Heroes are more than medals, says Nandi-Ndaitwah

President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah says heroism extends beyond medals and public recognition to ordinary Namibians who serve their families, communities and country.

Speaking at the 60th Heroes Day commemoration in Windhoek yesterday, Nandi-Ndaitwah said people who carried messages, provided food and shelter, endured detention, crossed borders, sustained families and communities, prayed, organised and resisted during the liberation struggle are also heroes.

“These actions may never receive medals or make newspaper headlines, but they all serve Namibia and her people,” she said.

Nandi-Ndaitwah said this shortly before conferring hero status on Cornelius Shimuaafeni (16) from Omutundungu village in the Omusati region, who saved twins from a pond earlier this year.

She said Cornelius did not act for recognition or reward, or because cameras were watching, but because he saw lives in danger and knew he was putting his own life at risk.

“He acted on behalf of all Namibians without hesitation and saved the lives of nine-month-old twins who had been thrown into a water pond by their mother. He did not wake up that morning knowing that his courage would be tested,” she said.

After he was conferred heroes status, Cornelius received N$5 000.

She urged that the same spirit of service continues to exist in independent Namibia, where ordinary people contribute to the country without seeking recognition.

Cornelius earlier told The Namibian that he did not know how to swim and said: “If they were going to die, I was going to die with them.”

Nandi-Ndaitwah said a mother who wakes up early to prepare her children for school before going to sell goods, a father who provides for his family or an older sibling who sacrifices personal comfort to put a young sibling in school can all be considered heroes.

She said teachers who refuse to give up on struggling pupils, nurses who remain compassionate despite exhausting shifts, farmers who continue producing food despite drought and entrepreneurs who create jobs are heroes too.

“Heroes Day belongs equally to the thousands whose names may never appear in history books,” she said.

She added that nations are not only built by great acts that history remembers, but through quiet actions of courage, responsibility, honesty and sacrifice that history may never record.

She honoured leaders such as Sam Nujoma, kaptein Hendrik Witbooi, Samuel Maharero, Nehale lyaMpingana, Mandume ya Ndemufayo, Omukwaniilwa Iipumbu ya Tshilongo, Thomas Nyangana, Hosea Kutako, Anna Mungunda, and Andimba Toivo ya Toivo, saying they paved the way for a peaceful, sovereign, and prosperous Namibia.

Khomas governor Sam Nujoma at the event said Heroes Day honours the “bravest” sons and daughters of the Namibian soil, the men and women who answered the call of the motherland when it mattered most.

“Our national anthem reminds us, waters our freedom. This monument tells the story of a people who resisted oppression and refused to waiver until this nation attains its political and economic independence,” he said.

He said bravery and heroism did not end with the liberation struggle. Nujoma said societies remain punctuated by those that are ready to sacrifice everything, not only for the betterment of it but also for the survival of others.

Independent observer Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro says Heroes Day was designated to remember those who contributed to the country’s independence.

He believes those who spend long hours serving the public should be referred to as heroes because their work is continuous.

“It goes back, it does not only start with armed structures formed by the Swapo armed wing. It goes back to the beginning of the resistance movement as waived by traditional communities,” he says.

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