Tribute to the late Onane Rosalia Nghidinwa

• ELIJAH NGURARE I WAS at Ongwediva when I received that sad call from reverend Tylväs Haitula around 23h00 on Sunday night, 14 January 2018.

He delivered the earth-shattering news from the Catholic Hospital, saying “Onane Rosa vana tusigi.” I could sense a piercing depth of sorrow in his voice.

He was by the hospital bedside of Ososta Rosa daily, and we were together the week earlier at the bedside of the late Ososta Rosa. I knew what he said with a heavy heart could not be easy to announce. It was as it is, the inevitability of death was upon us.

I took a moment to reflect, and it was a sad long night awaiting the dawn of the irrevocable reality that indeed Onane Nghidinwa had passed away, that she had closed her eyes forever. I would later receive similar calls from Venantius Nauyoma, Tulimeke Munyika and Musita Heikki Ausiku in the early hours of Monday morning.

I knew, right there and then, that indeed Ososta Rosa had died. I cried and whispered to myself, saying heaven is richer and earth is poorer with Ososta Rosa’s departure homeward bound. Undoubtedly, the whole family, especially the orphaned children she leaves behind, have an empty place that can never be filled, but they have indelible footprints on these sandy beaches in the ocean of life to emulate.

Rosalia Nghidinwa was loved and admired not only by her family, but also by ordinary people in villages and households all across Namibia. She touched the lives of many. She healed many, and did so with a deep sense of patriotism.

My earliest memories of Ososta Rosa was the late 1970s when I would accompany my late father from Siurungu to Nkurenkuru as he delivered fish to his customers at Kakuro and Nkurenkuru, and sometimes we would go as far as the Mayara and Kahenge villages.

One of the regular customers was Ososta Rosa. Upon hearing that I was in school, she would say to me “lironga unene munange” (study hard my child). My father would excitedly inform her that I was a top pupil of Mitili Lebbeus Musongo, and would soon be a learner of his former classmate, the late Jaakko Kangayi.

She was always happy about that. In the early 1980s, my mother would insist that going to Nkurenkuru hospital was good because “Ou sosta akaku vendwa watjili” (the nurse who will treat/inject you is a good one, don’t be afraid). She was a good nurse indeed for us all.

As I was growing up during apartheid in Kavango, my late father told us a lot about Swapo, and about “Sema Nauyoma”. Every day, we were told around the fire why our villages were being harassed by SADF troops on a daily basis who were looking for “vaSiwapo”. Many of those who openly supported “Siwapo” were beaten and imprisoned. It was not fashionable to be “vaSiwapo”, especially in the west of Kavango those days.

It was during those troubled days that the true freedom fighters were made. They stood bravely and fearlessly. These were the late Rosalia Nghidinwa, the late hompa Sitentu Mpasi, the late Immanuel Silas, the late Ambrosius Haingura, the late Jaakko Kangayi, Gabriel Kangowa, Isak Veijo, Rev Heikki Ausiku, Rev Asser Lihongo, Bishop Johannes Sindano, Nimrod Muremi, and many others.

My generation grew up inspired by the resilience and bravery of these fearless freedom fighters who risked their own lives to assist Plan combatants. They seemed to walk on the burning coals of the liberation struggle, and were not afraid to be burned for the sake of freedom. It is also told that Ososta Rosa worked very closely with the Eloc /Elcin leadership to secretly provide medicine for Plan combatants.

Therefore, in the book of the national heroes of an independent Namibia, it is a mockery that the names of late Hompa Sitentu Mpasi, Jaakko Kangayi, Ambrosius Haingura or Rosalia Nghidinwa are omitted.

Rosalia Nghidinwa was a national hero in the hearts of many. Swapo was her only political home since the 70s in the heat of the liberation struggle and during the valleys of a free and independent Namibia. Fittingly so, Founding President Sam Nujoma conferred on her in 2003 the Most Excellent Order of the Eagle in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the liberation struggle.

Swapo was her lifeblood. She was a leader, and a humble member of Swapo. I remember when President Pohamba and I sometimes differed on issues of governance, it was to her (Rosalia Nghidinwa) and Marco Hausiku that he turned to patch up such disagreements. This was because there was a natural aura about her, which extended like a bridge to young and old in politics and in life generally. President Pohamba understood this.

She is gone too soon. I recall before the 6th Swapo Party congress, fictitious political tension was created by some quarters to depict her “in a public spat with Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana”. This failed because they both are solidly Swapo. I was elated to see them embrace at the Swapo rally at Rundu.

Indeed, loyal Swapo members are never afraid to stand for principles in all weather. Rosalia Nghidinwa was a rare breed of Swapo leader, and future generations must pause to remember what she fought for, and the ideals she lived by.

In Rosalia Nghidinwa, the children have lost a loving mother, and Namibia has lost a mother, a teacher, a nurse, a freedom fighter and a truly special human being. She stood ndjikiti and unwaveringly until her final breath. It is a life worth emulating, and it is a page worth reading to future generations.

While I reflect on the good lessons I can take from the page of Ososta Rosa’s life, I thank her for the meaning she has carved for our lives. Her legacy shall surely live on.

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