Nujoma is worth emulating

Imagine for a moment what life was like in Ongandjera 88 years ago. There was no electricity, no running water and no internet. There was only a group of people isolated from all the noise, death and destruction of Europe, Asia and the Americans that were now increasingly being confronted by outsiders. To grow up in a time when the stock markets crashed in New York meant very little to the homestead in which Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma grew up in. The man that would become the first leader of an independent nation is now our proverbial national grandfather. And the fact he is still going strong and looking after the nation from his farm at Etunda is a sign of how we can adapt and prosper. His revolutionary activism in which he organised the young and old as a PLAN and Swapo leader and his constant guerrilla war against the South African apartheid regime is was what led to the eventual capitulation and granting of independence to Namibia. Nujoma was there at the forefront of the Old Location resistance in 1958 then after he was arrested and deported. He represents not only the founding of our nation but the spirit as well. With what little education he was able to obtain from the Finnish at Okahao, he was able to study at night in Windhoek working on improving his English. He was aware that education was incredibly important for uplifting his station in life. It's still difficult for most to remember that he was exiled from South West Africa and was our representative to the outside world from 1960 until independence. Being forced to live far from his home country for much of his life, when Nujoma came back after independence, after 29 years of exile, he helped lead a nation that was again in transition. Yet, he knew exactly how we were to grow and prosper. His wisdom gained from spending so much time in western countries with universities, industries and governments that shine as beacons for free, liberty-loving people has been translated into our vernacular. Our universities have grown to include educating our own doctors and engineers. We have peacefully demonstrated that we, as Africans, can rule ourselves and pass the baton of power when requested by the people. Nujoma's life is indeed worth emulating and we wish him good health.