„We young ones organized ourselves. Because every time the young ones were those, who were suffering. And they used to go in groups. This group can go even today, then one week passed, then the other can go. Because if we used to go in a big group, we would be killed.
So how you were going? How many of you it was in your group?
In our group we were only six. Three girls and three boys.
How could you pass the border?
Ah, we were just telling lies. Just go here – Oshikuku, Oshakati, Ondangwa, there, somewhere there. They we used to tell lies, that we are going to the funeral of our grandmother. But it’s not true. We were just making our way to pass through.
And they were guarding the border?
Yeah. They make a (nesrozumitelné, jazyk oshiwambo), they say the border... in between, they say, kilometer, it’s cleared. (No mens’ land). Yeah, like that. So we used to go there, before we passed, we were sleeping in the church near the border.
And were you scared?
Yeah! Because the Boers, they were just surrounding, walking around. And we went there and we said, we are going for the funeral of a grandmother. Yeah. Far, far, far. Because we were not having anything. Only empty handed. They were having guns.
But why they wouldn’t allow you to go to Angola? You know? They don’t have to care.
Who? The Boers?
Yeah. They wanted you to stay?
Yeah, because they know, that if went there, then we organize something, we become soldiers. You come to fight against, so that they are in our country. We wanted our country to be free. That’s the thing. But some of them they did not reach the place. They were caught in between. Some of theme they were killed, some of them they were captured, put in jail.
And how did you passed then?
For the grace of God, we passed by eleven. The moon was so nice. But we were praying first, so that Lord can protect us. We were six with one soldier. Cutting the wire. Because they put a wire in between. He was cutting with his knife. Then we pass through. Sipping like water.”
„I remember. Because we were told to pack our things. The kids were given many things. Even us. They we went with two buses to Prachatice, yeah, to take those. Then we went with the buses to Frankfurt in Germany, so we take there the airplane. Hmm.
I heard that you went to Prachatice already once with the buses.
Hmm.
But then you went back to Považská.
Yeah.
What happened?
For the first? Because the journey was changed. We don’t know what had happened.
So you came to Prachatice to pick the kids and then?
Then when the message came, we came back again to Považska.
And how long you stayed?
We stayed maybe one month again. Yeah. People came to take us, they were... maybe... I don’t know... administration people. To accompany us. Yeah.
How was the coming back to Namibia. Because for you it was after many many years too, because you were in exile.
It was so surprise, because we were not expecting like... If you went in exile, we were not knowing Windhoek or whatever. So, we say: ‚Oh, this looks like that.’ Because our area here is a plain area. There they got mountains. And when we went there, it was too hot. We were not experienced of that. Because where we came from, it was so cool.
And some of the kids they say that they felt shock. Because they were used to live in different environment. Shower, toilette.
Yeah, that is the thing. That is the thing.
How did the children feel about this? When they arrived here.
Ah. They were also unhappy. But no way! Your home is your home. That is the thing. But some of them they were treated badly in their families. But some of them they were treated good good good. Yeah. Those who were not having most parents, it was somehow.... Yeah. And the school was so difficult for some kids. That’s the thing.”
Josephine Tuyenikelao Phillipus was born on 18 February 1958 in the community of Elaka Lawpa in the north of Namibia, close to the Angolan border. She grew up with her grandparents; her parents worked for white people under the apartheid system. She fled to Angola in May 1978, joined the SWAPO liberation movement, and took healthcare training in the Lubango exile camp. Later on, she studied education in Lusaka, Zambia, graduating in 1989. In the same year, she left for Považská Bystrica in the then Czechoslovakia as one of the four matrons accompanying a group of 64 Namibian children as part of international help to SWAPO. A Marxist movement, SWAPO was fighting for Namibia to attain independence of South Africa. The group was sent to Slovakia with the objective of raising the children to become the new Namibian elite. She returned to Namibia along with the children prematurely in 1991. Having returned, she worked in a boarding school in the city of Usakos until retirement; there was also a reintegration school for children returning from abroad in the city. Today (2022), she is living in the community of Ohaali in the steppe in the north of Namibia and is married for the second time.
