JULY WRITING CHALLENGE

Walking in on an Independence Celebration

And not knowing what is happening in front of my eyes

Growing up in post-war Germany and being taught there’s nothing to be proud of your own heritage I was shocked when I walked on the streets in Namibia and saw all those flags. And military.

Everywhere military.

I had never seen a gun before I left for Africa. That is in fact true. Growing up in Germany and not traveling outside of Europe I had never seen a rifle before. Not even our police officers are having a gun. Not all of them at least. And we never get to see our military. Ever.

So yes, that was the first culture shock I experienced when traveling on my own through the vast African continent. Every security man was wearing a weapon. Some of them were quite huge. To me.

I had no idea what you call them. Rifle. Gun. Pistol. All the same. To me. Until then. Because I had only seen them in movies.

A few weeks later I found myself in a crowd at a funeral celebration when all of a sudden gunshots were shaking me awake. Welcome to another culture. This is part of the game here.

My arrival in Namibia

I had just arrived two days prior to the event and surely didn’t know the celebration was happening. I hadn’t planned on visiting Namibia and thought I was scammed at the border when I got handed four different types of bills.

No, I had not done any research and did not know they accept South African Rand as a currency next to their own, the Namibian Dollar. I also did not know they both had old and new bills. I was surely confused.

And unprepared.

But more to come. On my first day in the capital of Namibia, Windhoek, I decided to walk down into the city center when I walked into the independence day celebration.

Of course, I did not know what was happening. I had never seen an independence celebration. And had definitely never seen the military on the streets. I thought that only happens in war times.

In Germany, we don’t have such celebrations. Yes, on the 3rd of October we celebrate the reunification of Germany but only on an official level. For the people, it’s just another public holiday.

You’ll see barely any flags and surely no street closures for a parade. And no, our military also remains hidden.

Walking in on the parade

Innocent and uninformed, I walked down Independence Avenue when I almost got run over by the first walkers. I stopped. In shock and in disbelief.

Taking out my camera to document what was happening in front of my eyes I had no idea what the occasion for this parade was. I watched the military in awe since I had never seen any in real life before.

First the male troops, then the female ones. Followed by a group of musicians walking along the parade. People were standing on the side of the road. No fences were blocking them but they kept the street free for the military.

Special forces and military vehicles followed.

I kept on hearing the crowds shouting “Namibia” but as I mentioned, I grew up without independence celebrations, so I still had no idea what was happening right there, in front of me.

I was mesmerized by the event and was in excitement to see what was still to come.

A big vehicle was being pulled with a huge poster of someone’s face on all sides. I assumed it must be the president even though this is also something I have never seen in Germany.

We don’t put our president’s face onto walls or posters throughout town. You’ll only see pictures of our politicians in the weeks before the elections. And even then, only small posters.

This might have been the moment I was thinking this must be some countrywide celebration.

All different ethnicities were eventually following the military representatives and the governing bus. Singing and dancing dressed in their traditional clothes the locals were celebrating their home country.

After the last dancers passed the crowds, everyone was following the parade walking in the back. Dancing and singing all along it surely was a happy celebration.

It got pretty loud all of a sudden and all eyes went to the skies. Four choppers were flying low above the city demonstrating the power of the military forces. Or something similar. I assumed.

Only later that day when I went back to the hostel I overheard a conversation and the word “independence celebration”. Then I knew what I had experienced on the streets of Windhoek.

The celebration of Namibia’s independence from South Africa. It was in fact a big one because they celebrated 25 years of independence. yes, Namibia is still quite a young Nation, only receiving its independence in 1990.

This was a writing prompt response to the monthly challenge of Globetrotters.

Celebrations around the world

This writing challenge runs through the month of July. The last day for submissions is the 30th. Here is a list of submissions for you to find inspiration:

Crystal A. Walker with “Celebrations Around the World — July Monthly Challenge for Globetrotters”

JoAnn Ryan with “Don’t Ever Take Your Freedom to Celebrate for Granted”

Darren Weir with “Holi: An Explosion of Color”

Rachael Bao with “What I Learned Getting Married in an Airforce Hangar with 57 other couples”

Kade "Kuma" Maijala with “I Was the Best Man in a Chinese Wedding”

Adrienne Beaumont 🇦🇺 with “My first (and only) 4th of July”

Sandy Maximus with “Navratri (or Nine Nights) Festival”

Ronald Smit with “Canadian cultural celebrations!”

CatHERine with “The Most Unusual Cultural Celebration I Ever Experienced was at a Cemetery”

And here is my first response to the prompt. It’s about a funeral celebration in Ghana:

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