YOUNG OBSERVER | Youth urged to protect Namibia’s history

Patience Makwele Young Namibians have been urged to learn, protect and retell the country’s history as Namibia marked its second Genocide Remembrance Day on Thursday. Speaking during the national commemoration held in Eenhana in the Ohangwena region, vice president Lucia Witbooi said the day should serve as an educational platform for young people to understand the history of the 1904–1908 genocide committed against the Ovaherero and Nama people during German colonial rule. “To our youth, Genocide Remembrance Day must serve as an important educational platform through which they can learn about Namibia’s painful history,”

Witbooi said. She said the resistance of Namibian forebears against colonial oppression laid the foundation for the country’s freedom and independence. “Their pain became our purpose.

Their resistance became our foundation. Their sacrifice became the freedom of the Republic of Namibia,” she said. Witbooi urged young Namibians to take ownership of the country’s future through education, innovation and economic empowerment while rejecting tribalism, division and hatred.