By Matthew Gowaseb
WINDHOEK
Writing a history of the Namibian people was a labour of love.
When I was a little boy, I was taught a great deal about European history, but nothing was said of Namibians, except insofar as it lay at the margin of South African history. I do not recall any course of lectures on Namibian history as such. For many of us, the saying was “You can study Namibian history when you have graduated, if you can bear it.”
As a result of this lacuna in my education, I eventually came to Namibian history completely fresh, with no schoolboy or student prejudices or antipathies. Indeed, my first contacts with Namibian history were entirely nonacademic: I discussed it with great names such as Dr Theo-Ben Gurirab, Peter Mvula Nangolo, Vitura Kavari, Dr Carol Kotze, Nico Bessinger and many others.
In short, I entered the study of Namibian history through the back door. But I also got to know about it directly by working closely with great leaders. And here let me give some advice to those of you who plan to write books. Never throw away research material. If you don’t use it in one book, it may well come in handy for another. Always make your research cost-effective.
As I worked on the study of the past, and learned about the present by travelling all over the country, my desire to discover more about this extraordinary country, its origins, and its evolution, grew and grew, so that I determined in the end to write a history of it, knowing from experience that to produce a book the only way is to study a subject systematically,
purposefully and retentively. My mentors Vitura Kavari and Peter Mvula Nangolo encouraged me warmly.So this project was born out of enthusiasm and excitement, and now, after many months, it is complete.
Writing a history of the Namibian people, covering more than 100 years, and dealing with the physical background and development of an immense tract of diverse territory is a herculean task. It can be accomplished only by the ruthless selection and rejection of material and can be made readable only by moving in close to certain aspects and dealing with them in fascinating detail at the price of merely summarizing others. That has been my method, though my aim nonetheless has been to produce a comprehensive account, full of facts and dates and figures, which can be used with confidence by students who wish to acquire a general grasp of Namibian History.
Now let me get down to brass tacks. The material on which to base a history of the Namibian people is, quite literally, extremely scarce, because most of what is available is in foreign languages.
Each time I complete a book, especially a major one like this, I learn something I did not already know about the craft of book-writing, and apply it to my next project. But each book holds particular lessons, too, that apply only to its subject, as a rule.
The story of Namibia is essentially one of difficulties being overcome by intelligence and skill, by faith and strength of purpose, by its leaders, of course, but essentially by its ordinary pioneers and citizens. Namibia today, is a human achievement without parallel. That achievement did not come about without heroic sacrifices and great sufferings stoically endured, many costly failures, huge disappointments, defeats and tragedies.
There have indeed been many setbacks in more than 100 years of Namibia’s history. Many unresolved problems – some of daunting size – remain. But, as I say in my book, ‘with admirable courage and determination, they gave voice to a keenly felt anxiety about the plight of the oppressed and the dispossessed Namibian people’.
I come to realize that Namibians – ordinary Namibians, not just our leaders – are problem-solvers. They do not believe that anything in this world is beyond the human capacity to soar. They will not give up. They will attack again and again the ills of society until they are overcome or at least substantially redressed. As the Father of the Nation, Dr Nujoma says in the Prologue to my book: Many sons and daughters of Namibian soil shed their precious blood and sacrificed their lives so that we can live in peace and stability, as free citizens, liberated from the yoke of racial oppression and foreign occupation. We must continue to pay tribute to their bravery, their courage and their patriotism because, as we declare in our National Anthem, “their blood waters our freedom”. Namibians in their thousands, young and old, men and women, made the ultimate sacrifice for the love of their Motherland. It is because of their sacrifices that, today, we are a free and sovereign nation.
The daughter of the international community is still the cynosure of the world’s eyes. Looking back on her past and forward to its future, the auguries are that she will not disappoint an expectant humanity. President Pohamba and the generation to follow will ensure that. We will ensure that.
Triumph of Courage: Profiles of Namibian political heroes and heroines, written by Matthew //Gowaseb, is available at Pick ‘n Pay and Shoprite Supermarkets countrywide. Retail price: N$195.