Women are still saying something

Women Empowerment

By: Abiatal PM Malungah

Women empowerment begins with giving power to women and strengthening them to take up posts or tasks of high rank. Empowerment creates power in women over their lives, society and in their communities. When women are equipped and allowed to make life determining decisions in different aspects of life within any society, they are empowered.

These days’ women are able to take up jobs which some societies thought could be only done by men. Some women have studied hard, excelled and displayed beautiful attributes which have enabled them to be promoted to become  presidents, ministers, leaders and in other high level positions.

Other women have realized talents in themselves and trust that hard work doesn’t kill but pays off. Some have taken their communities to the next level by becoming best community practitioners, rendering a helping hand in communities and developing individuals within their communities. This means that women are also able to execute duties just like men who have been praised all year’s long. In Namibia, women are trying their best in empowering others and in carrying out different tasks.

1.Emma Theofelus

Emma is one of the empowered Namibian young women whom us women are currently celebrating. She has been an inspirational youth and a role model to many individuals. At a very young age, she became the Deputy Minister of Information Communication Technology and recently promoted to a youth representative in Africa. This has not only proven that women can lead the nation by taking up difficult tasks but can also trigger a sense of hard work in others.

She invests most of her time in empowering youths and other women. Being well educated, she dedicates her knowledge in teaching and guiding others. She educates other young women on issues including sexual reproductive health, rights, financial literacy, teen pregnancies, education and career.

 Emma has been working with the youth for quite a long time. She is a true  leader and a best example of an empowered young woman that most of us women should embrace.

2.  Mrs Helena MN Joshua- Shatika

Mrs Shatika is one of the best young-few- female school leaders in the northern part of Namibia. The fact that she is a woman does not pull her down. Being a school principal is a difficult job and like any other jobs, there are people who are not able to handle it. Many years ago, most principals were only male. This is because the society had labelled women as weak and incapable which is totally wrong.

Mrs Shatika is an  examporaly and instructional young energetic-female leader that most women admire. She is a golden hearted empowered woman, Well-educated and correctly articulated. Her leadership has yielded favourable results and impressing academic pass rate for her school. Dealing with teachers, support staff, parents, learners, community members and individuals of different age group, mindset and backgrounds are some of the challenging tasks which may require muscles but as for Mrs Shatika, in her portable body, has won against all odds. She is an outstanding female leader, a role model and a true Definition of an empowered woman

3. Mrs Petrina Shiimi

Women are created as caring individuals. They have the ability to nurture and raise children. They even bring and protect life on earth. Thus, when we empower women, we bless the whole nation. The trait of bringing up children is also an important duty that women take up. For instance, in the Northern part of Namibia, we find  a lady with a caring heart and the one who has great love for children. She is the founder of Oonte vulnerable Children OVC, a non-Profit organisation. For many years now,  Mrs Shiimi has been a pillar of the community, dedicating her life to care for orphans and vulnerable souls.

In the picture below Mrs  Shiimi is by podium

Oonte OVC organisation is a non Residential not Profit Organisation serving over 610 Children in Odangwa Town and the vicinity. Oonte offers meal programs, psycho-social support,home based care, cultural clubs and educational programs to create HIV/AIDS awareness, computer Literacy classes and vocational opportunities.

Children of Oonte OVC

Mrs Shiimi is an empowered woman, a peace advocate and a blessing that strives for the betterment of our future leaders. In the picture below, second from right, she receives donations from King ELIFAS KAULUMA and his Queen SECILIA KAULUMA of Ondonga.

4. Ms Ndapamekwa

Ms Ndapamekwa is a modern Namibian empowered woman enterpreneurer. Hailing from Odangwa, she is a hard working successful business woman with a clear vision. She has a healthy level of confidence and believes in her ability and skills. She is very innovative and a strong-minded woman. In her own capacity she came up with the production of a 100%  pure honey.

Apiculture/Farming bees requires knowledge, time,commitment and practice. Ms Ndapamekwa is a  bold woman who carries out the daily tasks of her farm. she is so ambitious and looks at the bright opportunities life brings. The drive to transform her visions is strong and all her decisions are made towards achieving her company’s success. She is always on the look out to improve the company’s standing. That is why today, she is successful and the community is so proud of her as she produces high quality honey, full of best nutrients that fights a lot of ailments. She is an empowered woman, and through her acts, we are inspired. Ms Ndapamekwa's honey is sold in big and small markets through out the country.

5 Ms Alina Shilongo

In one of the deep villages of the far northern part of Namibia we find Ms Alina Shilongo a very determined woman. Although she has now become a teacher, she was robbed of her teenage hood by the death of her  parents who died earlier and left her with a burden of taking care of her 10 siblings. As tiny as she was by then, the weight of being a mother to those whom she never gave birth too became heavy.  This did not make her lose focus but made her stronger.

Ms Alina became a local empowered entrepreneur  at a very young age, brewing a traditional liquor from local palm fruits, a habit she is still enjoying. she also  extracted traditional "omahuku" from marula trees. She sold these in the localities and that's how she managed to raise her 7 brothers and 3 sisters.

6. Beehive Kindergarten

The advantage of empowered women is that, they empower others through their acts and speeches. Looking at how women are taking care of their communities and leading the nation touches hearts. I am no exception, as I also got empowered by all these women and came up with

(a) A small kindergarten for vulnerable children in my community. Beehive Kindergarten is a non profit organisation, caring for more than 30 children in one of the deepest villages of Namibia. The kindergarten offers Early childhood development classes, education on HIV/AIDS pandemic,sport activities, psychological and social support and home care support.

The kindergarten is highly supported by the community members and friends who help out with cleaning and carrying out other necessary activities to assist the volunteer teacher taking care of the children.

(b) The Six Sisters

 Women empowerment speaks louder and appeals to the heart. I personally think that It is an act of a woman strengthening another woman to reach greater heights. It is a way of emulating other successful women for the betterment of oneself and those around you.  When women carry out positive discussion a lot of successful projects are achieved.

(In reference the picture below) On this day, as empowered women,we  had a lot of fruitful discussions, and formed different projects to better our selves and our community. On this same day “The six sisters” a non profit organisation by which we make a monthly fee contribution to raise  fund to care for the orphans and needy of our community is one of the project we established. The organisation just kicked off yet, making a meaningful progress.

Through empowering each other, women can learn positive changes such as relieving stress by keeping themselves busy, this promotes happiness  in their lives. Empowered women are independent and able to help their spouses in providing for their families. Empowered women engage in making up their minds and follow best decisions. They form projects to earn money for supporting their families and their communities by working through their abilities.  Sisterhood, team work  and many other lessons relating to our ways of living are achieved when women inspire others.

To all the women out there, get out of your comfort zone. Get out of your "cacoons" and find something to do. Educated or not, life has a lot of opportunities. It all depends on how hard you try. Start Now,  Stop Wasting time,it’s not late yet.

The video below is a little encouragement to all the fellow women out there.

Nb: All pictures used here are subjected to copy right.