Namibia N O W ~: Finding Your Voice

When I was at home in Seattle, I had the pleasure and joy of dancing NIA with NIA Instructor Jennifer Lucero-Earle. This uplifting, soul-satisfying combination of martial arts, healing arts and dance arts is therapeutic in so many ways. It is a truly expressive art form, and focuses on flexibility in that there is no one right or wrong way to dance NIA: it encourages true self-expression. It has also helped me to find my voice. Because it is an amalgamation of the physical, the spiritual and the emotional, it helps one to gather one’s strength, power, and creativity. This weekend I am thinking about the NIA community at home and my new NIA community here in Namibia because there was a NIA jam in Windhoek – unfortunately I wasn’t able to be there, but it is on my mind and heart nonetheless.

The topic of finding your voice is a difficult and an important one – and one of my biggest challenges and aspirations at the moment. In Amnesty International, we talk about “shining the light.” I firmly believe that if we are born into democratic societies and have the privilege and ability to use our voice, there is not only the opportunity, but the OBLIGATION to use one’s voice, to advocate for positive social change, to shine a light where and how we can. This should not be understood as proselytizing - it is extremely important to RESPECT the local culture, norms and beliefs. I struggle with this on a daily basis. One example is corporal punishment. While now constitutionally illegal in Namibia, many parents and teachers still believe strongly in its merit. There are many times when I have to be diplomatic and keep my voice silenced, yet ride the line between speaking out when there is a situation or a sentiment that I find truly wrong. Our group of volunteers in Namibia chooses to offer alternative solutions for classroom management when and if it is appropriate. As Gandhi said, you have to “Be the Change You Wish to See in the World.”

Riding this cultural line also appeared recently in the youth club that 2 colleagues and I have begun at our school. We are working with 10 student leaders on issues of gender equality and youth empowerment. We were discussing the roles of men and women in Namibian society. I was expressing concern over how, despite often being employed full time, women are often expected to do ALL of the housework. One of our best and brightest male students looked at me, and spoke up, “Miss, what about our tradition and our culture? We have learned to respect our elders and need to value our tradition.” But, he continued, he believed that women and girls should do the cooking and household chores. I told him that I respect him so much as a learner, and that he is right – we all must straddle the divide between our culture/tradition/heritage and what we as humans now and today believe is the right way.

There are many human rights violations which find their origins steeped in tradition. A classic example is female genital cutting. There are many different forms of this – the most extreme can pose a health hazard for women, and many consider it to be a human rights violation. However, we as “westerners” cannot march into a village and tell people their cultural practices are wrong! This immediately alienates and discredits you. It isn’t your culture, traditions or people! Thus, I was similarly glad at our meeting when my female Namibian colleague spoke up and agreed that yes, we must respect our culture and traditions, but that it will always be there, and that it can also be questioned, and that we can also work to be sensitive towards gender norms.

These are difficult conversations and issues which offer no easy answers.

Also related to finding one’s voice, but on a slightly different topic…I posted recently about some community members that had made some racist comments while in the presence of one of my Namibian friends. Recently, in the presence of similar community members, I finally found the courage to use my voice. I simply said, “you shouldn’t say that about them” (them being our local black Namibians) and told the person that such comments make me sad. While I don’t know if my words will have any effect, I feel comforted by the fact that I did try my best in that situation NOT to simply sit by and let the words sting my ears.

The history and the haphazard line to justice here is skewed, complex and ongoing. I am currently reading a book by Antjie Krog called Country of My Skull. Krog was a journalist who covered the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. Her account of the Truth Commission is equal parts horror and redemption. You are spellbound; captivated by the past and in absolute awe of the grit and strength yet the absolute vulnerability of the survivors as they account their stories of torture, death, and persecution under the apartheid system in South Africa. The book is bold and astonishing in its raw truth. It is bitter. It turns your stomach. And you find that heroes sometimes aren’t heroes – I read in the newspaper that Winnie Mandela is again facing charges for her work with death squads responsible for the deaths of many under apartheid. Apparently she became increasingly militarized and used violent measures to counteract apartheid.

And so I see parallels between Krog’s book and us in our daily lives. Yes, it was and is horrifying to look squarely in the face the atrocities that were committed during South African or Namibian apartheid, during any war or any other time of struggle in our history…yet isn’t there redemption in the examination, acceptance, the moving beyond the past? Don’t we feel this in ourselves? That which we don’t face will pull us under again and again. The same lessons will resurface again and again until we face them. Our challenges, learning, struggles always come full circle. Someone said in Krog’s book that societies with a “less democratic” past must constantly assess their sense of justice. Yet I think this applies to everyone and every state, no matter the past. Malcolm Gladwell talks about the tipping point and the ethos or mentalities that can “tip” a society towards positive good or evil. And we all play our part in that. We are infinitely powerful and should not forget our spheres of influence. That everything you think, say and do is important. That you affect everyone around you.

As Gandhi said:

“Carefully watch your THOUGHTS, for they become your WORDS. Manage and watch your WORDS, for they will become your ACTIONS. Consider and judge your ACTIONS, for they have become your HABITS. Acknowledge and watch your HABITS, for they shall become your VALUES. Understand and embrace your VALUES, for they become YOUR DESTINY.”

As my friend Melanie said recently, “There are so many lessons in life that we can’t learn until we are quiet enough to hear them.” She is right. And I think of the powerful lessons that were taught and received during the Truth Commission in South Africa. Of the powerful lessons each of us learns every day. If we have the courage to be quiet enough to listen.