Their blood waters our freedom... I am glad it took them this long to have some of the latest technological marvels that we enjoy today. Just imagine if we had Facebook and all these social networking media some 100 years ago?Trust me, if people had Facebook at the time of the historic battle of Ongulumbashe, Namibia would still be known as South West Africa. Ja, we would be known as the Namambwe Province of South Africa, and would call Upington our ‘capital town’.
I tell you, with the weird and often ridiculous posts that one finds on Facebook these days, Namibia would have never attained her independence. Look at it this way; Plan combatants, after drilling in the field for the entire morning, would return to their camps at base.
One of them would post on Facebook, “Og, these people are killing us with these exercises. Can’t wait for the battle of Omugulugwobashe to finally start….”
After seeing the status, some fool would ask: “Haiti meme Maria, when exactly are we expected to fire those first shots? Our commander is being snobbish about the whole thing. It is kamma a top secret or whatever….”
I tell you, if would have been a crazy world. You would have Pik Botha’s son challenging the ‘son of the nation’ on Facebook with, “My father says he will teach you people a valuable lesson on 26 August 1966….”
To this, the ‘son of the nation’ would reply, “I am not afraid of you. My father told me that we will be ready for you when you come….”
With gunfire everywhere and people scattering in all directions to seek cover as the historic battle of Ongulumbashe gets underway, some fool will be standing there in the midst of it all with his I-phone attempting to capture the images for his wall. I can imagine seeing a soldier putting his AK-47 down for a while to post, “Jooooo…there is gunfire everywhere. I am busy fighting for the liberation of Namibia. Wish me luck guys….”
Commanders of the different battalions would then gladly post on their statuses after the last shot of Ongulumbashe by declaring, “I am so proud of my boys. They did their best today. We might have lost 350 brave men out of the 400 we had, but it was a good fight. Dinner is on me, boys.”
My friends from Khomsdal, after watching the whole thing on TV would become ‘expert witnesses’ on it. “O my God… ek het alles gesien (I saw it all)…oh Here vat my nou. Oh heeeere…(Oh Lord take me now, oh Lord)….”
Ja nê, let’s face it – our generation is just too weak for what those gallant sons of the soil went through in their quest to liberate the country. I tell you, my generation, which can hardly live without checking their emails – would not last a minute in the big shoes of Namibia’s heroes and heroines. I am referring to a generation that finds humour telling each other what they are up to through a platform called Tweeter!
Good old action television, in which our hero Chuck Norris shows why he is still the best in the game - is no more. We are now made to watch people sitting, walking, eating and sleeping – referred to as reality television? Then came Google, and society was never the same! Google killed the art of research to such an extent that some of us who still have the full volume set of “Encyclopaedia Britannica” are considered country pumpkins!
The general knowledge of our children has plummeted to levels never imagined before. All our kids know to say these days is that, “…but daddy, it is not in the text book…”. Of cause it is not in the text book – it is supposed to be in your head, had you taken the time to enrich your mind as opposed to marvelling at, “A Shelter for Love - the Luciana Story."
I tell you, if technology keeps its current pace, I would have to email my wife to ask her to pass the butter - even if we are sitting at the same table.
Long live the spirit of no surrender. Their blood indeed waters our freedom.
Until then…
Tjatindi@gmail.com