IKh? da !hoa takes place in Windhoek on 2 to 7 September 2013. Read the press release on the event:
When a nation has to survive, the number one priority is food and safety. And in many countries there are people for whom it is a daily battle to survive. And I believe in Namibia it is the same.
But in this very same country there are institutions like universities which provide the luxury of tertiary education and knowledge amid the ongoing battle for survival among the less privileged. This professional knowledge can teach very much needed skills like building dams for water to satisfy thirst and to grow crops in order to satisfy hunger.
The world population has been described as a pyramid by philosophers. The broad base of the pyramid is where most people are, striving for survival, and where man eats man. As you move up the pyramid you find the 0,5% of the privileged population right at the top. We, all of us in this room, are part of that 0,5%.
I am very far from knowing what the plan of the God – the one with the big G – entails for humankind. But of one thing I am sure: as a scholar of humanities, and as an individual who has a safe and cherished environment, I have the time to study and to read and to listen and to learn about abstract entities like wisdom. Then I realise that our biggest task is to care, and to bring people into contact with means by which they can create objects that are beautiful to look at, and create and read books/texts that can bring joy and wonder. But the prerequisite for us in this privileged position is to know that it entails hard without hidden agendas.
By means of the first Namibian Word Festival, the lKh? da !hoa, I want the public to acknowledge and give hope to the people in our country who create art even if they are poor and not always in a position to have the luxury of studying.
What I asked the big energy behind this event, what I asked the One with the big G, is that He (or She) should increase the territory of the people of this nation. And yes, I did ask for an increase of territory in the mind and spirit, but I also asked for an increase in the sense of not having to worry about food, and to have the means, the money, to buy time to be creative. I believe the famous saying: “Art keeps us from dying of Life.” And that is what I want the lKh? da !Hoa to be.
I want to thank our team, Conference Link, my colleagues from UNAM and Bank Windhoek, the Republikein (and the people from the press of the other newspapers). I also want to thank individuals like Leon van Rooyen and Hilke Kruger, who are giving their all to make this festival a nation-building event, even when they know that there will not necessarily be money with which to be remunerated.
Thank you to everybody who will pass this message on to the public.
Read an interview with organiser of the festival, Chrisna Beuke-Muir.