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from an interview with Rosa Nemasis 

"My first concern is for women and children. Women and children in Namibia need a unified, national voice. I am hoping to make my organization this voice."

"For those of us that didn't go into exile, we were in the belly of the beast. We were more affected and we suffered more. Everyone sacrificed equally [during the apartheid era]. After independence, I left [the ruling party] SWAPO because I started to feel discriminated against as a woman. But we shouldn't be discriminated against. For me, the shock was that the party I believed would carry the principles of freedom and equality, did not."

"Certain members of government have committed gross violations of human rights. People are not able to speak out. Sodomy law makes it illegal to love a man. We have had many highs and lows with our politicians. Finally, I decided I had to do the unpopular thing. And I went through with it." And the Rainbow Project was born.

"In 2001, the President spoke out against rastas. He just attacked these people, said that they should all be banished to the desert to die. So I decided to grow dreadlocks. I grew them for four years when I was in Parliament. In the end, [the President's coalition] just looked at me. They didn't say anything, they just looked."

After working with and creating a model home for AIDS orphans, "We need to manage the disease ourselves and live with it. We need to break the taboos. There is no death for me now. There is a chance for everybody."

Although there are woman and child protection units, "We are fighting against bad treatment from the police who staff the protection units. This treatment is cultural and traditional. Unless a police officer has changed his attitudes about women, they will remain traditional. There is room for improvement."

"What we have realized is that married women are not safe. It has become shockingly clear that infections happen within the marriage because the African man believes in polygamy. They are engaged in being 'sugardaddies.' But we must ask, what about the woman?"

"There is quite a strong link between violence against women and HIV/AIDS. If a woman wants to negotiate condoms, the man may see this [as] an annoyance. Sometimes women are forced to have sex and [get] beat up because they stand up for themselves."

"Before, rape was not defined clearly. The burden of proof rested solely on the woman. The judge could look at and question a woman's past sexual history. Sometimes, they would say that the woman is not proper. And marital rape didn't exist. When you are married, you have agreed that you are to provide your husband with sex. You must take it, whenever he wants, wherever he wants."

"Women's rights are not as strong as I would like them to be. There is resistance among male counterparts to engage in gender programs. But their participation is important. There is a lot of male domination in decision-making and in employment. Men are resisting participating in the programs because it has to do with relinquishing power and this makes them uncomfortable. They think that women want power to dominate over men."

"My goal is to make women more visible. At the moment we have to fight, we have to be strong and aggressive. At the moment, men are afraid."

"We need to be allowed to be in control of our own sexuality. We are not allowed. The men [are] controlling sexuality and doing whatever he wants, and often his preference is unsafe sex. As long as that kind of control is there, there is no mutual understanding. The horrific painful fact is that women are getting infected. It is because she cannot say no. She has to [have unsafe sex] because her husband has the right to have sex."

"This situation does not exist because women have inability. This situation exists because of entrenched traditional beliefs that our society is attached to. We are attached to them only because we haven't really sat down and clarified them. But these traditions creates chances for men who are opportunistic. It is not that women are ignorant, it is that they cannot even enter into negotiations with their husband to be empowered... because once you do that, you are at risk of losing your husband. This situation creates a bad impact on gender equality because now the concept is no longer a practical instrument."

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from an interview with Elizabeth !Khaxas 

"The cultural oppression of women still exists. It is harmful cultural practices that make women vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.

"For our last workshop, we invited HIV-positive women to talk about their needs and the problems they are facing.

"You have to marry. Women believe that they will only be safe in a marriage. But we have noticed that the group most affected by HIV are married women. Yet young girls are told that marriage brings you respectability.

"ABCs doesn't work in a patriarchal society. Abstinence doesn't work. Our culture dictates that women have to be accessible to their husband. Even if you know he is HIV-positive, you cannot refuse sex. As for faithfulness, there is a huge double standard for men and women. Women are expected to be faithful, while the culture gives license for men to sleep around. And finally, men control condom use. In fact, men decide when and where they have sex.

"There is a huge frequency in intergenerational sex. School girls need money, clothing, and food. So they get a 'sugardaddy.' Today, we have a big problem with teenage pregnancy. And one shocking thing we discovered was that often the teachers are responsible. So how do we protect young girls?

"We must take care of our young women in poverty. I get so angry when I see that the money is being wasted on luxuries and not going to programs to eradicate poverty in our communities.

"We must take our message of gender equality to the traditional authorities. It is in communities where traditional leaders are entrenched that dangerious cultural practices [like widow cleansing and widow inheritance] endanger women.

"There are no women's groups in certain regions of Namibia. One reason is because men are exerting control over women and young people. This keeps people ignorant, no new ideas are allowed.

"One of the most powerful stories that I have heard from women that I have helped to write their stories has to do with cultural traditions that hurt women. There is a huge expectation for women to have a child to prove their propensity as women. This forces many women who are already ill with HIV to have a child. This is the most dangerous and terrible thing that happens that puts women and children at risk because women do it without questioning.

"We have to take our lives into our own hands. The church continues to preach obedience to men, they continue to preach inequality. Some of us have come to realize that the church is actually what is holding us back.

"We have good gender policy on paper, but unfortunately, it stays on paper. It is not implemented, it is not a reality in the lives of women. Namibia has good laws for women. The government has signed UN Declarations for the rights of women. But there are not enough resources put in place to make the laws work for women. For example, the domestic violence law says that if you are threatened, you can ask for a court order of protection from the magistrate. But how many women live near a magistrate, or know that they can go there? And the Marriage Equality Law. I have talked with many men about this law. They say simply that 'That law is not valid in this house. That law is only valid in Windhoek.'

"My latest project wants to uncover all dangerous cultural practices and discuss them. For example, the girls' initiation rite. When a young girl of 10 or 11 gets her first menses, she is locked in a hut. No matter what people ask of her, she must obey. If you do not obey, you are beaten into submission.

"I want to work with women everywhere to bring these practices into the open. Even today, women have to kneel to give their husband food. What does this practice say about our dignity? Kneeling down and worshipping men must be debated!

"Our government leaders are becoming homophobic. They say that it is only a white thing. They say that homosexuality is undermining our democracy. I am a lesbian. What can I do? My next project will be an anthology of lesbian literature so that the lesbian story can be heard."

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