The ‘Caring Namibian Man’

It’s the year 2005 and a selection of schoolchildren have been issued a challenge: Find and a photograph a caring Namibian man.

The disposable cameras, a hundred in total, are free.

The challenge comes from Ombetja Yehinga Organisation (OYO) director Philippe Talavera.

He initiates the project as a counterpoint to the surge of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) that bloodies the headlines and seems to stereotype Namibian men as violent and as abusers, murderers and rapists.

Talavera’s fear is that these negative images become the norm, something typical of Namibian society or perhaps something for young males to aspire to. The need for examples of positive masculinity is desperate and teens across the regions rise to the occasion.

As the news continues to record regular instances of violence primarily perpetrated by men, the teens submit images of men tending to children, helping with homework, doing laundry, engaging with the elderly and embracing their children.

The photographs are exhibited and used to educate schoolchildren about gender stereotypes, evolving gender roles and about alternatives to violence.

Over the years, the images captured in 2005 have been exhibited extensively.

In 2022, as SGBV continued to be a grave issue plaguing Namibian society, a new set of teens was invited to use a digital camera and their cellphones to once again photograph the seemingly elusive caring Namibian man.

Today and until 11 July, at Windhoek’s Franco Namibian Cultural Centre (FNCC), a selection of images from 2022 and 2005 are on display. In each of the frames, men from across the country stand as examples of a safer, softer way of being.

As one makes their way around the gallery, the fact that it is necessary to seek and exhibit examples of positive male role models doing things as simple as caring for their children seems absurd, but these are the times we live in.

Apparently, the bare minimum is radical, revolutionary and worth celebrating.

Twenty years after the first iteration of ‘The Caring Namibian Man’, women, children and people from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and others (LGBTQ+) community are still bent, broken or erased from existence by male entitlement and violence.

Entitlement to women’s and children’s bodies means that in the period between April 2024 and February 2025, the police reported 1 345 cases of rape amidst 4 405 cases of gender-based violence.

Talavera says 2025 has been a difficult year. He recalls the case of an 18-year old accused of murdering his family at Usakos in March, the child murders at Okahandja in April and the high schooler who allegedly raped three minor girls at Keetmanshoop in May.

June has been no better as Namibian men turn to violent mugging and crime.

Rest in peace Linda Hoases (21), who was murdered on her way home last Saturday. Strength to the family of Nande Mulukoshi (35), who was fatally shot at a local bar just last week.

God be with those who cherished Pius Kalipa (19), who was killed after leaving his family’s tuck shop late last month.

You see, men aren’t safe from men either.

At the FNCC, a photo that stands out to me is of a security guard manning a school gate. The image was captured by young Veisaneua Kavari in 2022, and the caption breaks and heals my heart.

“I took this picture because this particular tate is polite to all pupils,” writes Kavari.

“Whenever they want to go out, he asks them for the reason and makes sure the teachers know about it, while other securities are just sitting and don’t even mind when you open the gate to go out.”

Imagine that tate had noticed and quickly reported the absence of Rosalind Fabian (6), who was initially reported missing from school in April this year before her body was found dumped behind Veddersdal Cemetery at Okahandja.

Maybe things could have been different.

Perhaps a groundswell, an outpouring of sustained action and a veritable storm of caring Namibian men could make all the difference in a society where the worst keep defining the gender, making the streets unsafe and murdering Namibian women, children … and men.

Talavera doesn’t want to present a third iteration of ‘The Caring Namibian Man’ in 2045.

If the ongoing tide of male violence turns and all goes well, the last two exhibitions will be an archive of a dystopia.

They’ll speak to an unfathomable moment during the earth’s flop era, strange artefacts from a dark time that saw the light.

– martha@namibian.com.na; Martha Mukaiwa on Twitter and Instagram; marthamukaiwa.com

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