Today, we received the message that our Founding Father, Dr Sam Nujoma, passed on last night at the age of 95. The 9th of February is also the day that the constitution was adopted 35 years ago.
I first heard of Sam Nujoma in my early school days. It was a name that I would hear more frequently as the decades passed and one which would feature prominently when Namibia gained its freedom in 1990 and Dr Sam Nujoma stepped up to lead the country into a new era.
My first memories of hearing the name ‘Sam Nujoma’ were from my childhood days when at lunchtimes my family would sit around the kitchen table and switch on the radio. It was the end of the 60s with eastern and western world powers at loggerheads. When at 1pm the news aired, the adults listened attentively and the conversation afterwards often turned to the plight of the world and especially that of South West Africa.
One of the stories I remember from that time was when I was six years old and Dr Sam Nujoma, as head of the South West African People’s Organisation, flew in from Zambia in a small aircraft and was promptly deported. It baffled a small boy’s brain, but things grew clearer as I got older. Little did I know then that he would play such a huge role in Namibia’s history and that our paths would cross on several occasions later in life.
My first encounter was at the build-up to the 1990 celebrations when Dr Nujoma returned to the country. I was a teacher at Concordia College in Windhoek and was given a media card by friend and mentor Daniel Tjongarero to document the event.
For the first sitting in the Tintenpalast, I was again on the scene with my treasured media card. Dr Nujoma was the last to arrive and fortuitously took a seat right next to where I was standing. For a moment we made eye contact before his attention was diverted to the proceedings. I was able to take a photograph, which I still have from that momentous time. I had another opportunity at Windhoek’s international airport when he was receiving dignitaries from other African countries, among them Kenneth Kaunda, to take some more momentous photographs – and to play the part, if not briefly, of a budding photojournalist.
But, Dr Nujoma would only really make a huge impact on my life in the late 90s when he visited Canyon Lodge, Gondwana’s first lodge, on the eastern side of the Fish River Canyon. I had been out to collect two new pigs for our self-sufficiency centre with Alain Noirfalise, Gondwana’s Operations Director, when we came across him and his entourage in the state park. Recognising that it was the Founding Father, we stopped our vehicle and greeted him. Being a perfect gentleman, he didn’t comment on our pig-soiled clothes and grimy handshakes.
We invited him to visit Canyon Lodge, and two days later, much to the excitement of the staff and management, he visited the lodge. He received a warm welcome from the team and impressed with what he saw called me aside to ask what our secret was, how we managed to have a team comprised of diverse ethnic groups working harmoniously together. A few weeks passed and our new pigs were contently consuming leftovers from the kitchen when I received a personal thank you, congratulating us on our diverse staff complement, something he saw as a crucial aspect of the new Namibia. I acknowledged the truth in his praise and how our diversity makes us stronger. This is still an important truism, ethos and guideline in Gondwana Collection Namibia, which we value immensely. It was a defining moment in the history of the company.
When we returned to Windhoek Alain and I, and our wives, received a formal invitation for lunch at the state house as Dr Nujoma extended his hand in generosity and friendship. Besides the hospitality, of the occasion, I remember the unexpected four courses of chicken.
Of Dr Nujoma’s legacy and the many steps forward that he took for and with the fledgeling country, one of the ones that I admire the most is the positive impact he had advancing the rights of women. I take off my hat to him, in respect and gratitude.
We met again when in 2002 Gondwana Collection Namibia received the ‘Investor of the year’ award, and Dr Nujoma presented the trophy.
The last time I met up with a then retired and elderly Dr Nujoma was when I visited him at his homestead on the outskirts of Okahao several years ago with my friend Professor Kerina, who had spent years lobbying for a free country. Besides their contributions to Namibia, the two men had known each other from early days when they played soccer together as children. We sat in the shade at his home sipping colddrinks as the two old men reminisced about the past.
I was saddened to hear that our Founding Father has finally left us. We extend heartfelt condolences to his family. Namibia will feel the magnitude of his loss and will remember the large part he played in its history.
The merit of ‘Diversity makes us stronger’ will remain with us forever.
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