On Race in Namibia

Monday marks Namibia’s 21^st birthday – not only is a 21^st birthday a big deal (only in America, I guess), but it’s also its Golden Birthday! So hats off, Namibia!

On Thursday evening, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology came to our school to show a film to the hostel learners about Namibia’s struggle for independence. The film, “Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation,” detailed Namibia’s long fight for independence through the eyes of Sam Nujoma, the leader of SWAPO (the South West Africa People’s Organization) and the eventual first president of the Republic of Namibia.

Despite its length (161 minutes...it went way past my 8pm bedtime), the movie was well made, detailed, beautiful, and raw. Many scenes in it made me cringe more than “Hotel Rwanda” and there were many scenes of torture, killing, destruction, and dead bodies that were almost impossible to watch. The almost 25-year struggle for independence in Namibia quite a horrific period in history.

In fact, a majority of the bloodiest fighting happened right in and around our village. Ohangwena is a part of the township of Helao Nafidi. which is named after one of the biggest fighters for independence in the north-central area. In the late 1980s, four learners and one teacher were killed at my school as it was shelled. The battle occurred right at my home and life just went on.

Mari and I went to view the movie and were the only foreigners in a room of about 400 learners and teachers. That made me the only white person there. While the struggle for liberation was Namibia against South Africa, this turned into a largely white versus black battle.

I have never watched a movie that had such a passionate audience! Well, perhaps the “High School Musical 3” midnight premiere came close, but this was unreal. The learners chanted along with the war chants, sang all the liberation songs, cheered when the blacks succeeded in battle, and booed whenever the whites appeared.

Namibia has come a long, long way since independence, and it’s important to remember that it’s only been a free country for 21 years. In my experience, blatant racism is not overt here. The country is truly free in many respects. But underlying race issues do exist.

As a white person in Namibia, you do get favored in strange ways. Afrikaners will offer you free rides while they refuse to stop for black Namibians. You may be told to sit in the passenger’s seat on a hike instead of the back of a pick-up truck because you’re a white woman. Or occasionally, you may even get to go to the front of the line at the bank.

But the subconscious race relations are the most heartbreaking and are something I only began to notice a few weeks ago. While Namibians are generally cordial and relatively welcoming, I have found it to be nearly impossible to form real relationships with people. Unfortunately, even if someone appears to want to be your friend, in nearly every instance it’s because they want something from you – money, your hand in marriage, etc. You have to put up your guard in every budding relationship if you don’t want to be walked all over.

As a relational person, these realities are blatant and sad. I came to Namibia hoping to invest in my community, form meaningful ties with the people, and be known deeply. While making relationships with anyone from a culture starkly different from your own is difficult, these race relations create huge – and sometimes impassable – barriers. It’s challenging to realize that I could leave Namibia without any persistent relationships.

This is definitely not a reason to give up, become anti-social, or conform to the racial barriers present in Namibia. I will continue to pray for relationships, greet people, smile, learn the language, and try to find commonalities with the people I do meet. I will continue to hope and believe that relationships are possible in Namibia. And I will remember that I’ve only been here three months.