Grave matters – A time to remember

Soccer played a major role in my life in my school years and at the end of the 70s, I joined a soccer club after school.

While the German school players favoured the DTS soccer club, being a bit of a rebel I chose the Ramblers club. Besides being a stronger team, I liked it for its diversity. Not only did they have Namibian players from various ethnicities, they also had English, Scottish and Portuguese players.

Many Portuguese families had fled the conflict in Angola and had immigrated to Namibia, and it was at Ramblers that I met José Carreira, seen standing on my right in the ‘Span van die maand’ (Team of the month) photo.

 

When I finished school, our ways parted and I went on to study, while José joined the South African army to fight in the north. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time, in an army vehicle that detonated a landmine near Epupa Falls.

More than forty years after our soccer matches, while doing some research in the Windhoek cemetery I came across the gravestone of my old friend. Memories flooded back of our childhood days and I stood back and gave my respects to those fallen on both sides.

Time has moved on, and as we move into the festive season and the new year, it’s a time to count our blessings, give thanks for our lives and remember those who are no longer with us.

(If any of our readers have any more information about the Carreira family, please contact me)