We Are the Ones With the Diamonds

As the world continues to grow, change and become more interconnected than ever, I think it is imperative that we, as citizens, protect our identity and what it means to be Namibian.

National pride and working for the greater good of our compatriots must be a priority for everyone blessed enough to hold one of our passports.

Something that could be our strength is everything that makes us who we are. Whether it’s our history, food, art or landscape, no one is going to fight for us as much as we will.

If it were up to me, I’d start working in educational reform. Who knows, one day I might. I think there needs to be constant advocacy for the things our youth learn to be continually improved and updated.

Technology is moving at lightning speed and we need to churn out children who are equipped for the modern and future world.

At the same time, we need to reframe how we view ourselves and our place in the world. Our history must be taught to us in a way that we understand who we are.

We must learn more about African history and the pre-colonial era, and a lot less about Western conflicts and warlords.

A sense of pride and nationalism must be instilled in every child born in Namibia. The educational landscape must become one where scholars don’t need to relocate to pursue their passions.

Another thing we desperately need is stability in our region and trade with our neighbours. The time for pan-Africanism is now.

It’s the one thing the greedy West would do anything to stop because they know we can overcome even their most devious attempts at economic sabotage.

Africa has long been pillaged. Many black people still live at the bottom of society on land their ancestors occupied for thousands of years.

Now we find ourselves battling neo-colonialism, camouflaged apartheid, classism, anti-blackness, afrophobia, division and corruption while all our resources are siphoned off to support the rest of the world.

This must come to an end.

As a woman, I have often asked myself if I want to be a mother in the future. I am 30 and certainly feel the pressure from people around me, but I do not let that guide my choices, because it is glaringly obvious that bringing a child into this world would be absurd.

I’d like to believe that it won’t always be this way. I hold on to the hope that if I am to have descendants, they will not exist in a world full of war, white supremacy, greed, slavery, human, sex and child trafficking, wealth disparities, famine, genocide, rape, abuse and all other things too gruesome for me to imagine.

Even if I can guarantee a privileged life for myself and my children, there’s truly no joy in being here knowing how much evil is running rampant through the world. It’s quite selfish, in fact. Though I know that’s how most people operate. As long as they are fine in their mansion, they don’t care about the starving babies across the river.

What sort of existence is this? And how do we fix the world? How do we fix people?

A peace deal has been reached between Israel and Palestine, great. There are about a hundred other brutal, bloody conflicts still happening in places like Sudan, Yemen, Ethiopia and Cameroon; our iPhones, chocolate and clothes all have child slaves on their assembly line; and there are tens of millions of people worldwide currently in forced captivity of some sort.

I don’t say this to be negative. I think we should raise our citizens to be aware of what is happening around them. Knowing your history, that of other Africans and how the world truly works is the first step. We can be a very powerful nation if we understand how power is gained and maintained.

We also need to understand that we should be putting humanity before all else. The whole world is messed up because the strongest countries are also the most selfish and violent.

It need not always be so. We are the ones with the uranium and the diamonds and the youthful population. Not them. It’s high time we start acting like it and creating a future generation that can fight against imperialism, without resorting to their dirty tactics.

Let’s leave behind the manners of old people not caring about young people. It’s deeply ingrained in our culture and it’s hurting us. We need to not only listen to young people, but also accept that we won’t be around as long as them and we need to teach them to steer the ship earlier.

Something else I am interested in is developing literacy and early childhood development programmes. I’m considered intelligent by people who know me and always say that most of what I know, I learnt before I was 13.

That’s when my brain was most pliable and I had the most energy for learning, reading, exploring and trying.

It is a big failure and a shame if we do not focus on the early lives of all Namibians.

– Anne Hambuda is a writer, social commentator and poet. Follow her online or email her at annehambuda@gmail.com for more.

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