Namibian author explores healthy friendships

Author and communications coach Loide Nantinda is asking all the right questions in her new book: what happens when you are always the one checking in, making plans and holding friendships together?

Nantinda is set to unveil her book, The Open Hand: The Art of Grace, Reciprocity, and the Courage to Be Still in Friendships, at an empowerment gathering titled Focus FM Presents: The Woman Within & The Open Hand Experience this Saturday, 24 October.

The launch will take place at The Opera House in The Village in Windhoek, with guests invited to embrace the 'Blissful Spring' dress theme, featuring vibrant pink and warm orange.

The event will bring women together for an evening of personal growth, leadership conversations and sisterhood. Drawing on her experience coaching high-achieving women, Nantinda explores the exhaustion that comes with constantly being the person who sustains relationships. Her book challenges the idea that women must always be available, dependable and willing to carry friendships, even when their efforts are not reciprocated.

Rather than encouraging women to build walls, the book offers a spiritually grounded approach to healthy boundaries, mutual respect and relationships in which both people contribute.

“I wrote this book for every woman who is tired of hosting friendships instead of participating in them,” Nantinda says.

She describes the book as an invitation to move away from anxiety-driven, over-functioning behaviour towards a more peaceful and open way of living through healthy relationships.

A night of connection

Dedicated to her late mother, Victoria Nangolo, and grandmother, Vistorina Nangolo, the book also offers practical tools for navigating life’s changing seasons and the complexities of adult friendships.

The programme will feature a keynote address and master facilitation session led by Atlanta-based Tierra Destiny Reid, focusing on self-discovery, leadership and emotional depth.

A panel discussion featuring Ndapewa Hangula and Nantinda will explore professional journeys, sisterhood and opportunities to strengthen business networks between Namibian and American women.

The evening will also include a friendship circle panel moderated by Zenzi Awases, with Seija Amaambo and Nantinda discussing the book’s central themes.

For women ready to rethink what showing up for one another really means, Nantinda’s gathering promises an opportunity to celebrate connection while making room for relationships that give as much as they receive.