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JANUARY.MARCH 2015

WHO WE AR€

Be part of our ontinecommunity

HELLO

r HEINRICHBOLLSTIFTUNG

euffoK! [oT€n1967 Martin Luther Kingdelivered a sermon on peace inwhich he highlights the inter-related quality of human kind'sinescapable mutuality. He

pointed out howwe can't leave for work

in the morning without having depended

on half the world - from the sponge in

the bathroom to the tea cup or cocoa or

even bread coming from various parts

of the world. And so his argument is"Whatever affects one directly, affects all

indirectly". It is with this understanding

lthat one recognises a similar mutuality

in the relation between mankind and'nature.

TtlEENVIRONMENTALCRlSlSof cl imate' ' . .,, ; .'

change threatens to engulfus all; beingunbaised in all respects. Drought . -'-ravages the crops of rich weekend farmers as well as communal farmers;. '.j :

tgunamis cripple strong, and weak econbmies - ask Japan and Haiti. Anh 1 - -,while it is also no discriminator of gender, women and children are oftgn' ' -

."trgctedditr"rentlyto*eo. ' -

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. : . ' ' : ' - ' , . .

lnNarnibia we have seen climate change and natural disasters result in ' '. t'' '

displaced people, increased hospitalization of malnourished children, : ' ,,.

increased.urbanisation as people flee rural areas in search of jobs that can. .= '

buy canned foodi'These realities make for a world in which we need to ; , .become mindful of our effect on both nature dnd our nbighbour. . .-. . ,

. : . . : _

This edition of Sister Namibia explores the effect of climate change on l' l' '

women by looking a't food security, disaster management,and,the qhlft in . .:.',--donor funding fr-gm gendel issues to climate change issueg. *"

"ro a"pu ' ,: ,,:

a look at conservancies headed by women; women envrronmentalists. and., : .women in tourism as well as a helpful DIY project.'Our Broth€r Namibiaarticleshedsauniqueviewonfightingpoaching.Wea]sotakeq1Qqk.atthe political climate change in which Namibia transitions from'4;ma'le. ., ;ddrninated government to a much more visible feraalg p1e;elrce,io-2O15: '

I draw inspirdtion from Al Goret idea that the ;'will to ait'; is a rgnew-able resource. His focus is on climate change.but bo easily.tied to Kiirg'sadage. The effect of careless treatment of nature for seldsh economicreasons is concretely evident in tsunamis that destroy inftastr.ucture,icebergs that melt and leave polar bears without a home and the rising ofsea levels that claim inhabited land. May our will to act fight to curblhe -

destructi&r of selfish iiving that exploit both nature and our neighboirr. r

HappyReading!- ' . ,.. ,

@ ,d,tuw,

WHATI INIPEtie{]i,rR64

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9 FAST FACTS Africa and environment facts

LL GIVEAWAY Send your personal cuttural story of your culture

L2 BROTHER NAMIBIA Combating poaching through art

15 The issue is . . .

24 PHOTO E55AY Beading hands

29 DO lT YOURSELF DIY herb garden

3O BOOI( REVIEW Fifty shades of red

3t WOMEN'S HEALTH VaginaI yeast infection

32 TRANSLATION Mapadi aSebetiswa l<anal<o yal(ul<e[uha afa. Basati Mata

The wheel behind the *l(hoadi-llHilas Conservancy:

Hitga Gawises

Namibian women in tourism

Donors and Namibia: ls a funding crunch in the pipeLine?

Financing for gender equal, i ty in Africa... An uneven [andscape

ls i t a cr ime to be gay in Namibia?

COVER STORY Women empowerment for food security

Women's safety: A consideration with no exemption

In l imbo in the deber t

VOX POPS 5o/50 Representation: A step ctoser to the ideal,

Breaking free for freedom

RE4ULARS

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www.sisternamibia.oro SISTER NAMIBIA

CHAIRPERSON'S NOTES

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SISTER NAMIBIA, IT5 BOARD OF DIRECTORS,

STAFF AND ITS REAIIERSHIP congrahrlate

the new government under the leadership of

H.E. President, Dr Hage Geingob. We are also

extremely proud of the appointment of the

female, Right Honourable Prime Ministry Hon.

Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila as the country's

first female Prime Minister and the Right

Honourable Deputy Prime Ministry Netumbo

Nandi-Ndaitwah. We applaud all the women

and men who made it into Parliament and have

full confidence that issues affecting women will

enjoy your attention and concrete solutions will

be tound.

According to the 2011 Population and

Housing Census Basic Report over 57 percent of Namibians live

in rural areas, where their livelihood depends on the natural

environment for food, medicinal plarits, shelter and income

generation. Women and men's.relationship to the environment

differs significantly'with male involvement leaning towards the

commercial appropriation of nature whilst women's involvement

primarily leans towards providing for the family. Womens

traditional roles as the primary users ald managers of natural

resources, primary caregivers, and labourers engaged in unpaid

labour mean they are involved in and dependent on livelihoods

and resources that are put most at risk by climate change. '

To ensure an equitable response to and mitigation of the effect

of climate change both men and worhen need to be involved

to effectively intervene in climate change matters, become

integrated in climate change institutions, and be engaged in

policy and decision making processes at a-ll levels. This will be

complemented by mechanisms that motivate and build the

capacities of women to participate in decision-making. It is also

recognised that the actions that women can take depend on the

strength oftheir networking which calls for a closer collaboration

between law makers, in particular female parliamentarians and

rural women, who are likely to feel the effect of climate change

and environmental degradation more adversely. Wornen and

gender experts should ensure that they are well-informed about

the gendered dimensions of ciimate sensitive sectors, particularly

the existing inequalities between men and women and how

climate change can exacerbate these inequalities. In this regard,

the empowerment of women in all aspects, including their access

to appropriate information, skills and adequate resources, to

enable them to act in a timely manner, is seen as key. This will

take concerted efforts on the side of the State and other key

players such as traditional authorities and community-based

organisations to advocate gender equality when intervening

during environmental catastrophes such as drought, floods, feld

fires and other environmental catastrophes that Namibia might

face. Both men and women need to be sensitised on the collective

gains to be made if gender equality is embraced in society.

Mt. f,t {IiA(ULAT€ U4o'IltSISTER NAMIBIA BOARD OF IRUSTEES CHAIRPERSON

Emait:

PostaI Address:

Town/City:

l year subscription includes 4 editions(ptease ticl< appropriate box)

Namibia @ N5120.00

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SUBSCRIPTION FORMMrs Mr Dr Prof OtherTitle: Ms

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:'r& $ & ff3:%': ,i':,'"'" *-#t # trR &t' i I'*': ;;; I i:,.. :I - l ' ' ' t ' j '

; . \qf f l l ' , - ' - ' ' . ' ' r +: i # ' : . . 1 r " * , 1

JANUARY 2OI5i:tl: Liti e s. ZAMBIA GETS FIRST FEMALE

VICE-PRESIDENT: Inonge Mu-

tukwaWina.. At an officer's graduation

ceremony in Rundu, PresidentPohamba, who is also the

Commander-in-Chief of theNDF, expresses the wish to seemore women become officersin the Namibia Defence Force(NDF).

{ ienc!er- Saseci Vit : l .r : I i r*. Two judges of the High Court

on Tuesday denied a convictedchild rapist the chance to ap-peal his 4O-year sentence in theSupreme Court.

. RAPE DOMINATES THE CRIMESCENE.

' The Gobabis-based Izak Boys

Junior Secondary School wins

trophy for strong anti-GBVmessage.

FEBRUARY 20I 5. , . ; i . : "

. ,

. A Ltideritz resident who wastried and convicted of rapinghis teenage stepdaughter hasbeen granted N$50 000 bail bythe Keetmanshoop RegionalCourt pending an appeal.

. SIX WOMEN WERE MUR-DERED AND ONE WAS

SEVERELY INJURED, whereoftwo supposedly by women, theothers by their male partners

or, in the case of Martha llonga,accidentally by the police.

. Jacob Khoikhoi, 27, wasfound guilty of murdering his

pregnant girlfriend,Anna SelliePana,2O, by stabbing her todeath with a knife, has beensent to jail for 35 years.

. Eight rape cases appeared inthe news in February, whereoftwo concerned pensionervictims, two small children andthe remaining young peoplethat were out during weekends.

. Monica Ndahambelela Harlu-koto, got a one-year iail-termfor murdering another woman.

i lcr" i i rr-r,' Law Reform and Development

Commission begins discussionwith chiefs and communitreson reforms to marriage law,concerns arise about traditions,polygamy and equality betweenmen and women.

. Incorhing President Hage Gein-gob and Monica Kalondo gotmarried on Valentine's Day.

. The Miss High School Namibiacompetition (held on 2B Febru-ary) invites girl students tocampaign for pupils to improvetheir academic performance.

Heatth. Health ministry hosts

Valentine's campaign to urge

couples on HIV-testing andprevention of infection

EU TAUNCHES PROJECT tosupport rulnerable childrenin Katutura

i ! . r r i

. UN REPORTS HIGHTIGHT

RISKS OF VIOIENCE faced byAfrican chi ldren and barriersto girls seeking education.

MARCH 2OI5

. Namibia witnesses appoint-ment of first female PrimeMinister.: Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila.

: l r : , , 1 ; - . 6 ; , ' j ; r ;

. Thousands offarmers espe-cially from the northern andIGvango plead with govern-ment for drought relief.

.r.,,, i - i i .. r 1. I i): '

. The entire ministry of Educa-tion was allocated femaleministers both for the ministe-rial and the deputy ministerialpositions.

. NINE TEENAGE PREGNAN.

CIES WERE RECORDED ATTHE ONTOKO COMBINED

SCHOOL in Omusati Region

since the school opened for thi2015 academic year.

i - . ; : i ! ' i , l i t i i . : : : - i . . :d , , , r ! {JLL j f i tg

' A 34-year old woman fromOluteyi village in the Okahaoconstituency died after beingstabbed over 20 times by herlover. Her two-year old son wit-nessed the murder and spentthe night next to his mother'scorps.

. 3O.YEAR-OTD CHRISTINE

GEIsEs WAs AXED TO DEATHBY HER BOYFRIEND aged 39after she refused to preparefood.

. A Nampol officer from Oshaka-ti shot and killed his girlfriendand then committed suicide.

. A Katima Mulilo child rapistgot a five year increase in ajail sentence after he appealedthe 12 year sentence he firstrecieved. He will now bespending 17 years in prison

. A man from Gobabis districtwas sentenced to 35 yearsimprisonment for murdering

his pregnant girlfriend.. A policeman, identified as

Benhard Heinrich, was a com-mander at the installation unitin Oshakati shot and kiiled hiswife, Netesia Neumbo and thentook his own life at Okand-jengedi.

. 49-year old Jop Hangula,

Sergeant in the Special ReserveUnit of the Namibian PoliceForce shot his girlfriend,

42-ye&-o1d Niita Beata Endjala.

\ '

ENVIRONMENT

IHE WHEE1BEHIND

bylnnocentia Gaoes ' Photographs contributed

WITH NAM|B|A BEING THE FIRST lN THE WORLD to include habitat and protection of its natu-

ral resources in its constitution, the country has over B0 communal conservancies withover 42o/o of the country's surface area occupied by these conservancies. Sister Namibiatalks to Hilga Gawises, head of the first and largest conservancy in Namibia.

+Khoadi- //H6as is one of

the first conservancies in

the country and has been

under the management of

Hilga Gawises for the past 17

years. As a woman she has

transformed her conservancy

into the biggest and most

successfu lly-run conservancy

in the country.

5N: What does it take torun a constituency?HG: You need to have thewillpower to succeed against

all odds. As a leader wh<r

wants to make a difference

you should know anyone can

be in a position of leadership,

but to truly lead successfully

you need to have skills. This

includes practising patience

.and nurturing unity amongst

ENVIRONMENT EDITION

your community members.

Division is so destructive.

but a people of one mind can

achieve great things.

5N: As a woman$eadingthe biggest conservancyin the country, did youreceive any criticism?HG: No. Before the estab-

lishment of this conserv-

ancylstartedawomen's

youth group together with

Tanta Mina. So I was already

involved with women in

the community and when

the establishment of the

conservancy started, people,

especially men from the

Groot Berg area where I grew

up also wanted to see the

idea succeed and supported

wherever they could.

5N: What are some ofthe day-to-day chatteng-es ypu face with runninga conservancy?HG: I'd say the lack of gam'e

guards'equipment as well as

the conflict between humans

and wildlife. The lack of wa-

ter has caused humans and

animals to begin compet-

ing for water. We have staff

driving out into the fields

and they do not have enough

equipment and food to travel

with because we lack funds.

My staff members are dedi-

cated, hardworking people

and I would like to see their

lalaries increase. In the face

of these realities, I draw up a

weekly workplan every Mon-

day to be better prepared to

deal with these challenges.

5N: What lessons haveyou learntduringtheyears you have been partof yoUr conservancy?HG: I learned that one needs

to have interpersonal anc

decision making skills. You

must be able to work with

people and know how to

handle staff with their vari-

ous demands and expecta-

tions. I also learned that one

must be able to negotiate

deals that can help with the

growth and success of the

conservancy in terms of

funding, skills development

and exposure to the outside

world.

It is also important to be

financially wise and know

when and how to spend your

funds to avoid overspend-

ing and underspending. Youmust monitor the budget tothe core. As the manager Ihave also learned the impor-tance of being able to hostmeetings such as the AnnualGeneral Meetings and theimportance of marketingmy conservancy whenever Iget the opportunity to go forinternational seminars andworkshops.

The other thing is toalways update the commu-nity members on the plansaod progress for the con-servancy and the outcomesfrom various meetings youattend. I use the radio tocommunicate this informa-tion. Make them feel part ofthe process as they can assistyou in some things whichyou may have overlooked asthe manager.

From my experienceI can confidently say thatworking closely and listen-ing to the community beforejust getting up and i".ti"g Idecisions can make you asuccessful manager

5N: How has the recentdrought affected yourconservancy afea?HG: It has affected us badly.Our whter holes dried upand some animals migratedto other areas whilst someanimals now drink from thehuman water points. Wefarm with livestock such asgoats and cattle. But recentlywe have lost many livestockto the drought as well asto predators tlrat have d.lsobecome desperate.

5N: What measures didyou use to resotve theeffects of drought?HG: Despite the drought wemanaged to feed our commu-nity members with the assist-ance from the governmentthrough the drought relieveaid and through communityhunting where we hunt anddistribute meat to about a1000 community members.

SN: Why are conservan-cies important; whatbenefits do they have?

HG: Conservancies includea number of benefits for thecommunity including jobcreation and skills develop-ment. Our conservancycurrently employs over a100 people and the numberis still on the increase. Thecommunities around theconservancy are well takencare. Our area is zoned ineight areas and we assistthem all with developmentalprogrammes. We make bur-saries available and supportkindergartens in the area.We also supply diesel andfinancial assistance to com-munity members especiallythose who get their waterpumps damaged by theelephants.

We also empower theyouth through sports activi-ties. We fund netball andsoccer tournaments andthrough these programmes

the youth are able to visitand interact with youth fromdifferent conservancies. Wecover all the travel, food andaccommodation expenses.All this is possible for thecommunity because of theconservancy, so it is reallybeneficial.

5N: Do you think there isa need for more con-servancies in the coun-try and why?HG: Looking at what wehave achieved and how ourcommunities have beenenriched by the conservanqr,I can say conseryancies en'hance the rural communitylifestyles. Conservancies cre-ate jobs and reduce poverty.We thank Government forcontinuously supportingthese programmes. So yes,establishing more conservan-cies would be good.

SNlHowwittyou de-scribe invotvement ofNarfribian women inconservancies?HG: It is reallv pleasant

U r .a

to see that the number ofwomen in conservanciesgrowing. Women are visiblein leadership positions inconseryancies and one cansee that conservancies run bywomen are successful. I urgemore women to take up thetask of running a conserv-ancy.

5N: What is your adviceto women in conservingconservancies?HG: I want us to get up as

women and be more vis-ible on the decision mak-ing front, especially rural

women. We are pillars of

the society so do not let theIanguage barrier put you offin trying out something. So

you cant speak English or

German, well you can find

someone to translate. The

brilliant idea and the gutsyou have are all that mat-

ters to make a difference in

people's lives.

I invite women to learnfrom those managing a

conservancy successfully to

learn about their best prac-

tices and find a way forward

to succeed. We need to assist

each other as we are workingfor the common goal whichis to safeguard our environ-ment and improve the skills

of the locals in understand-

ingand d;atingwith the

wildlife.

Narrtibian women let's

get up and move mountains.l

www.sisternamibia.orq SISTER NA rllBlA

ENVIRONMENT

SgAffiIBIANWOffiEN INTOURISMby Innocentia Gaoes ' Photographs contributed

ATTHOUGH WOMEN have naturally been under-represented in environmental and natureconservation spheres a great number of women have become more and more visible in the#ildlife, hospitality, crafts and nature conservation spheres. This proves right the phenom-enon that women can do anything if they get the opportunity.

LENA FLORRY started off as a waitress

at Wilderness Safaris in 1997 ald

is currently the reglonal manager

overseeing four lodges of Wilderness

Safaris in the Northwest of the country.

These lodges include Damara Land

Camp, Doronawas Lodge, Desert Rhino

Camp and Damara Land Adventure

Camp. Florry knew nothing about the

environment when she started but

achieved a whole lot because of her kebn

interest in the subject and because she

did not view it as a man's job.

For Florry environmental

conservation is a mindset we should

raise our children with. "Preserving your

environment should start at home. You

should teach your children to always

throw their rubbish in the bin, and never

to throw cool drink bottles and litter out

of the car windows," Florry said, adding

that these small things make a very big

difference in the environment.

She further said we all have

a responsibility to look after the

environment since nature nurtures us

and we should therefore also look after

it. Besides, many Namibians have jobs

because of the environment. hence the

importance of conservation. "It is because

of the beautiful and clean Namibian

environment that we are able to attract

tourists to our country. They come to

view our beautiful nature reserves and

wildlife. If we do not take care of the

environment, all of this wbuld be gone

and the tourists will not be interested in

coming to our country for a visit, which

will leave us jobless," FIorry emphasised.

Florry expressed her concern around

the current poverty situation in the

countrywith the escalating number of

shacks especially in urban areas. The

situation has a negative impact on the

environment. She said a number of

Namibians, especially those living in

shadks, use detergents which are rich in

ihemicals for bathing, washing clothes

and dishes and thereafter iust throw it

out, damaging the environment. "People

in shacks do not have proper sanitation.

They use the nearby bushes to relieve

themselves and they just throw toilet

paper in the bushes after cleaning

themselves. This does not iust have an

effect on the environment h-rt also on

humans as they have to inhale and daily

Iive with these unpleasant smells," said

Florry. -

LANDINE GUIMIn agreement with Florry Landine

Guim, who has been with the +Khoadi-//

H6as Conservancy for 18 years - first

as environmental shepherd and now

as bookkeeper - said it takes strong and

brave women to join the environmental

sector.

Although having dropped out of

school at a very young age because of

poor health, Guim currently possesses

enviable environmentalskills due to

her training and experience. "Thanks

to the workshops and trainings I

received during my years in wild life

protection and nature conservation,

I am now prepared for arry encounterI may have with the wildlife, especiallydangerous animals like elephants, lions,rhinos and even snakes." said Guim.She added that she can tell animal trailsapart and can tell when or how long agothe trail was left behind. "When I amon a highland and I spot an elephant, Iknow that one of the first things I haveto do is not to turn around and run butrather identifu the wind direction andget downwind from the elephant. Thiswill make it difficult for the elephant tosmell my presence thereby preventing anencounter," said Guim.

Guim said although

workingwith the

wildlife is not for

the faint-healted

it is nbt a

diffrcult process.

She said as

long as one is

prepared for

encounters

withwild

animals and

is skilled in

how

react in these encounters survival in

the wild wiil be easy.

She urged women not to sit idle

but to rather become entrepreneurs

as there are many business

opportunities for women in tourism.According to Guim women can

use their hands to make beautiful

craft products for the booming craftmarket. "I want women to stand

up for themselves, they must make

dolis, necklaces, wristbands andmany different craft products and

approach different lodges to sell

their products there. "They must not

see the lack of money as an obstacle while

God has blesded them with two hands.The government is assist ing women in

small business, we need tr-r stand up aswomen and grab these opportunities sothat we can become less dependent on

our partners for money," advised Guim.

She said when women become well-informed on business opportunities andmake their own money the escalating

cases ofgender-based violence in the

county can be reversed.

MILBA TJAHEREWith a story slightly different from

that of Florris and Guim, Milba Tjahereis also in the tourism sector. Tjahereventured into her business due tofinancial problems she encountered whenher family grew and her daytime job wasinsufficient to sustain her household. Irt1994 she started trading from her housewith the goat heads locally known as"smiiies".

"l would go to work early in themorning and come back at five and

continue with my business at home andI would seli even up to one or two in themolning," said Tiahere adding that she

continued running these two jobs until

she realised she was mal<ing more money{iom home than from her daytime job.

She worked for M&Z Restaurant for ten

years after completing high school atAugustinium and worked another five

years at Cattle Copper in Windhoek."l decided to quit my job and focus

my time and energy on my business

after I saw the profit my business

was bringing in. Money should not

{ stop you from startirrg your own

business as long as you have yourtwo hands," advised Tjahere. From

currently does cateringfor tourists, conferences,

weddings, parties and

special events with a

cliental ranging from

government entities to

the Council of Churches,

municipalities and

school functions. She

saw an opportunity

in traditional food

being highly preferred

by both locals and

tourists and grabbed

the opp6rtunity withboth hands. The Otjikaendu Den

currently employs 17 employees of which15 are women.

Milba was awarded the NamibianBusiness Woman of the Year award in2002. She represented Namibia in thePhilippines through the Ministry of Tradeand Industry at the International FoodProcessing and Industry Developrhent

workshop in 2005 and received a goldmedal at the Windhoek Tourism Expo in2008.

Apart from her business, Tjahereis also a community activist. She holds

talks with women in her community

and makes use of the Otjiherero radio

platform to encourage women to get upand do something for themselves andbecome independent. Tf ahere said shefinds women in general lazy adding thatthe current sad reality is the dependencysyndrome as young girls become highly

dependent on their partners from a very

young age without thinking beyond thebo/riend and achieving grehter things inlife for themselves. "During our schooldays we were satisfied as long as we hadour school uniform and the books, buttoday young people want more. They

want luxury things

which just lead to their downfall, Tjahere

said. "Women should understand thatthey are the house. They should befeminine, take care of themselves andnot give up their dignity for money andmaterial things, they must be proud to bea woman;' advised Tjahere stating thatwomen in Namibia have men problemswhich drag them down

All thiee these women had a highinterest in the natural'environment

and human engagement surroundingit that they decided to make a careerin environment and tourism. They

all believe that although Namibia is

an environment friendly country, themajority of the public still need to beeducated in preserving the environment

adding that inclusive conservation isthe key to achieving environmental

protection in the country.These women called on the nation to

be proud of the country's environmentand not see conservation as thegovernment's job but rather as somethingwhich is beneficial to the entire countryas it is generates thousands of jobs andattracts tourists to the country. I

www.sisternamibia.org SISTER NAMIBIA

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goat heads in1994, Tjahere

FUNDING

DONORS AND NAMIBIA:fS AFUtrOItrO CfrUFICH,fl THEPIPELINE?by Alexander O'Riordan,.UCT Graduate Student/Development Effectiveness Researcher

THE pARts BASED THTNK ?Attr, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

(OECD) reported late last year that donor spending on climate change rose four fold since 2007 to

over $N400 billion in20L3. The vast majority of this climate change money is spent on mitigation

rather than.adaptation thus not being directed at helping poor people adapt to climate change but

rather on helping large corporations reduce their impact on the environment.

onors are now spending more than a quarter of what

they commit to poverty alle?iation on climate change

and this money is coming out of funds that would

otherwise go on health or education. In fact while

spending of climate change has increased six fold in recent

years spending on official development assistance as a whole

has largely remained the same over the last decade. As problem-

atically, the shift away from fundingwomen's rights and gender

organisations for social and health issues a shift of funding is

also occuring away from Africa. Unfortunately there is now a

serious threat looming in a potential dual assault on funding for

women's rights and gender organisations in Namibiaby donors

spending less on related issues and less on Namibia in general.

When looking at the N$400 billion that donors allocated

to climate change, the biggest proportion is being spent in the

wealthiest part of the developing world. More than a third of

climate spending or about N$160 billion of the N$400 billion

spent in 2013 is granted to Asian countries like India and China

who ironically are rich enough themselves to be donors. Simi-

Iarly, even when these funds make it to Africa they steer clear

ofthe smaller and poorer countries and are rather spent in the

richer and larger economies of South Africa and Kenya. Worse

still the OECD's analysis of donor forward spending plans pre-

dicts that less poverty alleviation money will make its way to

Africa post 2015 and more to comparatively rich countries like

India. If unchecked, climate change will only contribute to the

perverse imbalances in global spend on poverty alleviation.

Currently donors spend N$2,300 per capita on poverty alle-

.viation in luxury tourist meccas like the Cook Islands and only

ENVIRONMENT EDITION

I

I

N$450 per capita in Africa. With the rise of climate financing

it is highly likely that these imbalances may very well continue

if not expand.

Namibia's civil society may very well be unprepared for the

coming storm. Aid spending to Namibia over the last five years

has remained fairly consistent at around $N3.3 billion a year

but the vast majority of this funding is from the United States.

As the table below shows, the US accounted for more than half

of ai{ spending in Namibia over the past two years. And herein

lies the added risk - it is an open secret that the vast majority of

US spending in Namibia isbn combating HIV/AIDS that is not

quite the pandemic it once was whilst also increasingly seen

as the responsibility of the government and less so of interna-

tional donors. Should donors cumulatively reduce spending on

HIV/AIDS whilst increasing spending on climate financing it is

only a matter of time before Namibias civil society is faced with

a significant budget crisis.

NAMIBIAN MITLIONS DISBURSEMENTS BY KEY DONORS

TO NAMTBTA (OECD.ORCI2008 2009 2010N$ N$ N$

All

Donors 2!12.07 3,335.46 3,104.18 3,537.65 3A60.27 3,505.32

Germany 320.26 473.74 330.79 852.32 588.67 495.?7

$veden 26.75 28.87 37.33 56.01 67.23 61.16

United

States 815.94 1,038.19 7,347.78 1,298.95 t,7rz.zL 1,884.91European

Union 305.85

2011N$

2072N$

2073N$

174.80 724.35 477.75

The risks should not be underestimated: in 2013, close toN$2 billlion of the N$3.5 billion spent by donors in Namibiawas on only twenty projects. Of this N$2 billion, 80o/o went tosocial causes such as health and education most of which havegender components. Worse still, a scat-r of the post-2015 devel-opment policy environment implies that there will likely be aseismic shift by donors away from funding social causes and to-wards partnerships with the private sector, blending grants andloans, working on domestic tax collection, improving transpar-ency and promoting mutually beneficial economic growth anddevelopment. What all this means is that if women's and genderrights organisations are to remain sizable beneficiaries of donorfunds they must either change the global consensus on whatthe emerging priorities are or find a way to repackage them-selves"into emerging global priorities.

. The easier and possibly more strategic battle will not be acampaign against international donor's changing their priori-ties. Instead, attention should be focused on redefining emerg-ing priorities_ so that these priorities incorporate and enablewomen's rights and access to funding. This is equally importantin Namibia where women's issugs need to contribute to thelarger political aspiratlrons of sustained and expanded economicgrowth and wealth creation rather than compete with these as-pirations. In this regard, Namibia's women's and gender rightsorganisations need to invest in changing the public narrativearound how to achieve economic development. Here advocacyshould shift from calling for equitable participation to dem-

A scan of the post-2015 development policy environ-t . , tment implies that there will likely be a seismic shift

by donors away from funding social causes and to-wards partnerships with the private sector, transpar-ency and promoting mutually beneficial economic

growth and development.

onstrating that investing in Namibias wornen will deliver thewealth creation the elected leadership so desperately wants.For example, a longitudinal study in Jamaica demonstrated thatproviding basic nutrition and play time for children under theage of three increased their earnings 350/o over the course oftheir lifetime or put differently probably resulted in the govern-ment earning L0-150/o in tax revenue. Thus, calling for mater-nity leave and/or better employnent conditions for mothers,should be reframed as being about increasing government's taxrevenue rather than just expanding rights.

Clearly the Namibian government's focus over the mediumterm future is going to be on wealth creation and continuedeconomic expansion. The new parliament is now more opento women's rights and ready to make important changes as evi-denced by the adoption of the Zebra system. The question weneed to ask, though, is whether Namibia's women and genderorganisations are ready to capitalise on this emerging policy en-vironment and whether they have done enough to ensure theirown funding sources are protected, if not expanded? r

III

,A

rcI

t-

www.sisternamibia.org SISTER NAl lBlA

FINANCE

TINANCINO FOR OENDEREQUA1ITY IN A]RICAOOOAn uneuen lan,dscape

llocation of resources for

gender equality needs to be

understood within a wider'amework of development

nnancrng.

sEETNG THE BTGGER prirunrThis is more so for the African continent

where the development priority

landscape is uneven and characterized

by competing demands driven by

limited resources. Development finance,

whether in the form of export revenues,

foreign'direct investment, extema] Ioans,

remittances, domestic private or public

investment, has the potential to play a

critical role in advancing gender equality

and women's empowerment and thereby

contributing to poverty reduction and

economic growth. Finance is necessary

for gender-responsive investment in

productive sectors as well as in social

and physical infrastructulb needed

to sustain poverty reduction and

wealth creation. In this landscape,

finarrcing for gender equality is wen

more critical especially on the African

continent where widening gender gaps

and accompanying social inequalities

coritinue to worsen the effects ofpoverty

on vulnerable groups.

Compounding the scenario are

systemic challenges of peace and

security, poor health infrastructure,

inadequate mechanisms to absorb the

shocks of the effects of environmental

degradation, natural disasters as well as

the effects of climate change on poor

people. This scenarib requires effective

financing for development strategies

that will place gender equality at the

centre of development. It cannot be

argued, that financing for gender

equality and women's empowerment

is already a significant part of the

on-going discussions on financing for

development discourse , and in all the

maior global commitments by heads of

State and government. An undertaking

was made to effectively allocate,

align and harmonize financing for .

development to bring about sustainable

development. The Doha Declaration

on financing for Development

underscores commitment to mobilize

financial resources in a way that

ensures effective use of such resources

for sustainable development. Despite

all these commitments, resources

allocated to gender equality and women's

empowerment have remained minimal.

Compounding the challenge was

the 2008 global financial and economic

crisis which reversed gains made by

African countries as they experienced

weaker export revenues, lower

investment and growth rates, as well as

the shrinking remittances and foreign

dir6ct investment flows. Increasingly, .

resources directbd at gender equality

and women's empowerment started

to shrink there\ compromising t}e

ability of African member states to

meet their commitments to gender .

equality and women's empowerment.

While financing gender equality has

always been at a minimum, the financial

meltdown contributed to further

financial cuts that resulted in the scope

of work in this area being cornpromised

and thus having a negative effect

onwomen and girls empowerment

Prograrnmes.

Where are the resources beingchannetled to?

Over the past decade, depletingresources have led to significant regional

M5 KEISO MATASHANE.MARITEUnited Notions Economic Commissionfor Africo, Africon Centre for GenderAddis Abobo, Ethiopio

and sub regional organizations reducing

the scope and focus of their work to

accommodate available resources with

dire consequences to the beneficiaries

of their programmes. This has not only

affected the said organizations but the

effect has been felt by institutions like

the United Nations, Inter Governmental

Bodies, Regional Economic Communities

and Civil Society Organizations' working

on gender equality and women's

empowerment. A fundamental question

is whether there is generally an all-

round dearth of resources for financing

development or is the limited resources

parti,cglarly directed at gender equality

work. The answer lies in howfinancing

for development is packaged, placing more

emphasis on pooling resources together(basket funding), and adoption ofSector

Wide Approach (SWAp) that demand a

prograrnme approach to financing. In this

new approach, Iess and.less money seems

to be channeled towards gender equality

work as opposed to significant proportions

of similar investments being directed

into climate change,. infrastructure,

the extractive industry and to the peace

and security sectors. In addition to

requirements by the new financing

modalities for embracing a programme

approach (where gender is required to

be mainstreamed in all the programme

work) it has become increasingly complex

to accurately map out how much of the

resources are specifically used to promote

gender equality. This is in contrast with

the initial project approach where visibility

for funding of gender equality was clearer.

Womenk organizations should thus take

cogniscance ofthis reality and align

their workwith the issues that currently

receive priority - in order to increase

their chances of receiving funding even if

primarily through their aligned project.

What opportunities are there todirect resources to gender equat-ity?

Wherein possible, allocating and

effective use ofadequate resources

will act as an enabler for achieving

globally, regionally and nationally agreedcommitments. Notingcontinental

challenges in achieving inclusive and

meaningful development, the year

r:t 'JAt'{cr

2015 has been declared by the African

Union as ayear of African Women's

Empowerment within the framework of

Agenda 2063. In this vein, there has been

a commitment for programmatic and

resource support from the continental

instihrtions like the United Nations

Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)

and the African Development Bank

(AfDB). ECA has been repositioned to

put Africa first and thus translate the

continental vision of socio-economic

transformation that will centralize

gender equality and empowerment of

women. The AfDB on the other hand

has committed a significant share of the

bank's resources to promote meaningful

economic empowerment for women.

This provides hope for Africa as we

embrace the post 2015 post development

agenda that promotes gender equality and

empowerment of women. For Africa's

transformation agenda to be meaningful

and effective there is need to sustain all

efforts to centralize gender equality and

women's empowerment in development

financing. r

i$i*iti;1.iiiF''ffi

p._Ef"

a young artist who sees artists as the eyes - if humanity was only one body -

uses his art to speak to the consi:iences of hunters who are out to destroy. Using art as his weapon,Lesley's fight against exploitation unobtrusively draws attention to itself before it delivers a force-ful message.

t was his desire to a meaningfully contribute to life that sawLesley turn to art. Through art he could create unique piec-es, which could chal lenge people to cri t ical ly assess their

behaviour in relation to animals and other people. He couldadvocate for a better world through his art.. He wanted to

be unique and therefore chose to specialise in scultpting, whichis not very common in Namibia. He also wanted to work withexceptional themes. His angle of conservation in art brings arare touch to otherwise familiar topics.

The message behind his work 'The Hunt for Keratin', a

piece on rhino poaching, is that hunting rhinos is very similarto hunting humans for their nails! For this piece Lesley wona Merit Award in the Craft/Design categoly at the 2014 BankWindhoek Arts Triennial. The rhino, poached to the verge of ex-t inct ion counted approximately 500 000 in the early 20th cen-tury. With the Interrrat ional Union for Conservation (IUCN)

declaring the Western black rhino extinct in 2001, Lesley is

concerned that it is only a natter of time before the remainingrhino species could be declaled extinct too.

Whilst Lesley started off with a focus on conservation ofendangered animal species, he soon movecl to also call for the"conservation of women" through his art.

Lesley has showcased his artwork at various exhibitions

such as Art Inside 2013 and his

latest work is displayed at the

OMBA Arts Gallery under the

College of the Arts exhibitionwith the theme 'New beginining' and he titled his art piece'Women and Child abuse'. "I

made a clay sculpture of a preg-nant woman in the form of a

doll with no legs, arms andhead. This is to bring aware-ness to men that women arenot dolls that can be played

around with, but that we menneed to respect, love and ap-

preciate women," said Lesley

adding that the piece speaks

for itself.

LFs ley is exempl i f ies thefact that fighting for the safe-

ty ancl freedoms of women

and chi ldren is as much a

task fo r wornen as fo r men.

www.sisternamibia.org SISTER NAMIBIA

SOCIETY

IS F A CRIINETO BE GAY IN NAMIBIA?by theLegal Assistance Centre

HOMOSEXUAuTY ITSETF t5 NOT rrrEGAt tN NAIYIIBIA, but sodomy and certain other sexual acts

between consenting male adults are criminal offences. The criminal offence of "sodomy"

was inherited by Namibiafrom South Africa at inde-

pendence. It once covereda wide range of sexual acts,

but now applies onl'i to analintercourse between males.Both the "actlve" and "p"t-

sive" partners are covered bythe offence-

he crime of "unnatural sex-

ual offences" covers varicius

forms of sexual activity be-

tween men: mutual mas-

turbation; masturbation of

one party by the other; sexual'grati-fication obtained by friction betweenthe legs of another person; oral sex;and other unspecified sexual acts be-tween men. None of these sexual actsare illegal if they take place consensu-ally between a man and a woman, orbetween two women.

Namibia's Combating of RapeAct defines rape. as including a widerange of sexual acts in circumstancesthat involve force or coercion. ThisIaw, together with the Combating ofImmoral Practices Act, also protectschildren under age 16. So the crimesof sodomy and unnatural sexual of-fences are now relevant only to sexualacts between consenting adult men.

The Criminal Procedure Actgroups sodomy together with a list ofother crimes that justify arrest with-out a warrant and the use of deadlyforce by the police in the process ofan arrest.

ENVIRONMENT EDITION

Why is consensual sexual con-tact between consensuat mencriminalised, but not consensualsexual contact between women?

The answer is not clear. Ironically

it may be a "benefit" of the general

marginalisation of women. Sexual ac-

tivity between females simply seems to

have received less attentidn from the

predominately male lawmakers of the

,past. In a High Court case, one judge

suggested that the reason may be be-

cause lesbian relationships "never be-

came so clearly defined and notorious

as in the case of the homosexual rela-

tionship between men".

Wilt I be arrested in Namibia forbeing gay?

There are very few arrests for con-sensual sexual acts between adult men.Statistics compiled by the NamibianPolice show onlv 4 to 5 arrests forsodomy over the ten-year period from2003 to 2012. There\are no reportedcases of prosecutions .for such crimessince Namibian independence. The Le-gal Assistance Centre was approachedby two men charged with sgdomy in

"'

2005, but the criminal charges againstthem were later dropped.

What is the impact of these [aws?Even though the laws against sod-

omy and unnatural sexual offences areseldom enforced in practice, their ex-istence has a negative impact on theLGBT community. The prohibition onsodomy has beeir cited by prison of-ficials as a justification for refusing toprovide condoms to prisoners to pre-vent the spread of HIV. The criminali-sation of homosexual acts also opensthe door to blackmail. It reinforcesgeneral public prejudice and can con-tribute to feelings of anxiety and shameamongst gay men. The very existenceof these laws violates the dignity of theindividuals which they cover, and con-tributes to a climate of disapproval anddiscrimination.

Are these laws constitutiona[?It is possible that the laws against

consensual sexual acts violate therights to equality, privacy and dignityin the Namibian Constitution. Consti-tutional challenges to sodomy laws in

r i t l re l j r r l i sd ic t rons h in 'c l r . r t l c l i l t fe r i r rg

o l l t con lcs o l t l r csc i ss r r t ' s . u ' i t l r sor r te

l - ( ' ( r l 5 i t t g , ' r r l l r , t r , . r ' r l l " l , l ( , r , ' ( I l l i n , , l .

i t v l igh ts iu r r l o thcrs in te r -p le t i r rv cons t i -

tu t iona l r - igh ts th roLrgh th t ' l cns o l the j f

co t rn t r i cs ' cOnse| r 'a t iVc ' a t t i t r rc lcs aboLr t

scx. No Nanribi.rn case l tas testccl thcst-

l iLg's i lgainst thc Consti tut iorr 1,et.

Wil. t the law on homosexuat i ty inNamib ia change?

Tht' govcnr nrc'n t 's posit iou ort l tonto-

selral i t ; ' is gc-nt 'ral i y ver'y ' co rr ser-vative.

Brrt thrs clc.rt 's rot nrc.rrr that the lau, r 'vi l l

not cl iargc. A rccent rel lort ol l lur i l t i t r t

r i sh ts con in r iss io rcd b1 ' thc O i f i ce o f

the Onibudsnri l l l rccolrnendetl the le-

pea l o f th t ' c r in rc o l -s r . rc lo rn ,v . In r l i v i rh ra ls

arcl civi l soc ictv c.rn IoLrlr l , govc'rt t t t t t ' t t t

to consiclc-r le-peal inu the lau,s ag:,Linst

socIonty ; tr tcl uItn;rtrrr- i t I sexLraI offet ict is.

l v {os t count r i cs c lo no t c l i r i r iua l -

isc sorlorr l ' . As olt N,Ia1' 2013, lc 'ss t lrarr

ha l f o f thc . ua t ions n ' l ro a re n renrbers o f

t l re Un i tc r l Nat ions c r in r i r r ; r l i sec l con-

sensu.t l sal l ic-sL'x scrual .rcts betrveeti

.xlLrl ts. Therc h;rs bcc-n a recent r ' r 'ave of

oppos i t ion to honros t - r t ra l i t , v in A f r i ca .

Sonre suggc 's t tha t th is i s a tc 'sponse to

th t i rc ' r .easer l v is ib i l i t y o1 ' ga1 ' anc l ies -

b ian l i fes ty les . rvh i l c o thc- rs po in t to

the in f l r re r icc o f Ant - i ' i can t ' r ,ange l ica l

Ch r- i st i ans lr ' l to h avc' act i vc' l y l obbiet l lor

. rn t i -ga1, lec is la t lon iu var io t rs A f r - i car r

co r rn tr i c 's.

byVida de Voss Photograph Shutterstock

The pressure on lond ond woter resources,omongst others, wi l l therefore be so much more in lense. l f th ings orewhot fhey ore ot the moment, coping in the future r ings o lorm bel ls .

The reol i ry of c l imote chonge necessi tqtes ossessmeni of i ts current im-poct ond tok ing in formed ond susto inoble oct ion fodoy wi th the future inmind. We need lo put oppropr iote meosures in p loce in preporedness toovoid or min imise the foreseen detr imento l impocr .

Preporot ion meons people, especio l ly ruro l people l iv ing of f ihe lono,os wel l os ogr icu l turo l lond qnd l ivestock, need io be equipped to odopt osbef i ts "surv ivo l of the f i t test" ond thus increose ihei r res i l ience.

In oddi t ion to the domoge to in f rqst ructure os wel l os lost crops ondl ivestock dur ing f loods ond droughts, the vulnerobi l i ty of the vulneroble isstorkly exposed ond these disosters leove them even more disodvontoged.Such emergencies wi l l increose especio l ly women ond chi ldren 's vulner-obil ity to heolth risks such os sexuolly tronsmitted infections ond exploito-t ion os hunger dur ing these t imes poses the r isk of increosed t ronsoci ionolsex. And d isplocement dur ing f loods increo 'se the r isk of sexuol v io lence,which con leod to unwonted pregnoncies.

Also, in the of termoth of cr is is , i i is of ten the women surv ivors thotbeor fhe heoviest burden to orovide relief ond reconstruction of householdlevel. Women ore mostly responsible for providing food ond core for thechi ldren, the s ick, the in iured ond the e lder ly . Moreover, household fundsneed to be spent on rebui ld ing thei r l ives ond of ten receive h igher pr ior i tython medicol needs the womon moy hove.

Since prevent ion is bet ter thon cur ing, preporedness ond p lonning wi l lgo o long woy to min imise the detr imento l resul is of c l imote chonge. Justl ike c l imote sensi t ive ogr icu l turo l forming proct ices ore becoming o d i reneed for Nomibio os o dry londs country wi th o 57% ol the populot ioncurrent ly l iv ing in ruro l oreos, so too gender-sensi t ive st reoml in ing is neces-sory thot wi l l in form boih women ond oppropr iote ouihor i t ies thot femolesofeiy during times'of crisis need to be priorit ised.

Climote chonge with its noturol disosters ore here to stoy. Alwoys woit-ing ti l l ofter the foct io intervene with relief funds should be reploced wiihbecoming intent ionol obout implement ing bei ter proct ices thoi grow res i l -ience ond increose oreooreoness.

www.s s te rna rn i b i a .o ro S ISTER NAMIB IA

COVER STORY

-T t!IIi

I

"rl

Women constitute the majority of those living in poverty. But the

group hardest hit by food insecurity is the grandmothers.

The recent drought experienced in Namibia has

heavily impacted the food'security in the country

especially among rural women.

WOIIIIENEINPOWERTNENIIOR IOOD ILI URITYby Innocentia Gaoes ' Photographs Sonia Wiencke

r. Ndeyapo Nickanor, researcher and lecturer at

the University of Namibia in the Department of

Statistics and Population Studies says women

play a key role in food sectrrity but are hormal-

Iy undervalued and face numerous limitations

in terms of employment, education' resources and services,

leading to a high percentage of food insecurity among women'

Fifty-seven percent of the country's population of 2'1 mil-

lion Namibians, as indicated by the 2011 cencus, Iive in rural

areas, with 45o/o of the population living in the crop growing

regions of Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshikoto and Oshana' Of

note is the fact that the maiority of these households are head-

ed by women with Ohangwena leading with 57o/o followed by

Omusati with 557o and the Oshana with 45% respectively'

Ohangwena and Omusati by far exceed the national female

headed households which stand at 44o/o. The lattel figure in

itself is alarming as women constitute the maiority of those

living in poverty.

According to Nikanor, the group hardest hit by poverty

and food security is the grandmothers. These aged but hardy

ladies are left with the grandchildren while the parents mi-

grate to urban areas in search of employment' It becomes very

difficult for pensioners to make ends meet, as their pension

of N $600, intended to assist only one person with food and

medical costs, amongst others, has to be sPent on feeding and

keeping many dePendents'Rural women play a key role in attaining food security and

that the role of women is crucial in every aspect of the ag-

ricultural value chain as they are part of the

production process through crop cultivation

to the harvesting and preparation of food as

well as the distribution within their house-

holds. According to Nickanor it is impor-

tant to look at food security on household levels and not just

on the national level, hence the focus on female, especially

grandmother headed households.

Women, however, have often been disadvantaged because

of their role as care giver. Looking back to pre-independence

where men had to leave their family and travel to different

towns in search of employment, women were left behind to

take ihre of the entire household chores, which gave them

very little time to get qualified in any particular area and least

of all to get an edrrcalion'. This gender imbalance can only

be rectified through training and edu'cation' Nikanor points

out that women who were able to get a formal education are

at least able to access food, because they have an income

which they can use to buy goods from the market, whereas it

is a challenge for women who are completely reliant on the

land because of the current drought. Nikanor holds that "the

migration of men to urban areas leaving women behind in

the rural areas is also a contributing factor to gender imbal-

lnces both in education and skills development as women

were confined to these activities". Moreover, "looking at the

literature, when the cash crops started men usually went for

crops they could sell, whereas women would choose subsist-

ence far;ning, for household consumption," said Nickanor' In

of ihe populot ionlive in the cropgrowing regionsof Ohongweno,Omusoti, Oshikotoond Oshqno .

of the country's populotionof 2. , | mi l l ion Nomibions,os indicoted by the 20'l lcencus l ive in rurol oreos.

other words, given the opportunity td make decisions on food

security, especially when empowered with skills and an edu-

cation, women will most probably make decisions in favour

of advancing not only herself, but the whole family and even

community.

This issue of the correlation between an education and

food security is evident among the San communitiesJiving

in the villages outside Gobabis in the Omaheke region. Inter-

views with around 40 women revealed they never had formal

employment because of lack of education. A majority of these

women are single mothers with over 80 percent of them hav-

ing dropped out of grade one with an equally high number

of them not having seen the walls of Grade One. Their main

source of food security comes from the crops they plant as

they do not have any livestock.

The current drought has robbed them of a successful har-

vest leaving thern to struggle with making ends meet. Some of

the women said there are many nights they and their children

go to bed on empty stomachs.

They called upon the government to assist them in de-

veloping skills to begin small-scale businesses from which

to generate an income. The remoteness of their geographic

location, however, hampers making a decent living from trad-

ing their produce ofvegetables and beadwork. Additional as-

sistance in the form of transporting their produce elsewhere

would be a further requirement.

Nickanor supported sentiments of the San women adding

that the rble of women towards food security has been very

important as they decide on the portion of'food they have to

cook and the portion that has to go to the men and children."It is the women's sole responsibility that the portions are

monitored to ensure sustainability of food in the household,"

said Nickanor.

Both in rural and urban areas women are tasked to ensure

that there is food on the table for their families regardless of

the extent to which they have to go to make food available.

When women are not formally employed, they wake up at

odd hours to go sell their kapana and fatcakes at construction

sites, roadsides and schools to generate an income in order to

take care of their families.

Given the tenacity of women to look after their families it

can be assumed the empowerment of women in food security

will result in the overall growth of the community. Women's

empdwerment should thus not only be seen as a priority goal

in itself but as a basic human right. It is therefore important

to have women given a platform in decision making at all lev-

els from the household to the oolitical as well as socioeco-

nomic levels. r

www.sisternamibia.org SISTER NAMIBIA

SEASONAT REPORTS ON FLOODS AND DROUGHTS HAVE BECOIYIE FAftil[lAR TO NAwllBlA. Whilethe vulnerable are more severely affected, women face additional risks. Sister Namibia spoketo Namibia Red Cross Society(NRCS) to learn about their assistance during times of dis-placement and their unique approach to dealing with women and girls' exposure to sexualassault at such times.

limate change in the form of floods, affects our livelihoods,economy, communities and especially women's sense ofsafety - from nature as well as male counterparts. Whenfloods occur the vulnerable become more vulnerable. In

Okahaq Muzii, Omuthitu and Uuvudhiya grandmothers fear forthe lives of the grandchildren they send out to get help yhen theflood waters approach and desperately hope they will still be ableto access their pension despite the chaos of the floods, mothers ofnewborn babies and single mothers with four or more young chil-dren fight despair as she musters up cour€e to survive yet anotherflood, old and young use palm tree branches as pokers to assist themthrough threatening waters and already struggling households askGod and Government to help them eat as they look on their fieldscovered in water; in Mariental business owners cry as they won-der whether insurance companies will pay out and in Tsumeb andHelao Nafidi residents see infrastructure destroyed and their livesput at risk. When schools are closed down, as in2009, at least 100000 children's education can be disrupted. Those pregnant, in needof immunisation or of ARVs from health facilities run additionalrisk as they may not be able to reach these facilities - should thesenot also be affected bythe floods. People bemoan the loss of posses-sions, homes, livestock and fields, aware that theywill have to begintheir lives from scratch once the floodwaters recede.

ENVIRONMENT EDITION

For many, floods imply relocation with all that comes with it.In 2008, the highest amount of people thus far affected by floodsamounted to 350 000 people of which 13 500 were displaced and9 200 relocated in camps. According to reforts close to 300 000people were affected by the 2009 floods. The Disaster Relief Emer-gency Fund report indicates, in 2013, the NRCS provided assistanceto 2500 families consisting of 10 287 people from the Caprivi regiononly. Sanitation, the increased risk of waterbome diseases and shel-ter are usually the first priorities in times of floods. The beneficiar-ies eventually stayed in the camps for four months, aided by bothgovernment and the NRCS.

The Directorate of Emergency Management (DEM) in the Of-fice of the Prime Minister (OPM), Regional Emergency Manage-ment Units (REMU$ and NGOs, such as the NRCS are the majorrole players to address and respond to the issues of disaster riskmanagement. With the 2013 floods in the Zambezi region, theNRCS, as an auxiliary to Govemment, provided refresher train-ing to 70 volunteers on hygiene promotion, health education anddehonstrations on proper utilization of mosquito nets. In additionto 70 volunteers trained on disease prevention, NRCS traind 30volunteers in PFIAST (Participatory Hygiene And Saniation Trans-formation) methodology, 60 volunteers and community membersin constructing emergenry latrines and 30 volunteers were trained

- - *

in raising awareness and prevention ofgender-based violence.When schools are closed down, as in 2009, at least 100 000

children had their education disrupted. Speaking to members atthe relocation camp at Lusese, 30km from IGtima Mulilo in2073,Rosemary Nalisa Namibia Red Cross Society National Coordina-tor, Resource Mobilisation learned that the tented classrooms canget very hot causing pupils to fall asleep and lose concentration.She also learned from teachers, that with leamerg separated fromtheir parents, the lack of supervision leads to many leamers bunk-ing class, while hunger poses an additional challenge to learners sit-ting for important exams. Nalisa additionally learned that fear ofusing nearby bushes at night cause some community members touse tented classrooms as toilets

While education is severely affected during times of displace-ment a further sensitive factor includes that of safety for the vul-nerable. Relocation means many things from sharing your personalspace with more people than you feel comfortable with to safetyhazards posed by increased exposure to strangers.

The NRCS has taken conscious measures to deal with preven-tion of gender-basedviolence (GBV) in recognition of the probabil-ity of sexual assault increasing during times of displacement. BruceSiyambango National Manager Disaster Management told SisterNamibia the NRCS, through the guidance of their gender relationsexperts introduced campfire nieetings in response to this reality. Inthese meetings the relocation camp communities discuss genderroles and explore the possibility of rwising stereotypes, such as men

ENVIRONMENT

cooking when their women are sick as it ultimately means that no-bodywill eat if a man believes he cant be seen in the kitchen. Fur-ther topics of discussion include HIV/AIDS, condom use as well asthe prejudices and false beliefs around it, which includes the think-ing that a woman who asks a man to use a condom must be sleepingaround. Emotional abuse and prevention ofteenage pregnancy arefurther topics of discussion. In this open platform the facilitator,who is an expert on gender, leads the discussion for communitymembers to express their fears and concerns.

Magdalena Namwandi, NRCS GBV expert, stationed in Rundufurther pointed out the reason the campfire meetings are so suc-cessfi;l in combating issues of GBV is because evenings provide ameasure of anonymity to the speakers. That many people comefrom deep in the village is evident from the fact that the NRCS pro-vides hygiene kits, which include's pads and condoms, which are of-ten treated as a novelty. The NRCS volunteeripromote hygiene andsanitation practices amongst the people, and often need to teachthe people how to use the latter items as well.

Living in the village often means traditions are deeply embed-ded and liberal ways of thinking is frowned upon. Openly discussingsex is often considered a taboo and therefore remains shrouded inignorance for many, especially girls and women. People are there-fore truly eager to listen and learn. Bringing their concems to thetable proved more profitable when men, women and youth wereseparated into three respective groups for these groups.sometimesfeel it is a taboo or shows disrespect to speak about these issues infront of parents or women. Whilst the facilitator leads the discus-sion and asks many questions, it is often the campfire participantswho\bring topics to the table and give suggestions and practical an-swers. Howwomen and girls can stay safe, which areas and times oftravel they should be cautious ol what clothes they should bewareof and other safety tips are shared at the campfire. In this way evenmen also get to hear women's pgrspectives. r

www.sisternamibia.oro SISTER NArl lBlA

rira

n the desert on thc ont-

skilts of Swakoprnund,

lies the, ironically callc-d,

Dcr r rocra t i t Rcsc t t l r ' -

lnent Conlmuniry al'r

infolmal settlement sirnply

known as'DRC'. One wonld

be hald plessecl to fincl a

Irarsl ' icr orvirorrmertt in which

to snlvive as a ltuniiur bcing.

l L c s o i l u t r t l c t i u , , t i s , l t r l i , l

of :rny nutr-ients .-liglrtblorvn,

sirlq' an(l ch y .rs por''r.clcr'. The

sLrrrounclings .rrL' 1)arc of ail)'

plalt growth wit lr thc crccP-

t ion of a f-ew, harr ly succulcnts

cl iuning lbr r lear. l i fc to rvhrt

l i t t lc sr-rste'r ' rance is avai l .rble. I t

is obvious that t l r is is a type of

bacl l :rrd, .r l t i r t tel lattcl oJ sonre

sort rvhcre rro orte urlr lci

cl ioc-rsc'to l i i 'e. l i r t Pcoplc clo.

81 ' thc tbousarc ls .

DRC is cl-raractcl isccl by

a la r lc nLur r l rc r -o f n r . rkesh i l t

lesiclcrc es, c asLralll. rc icrlc'tl

t r ' . r . s l r . t r 1 . . . , r l r r l I ' r , r l l . r ,

coLnrts. occ-rrpiccl i l lcgrl Ly b1

.r tr i lnsiclrt i roi lr l .r t ion. l 'he

rr r.r l icsbi l t l t 's ir ier rccs lcscrirble

eac l r o t l rc l in t l ra t t l r c r ' . r rc a l l

cons t l t rc tc r l r i i t l r a var ic t t o l

r l isc.rrclccl rrr.r tel ials sucl i .rs

sheets of rustecl cormgirtc'cl

zinc, cc-iling insulation board,

pieces of plastic, harclboald,

pieces of hcssian, canvas,

woorl, to name but a f-ew. Thcy

are easil,v constructecl, easily

abancloned.

Tlrere is no mnning lvater

in DRC, nor ale sanitat ion

serviccs or clectr-icity .rviriL-

able. Meals ;u-e typically

preparccl on f ires rtracle nith

charcoal, wooclchil-r bricks, or, ' t r I r , r t l . t l ' 1 , ' H . ls ' s l "v ( ' s . ( ) r ' i { i

rral ly fronr other parts of Na-

nribrh, mar,v ol tlte n'ortte't't ttt

t l rc sctt lcnrent f i r l lorvetl tLcu-

Ilrsbancls to Srval<t-rputtrncl

hopcftr l lbl an ir t iprovccl qual-

iq'of l i lc. Wherr f .rcecl with

the strusalc lbl srrrvivni in t l rc

Nanrib Dcselt, their chcanrs

er-aporatc-cl I i l<e t lre rtrontirg

rrt ist ovcr Srval<opttt t tr t t l .

hi I) t{C, t l re rrral icsLi l i

Ironrcs sprc.rcl ci t t fn.u t ls otr

cithcl si t lc o1'a sit tglc. utt '

nrarlicd gr-;,1r,el lri.rcl, lil<c thcgi.rnt rvi irgs of a nulrst loLrs,

lr lchistoric inset t . A lcccnt

poprrlr tron t 'sl i nr.rtc ' of t l rc

sctt lcrncnt st.1r([s . l t 20 000.

A cor rn r ru r . r l t . rp i rs ta l l cc l l l '

tl're municipality thr:ee year-s

ago, proviclcs ch'inkable water

to the lesiclents but othc'r than

the tap, thelc is not a (h'op of

water to be founcl anyrvhere.

Onc. prrblic clirric provides tl.ie

nros t [ , . rs ic , , l - r r rc t l i c . r l sc t v i t t ' s

to the rvornen ancl chilch'eu.

ancl m;rkeshifi couvc-n'iencc-

stores ope'r'ating out of old,

unsaf'e calav;urs sell claily

necessities likc' suear, so.rp ancl

cof-fee in thc snrallest nre;rr-

Lrrenlents. Firc is ;r constarl t

l razar-r l ancl hvcs .r lc lel t to

chancei rto f irc stat ion u, i th a

l iurc t icir r :r l bl i tadc is r-enrotely

ckrse lr1'. Trvo vc.tts ago, her

sister- in' l l rn, pcr: isherl i rr . i l tor '

r i f ,virru shacl i f i rc-. Claurl ia. l rcr '

1'r ' ienrls ancl nL-l !hl)ours werc

lrelpiess ancl cotr lcl not assist

rv i t l r rescr r i r rg t i rc v ic t in r . Evcr r

nrci le ter-r ' i ly ir t [ . thcre is rto

Irospital to .rt tcrrcl to nrerl i i :al

e r r re lge i rc ics in thc se t t le r re r r t

o r - r l r ra la r r t inc cor t tag io r Ls

rl iscascs for ' .r l tr t-Lrln popnla-

t i r i r r o f t l r i s s izc . Or r t ' r 'a r ou i r '

spt ' i Lr latc .rt t ' l rcrc attr l l tolr '

nrcist of t l rc rvonicrt in t l rc st:r-

t l c rner r t gavc b i r th ln t l L r t t t le r -

u ' l r i c l r t o r r r l i t i ons .

Balc.ly liter:ate ancl

fi r r.rnci;rlly dc'sperate, this

rc.nrarkably large segment of

the Namibi;rn population rs

most oftcn intecratc'd into the

econolny on a piece emPlo)'-

nrent basis. Working in the

nrore afflr-rcnt of Srvakoprnund

neighboulhoocls as gardeners,

labourcrs. 1'rartclyrrc'n, clean-

c.rs :rrcl donrestic assistants,

crploitat ion is l i fe aud nrany

alc barely able to sturrivc'ott

thc:il ure.rgle u'ages. Employ-

nrcnt opportrrnit ies for thrs

t l l t t r r r i : r ' . r l r l r i r . t t i " g c t r r t , t l l t

lorv ir Nanribia: in a sett lc '

nrcnt l ike i)RC, unernploy'

nrcnt is st.reeer-irrgly high ancl

u l r . t t l i r t l c r r ( , l c ) t l l ( ' l ( i \ . i \

: l r " l r t u l r l o u r l . P r ' t t r t , t t r t ' t r , , ' i . .

a iururt ' . cotr lot-t is .r cl te.t t t t .

brrt sur vival is non-rrc'goti :rblc.

ltr nrour s folevel circtrl.ttc

that this is the ,veaL thel ' rvi l l

i rc cvictt 'c l anrl so t lr is l t trgc

nfirnral sctt lerrrent lurkls i ts

occUi)nlt ts I tostage i tr lni t l lo.

\ \ i l l 5 r r . r k , , l i r r r n r ( l M . r \ , ) r

J r ruso K i tn rbrLes l rc 's c l . r i r l r t l r , r t

t l r c DRC r ' r , i l l t t - . i t t s i t io r r to . r t t

i rr tcglatccl Lrt l ratt arc.t . t i l rrr. l l -

i scc l in t l r c Sn. t l l rp r r r t r ru l loc . t l

t

i;,'$i:i

$s..si

I

I

authority in 2015, set peoplefree,from this hell of uncer-tainty?

Claudia Uises works as adomestic assistant in a suburbof Swakopmund. She spendsmost of her income on trars-port to and from her employ-er's house and on food.for herfamily. The mother of fouqClaudia is currently expectingher fifth child. She has livedin DRC for approximatelyseven years. Her husband isemployed as a security guardat a shop in Swakopmund. Ontheir combined income theybarely scrape by, living likescavengers almost, constantlyon the lookout for discardedmaterial to take home to DRC,in case a wall needs patchingor to reinforce the strucfureagainst the bitter south westwinds that ravage the Na-mibian coast.

Claudia dreams of living ina brick house, her own house,some day. Even though someform of monthly rental is cur-rently paid to the municipali-ty, she does not own the patchof desert where she lives. She

longs for a house, a sl.rnbol ofpermanence and prosperity,with running water, electricityand aproper bathroom likethe house in the Swakopmund

' suburb she cleans every day.Due to the fact that theiroccupation of the land called'DRC'is deemed illegal, Clau-dia and her husband cannotbuild a permanent structure,were they financially able, ontlle land they occupy. Therewas a time Claudia believedthe uncert4intywduld soon besomething of the past.

Orga.nised sporadicallythroughout the year, Claudiano longer attends communitymeetings as diligently as afew years ago. The gatheringstend to be unpleasant withemotions always runninghigh, marked by frequent anddisruptive arguing as DRCresidents vent their frustiationat the lack of service debvery.In the seven years she haslived in DRC. none of the'promises' made by councillorsor the municipality were im-plemented. Prior to the presi-dential and National Assembly

elections in 2014, theresidents of DRC werepromised runningwaterand electricity by cam-paigning political partyrepresentatives. Can they 000 houses over the com-

ing fifteen years to alleviatethe housing crisis and urgedresidents of DRC to registerwith the council. Thus far,six-hundred houses have beenbuilt on a broad square oflanddirectly opposite and facingthe rusty, ramshackle make-shift homes in DRC. Rumoursabound that the Mass HousingScheme houses are beyondthe means of most Namibiansliving in informal settlementssuch as DRC, thereby defeat-ing the purpose of the scheme.The empty, pretty brick housestaunt the residents of DRClike a shimmering mirage inthe afternobn sun.

With more than 500,000Namibians reported to livein shacks, according to 2009statistics from the NationalHousing Action Group, theland crisis is more serious thanwe would want to admit. s

build 20

hope that these promises willvetbe fulfilled?

Despite the enormous

challenges she faces in

general, Claudia is optimistic

about the future and does the

best she can under the cir-

cumstances. She goes to work

every day, feeds her family

and keeps her homestead as

tidy as possible. Her optimism

about the incoming Namibian

president, Dr. Hage Geingob,is noteworthy and she firmly

believes he will bring about

great changes.

Every morning on her way

to work, Claudia passes a neat

conglomeration of unoccupied

brick houses with red roofs,

solid foundations and cream-

coloured walls built by theNamibian government as part

of its Mass Housing Schemeinitiative. In December 2014.

the Swakopmund town

council announced it would

POLITICS

50 /s0REPRESE

significant number of

Namibian women are

going to be present in the

parliament with 39 of them

from the ruling party and

five from the opposition parties. Out of

the 96 parliamentarians 44 are women,

with Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila as

the country's first female Prime Min-

ister and Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah

as her deputy. The country now has

eight ministers and 11 deputies who are

female.

Some of these women spoke to

Sister Namibia and shared the issues

they will be addressing during their

tenure. At the top of their lists of con-

cerns are gender based violence (GBV),

unemployment, teenage pregnancy,

ENVIRONMENT EDITION

bylnnocentia Gaoes ' Photographs Innocentia Gaoes

TAIION:Sister Namibia spoke to female par l iamentar ians

, from SWAPO, RDB RP and DTA on their concernsanq dreams for Namibia.

.t

. i :

i, r:li

l',f.,j.lt

baby dumping and land allocation for

women-

Former Governor of the Hardap

Region and now Minister of Educa-

tion, Arts and Culture, Katrina Hanse-

Himarwa said the issue of women's

rights, respect for women and access to

land for women are close to her heart.

She said once the rights of women

are respected, the current ills against

women such as GBV and passion killing

should become something of the past.

When asked to expand on her idea of

"the rights of women", Hanse-Himarwa

replied, "I refer to the\birthright of

women. The right to exist as an equal

human being in any society and not to

be seen as merely a woman but rather

as a human being that is equal and can

stanil shoulder to shoulder with any

other human being in the society". She

commended the ruling party for adopt-

ing the 50/50 gender representation

and expressed her wish that women

bring quality debates to the table that

would see positive change come about,

especially for women at grass root level.

She mentioned the current land

crisis as an example saying that al-

though government prioritises women

in land ownership, there should be an

increased visibility of access to land for

women. To her knowledge men still use

women as the front when applying for

land while they are the actual owners.

For Hanse-Himarwa the uPbring-

ing of a girl child is crucial as it is the

sole determining factor in grooming

:ri',,.

of women who believe in themselves

and aim high in life. She believes when

women are taught to value them-

selves, much of the negative experi-

ences linked to being a woman can be

avoided.

Chairperson of the Democratic

Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) and former

councillor of Liideritz, lennifer van den

Heever is one of the two female repre-

sentatives representing the official op-

position. Although proud to be selected

for parliament, she said more women

from especially the opposition parties

would have been good in Parliament.

She expressed her disappointment ,

in seqre of the former female parlia-

mentarians who did not do enough to

address issues concerning women and

children and she hopes to do more in

this regard.

Van den Heever said she will be

campaigning for the upliftment of

those living at grassroots level, street

children and single mothers in abusive

relationships. She envisions the con-

struction of safe houses and shelters

in all 14 regions for these vulnerable

groups. 'As women in Parliament we

are law makers. We should commit and

reach out to those who need us." van

den Heever called upon all the women '

going to Parliament to unite and fight

for issues affecting women with the

same voice irrespective of their differ-

ent political parties. "We should avotd

political party differences and instead

work together in unity as women"

van den Heever said. She further said

policy implementation will be part of

her key focal points as it is of no use

formulating brilliant policies if Govern-

ment is failing to implement them.

Deputy Secretary General of the

Rally for Democracy and Progress

(RDP) Agnus Limbo also shared her

excitement about the high number of

women in the 6th Parliament saying

Namibia will never move forward if

women are left behind. Limbo called

upon the opposition parties to also

adopt the 50/50. representation in all

the elections ranging from the presi-

dential to regional and local authority

elections. "Women are at the forefront

when it comes to campaigning and

mobilising the masses durin! the elec-

tions but when it comes to allocations

of positions we are left behind," said

Limbo adding that although men argue

that women are scared to take part in

politics and decision making that is a

flawed perception.

Limbo's dream is to see a society

free from GBV where all people have

their basic needs met. She spoke

about the increase in the number of

street children and a high number of

Namibian households without food

security 25 years after independence."We should campaign for food security.

Every woman and child should be able

to have at least three meals a dav." said

Limbo.

Limbo mentioned education as the

key factor in ensuring girl children will

mature into independent women. "We

have to make sure that our girls do not

drop out of school. Let us campaign

against teenage pregnancy to see girls

complete their education and avoid

becoming dependent on men. Girls

must understand that education is key,"

Limbo said. According to World Bank

Statistics the informal sector income in

many African countries acccounts for

nearly 30% of total household income

and over 40o/o of total urban income.

Limbo'gave examples of the West Afri-

can'communities where women are on

the forefront of the informal economy

and said Namibia should learn from

these countries and follow suite. Our

girls should thus not only finish school

but also be taught entrepreneurial

skills.

CIara llGowases, Vice President of

the Republican Party (RP) will be tak-

ing up the one seat her party received

in the 2014 riational and presidential

elections. She will not only represent

women's voices, but also the entire RP.

//Gowases expressed full aware-

ness of the high public expectations on

women parliamentarians. She believes

women have the capacity to deliver.

That said, there is still a lot of work

to be done to equip women and to see

positive changes come about. "It is said

that women are the pillars within any

society so once you empower a woman,

you empower the whole nation. It is

therefore important for both urban

and rural women to undelstand the

importance of being politically active,"

said //Gowases, encouraging women to

understand what 50/50 means and to

get involved. \

POLtTtCS

She is further concerned about the

high statistics on teenage pregnancy

and advises we go back to the drawing

board and revise the Policy on Man-

agement and Prevention of Teenage

Pregnancy.

//Gowases also shared her con-

cerns around domestic violence adding

that women parliamentarians shouldjoin hands in fighting for sustainable

income generating projects which

can assist women at the grassroots

Ievels from remaining dependent on

abusive partners. But she cautioned

that whilst poverty can be considered

a contributing factor in cases of GBV

the escalating cases of police officers

shooting their partners indicate that

poverty is not the only cause of GBV.

//Gowases pointed out educated and

employed people are also perpetrators

and victims of GBV. "We therefore need

to look at where we have gone wrong as

a nation" i /Gowases said.

Having birthed the 50/50 gender

representation campaign, Sister Na-

mibia is proud to see a high number of

female representation in the Namibian

Parliament for the first time since

Independence.

Sister Namibia under the leadership

of former Director Liz Frank strongly

advocated for and developed a na-

tional 50/50 gender representation in

politics campaign together with other

stakeholders after extensive research

conducted in 1998. The organisa-

tion held meetings with leaders from

different political parties as well as

parliamentary standiirg committees in

order to'make the campaign a reality.

Although some merhbers of the publicincluding women who were in leader-

ship positions were not supportive of

the idea calling it unrealistic, Sister

took the message of gender balance to

70 schools, 88 churches, nine tradi-

tional leaders, 17 regional councillors

and 32 local councillors and collected

hundreds of signatures in support of

this ideal.

After many years and many new

drivers and campaigners 50/50 has

become a reality.

t . /

l/w* p/p rqil,owEffi. ., l

www.sisternamibia.org SISTER NAMIBIA

by Vicla de Voss ' Photograph s Vida clc Voss

to the soul ,what are hands but the feeders of the soul?With hands we work and give and wipe anclwash and clean and cqok and sow and feed

and hold and show and knit and protect anddirect. But thc choice is ours. Bead by beadwe can add caling to our children's necklaccsof love with the labour of our l 'rands.

r f

ENVIRONMENT EDIT ON

I

I

PHOTO ESSAY

www.sisternamibia.oro SISTER NAMIBIA

qbyYidade Voss . Photographs contributed

Bilqees was an ordi-nary girl who endedup doing an unex-pected rebellious andbrave thing. To manyshe may seem likejust another womanbut she daily pays ahigh price to live her"ordinary life". It wasnot deeply contem-plated philosophicalor theological reason-ing that brought herto her current lifeas it was the powerto choose to havechoice.

old men dozed off after lunch

and new guitarists bit theirlips as the strings burned their

still soft fingers. On such a dayI became a woman and my life

changed irrevocably. But I didnot know it then. My father

insisted I stop wearing skirts

and start wearing pants and

a iong shirt, called an "ora".

It wasn't a Muslim school

and there were other Mus-

lim girls, but only my father,

who lived by a stricter law

since he was a teacher at theMuslim school called "Ma-

drassa", insisted that I can't

go around parading naked.

Okay, no big deal, so I coveredmyself up. I was a good girl,I d id as I was to ld and ac-

cepted my place in the world.That meant, amongst oth-

ers that I attended Madrassa

straight after school, always

came home at 4pm to maketea for my father and found

myself indoors at sunset for"maghrib", the sunset prayer.For a girl, if you were not

home then, " lbl is", the devi l ,would get you. But life was

good. Mom was a stay-homemom and fun-loving (when

my father wasn't around).

She convinced my father to

continue allowing my friends- boys and gir ls - to come

over to our house. Fridays and

Saturdays were great with us

playing cards and dominoes.But when my brother camehome from Koran School, hewould reminded my parents

that it is "haram", meaning

s in iu l . to have s t range men in

the house. And so my harmless

fun in the safety of our housewou ld bd c l rased away as s i r r -ful. But my girl friends from

school and all my cousins were

s t i l i pe lmi t ted to f i l l rny dayswith sirnple childhood joy.

All in all life was truly

good - in the unquest ion ingway of a child, that is. I didn't

have any sisters but lots of

cousins to satisfy my heart.I wished to have pets but

dogs are seen as unclean andthough cats are allowed, wehad no animals as my fatherwasn t an an imal lover . I t musthave been this desire for rra-

ture, sunsets and animals that

drew me to the new owner ofthe game shop. He had worked

on the sea for years and had

come home to sett le down.He had horses. My mom, l i t-t le brother or cousins and Iwould drive out with him to

go feed his horses the carrots I

got from my?ather's shop. My

ifternoons after school werenow free, as I had finished Ma-drass one year early. This was

Grade 12. I had been accepted

at the University of the West-

ern Cape. My parents had paidal i the necessary deposits andmy daily lift between home

and campus was arranged. Iwas on the brink of a fabulous-ness that had often powerfully

pounded in my chest espe-

cial ly in those moments when

the unfairness of being female

surged in me as I had to stufflethe protest of "why not?" in

the face of restr ict iveness andcontrol that began to smother

me more and more.

s a child you think

the world is as it

is because that'sjust the way it was

rnade. In a housewith two older brothers, my-

self, the only girl and a young-

er brother, the brothers alone

could come and go as they

pleased. Things as simple as

getting a book from lhe libraryrequired me to deal with redtape my brothers had no idea

existed. And as a man you had

a bright future even when youleft school midway to learn to

become an imam, because i t

would bring the family honour

and your uncles would take

care of you financially. WhilstI aimed to finish school and at-

tend university both my older

brothers left school midway in

pursu i t o f the imam ca l l .

It was a day iike any other.The bread and petrol priceremained the same, birds

continued on their migration

as they do that time of year,

www.sisternamibia.org SISTER NAMIBIA

SPECIAL REPORT

While waiting for my

exam results my father came

home one night with the ul-

timatum, "you either marry

this man or break it off!"

I wasn't even in love with

him. I wanted to study; not

get married. What? Why?

I didn't understand. Dono-

van and I just enjoyed each

other's io-pany. If we were

simply left to ourselves we

may have dated and perhaps

seen it won't work between

us and mpved on without '

any drama. We would ride

horses in the rain and go for .walks. I was intoxicated with

nature. That's all I wanted.

Why would I want to get

married? I was a child for

heaven's sake not a woman

of marriageable age wish-

T , I

In the secret

and with my father's ultima-

tum I began to see where

my life would go. I would be

denied to learn and become

all I could be; I would have

to be the dutiful wife of a

husband.

Donovan was to convert

to lslam. The night of this

discussion turned into a

mess and so too that possi-

bility. If it wasn't going to be

Donovan, I could see what

the intentions of the new

regular visits were.

I knew I couldn't sit my

parents down and explain

this to them. Looking back

even now, many years later,

I always come to the same

conclusion. I had no other

option. I ran away. I ran

away from what my father

f Iof mv heart' t

trashed from time to time.

My family believed he was a

drug dealer who either kept

me somewhere or sold me

off. This was 2003. Those

were crazy days. I was like

someone in the witness pro-

tection programme, literally

driving around in the boot of

a car and disappearing from

one place to go to another

in the middle of the night.

My uncles were in PAGAD

(People Against Gangster-

ism and Drugs), a vigilante

group. You did not play with

these people. I was free for

freedom, but purposeless

and without freedom. So I

had to come out of hiding

and face my family.

We had to have the

confrontat ion at the Police

of the worst things is to

Iive in or near a community

with your family and not be

allowed to fraternise with

them. I especially miss my

mother. I often wonder

about the woman she could

have been had she been able

to make choices about her

own life. In my father's strict

authoritarian presence, my

mother's spunk would be

put on hold, but it caused

me to wonder in the secret

of my heart if her prayers

did not birth the rebel l ion in

her only daughter's heart to

choose another way of life.

I want to thank my

mother for not having

allowed married life to

smother her spunk so that I

could witness it and fight for

I wonder if my mother's

fuanted to force me into and

I ran away from the Muslim

faith that denied me some-

thing as simple and soul-sat-

isfying as sunsets - simply

because I was a woman. My

religion would never allow

me to explore life. A daugh-

ter cannot explain these

things to her parents - espe-

cially not her father who had

the pressure of social expec-

tation as a Madrass teacher.

So one day, I walked out of

the house and never came

back. Though I remained in

the Cape Province I would

send letters to Johannesburgand have them mailed from

there to my parents. It was

Donovan who helped me

escape and I hid with his

friends and family, but his

business was threatened and

Station, to ensure our safety

and that I not be taken back

home by force. I eventually

went to live with Donovan.

And we eventually conceived

and got married when I whs

21. With the baby there the

contact with my parents

took up slightly. Three

years later I gave birth to a

baby girl and I began to see

even more of my parents.

They urged me to become

Muslim again as I had since

denounced it. The children

also had to become Muslim

although Donovan could

stay Christian. Under these

conditions I could once

bgain come into relationship

with the family. Of course I

wanted to be in relationship

with my parents, siblings

and the wider family. One

mine to remain intact. I see

myself as a working woman,

independent though mar-

ried, free to love and let live.

I found a job when my son

was six months old and have

worked ever since. With

both our children in school.

our son aged ten and our

daughter seven, I have en-

rolled as a distant student at

university. Yes, a little later

than the originally planned,

but I was never going to be

a stay-home mom and I was

always still going to study to

increase my choices in this

life. I broke free for freedom,

so freedom is what I'm do-

ing. Many people may not

notice the sunset; to me it

is a glorious reminder of the

freedom to simply be. I

prayers were not always for me to be free.ing to settle down and have

babies. I started questioning

many things which I had

before simply accepted. See,

I used to l ive in a bubble.

But I had begun to look at

my life from the outside

and I saw there were many

things I did because I was

afraid of the consequences of

not doing them. I had begun

to forget what it meant to ac-

tual ly want to do something

because of al l the restr ic-

tions I lived under. And now

that lighter-than-being sense

of freedom from galloping

on a horse was also to be

taken from me. I heard the

thunderous footsteps of the

invisible constraint begin to

stomp in my direction. My

father's friend and his son

came to visit more regularly

ENVIRONMENT EDITION

BOOK REViEW

FIFTY SHADES

by Senga Brockerhoff ' lmage sourced online

FI allowed myself to be swept up in

I the hype and read Fifty Shades of

I Greywith the curiosity of a pubes-

! cent girl. But by the time JamieI Dornan was smirking at me from

the big screen, J was seeihing, andquite frankly horrified. What at firstseemed an ill written porno by a boredhousewife now had me hot and both-ered and not for the reasons she aimedfor. For those who dodged this (boring)bullet, Fifty Shades is a movie based ona trilogy of books about a student whofalls for a ridiculously good looking bil-lionaire, who not only violently robsher of her virginity, but also convincesher to sign into a confidential contractof BDSM (bondage and diseipline,sadism and masochism). Now I'm noprude and I'm well aware that the sex-ual realm can be quite uhm... shady,but I shudder at the many dangerousnotions this schlock perpetuates onour already misogynistic society.

Other than alluding to thedubious nature of the main character.the title also suggests that there isplenty about the film that is not socut and dried; that proverbial greyarea between right and wrong. Firstoff the bat, let's be clear, despite theclose-ups of longing gazes, this isno romantic movie. It implies thatlove is surrender when in fact it istolerance and compromise above allelse. It presents the idea that a womanwould (and should) not only agreeto a long term relationship with noaffection and intimacy other than thenaked kind, but also endure painfulpunishment; literally the last thing

we need in these times of male

dominance and domestic violence.

That brings me to the contract

itself. Foremost, it suggests that

women en joy a l i t t le rough 6and l ing

and would prefer for men to make

their decisions like what to wear

and what to eat, i.e. that somehow

secretly we are all longing for a

pre-feminist era. And that it is ok

to sign away not only your freedom

of ehoice.but your body as a whole

if the guy is good looking with a

heaving bank balance. Trust me

this story would have turned out

a whole lot different if the shop

security guard or a cab driver had

preposit ioned Anastasia Steele

to sign a contract leaving her at

his beck and call. Taking away a

person's lreedom of choice over

their own body is abuse. Nothing

grey therel The fact that she has

to sign q confidentiality clause

is the oldest trick in the book

of wily abusers. Silence, isolate,

and then conquer. I fAnastasia had

told her friends or family about the

contents of said contract, she would

certainly have faced an intervention,

or at the very least a voice of reason.

And finally, that contract attempts

to allay judgment insinuating that

all is sound if she made the choice

willingly. Just because you chose your

circumstances by no means makes it

a lucid or healthy deoision. But what

appalled me most is that this was

written by a woman. This book is of

course not the first of its kind. Before

Fifty Shades there was The Story of

O, also written by a woman. The

difference is this was published in the

50's and piggybacked on the fallacy

that women should be ashamed and

ignorant of a sexual appetite of any

kind and thus, if they are coerced

into i t , they do not need to take

responsibility nor suffer guilt and

shame.

So no. there are zero shades of

grey to be found here. In fact, all

elements of this film should make the

warning bel ls r ing. I t is a red f lag of

what a relationshio shouldntt be-and

should've been caied Fifty Shades of

Red instead. l

=.-

WOMEN'S HEALTH

by Innocentia Gaoes . Photographs Shutterstock

boost the immune

system and help the

body to prevent yeast

infections. Mix two

tablespoons of apple

cider vinegar in a cup of

warm water and drink

it twice daily for a few

days.

Another homeremedy is the use ofgarlic as it is a very

ATTHOUGH WOMEN TEND

TO SHARE WEIGHT I.O5S,

BEAUTY AND HAIR SECREIS

openly and freely, they are

reluctant to share sexual

health issues with their BFFs

or the doctor out of shame

and embarrassment. Studies

from across the world have

shown that millions of women

suffer from one or the other

embarrassing condition.

Accordingto Emily

Payne from Mail Online,

young women would rather

google their illnesses than

see a GP on things they think

are embarrassing as she

experiences a great number of

women self-diagnose online.

Please.note that this

information is solely for

informational purposes to

show simple solutions exist.

Sister Namibia does not take

responsibility for any possible

consequences from following

the home remedy tips given in

this article. It is important to

seek medical advice in severe

caseS.

YEAST INFECIION

Yeast lives in the vagina

all the time in small, harmless

quantities. A yeast infection' is a very common infection

caused by a fungus called

C.andida albicans. Yeast

infection or candidiasis is a

common problem faced by

people who live in hot and

humid conditions. It affects

agreat percentage of women

at some point during their

lifetime. When this fungi

grows out of corjtrol it results

in itchin6ss, a rash, burning

and redness, which can be

extremely uncomfortable.

In some cases a thick,

whitd, odourless discharge,

resembling cottage cheese,

appears. Lactobacillus bacteria(a healthy type) normally keep

the vagina's pH and yeast levels

in check. But the balance

can be tipped by antibiotics,

corticosteroids, uncontrolled

diabetes, or raised estrogen

Ievels from birth control or

pregnancy. Yet, in many cases,

there's no easily identified

cause.

You may have only have

a few of these symptoms and

they maybe mild or severe.

There is also a possibility

of women transferring the

yeast infection to their male

partners. While yeast can

be spread by sexual contact,

vaginal yeast infection is not

considered to be a sexually-

transmitted disease because it

can also occur in women who

are not sexually active, due

to the fact that yeast can be

present in the vagina ofhealthy

women. Although these

infections arE very common

and can bother you a lot, they

are not usually serious. And

treatment is simple.

Manywomen try over the

counter medicines and topical

creams to treat the problem,

but you should know there are

a few simple things you can

do to avoid ayeast infection.

Because yeast thrives in moist

environments, it's important to

dry the entire vaginal area after

taking a shower or bath. And

therefore avoid remedies that

advise you to take baths. Also,

wear cotton-lined underwear(or none afnight), avoid pantyhose and tight jeans, and

change out of wet swimsuits

and gym clothes right away.

Apple cider vinegar is

a natural antibiotic and it

helps the body to fight against

bacteria, virus fungi and other

disease causing organisms.

This mild acid helps to keep

the natural pH balance ofthevagina and prevents the growth

ofyeast infection. Yeast cannotthrive in the lower pH of the

vagina. Apple cider vinegar

helps to increase the good

bactelia in the intestine andin the vagina and improves

the imtnunity of the body

against yeast infections. When

taken orally, t\e proteins and

enzymes presr5nt in the vinegar

well-known herb that

kills yeast. The antifungal,

antibacterial and natural

antibiotic components presentin garlic can be highly effective

in treating any kind ofyeast

infection. Take a clove offresh

garlic and peel offthe natural

white paper shell that coversit, leaving the clove intact. At

bedtime, put the clove into

the vagina. In the morning,

remove the garlic clove and

throw it in the toilet. The garlic

often causes the vagina to have

a watery discharge. One night's

treatment maybe enough tokill the infection, or it might

have to be repeated the next

night. Continue one or two

days until all itchiness is gone.

The reason that the treatmentis done at bedtime is that thereis a connection between themouth and the vagina. The

moment the garlic is placedin the vagina, the taste of the

garlic travels up to the mouth.

Most people will find this

strong flavour annoying during

the day, so the treatment is

recommended for nighttime.

Any cut in the clove makes the

activity ofthe garlic stronger.

Thus, the more of the inside of

the clove that is exposed, the

higher the dose. Each woman

should learn the dose that

works best for her. from the

lowest dose, an uncut clove, to

a clove with one or more small

fingernail slits, to a clove cut

in half. r

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@ 20L4 SWrp - STRONG WOMEN rN PROGRESS - DIVERSITY & GENDER EQUALITY

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