How I got into Creative Writing

It all started as ovihambarere around the fire at Omutiuanduko. My grandmother, uncles, and aunts would all gather around the fire at dinner and tell tales with animal characters who were master swindlers and con artists. The Jackal and the Hyena featured a lot. Ovihambarere is an oral form of story-telling practiced by the Ovaherero. Alongside Ovihambarerere, the Ovaherero also have outjina and omihiva— poetic forms, and ombimbi, which requires physical reenactments like marches. After Omutiuanduko, I got my dose of stories from what Papa read me, these were usually Bible stories. On Saturdays we listened to fairytales translated into Khoekhoegowab on the Damara/Nama radio station. The oral story-telling tradition continued because the adults told us kids lots of stories to impart vital lessons.

There were a lot of books in our house when I was growing up. Abuta Laurence and my late Ousie Doreen used to read thick novels and then delighted in the post-reading bliss without me. So, I started reading the books they were reading. They read mostly popular fiction. Before long, I started writing crime detective stories behind my school books. When I became a teenager, I raged mainly through writing. Finding words for my frustrations was an exercise I often engaged. I guess I just never stopped.