Media

5. Telling Stories: Preserving our Heritage one Storybook at a Time

From The Namibian (The Weekender)
by Sheenaa Magenya

For many parents today it’s hard to imagine life without television. The TV in any household is like another family member, and some cases, the most important one. No matter what is showing, as long as the TV is on, parents can be guaranteed at least 20 or so minutes of silence and relative peace. This, of course, comes at a price. First of course is the overall negative influence that TV has on children, how they relate to their environment, other people and also how they feel about themselves. Another effect of abusing the television nanny only becomes evident years later when your child shows no interest in books or reading. Sadly, this is the state that many of our children find themselves in today, and this has far reaching effects on their performance at school.

While books were not an actual part of our traditional past, the stories that they told were. Back before Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel and Cartoon Network, story time was an activity that gathered children faster than a pack of Smarties at a playground. Story time meant that children could interact with adults on a level that allowed them to be both seen and heard. Children love stories. Children have the most vivid and engaging imaginations around, and story telling was how they were taught logic, critical thinking and humanity. Traditional stories presented children with answers to questions in ways that were exciting and entertaining. The stories taught lessons, and interactively explained things like why the tortoise has a shell, why we get the moon at night and the sun during the day or why the cat and the dog don’t get along. This activity empowered children with information that allowed them to understand the world around them. This practice of passing on traditional stories orally to our children is dying-and the only way to save it is to put these stories in books for our children. Which now presents us with a problem-our children don’t read anymore, and for the few that are looking for their stories-traditional Namibian stories, in traditional Namibian languages are few and far between.

Making a plan

As a new mother living in the United States in 2005, Helvi Itenge-Wheeler wanted to teach her son Oshiwambo, or at least read him some Oshiwambo story books. After a futile search online and in bookstores both in the States and in Namibia, she was sad to find that there were no toddlers’ books in Oshiwambo, not even in Namibia. So, because in Africa we make a plan, Helvi made a book. “I made a children’s picture book using my son Berhane’s pictures in Oshiwambo and had it printed via lulu.com. This was very exciting for me and the book was a big hit.” Friends and family in the States liked Helvi’s book so much she had more printed for them. “It wasn’t even professionally done! But I discovered that people were interested, and craved these books and stories, in their languages for their children, so I decided it was gap that I was going to fill.” That’s how Yambeka Children Media, which specializes in promoting African languages and tales, was born.

And speaking to children in Namibia, this need is felt as much here as it is by other Namibians and Africans in the Diaspora. Children in Namibia do not feel represented or featured whether in books or in other media such as cartoons or so called ‘children’s programming.’ 12 year old Magreement. When asked whether they read any books, of the 12 children gathered, only two raise their hands. “In fact we need more stories in our traditional languages. Like I can speak my mother tongue, but I cannot read it at all.” Says 12 year old Frans Kaimbi. “If you cannot read in your own language, then you miss out a lot, and you can lose many important lessons in your culture, your history and your traditions.” Anyone that speaks their mother tongue will tell you that there are some expressions and exclamations that only make sense in say Rukavango or Silozi. The impact or relevance of these expressions gets lost in translation.

Reading for change

“Often, the government will ask that our youth and children be more creative about stressful situations or more excited about their education. This is important for the growth of Namibia, but no one tells parents that they need to start reading to their children the moment they are born.” Says Helvi. The culture of reading to children and by children is practically non-existent. When asked, a group of 12 primary school children aged between 10 and 13 years old, most of them said that they don’t read books, but they do realize that books have the power to change their perceptions and teach them more about the world around them. “Books that tell different traditional stories can help us understand each other’s cultures better. That way we don’t grow up talking about Oshiwambos or Damaras, just Namibians.” Reflects 11 year old AlbertinaNambinga. 13 year old Kofi Bonangwe agrees with Albertina’s sentiments and adds, “We are so quick to forget old stories, but we realize that the old stories taught our grandmothers and fathers how to survive. The same stories can work for us today.” Gift Mukwambi, 12 echoes the sentiments of his fellow students. “For example, look at Takalani Sesame. That’s a TV show we enjoy because we now see that there are no big differences between us and South African kids. Also, on Takalani Sesame we see black kids and white kids interacting, which is nice to watch.”

“It’s not until I lived in the US that I realized my culture and language are important. That the stories that I grew up listening to are going to die because no one sits around the fire anymore, and listens to stories. I also noticed that parents from Russia, Spain or France-no matter where in the world they are, speak to their children in French, have French toddler’s books and make a conscious effort to teach their children their culture. We don’t think the same way when we leave home, and many times forget to teach our children our language and our culture.” Says Helvi.

With increased globalization, some might argue, why hang on to old and outdated stories and languages when we can articulate ourselves just as well in English or German? But why don’t we also ask, why can’t Europeans articulate themselves in our languages as well as we do theirs? Wouldn’t it be nice to know that a small child in the heart of Italy is being read the story Nehoya and the Crocodile at bedtime? Tobias Mbulu, 12, rightly noticed “Sometimes you pick up a storybook and it talks about snow and ice. These are things we have never experienced and find hard to understand as children. It would also be nice if small children in America read stories about Namibians talking about things they have also never seen.”

There is a great sense of pride in seeing a story you were told as a child, put into a book. It is like a captured piece of history, that can now be passed on for generations. Stories that tell of an appreciation for nature and respect for each other. What Helvi is doing is telling our stories, and preserving our heritage. Helvi is working to make sure that in five years’ time, Yambeka Children Media puts Namibian and African stories on the map of the world. “I also hope to have children’s cartoons, toys, clothes and books that reflect this pride in the rich cultural heritage that we have in Africa.”athias Iilwenya says “When I look at story books and cartoons, I don’t see any black kids in them. They are mostly white kids, and the stories that the books tell are about things that I don’t know about. This discourages me from reading books.” A group of other kids gathered around us nod their heads in

4.SME’s need more funding in 2012  

by Honorine Kaze     15 Dec 2011 - 21 Dec 2011

From The Villager 

 It is that time of the year whereby everyone looks back on their achievements, trying to figure out who either impressed or inspired them by what they do or are trying to achieve.
This year, The Villager went up and close to a number of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) who are thriving to make it to top of the game and become employers instead of employees.
SMEs are considered the backbone of most economies and seen as a key source of economic growth, dynamism and flexibility.
A research done at the Bank of Namibia in 2005 revealed that SMEs contributed to approximately 12% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employed 20% of the workforce during 2004.
We have seen several remarkable business ideas developed by Namibians. We have reviewed designers, cake baking businesses, moulded wires into shapes, made our own beer, met our own travel agents and not forgetting a carpenter who refused to work for someone else, hence became his own boss, creating jobs.
Although they all have different stories, they all have one common goal; rising above it all and making the best out of their businesses.
Most of the businesses started in their houses and kitchens but they worked hard enough to move to proper commercial buildings.
The owner of Namibia Travel Counsellors, Getruida Stephanus, started off in her flat in 2008 with her housekeeper as the secretary but three years later leads an internationally recognised travel agency, operating from her offices in Maerua Mall with four employees on her pay roll.
Others started businesses with less than nothing; nonetheless, were not discouraged.
Andreas Joseph and Daniel Nelumbu after graduating from the Polytechnic of Namibia refused to remain just a part of the statistics of the country’s unemployed masses and decided to start off their IT company in 2009 with a N$2000 capital; they each put up N$1000 into the business as basic start-up capital after failing to get enough money from the bank to procure the equipment needed to start their company.
This tough start did not stop them and a couple of years later; they are not only giving IT services but have also opened Ekako Cleaning Services based in Ongwediva.
From some of the interesting business people featured was Willem February who learnt from his mistakes while in prison and decided to have a clean start by venturing into upholstery business. Starting up his business from his uncle’s backyard with little money he had saved from his previous jobs; he grew to having a stable clientele that goes beyond borders in the neighbouring countries; currently employing 20 people into his business.
Bennet Bessinger is an inspirational man who did not let disability tie him down as he started his signage business, which currently has four employees. Bessinger was also awarded the 2011 SINIEDA award following his previous award in the 2009 Ongwediva Trade Fair.
Helvi Itenge is a young woman who got tired of always relating to European tales to teach her children and decided instead to start writing children books by herself based on her Namibian upbringing and the African tales she was told as a child. Today, she has become a publishing author in her own right, having her children’s books on some of Namibian library, such as Edumeds and even further from home as 2000 of her books have been sold in Kenya thus far.
Although SMEs are meant to create jobs, generate income to families, assist in growth of transitional economies; they also need financial resources and infrastructure and the latter has availed to be some of the challenges faced by the SME owners.
One common point that kept popping up from most of the stories this year is the fact that most of those business success stories all started up from little personal savings, which is in itself an inspirational fact but if one probed further, they would find out the main raison behind the struggle starts is the fact that most of them had struggled securing a loan from either the banks or from the Ministry of Trade. Although have most of them applied for the loans, they never got them or are still waiting for the response from respective organisations.
Unfortunately, most Namibians who start up as SMEs hardly have collateral, which is required by banking institution to secure a loan, because of the high transaction costs used in supplying loans to SMEs.
Claudine Mouton, Director of SMEs Compete stresses on the necessity of supporting young entrepreneurs countrywide.
According to her, the SME Compete has so far funded 1 300 SMEs throughout the countries and its future plan is to support more SMEs. With that in mind, it will open a new SME Compete branch in Luderitz in an effort to get closer to more individuals.
The privately-owned SME Compete generates its own funding and helps SMEs grow businesses, create wealth and generate employment.
In conclusion, Namibians slowly understand the fact of creating their own employment as not employment can be granted by Government. However, there is a need of diversification of products on the market and one can hope for the availability of better funding for Namibian. From The Villager...

 

3.  African tales for the Diaspora

From The Villager

 by Honorine Kaze     05 Dec 2011 - 11 Dec 2011 

 

 Failing to find Namibian toddler books for her children inspired Helvi Itenge-Wheeler to start publishing her own children`s books.
Itenge-Wheeler (34), a mother of two, wanted Oshiwambo toddler books for bedtime stories to read to her children in 2007 while she was living and studying in the United States.
She could not find such books in Namibia to take with to the US.
“As a mother, it is my responsibility to teach my children their mother-tongue. Being so far from home, where everyone spoke English, it was quite hard, because there was no one to converse with in my home language and I was afraid my children would lose their culture by not being able to speak my mother-tongue. When my family and friends failed to get me books from home, I then decided to write a book called Lilyo Yolutu (Body Parts), using my own kids’ pictures,” Helvi says with a gloating expression. 
She then shared this book online with her Namibian friends in USA and Europe, most of whom bought a copy each, hence realising that there was a need for such books for those who do not live in Namibia.
Itenge-Wheeler who holds a Masters Degree in Human Resource Education, decided in 2009 to start Yambeka Children Media, with the aim of promoting African languages and tales with emphasis placed on the Namibian languages.
She creates a line of educational print and multimedia products and toys that specialise in interactive activities for children between the ages of 2 and 9.
She has published children`s books; written and translated to English-Oshiwambo and English–Swahili.
Some of her published books include Linamwenyo, Wanyama, Princess Makena, Mrs Kangaroo visits Namibia.
Having lived in Kenya, she also encountered the same lack of real African children’s books.  So she decided to write vibrant colourful books for children and translated them from Swahili to English.
Baby’s First Kiswahili Book is one of the books she wrote and published; it cost N$40 and she has managed to sell over 2 000 books, in 52 libraries across Kenya and are still being sold in the major libraries in Kenya.
To start up her business, Itenge-Wheeler says that: “I used my savings as I could not get any funding, which was a challenge because printing is quite expensive in Namibia,” she says. However, she adds that she has been lucky to have recently received sponsorship from the National Arts Council of Namibia; an amount from which she intends to publish  three children’s book early next year  based on Namibian traditional tales (Nehoya and the Crocodile, Kishikishi the bad Monster and The Jackal and Hyena).
Looking back on her childhood Itenge-Wheeler lived in exile in an Angolan refugee camp whereby she experienced the lack of proper educational books fit for her age, especially ones written in Oshiwambo, which today helped shape her desire in writing children’s educational books.
“My dad was the one who taught me how to write and read Oshiwambo, as everything was taught in English in the camp. He later told me that I used to assemble children and teach or tell them tales when I was a kid, which led him to think that I could become a teacher when I grew up,” she recalls.
She believes that her background gave her a vision of what she wanted to focus on later on in life and she feels that it is her role to keep alive the real African tales she was told while still a child.
“Our children know about Cinderella and many other European fairly tales but how about our African tales? African children need to learn about our African languages and stories,” she says.
Her ambition is to keep her brand growing and she intends to translate her children’s books in all Namibian indigenous languages. In addition to her book collections, she will be adding educational music CDs, story DVDs and educational toys. She further wants to see her books turned into cartoons for children to enjoy more.
Her books cost between N$50 and N$80 and are found in bookshops, such as Book Den and will be available very soon in Edumeds.
Itenge-Wheeler tried to approach CNA to sell her books but was told that the bookshop does not sell local books.
The books can also be purchased online on Amazon.com while orders can also be placed at yambekachildren@gmail.com  

Follow the link to learn more:The Villager Namibia.

2. Tweetalige prentjieboek vir kinders

From Republikein

 3.03.2011

 ’n Tweetalige kinderboek, Iinamwenyo / Animals, wat die leer van Oshiwambo pret maak is ’n prentjieboek vir kinders tussen die ouderdom 2 tot 8.

Die boek word Saterdag om 10:00 by die Franco-Namibiese Kultuursentrum (FNCC) tydens storievertellingsuur bekendgestel. Skrywer Helvi Itenge wil wys dat die leer van Oshiwambo maklik en lekker kan wees.

Algemene name van diere word in Oshiwambo en Engels in die boek gebruik en die getalle 1 tot 20 word ook in beide tale aangeleer. Tweetalige interessante feite en leglaarte is ’n bonus.

Helvi is ’n Namibiër wat in 2001 na Amerika verhuis het om twee universiteitsgrade te voltooi en sy het met ’n M-graad in E-learning gespesialiseer.

Sy is getroud en die ma van twee kinders. Terwyl sy in Amerika gewoon het, het sy dit moeilik gevind om haar kinders in haar moedertaal Oshiwambo te onderrig, want sy kon geen kinderboeke kry wat in haar taal geskryf is nie.

Vasbeslote om haar kinders Oshiwambo te leer, het sy haar eie baba- en kleuterboeke begin skryf. Die boek sal na die bekendstelling teen N$80 te koop aangebied word en Helvi is beskikbaar om kopieë te onderteken. Ouers word aangemoedig om die geleentheid saam met hulle kinders by te woon.
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1. Book Launch: Linamwenyo/Animals 

From: Franco Namibia

Learning Oshiwambo is fun! Linamwenyo/Animals by Helvi Wheeler

Helvi Wheeler, author of publications of the Yambeka Children Media series, will present her new title0 Linamwenyo/Animals.
Targetting children aged 6 to 10, this colourful picturebook shows that learning Oshiwambo is both easy and fun!
Linamwenyo/Animals is a remarkable bilingual picture book using names of common animals in Oshiwambo and English.
Bonus feature: Learning numbers 1-20 in Oshiwambo and English and interesting facts about animals, plus 2 fun puzzles.