Former politician turned businessman Nico Kaiyamo says he hopes his story of courage, resilience, and being principled inspires Namibians.
Kaiyamo narrates his life’s story in his autobiography titled ‘My Journey’, launched in Windhoek on Thursday.
The name Nico Kaiyamo has become synonymous with the slogan ‘friend to all, enemy to none’, as he takes us through his memoirs, sharing the most captivating moments of his life over the past 60 years.
While the 165-page memoir promises to draw the reader in on every single page, perhaps the most captivating of all starts on page 15 and subsequent pictorials, highlighting key moments in the life of a staunch political activist.
It was in December 1986, when an inquisitive young Kaiyamo, armed with a camera, clandestinely snapped the picture of Apartheid soldiers parading the dead bodies of Swapo Plan fighters on casspirs around Kahenge village.
This photo catapulted him from being a young village boy to the centre of the internal liberation struggle.
That photograph, which at the time was likened to the biblical story of David against the giant Goliath, became a rallying cry against Apartheid propaganda.
In the words of the author, that picture told a thousand words of the cruelty that Namibians endured even after being mercilessly killed.
Born in the humble setting of Ondobe in the Ohangwena Region in 1961, Kaiyamo’s journey further captured the transition from activism to politics, business, and philanthropy.
As the founding councillor of the Tsumeb constituency, he served in the National Council as its youngest member at the age of 32 in 1993.
Kaiyamo details these in chapter ten of the memoir. However, it was his decision to resign from the Council and quit active politics with all its perks in 2003 that dropped jaws.
Kaiyamo’s journey would not be complete without delineating his love for family, especially the one he describes as ‘the one who caught my eye because she was beautiful, humble, and well-mannered’ in chapter seven.
He pays tribute to his wife of 36 years and mother of his three sons, Alina, whom he describes as being a strong pillar in the Kaiyamo brand.
Through his memoir, the businessman says he hopes to see a Namibia that is characterised by a non-racial, non-tribal, and non-sexist society where everyone is afforded opportunities to better their lives.
This conviction has earned the ever-smiling and straight-talking Kaiyamo the fitting name ‘Mr Namibia’.
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