A day of jubilee

I suppose the men and women watching the newly established government in the United States in the late 1700's had mixed emotions. Kind of like watching a baby bird take its first flight--full of wonder and quite a bit of apprehension. I continually get that feeling as I watch Namibia's system.

Saturday, I was invited to participate in the graduation ceremony for Polytechnic of Namibia. Invited as in "you will come." Come and sit for 5 hours, and please wear this one-size-fits-all-very-small-people academic gown. This graduation was for students who had passed exams last December--a lag period of 4 months between final exams and graduation. So, I didn't know any of the graduates. As I left early in the morning, I was a bit frustrated at spending a beautiful Saturday in a hotel ballroom. But, the day turned out differently than I expected.

I should clarify early-on that I do like the spirit of graduation ceremonies. As a faculty member at University of Dubuque, we had to attend each ceremony. But, there were only 100 graduates, and it went fairly quickly. At UNL, there are not enough seats for all faculty, so our College usually has a representative that attends the ceremony. Faculty are encouraged to attend a pre-graduation gathering where we can talk with grads and families. And, I really enjoy meeting Mom's and Dad's and seeing the pride they have in their son/daughter. It is just that these ceremonies are so long...

So, I arrived early at the Safari Lodge Conference Center, where we were searched as we entered the building. The 'buzz' was that this meant Namibia's President was in attendance. Sure enough.

A few minutes after 9am, the faculty processed into the ballroom, through a full house of parents and family and graduates. There were 800 graduates. Other faculty had warned me it would be a long ceremony, and I now saw they were prepared--smuggling small books under their robes for later use.

There were four main speakers, and each spoke for 30-45 minutes. The proper way to begin a speech in Namibia is to acknowledge all of the special people or groups in attendance. In this case, there were many. Each person took 5-10 minutes of their speech to acknowledge who was there: His Excellency President Hifikepunye Pohamba, the Honorable Rector of the Polytechnic, the Mayor of Windhoek, members of the Diplomatic Corps, Ministers from the Namibian Government, Members of Parliament, etc., etc., academic faculty and staff of the Polytechnic, family members, and graduates. Whew.

The President of Namibia sat in the middle of the stage, flanked by the Rector and the Chairman of the Board of Polytechnic. Each speaker took the opportunity to remind the audience, but mostly the President, that Polytechnic had been ranked 16th of all African universities this year. Two speakers mentioned that Polytechnic had only received 50% of their budgeted funds for the current year. They all mentioned that they hoped the President would support the name-change quest Polytechnic is currently undergoing--from Polytechnic of Namibia to Namibia University of Science and Technology. It was a coordinated lobbying effort. Luckily--the speeches were broken by the Polytechnic Choir, a wonderful group and there is a video clip of their rendering of "Lean on Me" below--it doesn't do it justice. It was the best singing I've heard for a long time.

When it came time for the graduates to come across the stage, each School's Dean read the names from the students' cards. A student came to the podium, presented the Dean with his name card. The Dean tried his best to read the name--but they are hard to read, even for Namibians...! Then, the student shook hands with the Rector, the President of Namibia, and the Chairman of the Board. If the student was receiving his Bachelors, the Chairman took a velvet, flat hat and 'dubbed' the student who knelt before him. I had not seen this routine before, and there is a fairly poor mobile phone video of this process below--I'd be interested to learn where this tradition comes from--anyone??! Then, the student stopped at the Registrar, who hooded him/her. Even students receiving a 3-year National Diploma received a special hood. In the US, only MS and PhD students are hooded at most graduations, in comparison.

Now, that is what is happening on stage. But, the most interesting thing was what happened in the 'congregation'. If you are the parents of Josephus Student, your job is to show up dressed in traditional Namibian clothing. You should bring flowers with you, and one woman should come with a traditional item that I can only describe as the predecessor of the Pittsburgh Steeler's "Terrible Towel"--an object which can be whipped in the air to show enthusiasm. The Namibian version is a 1-m tassel of animal hair (horse, donkey, gemsbok oryx?), which is gathered at the base in a leather handle--a lady carrying one is shown to the right. She's in pink, and it's hanging over her shoulder.

So, when Josephus Student's name is read, Mom might pop up and start waving the 'excitement wand'. Dad might pop up and start a chant in their native language. It might sound a bit like "who's the best"--"Josephus"--"who's the best"--"Josephus"--etc, etc. Sister might pop up with the flowers. Either Sister or Mom or Aunt or Grandma is now designated the 'screamer'. I can only describe this as a very loud, aggressive Common Loon on a Minnesota Lake--you can hear the scream on the video below. But, they keep doing this 'yelp' for 2-3 minutes as they move to the aisle where their son or daughter will return from the stage. And, they are presented with flowers and hugs. Some people still were yelping as they returned to their seats.

Now, realize that names were still being called as all this was going on. I figured (I had some time on my hands) with the rate of name calling and with the rates of dispersal from the stage and the length of hugs/flower presentations, there were approximately 7-8 of these family groups actively calling at any one time. That calculation also takes into account that there were some graduates whose families were not in attendance. You really felt sorry for them. So, sometimes faculty would clap if no family members were yelping. Just to make some noise.

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The processing of students across the stage took about 3 hours. The speeches took another 2 hours. The ceremony concluded at a little after 2 pm. Five hours!

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I must say that I am now a hearty fan of the speaking ability (I'm not sure exactly what his political views are) of the President of Namibia. He spoke in a grandfatherly way, after shaking hands with all of the graduates as they crossed the stage. He noted that more women graduated than men, which he found inspiring. He responded in a teasing manner back to the people who had been lobbying him about the name change and budgets. He pointed out all the Members of Parliament in attendance and said that they were the ones who made the decisions--so the congregation should talk to them on the way out!

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Again, as on other occasions, I had the feeling I was watching a country grow. When the speakers were not lobbying the President, their common theme to the graduates was that they were the hope of the nation. "Namibia cannot develop without educated people," the President stated. Each remarked on the lack of educated people in the country, and each speaker's point to the students was that they now carried responsibility to the nation, their families, and their communities. Speakers encouraged students to find innovative ways to build businesses and support Namibia.

It is interesting to compare to our hopes for our students in the US. I think we have the same hopes, but perhaps we do not clearly enunciate them. Many of these students in Namibia are the first in their family to attend tertiary education. Perhaps education is now old-hat in the US? That is really too bad, if it is the case. Do students feel their degree is of value? I think we can perhaps (in the US) do a better job of making sure the value of education is underscored. In Namibia, students with a 1-year certificate or 3-year diploma as regarded as the potential of the Nation. Surely, that must give them some confidence as they leave and start looking for jobs.

After the ceremony, the faculty processed out to an anthem sung in Latin on the loud speakers. One of my Namibian colleagues turned to me. "What did you think of our African ceremony?" he asked.

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"It was incredibly interesting," I responded. "There were many happy people here today."

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"Yes," my colleague responded. "It was a day of Jubilee."