Heritage and hope for 5 GENERATIONS

The secret to a long, fulfilled life is still a riddle to many of us. As of yet, our only collective solution to the conundrum is accepting our mortal fate, and spending our numbered days on this earth building a legacy. Legacies like fame, fortune or influence are but fleeting and fickle. It is those built on the pillars of heritage, hope and family that reverberate forever. Or so it is according to Ndahafa ‘Happy’ Hayonga and her female family members spanning five generations.

Kuku Selafina

Growing up in Tsumeb, Happy spent her days playing around the airport and vividly remembers the airstrip. Planes would fly overhead, and Happy inevitably fell in love with aviation, which led her to pursue a private pilot’s licence. Later she embarked on a career as an aircraft engineer. As such she is currently employed at Westair, parent Kuku Selafina company to FlyNamibia. Happy was passionate about getting more hands-on experience with aircraft, and now spends her shifts servicing aeroplanes from across the continent. Her love for aviation and succeeding in a male-dominated industry, paired with her rich family history and heritage, evidently gives Happy her zest for life.

Happy

Hailing from Oshindonga, Happy’s lineage follows her greatgrandmother Selafina Edward or Kuku (meaning grandmother in Oshiwambo), who is nearly 100 years old and said to have been the right-hand woman to the Queen of Ondangwa when she was young. Hileni Josef, Happy’s grandmother, lives with Kuku in Ovambo and pursued domestic work during her heyday. Bertha Hayonga is Happy’s mother, and the first in their lineage to move to Windhoek. Bertha takes her responsibilities as Linekela’s grandmother very seriously, her pride in another generation is tangible. Five-year-old Linekela or “Zuri” is the youngest, sassiest member of Happy’s family of five generations.

Bertha

Zuri

This photoshoot was arranged for FlyNamibia, celebrating the women,cultures and heritage that inspires our company and our country at large.