Pinehas Nakaziko
Windhoek-Aletta Eises-Thanises is a transformation leader who believes that everyone can change if they identify the challenges in their lives and face them constructively.
“You have to identify the challenges, decide on courses of action, break down into manageable steps, plan purposefully and set action. Action is the driving force. Without action we can forget about overcoming our actions,” she says. Born in Gobabis, in the Omaheke Region, she grew up in Katutura, in a street called Malaka Draai.“My mother was a domestic worker and raised six children, mostly on her own, when my stepfather passed on. I and my elder sisters had to help my mom with knitting dolls, which we sold in Khomasdal location, walking through the streets from house to house, to take care of household needs,” she says, adding that this taught her to be a hard worker.
“Raised by a single mother under this circumstance, I had all the reason to give up or drop out of school, but this really motivated me to invest in my education. Education was the only tool.” Being the only person with a degree among her siblings, Eises-Thanises always wanted to become a police officer to curb the violence in the communities and gangsters.
“I was derailed due to bursary allocations; something I think was God’s intervention because I love what I am doing today. Being in education is my calling from God and the purpose of my existence. We are not just born to work and die, but to make a change in others’ lives.”
Currently, Eises-Thanises is a deputy director in the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture for Lifelong Learning in the Hardap Region, stationed in Mariental, where she is supervising libraries, arts, culture, and adult education in the region.
She started her primary education at Auas Primary School in Katutura, and later moved to Damara High Primary, now called Gorenagab Junior Secondary School, also in Katutura. She completed her Grade 12 at the Suiderlig High School in Keetmanshoop. “Moving to Suiderlig High School is where I took my education seriously as I was one of the top learners for most of my subjects. It is only in the languages that I was not excellent but I could get eighty percent and above in the rest of my subjects.”
She studied Education and Psychology at the University of Namibia (Unam). “I never wanted to study education, but today I love it because I am investing in the lives of the future. You take care of the heart of the nation,” explains Eises-Thanises. Currently she is working towards youth development, venturing into mentoring and youth empowerment programmes. She is the founder of the VisionCore Community Trust, a programme that mentors young girls for three years, having motivational and transformation talks at churches and schools on invitation.
“The youth of today are in difficult and challenging times, and need proper guidance from people who studied in the field of education and sociology (not excluding other fields). The dropping out of schools, the teenage pregnancies, the alcohol and drug abuse, the bullying, the peer pressure need to be addressed,” she explains why she came up with VisionCore Community Trust.
“Your circumstances should encourage you to be better… to change your situation. You should have big dreams and work hard at school to achieve those dreams. There will be obstacles … there will be mountains to climb … nothing is easy, but you must focus on your vision,” is her message to the youth.