• Education

Not all heroes wear capes

Tunohole Mungoba

Kalola Tuhafeni, newly elected vice president of 2018 of University of Namibia (UNAM) and also a candidate for the presidency speaks to The Zone about inclusivity and making sure no one is left out.

A third year Education student, majoring in English and Oshiwambo; Tuhafeni matriculated at Ongha Secondary School in the Ohagwena region, northern Namibia. On campus, he is known the student that assists all people on campus who are disabled. He does everything in his power to make sure that all students feel well accommodated on campus.

“I am someone that is very caring and helpful. During my first year, I recall meeting Tobias Moses, a visually impaired friend of mine. At the time, I did not know he was blind so I made it my duty to help him and other students who need assistance as well,” he says.

Tuhafeni believes that everyone is talented, regardless of their situations. He wants to give everyone a chance to manifest their gifts. The reason why Tuhafeni decided to run for his current position is because he also believes in his own talents and wanted to put them to good use. “I am also the current housing committee for hostel block since last year and I have been helping not just my block, but every hostel student. With this experience, I have dealt with a lot of students and I knew I had the potential to take up this leadership role,” he says.

Penandino Kandji, the coordinator of the disability unit of Unam, says Tuhafeni deserves his new position. “He is very active in this unit. He uses his own time to escort all the disabled students to class and he also helps them their notes. We really appreciate his efforts in our unit,” she says.

According to Tuhafeni, he wants to make sure the students feel at home away from home when they are on campus. “I want to start up a project called Victim Support as I want to build a relationship with the Namibian police so that we can achieve a well-defined level of safety and security on our campus,” he explains.

Additionally to that project, he also wants to erect more facilities where students can have a meal for a lower price. “I want to negotiate with the school’s management to either open up another food outlet or to lower food prices, because students opt to sell food on campus grounds even though it is not allowed,” he says.

Brain Ngutjinazo, also a newly elected SRC for academic affairs for 2018 has known Tuhafeni for three years and is also very proud of him. “He is a hard worker, approachable and always willing to help. He serves others well and he believes in service for others rather than being served.”

Tuhafeni is very involved in his school activities around campus and when the Zone asked how he is going to balance with roles at school and his academics, he says he takes pride in being on the go so “it will not be tough to attend to both my school work and my leadership duties. I am also in my third year now so it gives me a good opportunity for me to clear all modules so I can focus 100% on my research next year.”

During the next year’s congress, Tuhafeni will also run for the presidency position and he is very excited. “It is great opportunity for me to exercise my leadership roles. I am definitely looking forward to the congress,” he says. He is nervous however as if he does win the congress, he will have to facilitate for all Unam’s seven campuses around the country.