Commonwealth celebrations in Namibia

I have just returned from hosting Namibia’s first ever Commonwealth Day celebrations in Parliament where I shared British fish ‘n chips with the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, SWAPO Chief Whip, Toivo ya Toivo and other local VIPs.

The British High Commission in Windhoek rallied together the eight other Commonwealth missions accredited to Namibia to hold a special reception to mark this year’s Commonwealth Day theme of “Connecting Cultures”. Each High Commission organised a stand to show case its own national culture and provided up to 6 dishes of national foods to share with 250 specially invited guests.

We were honoured that the Prime Minister, Rt Hon Nahas Angula, honoured us as the Guest of Honour and gave the Key Note Address on Namibia’s membership of the Commonwealth. Ruling party Chief Whip Professor Peter Katjavivi, who opened SWAPO’s first European office in London in the 1960s, also joined the special line up to give a short presentation about Namibia’s long history with the organisation. Namibia joined the Commonwealth on independence in 1990 after developing close links with the organisation through the Struggle years and adopting English as its sole official language.

The occasion gave us an opportunity to celebrate Professor Katjavivi’s new appointment by the President as Namibia’s Focal Point for the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust.

A range of other successes were also marked. The Prime Minister awarded local school children with prizes for their participation in a British Council organised Commonwealth essay writing competition.

More than 250 guests, including parliamentarians, local officials, the diplomatic corps, media and school children joined the celebrations and enjoyed local cultural singing and dancing performances to mark Namibian culture.

But the main highlight of the event was the food – which really stole the show. The different High Commissions outdid themselves by turning out an array of tantalising savoury and sweet dishes. Even cabinet ministers were spotted queuing up for second helpings.

The British High Commission served fish ‘n chips, beef wellington (with optional English mustard), shepherd’s pie (with optional HP sauce) and apple crumble after internal discussions on what would be well received. In the event, the beef wellington outstripped everything else in this meat-loving nation.

Today’s reception marked the high point of more than a week of Commonwealth awareness-raising activities for our mission.

During my regional familiarisation trip to the south earlier this month, I visited a school in Tses [insert link] to talk to pupils about the organisation, and updated British nationals and communities in Oranjemund on Commonwealth activities.

I was honoured to join other High Commissioners to deliver the Queen’s Commonwealth Day speech to the President in State House on Monday to help launch Commonwealth week officially. Tomorrow, I am off early to travel east to Witvlei to spread the Commonwealth word further and will visit Nossob Primary School to talk to learners about the organisation as part of our Commonwealth Road Show.

It has been a really busy and fun-filled few weeks of Commonwealth activities. I look forward to sharing more photos of our events with you on the new UKinNamibia Facebook page.