Who and what is the ‘Namibian child’?

That it takes a village to raise a child, as the Africans say, is not just a cliché or a nice-sounding phrase to be quoted in speeches of politicians. The Africans mean this. Practically, this phrase means that raising a child is not the responsibility of the biological parents or the family from which the child emerges or resides. The Africans understood clearly that society does not only consist of that child and his/her parents.

The phrase is founded upon the principles of collectivism of values, principles and responsibilities. Children are therefore brought up to understand, defend and uphold group identity. It is expected that they must live by and grow with these collective values into their adulthood and pass them to their own children and those of others as they come across them.

It goes without saying that the collective curriculum - though not written in documents at the education ministry - is kept alive and transferred from one generation to the other with perfection, for this education has been integrated into daily lives and activities.

Every elder is a teacher and every child is a learner taught, corrected and oriented by the community. Standards of molarity and ethics, as collective activities, are universal to every child and the elderly, the teachers.

In today’s world, we often hear politicians saying ‘Namibian child’ this and ‘Namibian child’ that. “Let’s think of the Namibian child,” the politicians announce - much to the ululation and clapping of hands by the audience.

One only wishes there was a brave mother in the audience to ask the following questions: Who is this Namibian child? What does this child look like? How does this child define himself/herself? What language does the Namibian child speak? Does the Namibian child speak ‘Namibian’ like the German child speaks German? Without national identity documents, can this child’s identity still be affirmed?

In other words, to what extent is the identity of the Namibian child dependent - or independent - of home affairs documentation?

Knowing our politicians, who are not associated with sophistication, one can’t help but imagine how they would fumble and tremble at this question as they pick up a sword, just for them to later fall on it upon further further engagement.

One of the answers would probably be “hey, where were you when we were fighting the Boers?” And it’s not just politicians that have some questions to answer. Ask yourself and try answering these questions yourself. After answering them, evaluate the answers as if you were a teacher marking exam scripts.

Take a child from here, Kongola, and put this child in the same room with other children from Namibian villages and cities across the other 13 regions. What would these children have in common? One would expect that the education system would’ve created some common understanding of our country, but you realise that apart from names of ministers, there would be little in common.

Ask children from Berseba about the culture in Zambezi and, at the same time, ask them about about Disneyland. Do the same with children from the Kongola about the culture in Berseba. The answers would demonstrate that it is possible to do a lot but actually do nothing at the same time. It has been allowed, by the education ministry, for schools to follow whatever curriculum they want from wherever they find it. They do not impose any conditions on these schools. The results of children in the same country that follow different curricula will take us back to the earlier experiment of taking children from different areas and bringing them together.

Just look at how schools in major capitals of Windhoek, Swakopmund and Walvis Bay are allowed to continue for more than 33 years without teaching local languages - with the exception of Afrikaans. Some of these schools even proceed to teach children who can’t speak their mother tongues foreign languages. If it is simple as issuing a circular ordering that each school must have a minimum of three local languages in their curriculum, whether public or private, why has this not happened?

How can a Namibian child exist when such a child cannot be identified and his/her attributes and characteristics pointed out? How do we know that Namibian child? There is no doubt that a German child exists. It is also no doubt that a Chinese child exists. The German child can even exist in Namibia, even when he/she has never set a foot in Germany.

Is there anyone who doubts the Chinese child? A question that requires sober reflection remains: Who and what is the Namibian child?

*Muthoni waKongola is a native of Kongola in the Zambezi Region primarily concerned with analysing society and offering ideas for a better Namibia. She is reachable at [email protected] or @wakongola on X.