A reflection on 32 years of independence
Namibia has celebrated 32 years of independence on 21 March 2022 and indeed one would agree that it came a long way, there are so many beautiful things in our country that we will always cherish as Namibians.
We will live with the concept of “unity in diversity”, with diverse languages, cultures and religions we live in harmony and celebrate each other with love; we welcome people from other countries with respect and care that is our valuable tradition as Namibians even though our politics took up a different toll over the past few years.
I would like to mention that let us not forget the great leaders of this country, people who fought for the freedom of this country. Most importantly, let us remember the way or rather the manner in which the independence of this country was fought for. Yes, there are many setbacks that we still face as a country such as corruption, youth unemployment, poverty and ignorance, however one cannot really deny that even the most successful countries have these setbacks, but at least here in Namibia, we have the freedom to talk about things such as corruption which is not the case with most countries around the globe.
Slowly the country is trying to eradicate poverty and one of these initiatives that had touched my heart is the food bank and the increment of the pension and other related social grants, even though everything in the world may change, principles and human values remain the same, there is no magic behind that. Even though I didn’t visit a lot of countries myself, you would agree with me that Namibia is known to be a country that follows these principles.
So let us continue to thank and praise our great leaders who fought for our freedom. Let us thank our government for recognising these heroes and heroines with investments in great structures such as the Heroes Acre, street names and other monuments.
Even though many of our heroes and heroines are no more, at least we know where they rest.
So, I call upon the youth, from this day forth think about the contributions you are going to make for this country. What would you want the next person in a few years from now to say about you or what you did for Namibia? It is our actions and where we invest most of our time that will determine whether we as a nation will be able to reach our goals for Vision 2030.
Most importantly, let us not focus on the things that we don’t have but rather on how to use what we have, and that includes our great talents and potential.
In order to make our country a better and safe place, let us spread the awareness, knowledge, values and try to gain wisdom from our almighty God every day in order to make Namibia our motherland... shine even brighter.