The government will put a program on the table to help Namibian Czechs – News

In addition to Šimáčková Laurenčíková, representatives of Namibian Czechs Saima Mathews and Penny Daniel and Africanist, cultural anthropologist and founder of the Society for the Support of Namibian Czechs Kateřina Mildnerová were also present at the conference. In the past, she approached the topic of Namibian Czechs with a book Black Falcons: The turbulent destinies of Namibian children raised in Czechoslovakia.

Representatives from various ministerial departments also arrived at the Goethe-Institut. Those present had the opportunity to watch a documentary before the discussion Black Czechswhich was filmed based on the motifs of the mentioned book.

“Namibian Czechs are a group of 56 children who were raised in Czechoslovakia between 1985 and 1991. They were child war refugees who came to us from refugee camps in Angola, where the struggle for Namibia’s independence was going on. They were the children of important generals, officers from the SWAPO liberation movement, who led the fight for the liberation of Namibia,” Mildnerová explained to Novinká some time ago, saying that it was so-called “international aid” between the aforementioned SWAPO movement and the then Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.

During the time spent in Czechoslovakia, the children learned fluent Czech and adopted a number of Czech traditions. Over time, however, the communist regime fell in the country and immediately Namibia declared independence, which resulted in a major turning point in the lives of Namibian children – after six years they had to return to Africa.

“The children were forcibly resettled in Namibia without completing basic education and without any language and psychological preparation, where they were unable to culturally adapt. They were returned to a country whose language they no longer knew, where they had no families, and the destinies of many of them were marked by existential problems, drugs or sexual violence,” said Mildnerová before the premiere of the film last year.

“That story touches our own history in a fundamental way. It took place here in the Czech Republic. And it carries with it certain aspects of injustice towards children who could not choose what would happen to them. They had no influence on whether they would travel to the Czech Republic, what would happen to them here, and whether they would subsequently return,” said Šimáčková Laurenčíková at Thursday’s meeting.

“It’s great that the story is being covered. It seems to me that it is worth our attention and thinking about whether we can do something to make the lives of Namibian Czechs a little better. We have no chance to influence what happened. But if we have a chance to contribute to their story developing at least a little more hopefully, then we should try to do so,” added the representative and promised that by the end of the year, she would submit a specific program to the Czech government that should contribute to the restoration of Namibian ties Czechs with the Czech Republic.

What specific form the program will take will be shown by further working meetings. Ideally, however, according to Mildnerová, it should focus on ensuring psychosocial care and simplifying the process of obtaining Czech visas.

“Currently, the process is very lengthy and complicated, not only because of the strict immigration policy in the Czech Republic, but also in view of the fact that our nearest embassy is in Pretoria, South Africa. Namibian Czechs thus have to undergo a very lengthy and financially costly process of applying for a visa. The trip to Pretoria and the processing of visas is more expensive than the ticket to the Czech Republic itself, which most of them do not have the financial resources for, concluded Mildnerová.