Katutura: Excursions into Windhoek’s Township, by Rolf Brockmann and Gunther Christoph Dade

Katutura: Excursions into Windhoek’s Township, by Rolf Brockmann and Gunther Christoph Dade. Klaus Hess Publishers. Göttingen, 2006. ISBN 9783933117038 / ISBN 978-3-933117-03-8

Images from Katutura: Excursions into Windhoek’s Township ( ISBN 9783933117038 / ISBN 978-3-933117-03-8)

Katutura is a place filled with a lot of joy, action, liveliness and a lot of fun. There are so many people walking up and down the streets, who are talking, laughing or hollering at each other. Rolf Brockmann and Gunther Christoph Dade share their optimistic impressions with the reader.

Other places in town like Klein Windhoek, where the people are rich, you hardly see a person walking around. If you get seen walking around they think you are up to something bad like stealing, especially if you are a person of colour. Apart from that it is actually a bad idea to stroll around there, because all the dogs of the neighbourhood will be barking at you. Many houses in Katutura don't have fences, meaning that you can get to your neighbour's house without having to come in from the front of the house. Most of the houses have ceilings from corrugated iron. So when it rains it makes a lot of noise and people hardly can have a conversation. But unfortunately it doesn't rain very often in this country. In Klein Windhoek or Olympia the houses all have very high walls or fences, a lot even have electrical fences. Neighbours hardly have any contact to each other. When it rains one can't know or hear that it is raining unless you go outside and see the rain dropping. Here in Katutura every second house has a shebeen or cuca-shop, a small shop selling small items, alcohol and play loud music. Whenever you are cooking and you realize that you have run out of salt, you can just leave your pot on the stove, walk over and buy it at the cuca-shop. In Klein Windhoek you have to travel at least 10 minutes by car to go buy salt at the supermarket. And the items you go buy there are always double the price any where else. I really enjoy teaching by helping to educate my pupils to become good citizens for tomorrow, for them in future to become competent, intelligent, self-thinking, self-reliant, self-disciplined and responsible. Mutual trust, openness, honesty and loyalty shown by some of the parents involvement made me feel proud of teaching children from different backgrounds. Working together, doing things together is a fun of the day. But some of the parents do not have a good understanding of the teacher's position. They are poor with too many kids. This makes it difficult for them to pay school fees. Normally poor parents are involved in heavy drinking. As a result some I kids come to school without food or proper uniforms. These kids find lessons boring and fatiguing. They feel shame at inferiority, too low. Little share of educational budget as far as materials concern also contributes to the fact. There is no sharing of ideas due to the ethnic orientated schools which still exist.

This is an excerpt from the book Katutura: Excursions into Windhoek’s Township, by Rolf Brockmann and Gunther Christoph Dade.

Title: Katutura
Subtitle: Excursions into Windhoek’s Township
Authors: Rolf Brockmann; Gunther Christoph Dade
Klaus Hess Publishers
Göttingen, 2006
ISBN 9783933117038 / ISBN 978-3-933117-03-8
Softcover, 21 x 15 cm, 184 pages, 156 colour illustrations