Unity and tribalism

whoops! Here's a post I started drafting about two months ago and never got a chance to post:

Teachers on my last day of school

“The best thing about our staff is that we can work, learn, and play together,” my principal opened our staff meeting on Monday for the beginning of the new term. This is particularly impressive because our staff does not consist of self-identified Namibians. It consists of Namas, Coloureds, Wambos, Caprivians and Kavangoans—representing most of the major tribes in the country.

It is true that we get along most of the time, and I do think that it is usually to the advantage of our learners. Having representatives from all tribes means it is pretty unlikely for learners to feel cheated or discriminated against based on their tribe. They are exposed to a wide variety of cultures just by coming to school, and I think they learn a lot from this.

My going away party with some of our staff

But there are no real utopias, right?

Even our perfect combination of teachers, I learned at the end of last term, bear their grudges and hold their stereotypes of each other. After a day of enjoying each others’ company at our staff party, some of my colleagues suddenly broke out into an hour-long battle along tribal lines. ‘Wambos steal jobs,’ ‘Namas are lazy,’ ‘Namas don’t go to college,’ ‘Wambos want to take over the country,’ etc. All of these stereotypes have their place, and yes, are based on some fairly accurate trends as far as I am concerned.

But the worst part for me was that they didn’t voice any of my own, privately-discovered generalizations:

Wambos are really kind and will love to share what they have with you.

Caprivians work harder than anyone I’ve ever met.

Namas love to laugh, tell great jokes, and are a blast to hang out with.

Obviously I notice strange things because I’m not from here and I’m not involved in the race-wars. But let’s try not to judge people by the skin they wear.