Violence is not the answer

Mariselle Stofberg
Andrea Shafombabi

On 2 July, the high school was visited by two guest speakers who are part of the Office of the First Lady. The introduction of the campaign was made by Lucy, one of the guest speakers. She started off by telling everyone about the anti-violence campaign which was introduced in Namibia by the Office of the First Lady.

Lucy asked the students what their thoughts were on violence, students responded by uttering the terms murder, fist fights, emotional violence, mental violence and many others. She made an example of being blue-ticked and she informed the students that it is regarded as violence. The students were enlightened that they have the power to culminate violence by being influencers.

In addition, Lucy told the learners that it is not necessary for them to have many followers on social media platforms to be classified as influencers and that they could influence others to culminate bullying by being influential. She ended of her presentation by elaborating on various types of violence and arousing the learners to bring an end to violence.

The second guest speaker introduced herself as Esther and talked about the anti-violence pledge which requires 100 000 signatures. Esther distributed the pledges and asked the students what their thoughts were on the pledge. She highlighted the fact that ordinary people perpetrate crimes. “It could be anyone including you,” she said.

As a second point she mentioned that violence is socialised and normalised. Furthermore, the pledge is not meant to prevent anyone from fighting instead the pledge is a set of rules that exist to equip people to take care of themselves. Moreover, Esther pointed out that when people feel pain they tend to have a burning desire for others to feel their pain.

Furthermore, Esther suggested that if anyone tends to feel resentful, they should consider writing a letter to or rather talking to a friend. Moreover, she encouraged the students to be each other’s confidante. Esther advised the students to utilize their influence to uplift others to ask for help, to listen to one another and to culminate violence.

In essence, Esther told the students that when they neglect others by not sharing or discarding each other’s feelings, violence is being bred. The office of the first lady wants everyone to be the best version of themselves.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said: “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals,”