2018-04-09Staff Report 2 Loide Jason Windhoek The children of the liberation struggle (CLS) have plans of travelling to Angola in August to go to Kwanza Sul to try and reconnect with their past and find peace and closure to the liberation epic. This came to light last Thursday morning when the group paid a courtesy visit to the office of the founding father and the father of the nation Sam Nujoma, to brief him about their plans and also ask his blessings. The group, consisting of about 30 professionals, said reconnecting with the past would make them face a future with healed hearts. The chairperson of the group, Namasiku Lizazi, said for them to realise the trip they have so far held two fundraising braais, one of which took place last year and one last week. Lizazi said they are aware of the negative perception in society about them “but people do not look at the underlying factors to their social behaviours”. “The environment we grew up in was very tough – there was no proper parental guidance and regular displacement occurred due to news of possible attacks on the camps we lived in, which might be some of the underlying psycho-social factors,” he said. She further told the founding father that some of them lost parents at a very tender age due to the war and even their umbilical cords remain separated from the country of birth to country of origin, thus disconnecting them from their very basic foundation. She said the early days of a child’s life are very important because that is when the child’s emotional, social and physical development is laid, which has a direct effect on its overall development and on the adult it will become. “Unfortunately this was not the case with our early childhood because many of us are experiencing nightmares, flashbacks and periods of crippling grief,” said the ‘struggle kid’ who is a chief clerk at parliament. The group’s members were either born in exile or left Namibia at a very young age and grew up in exile during the liberation struggle. Addressing the CLS the father of the nation contributed a sum of N$5,000 to their trip and urged them to be united in order to fight poverty, which is one the challenges an independent country faces. The founding president said although Namibia is free and independent there are still many challenges facing the country which need to be tackled by all parties. He said the best way to eradicate poverty is to make sure every Namibian child has had schooling, from primary school to university. “Those who have money and are employed must raise money and assist in using it to make sure that Namibia has an educated nation.” He also urged Namibians to strongly fight the boys and men that are beating up their partners and friends over no apparent reason. “The youth boys go to the extent of beating and killing their girlfriends. This is what we must fight. We defeated the white and we can also fight this,” he said. 2018-04-09Staff Report 2
