vice-President of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA): Dr Tjama Tjivikua, the founding Rector of the Polytechnic of Namibia: and Dr Tangeni Iijambo, who at one stage was the student’s petition leader at the school, and who is the current SWANU (South West Africa National Unity) Secretary General, to mention but a few. This historical contribution by former pupils of Augustineum Secondary School is something every scholar of the school should be proud of.
With such a rich history, I have come to the sad realisation that, in recent years, top academic performers are no longer attracted to the school as before. Instead, most learners rejected from other secondary schools (for whatever reason), as well as poor academic performers, normally find a place at Augustineum Secondary School. Not surprisingly, it has developed a reputation for accommodating thugs and learners expelled from other secondary schools. It is my view that inasmuch as learner performance depends on many other factors, the school management should maintain high standards of education and discipline. This will ensure that state-owned schools remain producers of top performing learners countrywide.
This is important because the majority of young people cannot afford to attend private schools that they so desire.
I do not regret having attended Augustineum Secondary School, although, at the beginning, it was a bit hard to adapt as I did not have friends there, and I remember walking home alone on many occasions after school. In retrospect, it was probably the most suitable option at the time as it was within walking distance from our house. For so many reasons, I am glad this was the school my guardians chose for me. I met most of my friends at this school-people who to this day still mean a lot to me. I am talking about the likes of Six Mashaba and Franco Baresi. Although I only came to meet them in my later years at school, I have gone through a lot with these boys.
In my song, ‘’Onayena No. 9’’, I salute them for being true friends.
Augustineum Secondary School regularly organised talent shows, beauty pageants and other events that provided a platform for aspiring artists, such as myself, to show off our artistic talents. This is important for confidence building because one learners to perform in front of relatively large crowds at an early age. I doubt many schools pay sufficient attention to artistic talent and provide platforms for non-academic performance like Augustineum did for me.
As with most learners, the first year at a new school leaves you vulnerable to bullies and all kinds of mistreatment. My classmates at Augustinuem will testify that I was a very quiet boy in my earlier years at school to such an extent that I was often considered a first year learner even after Grade 8.
This, unfortunately, resulted in me being bullied under the misperception of being a newcomer, even though I was in my second year at secondary school. This saddened me. In high school, soccer remained the number one sport for boys, myself included. During our days, boys and soccer could not be separated. When the actual football wasn’t available, a tennis ball would be the substitute, and when the actual pitch was not available, stoepsokker became the order of the day. Stoepsokker, as it is affectionately known, is soccer played on the pavements or the stoep, around the school yard. Although I haven’t made it as a footballer, I am grateful for the fact that I came to meet and befriend Six Mashaba through soccer. Six has always loved the sport and, and for some reason, we clicked and became good friends. Unlike Franco, who was my classmate at the time, Mashaba was my senior – he was one or two grades ahead of me. The two of us became inseparable.
With Franco, we would usually sit next to each other in class, always together during break and occasionally after school. Six always came to visit me and we would go around the neighbourhood, indulging in so many activities from alcohol abuse to bullying guys from neighbouring schools. I have a memory of us beating up a boy we met in the street just because he was walking with a beautiful girl.
Just like at school, my life at home was no different. I only had few friends and, as a result, my cousin, Max, would be my only companion after school.
My other cousins from Onayena village, Uncle Vilho’s children, boarded in the hostel at the People’s Primary School, except for Natangwe. He was a fellow learner at Augustineum, though we did not stay in the same house.
Routinely, Max and I would tackle our homework after lunch on weekdays.
Unlike our village of Onayena where household chores demanded physical labour, this time around, all we had to do after lunch was to play or cook for our dog, whom we named Bruce. My weekends and weekdays were mostly spent indoor. (To be continued next Friday)