A call to acknowledge humanity in 2025

The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that I did not have a column in last month’s magazine. That is because at the end of last year I was so completely overwhelmed and in need of a break that I missed the deadline for submission.

While I am not generally one for New Year’s resolutions, perhaps that should be a lesson to me (and anyone else who found themselves in a similar situation) to try to take things a little easier and not constantly feel the need to push myself to the absolute limit.

With that said, here is the column I had wanted to share with you last month:

he did, which itself could be argued to have further put the children at risk as they were very likely to have been hit by a vehicle while running away. As with the informal traders, who are only selling their wares outside of the university because they see no other option, these children would not be begging in traffic if they did not need to.

Every year, January is a time of making resolutions and looking ahead, a time when we can choose to do things differently, to be better than we were last year, or even just to leave certain things behind.

One of the ways that I hope we as a country can change in 2025 is to leave cruelty behind and learn to be more compassionate towards each other.

The challenges facing our country are large and we are not likely to fix them easily, but we can at least try to be compassionate and remember that we are all, above everything else, people.

Early last December there was an incident in which police officers raided the informal traders who do business outside the entrance of the University of Namibia campus in Pioneers Park. While they were “removed” from the area, as one newspaper euphemistically put it, “some of the vendors’ goods were unfortunately thrown away”.

I understand the debate about the informal traders operating outside of the university gates detracting from the look of the institution, or even that they are competition for the formal shops and cafeterias that operate within the university, but they would not be there if there was no demand for their services, and surely there is a better way of dealing with the situation than forcibly removing them. Besides, there is zero excuse for destroying their goods – their only source of income.

A few days later, I stopped next to a City Police van at the traffic lights leading out of Prosperita. There were some small children walking between the cars begging, to which the officer responded by getting out of the car brandishing a baton and proceeding to chase the young children away while shouting at them and threatening them with the baton.

Again, I understand that these young children should not be begging in traffic and putting themselves in harm’s way, but there is also no reason for the officer to respond in the manner he did, which itself could be argued to have further put the children at risk as they were very likely to have been hit by a vehicle while running away. As with the informal traders, who are only selling their wares outside of the university because they see no other option, these children would not be begging in traffic if they did not need to.

Then I read a WhatsApp message sent out to various groups warning of a “scam” happening at the Robert Mugabe and Sam Nujoma intersection, whereby someone would approach the occupants of a vehicle at the traffic lights and tell them how they needed money for fuel to be able to get their wife to the hospital. In the version I saw, the author was calling for the police to step in and arrest these people. Now, semantically I understand that this is in fact a scam as you are being told falsehoods, but unlike more common scams where you are expecting something in return for your money, in this case does it really matter that the money perhaps goes to buy something other than fuel? Have you really lost anything if you willingly gave your money away, even if it was under false pretences?

Once again, I understand the debate about not giving money to beggars and rather trying to funnel your good intentions to organisations whose job it is to look after people who are experiencing tough times, but once again, they would not be standing on the street telling you a tall tale to try to get money if they did not have to. I am not saying you should give them money, but I am saying that there is no reason to demonise them.

The challenges facing our country are large and we are not likely to fix them easily, but we can at least try to be compassionate and remember that we are all, above everything else, people. No one deserves to be treated poorly or violently simply because of their “station” in life – not the informal traders simply trying to make a living, not the children standing begging in the streets instead of sitting in a classroom, not the person spinning you a yarn because they have exhausted every other option. No one.

So my wish for 2025 is that, whatever situation we find ourselves in when dealing with other persons, we treat them with compassion and remember to acknowledge their humanity.

Until next time, enjoy your journey.

David Bishop