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Pan-African Week Full of Activities

2006-10-27  Staff Report 2

Pan-African Week Full of Activities
"By Frederick Philander WINDHOEK A week-long celebration on the life and times of Sam Nujoma next month and the publication of a magazine are two of many educational projects lined up in a hectic activity programme of the Pan African Centre of Namibia (PACON). This was announced yesterday by PACON's chairperson, Johannes Tjitjo, during a New Era interview. ""A lecture series, initiated by youth activists and PACON, is planned to not only honour the Founding Father of the Nation, but all other Namibian patriots. The vision of the series serves as a nucleus to stimulate intellectual thinking of the entire nation for it to strategically align itself in the pole-position to contribute to the realization of Vision 2030,"" said Tjitjo. The festivities start on Monday, November 13, with a discussion on the television programme 'Talk of the Nation'. ""Several invited guests will officiate during the festivities, among whom Mxolisi Mxgashe, a freelance writer and a veteran of the South African liberation struggle, will deliver a lecture on the Economics of Pan-Africanism in Contemporary Africa,"" said Tjitjo. Other speakers include the Secretary-General of the National Youth Council of Namibia, Juliet Kavetuna, who will speak on Youth Economic Empowerment Projects and Challenges. ""The Founding Father of the Nation will have the honour to officially launch PACON's Afro-Voice magazine during the festival to educate and inform the nation. The event is staged to engage the entire nation in the context of knowledge generation via an annual academic platform, to inculcate a culture of critical thinking among the Namibian youth and to help form links between Africans from the continent and the Diaspora for the continent's development,"" he said. The celebrations are to be officially closed with an African Cultural Night of cultural performances, traditional dances and a braai. ""PACON is presently working on a plan to relocate its offices to another site in view of the fact that the current premises do not cater for our needs. We have already applied for a plot of land from the Windhoek City Council to build a proper centre between Khomasdal and Katutura. The envisaged multipurpose centre will accommodate offices, a library and even a museum when completed,"" said Tjitjo, full of excitement. Current projects by PACON include an HIV/AIDS educational campaign and a history and culture programme. ""My pet project is a Know your leaders programme targeting the Namibian youth. It is important for our youth to know the country's leaders on a stronger academic level, other than only their names. Furthermore, a programme is presently being worked on to take PACON to all 13 regions in the country. We have been accused that the organization is too Windhoek-based. We intend to appoint representatives in each region for our presence to be felt everywhere,"" he said. Asked about the progress of his organization's most enterprising project, the feature film Where Others Wavered, Tjitjo said he is confident it will be a good movie when it is released some time next year. ""Quality and content-wise, it should go well at the box office and, who knows, it might win some Oscars, something that would also put Namibia's film industry on the international map,"" he said."
2006-10-27  Staff Report 2

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