Local author Neshani Andreas dead

ONE of Namibia’s foremost writers, Neshani Andreas, died last week at the age of 46. Andreas had been diagnosed with lung cancer early last year.

Born in Walvis Bay, Andreas worked in a clothing factory before studying in to be a teacher at the Ongwediva Teachers’ College, where she taught for five years before completing a Bachelor of Arts and Postgraduate Diploma in Education at the University of Namibia (Unam). She then became associate director of the US Peace Corps in Namibia, a position she held for four years. At the time of her death, Andreas was working for the Forum of African Women Educationalists in Namibia (FAWENA) as programme officer. She also volunteered at the National Archives, in the ‘Archives of Anti-colonial Resistance and the Liberation Struggle’ Publication Committee, where she helped develop several publications. Andreas was also politically active during the period just before Namibia’s Independence. Her first novel ‘The Purple Violet of Oshaantu’ was published by Heinemann in the prestigious African Writers Series in 2001; and by Weaver Press in Zimbabwe in 2004. The book, about the struggle of women in northern Namibia for equality and against patriarchal practices, is already a classic of Namibian literature and will be a lasting monument to Neshani Andreas. Her wish to have it published in Oshiwambo was not realised during her lifetime. According to a report in the May edition of Prime Focus magazine, Andreas had completed the manuscript for her second novel before her death. Her funeral will be held in her home town of Walvis Bay with a memorial service scheduled for this Friday, May 20, at 18h00 at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kuisebmond. The meeting point for her funeral on Saturday, May 21 is the family home at 218 Nathaniel Maxuilili Street, also in Kuisebmond, at 07h00.For further information, contact her brother Johannes Inkoshi at 081 142 2990 or 081 128 5017.

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