Navigating a year of personal and global change

December is traditionally a time of rest, relaxation and reflection; a time to look back on the year that has passed and the good and bad it brought.

Personally, the year saw some significant changes. I resigned from my position as head of news at Future Media and bought the Urban Friction climbing gym. Having never been a business owner before, this move led to some very interesting learnings and the need for me to rethink what counts as “work” – something I am still grappling with. I picked up a few freelance writing jobs which have helped me improve this skill and continued to write this column and speak to you each month, which I am very glad to still be able to do.

When I had left Future Media, it was with the understanding that I would be more than happy to contribute to the group in whatever way I could, and, after a longer time than I had initially imagined, I got the call from them asking if I could help out on NOVA 103.5. Deon van Rensburg had been booked off and, with Ian F covering his morning show, they needed someone to cover the afternoon shift.

I relished the opportunity to be back on the radio that Thursday afternoon, telling anyone who would listen how happy I was. The very next morning, though, while hooked up to an apheresis machine at the Blood Transfusion Service of Namibia, I got the call telling me that Deon had died. I immediately felt guilty for having been so happy to be back on air!

That weekend involved a lot of soul-searching, but on Monday, seeing as being a radio DJ is about all I have ever wanted to be, I presented my proposal to the broadcast manager: I would host the morning show as this would allow me to do both that and still run my business.

The end of the year thus sees me back in the Future Media fold as the host of NOVA Sunrise, while I can continue to run my business. How sad it is that many times our own good fortune stems from something tragic and the pain of others. I would never have wished any ill on Deon, with whom I had worked on and off since 1998, but I cannot deny that I am happy about being in my current position. My daysare long, but I am loving the chance to experience “the best of both worlds”.

Whatever the result of the elections, we will still need to pull together as a country as we continue down the pathway towards successfully implementing our oil, gas and green hydrogen projects, trying to tackle the ongoing housing and unemployment crises, and improving the state of education in the country.

Our country also went through some rather significant changes this year, with the death of President Hage Geingob on 4 February probably chief among them. The country earned international acclaim for the peaceful and efficient transfer of power that ensued following his death, with VicePresident Nangolo Mbumba being sworn in as the fourth president of Namibia. Fittingly, Mbumba refused to use the opportunity as a chance to further cement his power, choosing instead to embrace the moniker of “caretaker president” and announce that he had no intention of running for election.

Speaking of the elections, by the time you will be reading this they will be over, and we will know whether the socalled “winds of change” that saw the creation of South Africa’s Government of National Unity and the absolute trouncing of the Botswana Democratic Party, which had ruled the country since independence in 1966, have blown through our country too.

Whatever the result of the elections, we will still need to pull together as a country as we continue down the pathway towards successfully implementing our oil, gas and green hydrogen projects, trying to tackle the ongoing housing and unemployment crises, and improving the state of education in the country. All of this while working out how to best cope with a second Trump presidency in the USA (and the protectionist and inflationary policies that are likely to entail), ongoing (and potentially intensifying) conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, the growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, and also the impact that all of these will have on fuelling climate change and extreme weather events.

But perhaps those are topics best left for next month’s column where, as is the tradition for January, we try to look ahead at what can be expected in 2025.

Until then, enjoy your journey.

- David Bishop