Namibians – Page 2 – Windhoek Observer

19 Jun

Land of the free and home of the brave?

ObserverUncategorisedNamibians, The Time Traveler

The Time Traveler: Hugh Ellis I have very mixed feelings about the new US Embassy compound currently being built on a large plot of land in my neighborhood. On the one hand, the United States is a great nation. It's the nation of Barack Obama and Martin Luther King. The nation of the Wright brothers, the humble bicycle mechanics who built the first airplane. The nation of Neil Armstrong and Katherine Johnson, and all the others who got men to the Moon. My education would have been immensely poorer if it were not for the Americans who taught African history…

13 Jun

Culture must be a podium not a noose

ObserverUncategorisedNamibians

Jackie Wilson Asheeke Tradition and culture must be tools to celebrate history, language and the stories of the past. Tradition must be a podium for bringing people together, not a noose or whip to force them in line. In Namibia, there are too many infuriating cases, when tradition and culture are cherry picked and used as a sexist sledge hammer to oppress women who are marginalized within a community. When a ‘tradition’ favors someone, they are all for it; when it doesn’t, they are quiet. This weakens the entire concept of respecting tradition. The recent story of a criminal headman…

28 May

Jealousy clouds the point

ObserverNational NewsNamibians

We have regularly commented on the current flawed process of Members of Parliament (MPs) disclosing a part of their assets to the public. The point of this disclosure is to identify conflicts of interest in matters before the legislature. A public listing of assets of lawmakers is irrelevant if not used specifically and only for that purpose. The point is to stop decision-makers, like the accused Esau or Shanghala, from voting on laws with outcomes that pad their pockets. We must keep our eyes on the prize and stop getting lost in how many cars or houses are owned by…

27 May

A voice against re-opening schools

ObserverUncategorisedchildren, Namibians, schools, Teachers

Yes, we find ourselves between a rock and a hard place with regard to the school re-opening conundrum. I think restarting schools will prove to be more dangerous than keeping them closed for this academic year. As many have correctly pointed out, if anything went wrong, children can be super-spreaders of the pandemic as many (particularly the younger ones) may not have the self-conscious capacity to police themselves [utilize the mandatory methods to slow pandemic spread like self-spacing, washing hands with soap for 20 seconds and other actions], unlike adults who do not police themselves by choice. Besides, order and…

06 Apr

Observatory: Where’s the consistency?

ObserverUncategorisedCovid-19, Namibia, Namibians

Thandizo Kawerama When the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Namibia was announced, the government did an amazing job implementing measures to protect the health of Namibians. Social distancing quickly became a recurring theme, and many Namibians started to take preventative measures in case of a full blown outbreak. This was evident by the empty shelves in pharmacies and grocery stores all over the country. In the midst of the growing public concern over COVID-19, President Geingob’s inauguration ceremony last month hosted over 400 guests at the State House, breaking the ‘no more than 50 people in a gathering’ rule…

06 Apr

The Time Traveler: Cabin Fever

ObserverUncategorisedAmericans, Chinese, Italians, Namibians, South Africans

Hugh Ellis It’s not easy being at home almost all day. Of course, I’m extremely privileged to have a fairly spacious home and a small garden to isolate myself in during the Coronavirus outbreak. I have access to the Internet on a variety of devices and a whole shelf-full of books. Many Namibians - and South Africans and Americans and Chinese and Italians - are not so lucky. But still, the anxiety of not moving outside an urban plot, not having access to the psychological security of a workplace, fighting an invisible enemy, maintaining contact with extended family in multiple…

24 Mar

The Time Traveler: The silver lining in the corona sky

ObserverUncategorisedCovid-19, Government, Namibian government, Namibians

Hugh Ellis I may have to ‘eat my words’ slightly this week. I had said that the global 2019 Corona Virus Disease (or Covid-19 for short) pandemic was not likely to be a big deal for Namibia. Obviously, with schools on semi-lockdown and international flights suspended, this is not the case. It is important we keep a sense of perspective, however. We may even find that in the long term, a lot of good may come out of the disruption and shock this crisis has caused. At the time of writing this column, no-one has died of Covid-19 in Namibia.…