PRESIDENT NUJOMA

The spirit of the Almighty God constantly hovers over the earth, and as he treads upon the land, he sees the atrocities and cruelties committed against the people he created. When you touch the works of his hands, be sure to have touched him as well. To straighten you up, The Creator raises up a king. But long before they are kings, they are warriors.

When God looked down and saw the bitter oppression, the marginalization, and the humiliating deeds inflicted on the Namibian people, he thought of Sam Shaf'iishuna Nujoma.

When he heard the wailings of women at the 1959 uprising, after 11 innocent protesters perished at the hands of evil men, The Almighty God pacing back and forth in his chambers had to come down riding on the wings of the wind to lay his hand on Samuel Nujoma.

And when God couldn't handle to see the injustice, racial discrimination, and the disintegration of the dignity and nobility of the people he created any longer, in his might and wrath he raised up Sam Nujoma.

Where others wavered, others pressed on under unrelenting pressure, with deep conviction and faith that the cause to which they have given their lives is completely worthy. His unwavering determination, grit, and perseverance under adverse conditions in an attempt to liberate the motherland is the stuff that heroes are made of. And what a great hero of a man he is.

The sheer courage to tell the enemy that you can take our lives but will never take our freedom, the unwillingness to flinch or fold in the face of certain death. To follow this man, our fathers did not hesitate to pick up the instruments of war as they joined the armed struggle. Our mothers rallied with great zeal to support the vision, our grandparents bit their tongues, looked the other way, and thought of something else. Mixed feelings. A sense of pride of course while dreading the worst and yet hoping to see their children again. It's a scene many would rather skip, many whose names fade into history unnoticed. It's the high cost of freedom.

And though the struggle was long and bitter, we are free at last. Those he led into the jungle, he led back home triumphantly. And though some did not return, those are the ones that paid the price so we can return to a free country. They willingly gave their lives for the cause. "After many moons in the jungle, we can finally mourn. But we can't stay here for too long, we must build her up, bind up her wounds and educate her children. We must adorn her with national pride and wrap her in a robe of many colors, her diverse cultures. We must strengthen her arms so that there's nourishment on her table. Oh my motherland, I gave you all I had, and now I have nothing left."

One man can only carry so much. Like water, life slips through the hands of time, the flesh fails and begs to return to the dust, and the spirit returns to its Maker. The sun rises on one as king, at dawn it pleads with you to assume the responsibility. 

If we fail to uphold the dignity, unity, nobility and respect for one another that President Nujoma intended for the Namibian people, it all rests on us. And if we don't do our part with honor, conviction, and integrity we risk ourselves becoming cowards and letting the blood shed by so many unsung heroes go to waste.

Here I stand hanging on the reins of a dead man's horse, with the cause of liberation in my heart. Just as our fathers fought to liberate our country from colonial oppression, I must stand from today on to fight to liberate my country from evil schemes and satanic oppression. You must take your place on the ranks as well and do your part. You can go through life aimlessly, or you can ask the Almighty to define your role.

President Nujoma? You might be gone, but your gallantry and unwavering bravery lives on through us. As we wrap you in the great flag of the land to lay you to rest, we send 21 gunshots in the air and send you off with the sound of a freedom song. We salute you, servant of the Namibian people. But our true salutation will be revealed in how we live, In how we respect and honor our fellow countrymen despite our cultural differences, and in how we display selfless and sacrificial love and affection for one another. And though this kind of unity might seem impossible to us, when we bow down as a nation to the Almighty God and ask all things through his son Jesus Christ, this is all possible. Here we come before you oh King of Heaven, so help us God. In Jesus name, Amen 🙏