FROM NEW ERA NEWSPAPER
Beijing---Look, I am not the one to blow horns and trumpet unless I have made my judgmental opinion and satisfied before I let go of my valued opinion on what I think of you, object or country for that matter. Much to the satisfaction of my sister Ndenda who thinks that I am a self-centered arrogant bugger who is hell bent on loving myself more than Napoleon did. But that is a story of a different feather - different feather - different day on its own altogether. But what I am saying is that more often than not on a good day, I let go of my ranting about anything instead of praise singing.
Not even a good hefty amount of any of dear earth currency will make me get to do such a benevolent act. It was simply not in my character, but of course of late I am more slowly forced to consume humble pie about my own held myriad of what China is and was in my head.
The thing I have always had this weird happening of "twice lucky thing going" so barely few weeks after my first visit to China, I was back on a plane again to the land they call a "harmonious society". And for this I have to say thank you China, for now…..
There was this English lecturer, who once irked me at varsity when he said that if you want to hide any thing from a black man, put it in a book, in essence he was saying that we possess the extraordinary inability to read.
Obviously, knowing that it was the truth I was obligated to oppose for the sake of opposition like most Namibian opposition parties. Of course, he did not like the idea of a first year student fresh from working as a vegetable boy telling him the opposite of what he has amassed for nearly a decade in the academia. For punishment I was graded poorly - that fixed me and from that moment onwards, all lecturers became friends of mine.
How does this relate to China and reading? Well thanks to China, Namibian students here are proving to be quite experts on any reading material under the sun.
A chance meeting with Namibian students in Beijing, was a cherished moment - off course with Namibians some characters never change. So, a few bottles of Tsingtao Beer were flowing well into the wee hours of the morning. As such during the course of the night, conversations ensued and not the typical Katutura lingo that we are accustomed off. These feisty young men and women impressed me with their insight on general knowledge and the extent to which they went about analysing current affairs and contemporary issues.
Our discussion was the thorny topic of African knowledge and based on a book titled - the Capitalist Nigger.
To be quite honest, while almost all the 10 students I met have read the book, I was a bit ashamed not to say that I did not read the book though, it was not looking rosy for me , even Matty who proudly says that he is from Wambo lokasie has read the book. How many dudes from Wambo lokasie will go in a bookstore to purchase a book?
When I questioned this anti-Namibian attitude of what is the deal with reading books, the answer was simple from these Young Turks "what we need to implement back home is found in books, that is why we read."
Exactly, that is why I say thanks that these guys realise that the importance of fostering a reading culture, hopefully Namibian youngsters will heed the message that Kick Off magazine should not be the God of reading.
Even Mathew, a truly Omusati man of stock who gave me a book to read and was more concerned about selling me empty recordable CDs for ridiculous prices, has shunned his liking for books. Now Mathew was the last man to do so but it does prove that indeed change is good….
by John Ekongo
New Era Newspaper