IN the last few months we have walked this road more frequently in the procession of bidding farewell to our fallen heroes and heroines.
Chief Sophia Jacob is the latest to join this distinguished class of outstanding Namibians.
In terms of pure dedication and commitment to a given objective and heroic struggle and the love for her people, the late Chief Sophia Jacob was up there amongst the very best.
I strongly believe it’s in moments like this that we as human beings define an individual and the legacy this person is leaving behind. What makes her legacy more remarkable is the fact it is very rare for any individual to leave such an outstanding legacy in such a short period of time.
Our society generally suffers from a very unacceptable syndrome, where it does not recognise and acknowledge the positive contributions of a person, simply because that person hails from a certain grouping, in this case she was from the marginalized San community of Aminuis, and because I knew her for many years and had worked closely with her on many education projects, her untimely death left a hollow feeling inside me as it will, without a doubt, be very difficult to find a replacement of such calibre and determination as Chief Jacob.
The rights and uplifting of her people had first call on her conscience, and under her custodianship and sometimes uncompromising leadership, the San of the Aminuis Constituency started to understand that education is also meant for them, and slowly but surely started to participate fully and meaningfully in education programmes.
I would propose the school at Corridor 17 in the Aminuis Constituency, which is her brainchild, should aptly be named Chief Sophia Jacob Primary School, in order for us to immortalise her name and give proper recognition to her immense and selfless contributions to the nation particularly to the San.
One of her highest virtues was her straight talk that made a lot of us uneasy. She believed that because of group domination the San knows more about other cultures than they know about themselves. In her short reign as Chief she, amongst many things, accomplished the following:
– As I stated earlier, she fought for a school for her people, of which she will unfortunately not witness its first historic opening next year (2015).
– The San that suffered devaluation and discrimination for decades were told to respect themselves and to become productive members of the society.
– Hordes of youths from the San community were taken up in the police force and in other ministries to socio-economically empower them and many of them today are in the job market through her strong will, perseverance and never-say- die attitude.
– She instilled in the San children the virtues of education and for them to tread the path towards academic and social success.
– She worked tirelessly to erase misconceptions about her people as well as to change the attitudes and behaviors of other people towards the San.
However, what stood out amongst all her contributions and attributes for me as an educationalist is the fact she was in my office or used to phone me on a regular basis to ensure the children of the San are enrolled in our schools – to me an unprecedented move by a San Chief in this part of the world.
Somehow she knew instantly that the best hope of escaping the social trap of poverty, unemployment, ignorance and inferiority complex of her people, was to ensure that her people receives proper education and training, and to say that, I think, is an understatement because what she did for her people is very difficult to describe fully in words.
Because we are mere mortals in this turbulent and challenging world, the least we can do is to contribute in our humble ways to humanity.
I think the greatness of a human being is determined by the sum total of your honest contributions towards the advancement of fellow human beings and for my measure, Chief Jacob was up there with the best in this category.
We, in the Directorate of Education in the Omaheke Regional Council, are deeply saddened by the passing on of Chief Sophia Jacob and her great contributions will forever remind us of her legacy
Rest in peace Chief Sophia.