This Thursday, May 28, is Namibia’s Genocide Remembrance Day.
I want to sit with this tonight:
“I shut my eyes. I don’t want to see my death.”
That is Jahohora. Twelve years old. Alone in the Omaheke Desert. Already beyond anything a child should ever have to endure.
She kept her eyes open anyway. And she survived.
This week, Namibia remembers officially for only the second time as a nation. Germany has begun – slowly, imperfectly – to reckon with its history. The reparations negotiations continue. Justice is still being worked out.
But tonight, I am thinking of Jahohora. Of all the children who couldn’t keep their eyes open. Of all the children who didn’t make it out of the desert.
They deserved more. They always deserved more.
Will you remember them?
How will you mark Genocide Remembrance Day this Thursday, May 28?