The Namibia Economist

St George’s reaches out

The prefects at St George’s Prep school run  a community outreach programme every term. The first Outreach took place last week. Schoolmaster Dawie Leibbrandt said “Plants were donated by St George’s to the Huis Maerua Childrens Home, as they are moving to their brand new premises in Auasblick this Friday 19 April. We are happy to do something positive for those that are less privileged. It is exciting and the gratitude from people is overwhelming and very satisfying. We look forward to the next project and well done to our prefects,we are very proud of them.” The Outreach was facilitated by St George’s teachers, Mrs Enright and Mrs Milho.

Wika starts with a slow roll

The very popular German carnival, Wika is building up steam as it moves into its second week of celebrations. It started last week with the Biwak moving this weekend to the Children’s Carnival, and then really picking up speed with next week’s Prinzenball, the Fancy Dress evening, the Buettenabend and the International Evenings later in April.
Bank Windhoek has for the 10th consecutive year, supported Wika with a N$33,000 sponsorship. Wika is Namibia’s oldest carnival and celebrates its 61st anniversary this year.  
The Wika motto “Es läuft alles wie geschmiert”, conveys the idea of a smooth-running, never-ending party.
Wika president, Holger Mentzel, said “Windhoek’s fools and jesters can expect fireworks of show acts and fun-filled programmes at this year’s carnival. The public can once again expect to be treated to a host of scintillating performances on and off the stage in 2013.”
One of the highlights of this year’s festival is the performances by two seasoned German artists, Marie Luise Nikuta and Andi Ost.

Read more: Wika starts with a slow roll

Namcor profits help learners learn

The National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR) recently donated N$41,000 to the Gobabis Combined Project School and another N$41,000 to the School for the Hearing Impaired. The handover ceremony took place at the Gobabis Epako Community Hall.
The School for the Hearing Impaired in Windhoek was established in 1995 and has 165 the learners with special needs and caters for grades 1 to 10. Due to their special needs the learners require particular equipment and teaching aids to experience education without any further challenges.
The Gobabis Combined Project School was established in February 2012 and is home to 1083 learners in grades 1, 2, 8 and 9.
NAMCOR Managing Director, Mr. Obeth Kandjoze on behalf of the Board of Directors and employees handed over N$82,000 in total to the two schools to acquire the needed teaching aids.
Kandjoze at the handover ceremony said “NAMCOR will continuously grow our fuels, lubricants and exploration business in a manner that is sustainable and beneficial to Namibians and make sound contributions to needing and deserving children in our communities”.

“Being in the arts has always been part of my life”

Whenever she is on stage magic happens. Tulimelila ‘Tuli’ Shityuwete is one of Namibia’s finest stage actresses. Leading up to the opening of Meme Mia, the biggest musical ever to be staged on Namibian soil, the Economist caught up with the 25-year-old African contemporary dancer, singer and actress who has been in theatre all her life. Meme Mia debuts on 12 April and runs until 20 April at the National Theatre of Namibia. Tickets can be bought at the NTN Box Office and the College of the Arts for N$100. Tuli has been dancing since she was four years old and even though she was a year too young to start, she begged and begged until she was allowed to go.
“I always knew that I wanted to be in theatre so I consider myself one of the lucky few; being in the arts was never a choice that I had to make, it has always been a part of my life. I have known that this is what I wanted to do with my life from the moment I was able to verbally express myself. The first show I did was with my wonderful ballet teacher Jenny Schuster. I was 7 years old and I was a sea turtle. We had to wear lime green leotards and little gold balaclavas and we had these massive shells on our backs. I was unbelievably jealous of the gold fish who had really pretty costumes and were older than us. Looking back, that was where my love of performance started; I watched the video a few years ago and I was so over the moon. I was just so happy to be on stage, I had totally found my calling” she said.

Read more: “Being in the arts has always been part of my life”