Saturday, June 20, 2009

In the play "Nangula's Son", set in 1984, in northern Namibia, a village amidst the battles between the South African Afrikaaner, "koevoet" occupation forces and the People's Liberation Army of Namibia, a white young man is lost after a skirmish, collapses and is found by two women. One of them, Nangula, takes care of the man and adopts as his son, in spite of fears from the community.
Firstly, carrying for the enemy, Nangula is labelled as a traitor and one that is compromising her own safety. With the prospect of the PLAN slitting her throught from ear to ear on the one side for treachery or being killed by the koevoet soldiers, Nangula is betwixed between two violent entities, on both sides. "Which soldiers she asks?" when she is warned that the soldiers will kill her.

This was a poignant play that probed into what it means to be caught between two sides and whether Namibians could show agency and transcend, racial and ideological boundaries to assist fellow humans

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