Some of the things they have touched may have tuned into ruin, but the youth of Ovaherero seem not to follow in the some of the destructive paths of their seniors.
This is if two events over the weekend, one in Okakarara and the other in Windhoek, are anything to go by.
As if to make the necessary and long overdue break from ranks with what seems to have become a bad contaminating internal tribal myelitis among both the Ovaherero and Ovambanderu which has produced many a palatial revolutions and resultant breakups and factions, the Ovaherero Cultural Youth League (OCYL) and an organisation known as Ozongama zOmuara have decided to bring a cultural renaissance among their beleaguered cultural people through cultural activities, hoping to unite their peoples.
The pleasing aspect to all this, is the fact that youth, and predominantly female for that matter spearhead both organisations. Over the weekend the two organisations hold two cultural events, separate but complimentary and by no means contradictory and/or competitive against each other with the first ever cultural festival in Okakarara last weekend by the OCYL, and the first ever Otjikaiva (Otjiherero female headgear) festival in Windhoek.
The organisers of both events may think that they have simply embarked upon essentially innocent cultural events. But in truth, they may have unleashed events of a catalyst nature bound in the long time to unite the Ovaherero and Ovamabnderu from within.
This could one day bring back peace and harmony between and among these cultural groups.
The inaugural editions of both events have been described as a great success. Given their noble intents one could not have wished them nothing but the success they seem to have achieved. One can also not hope them to end there but to make both events annual, but consolidated, to continue not only find a necessary means of cultural expiation for these culturally deprived, but also culturally genocided people.
Often than not one has been hearing the hackneyed concept of youth being leaders of tomorrow, by which the youth essentially have been relegated to being zombies in the development of the country, and passive players in the upliftment of societies and communities. But Ovaherero and Ovambanderu youth made statements that no longer are they prepared to be passive onlookers to development activities in their areas.
As the late Pan Africanist artist of note sings in his song Redemption Song, “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery None but ourselves can free our minds Have no fear for atomic energy ‘Cause none of them can stop the time How long shall they kill our prophets While we stand aside and look? Ooh Some say it’s just a part of it We’ve got to fulfill the Book.”
This song cannot but resonates with the Ovaherero and Ovambanderu youth, clearly by their bold move through the two cultural festivals, daring even their leaderships that one tool for tribal redemption is through cultural emancipation. Rather than remaining bogged down in the vicious endless web of tribal bigotry. Many cultural groups in Namibia, including the Ovambanderu and Ovaherero, may not realise it but they are their own hostages because of their mental enslavement. The seeming internecine wars that have been raging between and among them, turning brother against brother, sister against sister and sister against brother, and vice versa, have been no more than a factor of self-enslavement leading to tribal suicide.
One cannot be oblivious to the existence of traditional authorities in this country. The very reason for their existence, which is the promotion and preservation of the diverse cultures on the Namibian society. But rarely have the various traditional authorities, which have been mushrooming since independence been living up to this noble and sacrosanct calling. There’s hardly a single traditional authority in this country with a proud record of in cultural renaissance. On the contrary more often than not they have been the usurpers the very cultures they must and should be the supreme protectors thereof. In this spirit set by the youth, one can only appeal to the ancestors to continue endowing this initiative with the indomitable spirits and protect these young people and their noble initiatives.