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Fortuitously I found myself in Windhoek, Namibia for a few days this week, I didn’t do any research on the place choosing to rather make up my own mind when I got there, it turned out to be a rather lovely place, but first the 45 minute drive from the airport takes you through miles and miles of uninhabited or sparsely populated land dotted with about three meter tall thorn tress, dry grass, three to four bridges with road signs indicating a bridge and water below them but not a drop of that to be seen anywhere in sight – apart from two huge, none-too-pleased ostriches, no sign of animal life was to be seen, not even birds on the trees, (The desert proper, I was informed. is further west towards Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, about 400 km’s east) - the town itself proved to be a pleasant surprise, little did I know that I had stepped onto Hallowed ground, but I was soon to discover That fact..
It happened on day 2 of my stay when I decided to take a leisurely early-morning walk through the town’s centre, outside one of the art galleries’ was a display with REAL Khoisan gear, everything was there, dusty and well-worn complete with the ropes carrying ostrich egg shells for storing water covered with animal skin, and two holes that were without mistake bullet holes!!
I felt as if I had been thrust back in time, for what seemed like an eternity I felt deep within me the hardships of my ancient ancestors who were driven northwards from the fertile and plentiful Western Cape regions towards the barren desert filled with acres and acres of Nothing! forced to survive on their sheer wits and ingenuity witnessed by me so clearly in the display before me holding sharpened knives, bows and arrows etc Had I been a tad more sensitive, I would have sunk to the ground and wept!
The second most remarkable thing I had the honour of seeing and holding in my own hands are the Gibeon meteorites, to most people, me included, I thought meteorites were merely rocks and they sure look a lot like rocks, particularly in the shape of garden fountains but closer inspection showed that the meteorites are actually made up of copper and steel, I kid you not! Mesmerizingly there are sections shaved off with a grinder where you can see the steel inside while the copper bit forms the outer layer.
Here’s the interesting part ~~~ Coloured people make up a sizeable percentage of the population; you can’t go anywhere without bumping into a few of my brethren, they are adequately represented in all industries and at all levels (as they should be) and one look at me is enough to convince them that I’m capable of speaking Afrikaans fairly well should I decide to do so – on more than one occasion my travelling companion, who is not a Coloured, was asked “Kan jy Afrikaans verstaan?” (Do you understand Afrikaans?), never was I asked, which emboldened me and gave me much confidence to speak the language almost spontaneously inserting English words where I did not know the English equivalent (of a particular word) so my sentences were mostly like: “Gee my a box matches asseblief” , no eyebrows were raised, I was well and truly at my spiritual home - I finally understood and experienced the joys of being part of the majority in a place, where there is never any doubt about your abilities, where you walk freely without appearing questionable to others.
Even though Coloureds are well-represented in all industries I cannot say with certainty whether they actually own, or part-own the businesses they run – they certainly are trusted with a great deal of responsibility if they do not, and understandably so, I have found most of them to be likeable, down-to-earth, honest and obedient people who get on rather well with their Afrikaaner counterparts – in short, they are not likely to be of any trouble concerning shareholding, pay and other such matters.
One could, for instance, leave the entire running of one’s business in their reliable hands and jet off to see the world or soak one’s self on the beach daily for months on end without fear of any disruptions to one’s business.
