Namibia needs everyone to address the suicide crisis
OPINION
The Namibian village....
For quite some time now, Namibia has been fighting a silent battle. Beneath the fights for employment, youth representation in politics, civic education and adequate resource distribution, lies a silent struggle many do not speak about until a fatality: Suicide, particularly amongst men, young people, and, ever since last year, bullied pre-teenagers. Between the years 2024 and 2025, more than 100 people died by suicide. Therefore, as an analyst, I would advise that our questions do not end at how but at why. Why, in a country so proud of its community spirit, are so many dying alone in their pain? Why, in the age of social media, are young people feeling more invisible than ever in human history?
The Broken Village
We once belonged to villages, not in a physical sense, but as a way of life. Our neighbours knew our names, our cousins were our therapists, and our mothers' friends were our second mothers. There was connection, compassion and accountability. Today, we have exchanged this for visibility.
Now we can live for years without knowing the person in the room next to ours. In schools, learners are plagued with burdens that are often dismissed because what problems can a child possibly have? Human interaction is eroding because people now find comfort in AI, and TikTok has advised that friends you know are “monitoring spirits”. Family feuds, friendship breakups and relationship drama fragment us both emotionally and spiritually in our “connected” world. The cost is fatal.
Social Media vs The Monitoring Spirit
Social media has not helped. It has turned life into a competition, a culture of constant comparison has been birthed, where one's worth is measured by how many likes one receives and how much one is able to do for themselves and people around them on social media.
Don’t even make the mistake of being caught in your friend's profile views, because now you too will be labelled a monitoring spirit. We have become so fluent in therapy vocabulary that we do not realise when we weaponise it. We are in an era where the fallout of neoliberal individualism is more visible, and we are now brands and not brothers and sisters. Even the healing journeys and grief have now become aesthetically pleasing. Jesus was never performative. He showed up for the poor, the broken in spirit, and those on the verge of death, not for applause but because He knew that we needed villages.
Be like Jesus – Matthew 20:28
In this verse, we are reminded that the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve. In today's day and age, this is a concept that has been forgotten in almost everything we do. When he lived amongst us, he listened, he fed and he noticed. He was emotionally available and community-oriented. This we must go back to. It is not enough to build mental health institutions or share mental health hotlines. We must become the hotline. We must make church, school, and even barbershops, salons and shebeens spaces of refuge. We must be walking mental health institutions.
Reclaiming the village
As the Namibian nation, we must rebuild our village with care and conversation. The government must aid in this by having policies reflect an urgency for the mental health crisis. Leaders must follow in the footsteps of the prime minister and be present, not just popular. Let us practice Ubuntu – not as a slogan but as a solution. We are because of each other. It reminds us that healing does not happen in isolation. Let us become a community where we all choose life in full.
A reminder....
This article is but a seed, but now it requires hard work. Speak up, reach out, check up, and check in, but most importantly, help out. Let us go back to our village. Let us slow down. Let us serve. Let us live. Even when the world tells us to compete and isolate, let us be like Jesus. Namibia needs everyone. One Namibia, One Nation
For quite some time now, Namibia has been fighting a silent battle. Beneath the fights for employment, youth representation in politics, civic education and adequate resource distribution, lies a silent struggle many do not speak about until a fatality: Suicide, particularly amongst men, young people, and, ever since last year, bullied pre-teenagers. Between the years 2024 and 2025, more than 100 people died by suicide. Therefore, as an analyst, I would advise that our questions do not end at how but at why. Why, in a country so proud of its community spirit, are so many dying alone in their pain? Why, in the age of social media, are young people feeling more invisible than ever in human history?
The Broken Village
We once belonged to villages, not in a physical sense, but as a way of life. Our neighbours knew our names, our cousins were our therapists, and our mothers' friends were our second mothers. There was connection, compassion and accountability. Today, we have exchanged this for visibility.
Now we can live for years without knowing the person in the room next to ours. In schools, learners are plagued with burdens that are often dismissed because what problems can a child possibly have? Human interaction is eroding because people now find comfort in AI, and TikTok has advised that friends you know are “monitoring spirits”. Family feuds, friendship breakups and relationship drama fragment us both emotionally and spiritually in our “connected” world. The cost is fatal.
Social Media vs The Monitoring Spirit
Social media has not helped. It has turned life into a competition, a culture of constant comparison has been birthed, where one's worth is measured by how many likes one receives and how much one is able to do for themselves and people around them on social media.
Don’t even make the mistake of being caught in your friend's profile views, because now you too will be labelled a monitoring spirit. We have become so fluent in therapy vocabulary that we do not realise when we weaponise it. We are in an era where the fallout of neoliberal individualism is more visible, and we are now brands and not brothers and sisters. Even the healing journeys and grief have now become aesthetically pleasing. Jesus was never performative. He showed up for the poor, the broken in spirit, and those on the verge of death, not for applause but because He knew that we needed villages.
Be like Jesus – Matthew 20:28
In this verse, we are reminded that the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve. In today's day and age, this is a concept that has been forgotten in almost everything we do. When he lived amongst us, he listened, he fed and he noticed. He was emotionally available and community-oriented. This we must go back to. It is not enough to build mental health institutions or share mental health hotlines. We must become the hotline. We must make church, school, and even barbershops, salons and shebeens spaces of refuge. We must be walking mental health institutions.
Reclaiming the village
As the Namibian nation, we must rebuild our village with care and conversation. The government must aid in this by having policies reflect an urgency for the mental health crisis. Leaders must follow in the footsteps of the prime minister and be present, not just popular. Let us practice Ubuntu – not as a slogan but as a solution. We are because of each other. It reminds us that healing does not happen in isolation. Let us become a community where we all choose life in full.
A reminder....
This article is but a seed, but now it requires hard work. Speak up, reach out, check up, and check in, but most importantly, help out. Let us go back to our village. Let us slow down. Let us serve. Let us live. Even when the world tells us to compete and isolate, let us be like Jesus. Namibia needs everyone. One Namibia, One Nation
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