Every person receives a special calling in life. Likewise, every person receives a special gift to enable them to achieve their calling and mission.
However, for most of their life, the individual remains “unknowing” about the calling and gift they have received. This is to protect them from the human imperfections of pride and boastfulness whilst living.
Also, they are kept in the dark so that patience and contemplative competencies can develop fully to produce works of love, using the gift they have received.
If the person is lucky, their calling and gifts are revealed to them whilst living.
However, quite often, their calling, gifts and good works are only openly revealed, and made manifest, after they departed from this life.
The late Ignatius Shixwameni also received his calling and gift.
He left his convenience, comfort and immediate surroundings at Utokota village, Kavango East region, to pursue a higher purpose goal.
He went to “pour” himself into others, and to become a citizen of the world. The late Shixwameni listened attentively and heard the command, probably at the Shambyu Roman Catholic Mission, to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you”.
Without a doubt, there are many people who have benefitted from the late Shixwameni’s teachings over the years.
He solemnly taught, and preached by the manner of his life, unto the whole world. We thank God for having given the late Shixwameni to us. We were with him, we have seen him, we have heard from him and he was amongst us.
We equally thank the Utokota Community in particular, and the VaShambyu people in general, for having formed, groomed, mentored and given Shixwameni to us.
To eternally remind us of the values and principles the late Shixwameni stood for, and in remembrance of him, the Utokota Community and the Kavango regions in particular, as well as Namibia in general, should name a school, location or street after the late Shixwameni.
We should have done it whilst he was with us and, thus, should not waste time further.
Something like Ignatius Nkotongo Shixwameni Secondary School, Ignatius Nkotongo Shixwameni Street or Shixwameni suburb.
As for the works of the late Shixwameni, all that he did, and all his achievements, are they not immortalised in the annals of Namibia’s history? It was the late Shixwameni’s calling to selflessly contribute to Namibia’s Independence.
He fulfilled that calling during the peak of Namibia’s Liberation Struggle, from the mid to the late 1980s. Being the master strategist and concept developer in chief of the Namibia National Students Organisation (Nanso), especially from 1984 onwards, but more specifically from 1988 to 1989 when he was its President, meant that he fulfilled his calling and mission during that period.
He came to mother earth for that purpose. Come to think about it, having to come face-to-face on numerous occasions against well-trained, fit, muscular and scary-looking military agents and policemen, armed to the teeth required special courage. Equally, having had to continuously strategise against then South Africa’s dangerous tactics such as the Hearts and Minds and STRATCOM (Strategic Communications) that specialised in misinformation and propaganda against opponents of the regime, could not have been an easy task.
The late Shixwameni was practically in the proverbial belly of the beast, inside the country where the war was waged.
Particularly from 1987 onwards until Namibia’s watershed parliamentary elections held between 7 and 11 November 1989, Nanso, under the leadership of the late Shixwameni, fulfilled a role similar to the one fulfilled by the Swapo political commissars.
Political commissars were high-ranking officers in the then-Swapo military wing, the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), and were responsible for political education on the war front. Nanso played a crucial role in political education and mobilisation inside the country.
The students’ class boycotts, in particular the June 1988 class boycotts, released learners en masse to go in the field and explain and mobilise across the whole country. Without that specific intervention and strategy, it is doubtful if Swapo could have emerged victorious in the November 1989 elections, especially in the northern regions that were heavily militarised and the South African propaganda machinery was at its most ruthless.
Within this context, the late Shixwameni, being the leader and mastermind of Nanso, was without equals and, thus, it can be argued that it was during that period that he fulfilled the mission of his calling. He was born for that period.
Despite seemingly not being in good health in the latter years of his life, the late Shixwameni always appeared joyful and generous. I could not understand why that was the case. For instance, the last day I was in close contact with him was at his home in March 2021.
I was surprised to see him giving us a typical Kavango traditional greeting and reception. He was the one doing most of the talking, looking jovial and consistently ensuring that we had refreshments and that we felt welcome.
Little did we know that the joyfulness and generosity was his way of communicating to us of his imminent departure from this earth, fully knowing that he had achieved his mission that he had probably received at the Shambyu Roman Catholic Mission – to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded
you”.
Go well selfless servant of the people and hero of the youth and students in the eighties.
You can now confidently approach your Maker to meet Him face-to-face, all the saints and Vadimu (ancestors), knowing very well that you have fulfilled your mission and calling in life.
Monyo wa Ignatius Nkotongo Shixwameni ghupwiyumuke mu mpora yaHompa naruntje dogoro ku nakunaruntje! Amen.