By Frederick Philander WINDHOEK Though the use of the English language by Namibians is gradually improving, a culture of care in the society is still largely lacking. This was the view of the outgoing director of the British Council in Namibia, Patience Mahlalela, who is leaving Namibia this Friday after a stint of almost six years. The Swaziland-born Mahlalela is to take up a post as deputy director of the British Council in Malawi. “My biggest challenge whilst living in Namibia was the fact that it took me almost a year to get to grips with many cultural aspects of Namibian society, especially the lack of care by people. It really took some time before I could get used to life in Namibia. But, once that was over, things improved for the better over the next few years,” Mahlalela said in her spacious office. She and her staff over the years focused primarily on education governance, arts and professional development. “We primarily worked successfully at school levels in study skills development for Grades 10 and 12. These important sessions attracted more than 500 learners across the board, primarily in the capital. I’d like to think that this programme contributed in some way towards the examination results,” Mahlalela said humbly of the British Council’s enormous contribution towards education in the country. According to Mahlalela, the English writing competition for secondary schools also contributed successfully towards the understanding of literature among Namibian learners. “This competition will continue under the to-be-appointed new director, who will hopefully include schools in the regions as well this year. A total of 28 schools in the capital have thus far participated in the competition that catered for literature genres such as poetry, essay-writing and spelling contests. These events stimulated the learners tremendously,” she said. The Afrikaans language is, in her view, responsible for the slow development of English in schools and the general public in the country. “Too much Afrikaans is still spoken by everyone. This is very detrimental to the development of English as the official language in the country in general. But, as long as the political will is there and the willingness of the people persists, the English language will eventually take its rightful place as a communication tool,” she said prophetically. She is also very proud of the British Council’s contribution towards the development of Namibian arts and culture. “The growing Wild Cinema Film Festival is but one of the projects we have supported financially, encouraging Namibian filmmakers to participate. During my tenure, we also assisted local choirs such as the UNAM choir in capacity-building by importing choreographers from Scotland where the choir performed at one stage,” said Mahlalela, who observed Namibians to be very passionate about arts and culture. Another important facet of her work was the professional development leadership programme for emerging Namibian business people. “We specifically focused on management forms and networking, through which experience-sharing became a major part. Through this programme, we also made available more than 10 bursaries to Namibians for post-graduate studies, something I am very proud of,” she concluded.