By: Kumari Lewis and Gaby Gretz
In history class
on Tuesday, Professor Mburumba Kerina [1] came to speak to us about German
colonization and early resistance in Namibia. We were all quite surprised to
find out what this man had accomplished in his life: he was the first Namibian
to study in the United States, he advocated for Namibian independence at the
United Nations, he co-founded South West Africa’s People’s Organization
(SWAPO), the currently major-ruling party, and he was the one to give Namibia
its name. We were very honored to have the opportunity to speak with him. After
reading articles and watching videos about colonization and resistance, it was
nice having the chance to hear from someone who was in the presence and the
making of the early resistance struggle in Namibia. Kerina started by telling
us about Okahanja and how it was the former headquarters of the Herero people.
When the Germans came to Okahanja, they told the Herero to move out. In 1904,
the Germans initiated a five-year genocide against the Herero people; this is
known as one of most vicious conflicts in Southern Africa. Concentration camps
were set up all over the country, especially in Swakopmund. On Shark Island,
prisoners who were considered too useless to work were thrown into the water to
be eaten by sharks. Before this lesson, many of us had not known the dark history
that Swakopmund had, and it was especially intriguing to listen knowing that we
will be visiting the coastal town in the next coming days. Kerina told us that
SWAPO was formed in 1957 in order to assure that the German’s would receive
their punishment. However, ever since the genocide occurred, justice has not
been served. He believes that the Herero should do as the Jews did after the
holocaust by asking for a contribution of some type to help the Herero people
get back on their feet, which doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Although, at the
same time, I personally believe that nothing, especially money, can completely
pay back the horrors lived through during the resistance struggle. And it is
clear, even today, that the colonizer’s presence in Namibia will probably never
disappear but there is some hope for an integrative society.
When googling Windhoek, one of the first
photographs that is displayed is that of the German church prominently placed
on top of a hill looking down on the rest of the city. My own photograph of the
church is pictured here.
The German Lutheran Church has a relatively
tiny congregation of about 200 in regular Sunday attendance, but seems to
maintain itself as a central symbol of the city of Windhoek.
This is extremely redolent of the colonial
relationship between Germany and Namibia. Although German colonial rule in
Namibia has officially ended, Germans still hold a firm grasp on many aspects
of Namibian society. Because of the pure nature of colonization this may not be
shocking. But when considering that approximately only seven percent of the
Namibian population is white while only two percent are German, it is
extraordinary how much influence Germans have maintained while also holding
onto much of the country’s wealth and controlling many businesses.
During our religion class this past week we
met with Pastor Schmidt [2], the head of the congregation at the German Lutheran
Church to discuss Christianity within Namibia and learn more specifically about
his congregation. What I found particularly interesting is that the services
are held solely in German and when asked whether Pastor Schmidt believed it to
be a deterrent for Namibians he expressed that he did not believe so. As a
group we found this very bizarre because the German language barrier is
strongly based on racial lines and it is hard to comprehend how he could not
see having the service in German acted as a racial impediment. He then went on
to explain that the church did offer services in English for a six month period
a few years ago but because there was little to no attendance of non-German
speakers, they reverted back to German at all services. If missionaries had
followed this example of only staying six months before returning home, it
seems unlikely that there would be any Christians in Africa as it took about
thirteen years for the first baptism to even occur. From the Namibian
perspective, it is very understandable why they did not jump at the opportunity
within the six-month period to attend a dominantly white Church service that
just so happened to be offered in English instead of German. And while the
pastor did verbally advocate for integration, it is saddening how few changes
the congregation is making to do so. All in all it was an extremely informative
experience and I am very glad that we had the opportunity to speak with the
pastor because it is certainly interesting to hear from multiple perspectives
regarding the still predominant segregation within Namibia. At this point we
can only hope the congregation and the rest of Namibian society will do more to
reach out and work toward a more equal and inclusive Namibia.
This blog is the work of our students. To learn more about Center for Global Education programming, visit us at www.centerforglobaleducation.org.
----------
[1] Mburumba Kerinas; Conversation on 30 September 2014, Windhoek, Namibia.
[2] Pastor Rudolf Schmidt; Conversation on 1 October 2014, Windhoek: Namibia.
No comments:
Post a Comment