Namibia weblog 2006Graduation Day22nd May 2006 Rosanne writes.... Graduation day up at the Northern Campus is quite a spectacle. The day before sees the campus empty of staff who have all gone rushing around to decorate the Trade Fair Centre with the African equivalent to bunting, which in this case was matching sets of red curtains. This year there was a proper set of small steps up to platform, better than last year when I think it was wobbly crates because people kept teetering. I think the catering was probably also arranged just the day before because it all went horribly wrong and I suspect many of the graduates and their families left in a dizzy state of starvation before any of the food arrived. Arriving was astonishing. Normally what you see outside the Trade Fair are disgruntled goats and a small stall selling oranges and doughnuts, but on this special day about two hundred gowned graduates and their brightly coloured families were queueing to get in. Apparently the journey into Oshakati from every direction was almost at a standstill as cars were jostling with decrepit and lurching donkey carts commanded by old men in hats and tight suits and their wives in swathes of fabric, all come to celebrate the graduation of one of their relatives. As part of the academic staff Michael and I were dressed in mortar board and gown, along with all our colleagues. The range of gown decorations and colours was dizzying: shocking pink, purple tassels, lime green, deep emerald, gold, and we stood and swayed about like lofty elegant creatures on display. I spotted a very elegant Bishop in a frock coat and bib, holding a mauve pleated silk top hat so I hurtled off to talk to him. He had studied theology in Finland, done a doctorate in Sweden I think and spoke umpteen languages and was here to bless the proceedings. A very jolly man who said we must call him Otto as he pressed me into his vast arms was wearing a billowing red velvet hat and gown. We wafted around trying to keep our hats on in the gusting wind, waiting for the arrival of the President of Namibia, and the Ex-President who is also the Chancellor of the University. There were several cabinet ministers due to take their seats on the platform alongside. When the important people had arrived there was much greeting and laughter and socializing and trips to the loo with bodyguards and eventually we made a long and dignified procession through the big hall, every seat taken. A brass band played the National Anthem and we all stood to sing ‘Namibia our country”. The speeches showed the delight in the day, celebrations in achievement, the value of education, the future of the Northern Campus and the building of an Engineering and Medical School and even mentioned the success of the Foundation Programme. There was a band of dancers to bring light relief: women in the traditional shocking pink striped skirts playing waist high drums and the men who played guitar and modern keyboard bridged the cultural gap between traditional and modern by wearing the same skirts but also trainers and baseball caps and t-shirts. The student nurses stood and sang some hymns with downcast eyes. The delivery of the certificates was superb. Each graduate came onto the platform when their name was called and received their scroll from Dr. Sam Nujoma, Father of the Country, ex President and Chancellor, who was smiling the widest smile and then the mothers or aunts or cousins would start to ululate and chant, in Oshidonga, something like, "This is my firstborn, thank you thank you, what honour she has brought to the family…" and come rushing up to the front, waving whips made of horse tails and thrashing enormous bunches of plastic flowers about. All the lofty academics on the platform were caught up in the event and were roaring with laughter. Hours later we processed out and made our way to the new red and yellow hotel in Ongwediva for a special lunch by invitation of the chancellor, and there we all mingled, without any security, for just a very jolly lunch at the end of a very jolly graduation. And did things stop there? Well for us maybe, but the President got up and left for the serious task of opening the new Post Office. As we settled back to work we could hear the distant trumpeting and parping of the brass band… More to follow...
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