6 August 2010 Last updated at 20:15 ETSlight, pretty, sharp-eyed, and quietly firm about things - Johanna Kwedhi is Namibia's first female trawler captain.
She is a living example of the empowerment of women in Namibia.
Johanna captains the Kanus, one of the largest trawlers operating from Luderitz Harbour, an old port rebuilt for today's fishing boats. It's her responsibility not only to navigate a coastline infamous for shipwrecks, but to bring in a profitable catch.
Life on the edge
The eight Millennium Development Goals world leaders signed up to in 2000 were aimed at cutting hunger and killer diseases, guaranteeing all children an education and empowering women.
With five years left to go to achieve them, what's the picture like today? The new five-part Life on the Edge series takes a look at what's happening on the MDGs in countries across Africa.
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And this is an industry not used to women being, literally, at the helm.
"My responsibility is to command," Johanna says, working her six-hour shift at the bridge with her male chief mate and second mate.
"I have 23 crew members on board, they are all under my authority. My shipmates on board the vessel are wonderful. Each and everybody has his duty."
And then she adds, "We have procedures we have to follow, and if we don't we will have to see what happens."
"She is the one who gives the order, what have to be done for the day," says Chief Mate Aaron Alweendo. "The orders came from him - I mean from her!"
'Man's world'Johanna trained with the Namibian Fisheries Institute, and was appointed skipper after serving for eight years as an officer and chief mate under a Spanish captain. Her company now has four more women doing similar training.
_____________________________________________________—Johanna KwedhiPeople said to me. 'Wow, an officer living in the shantytown!'”
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"This is a man's world," says Bosun Evalisto Shipo. "Since the beginning, it's been a man's world. If your leadership is not appropriate for the crew, you will not earn their respect."
And Johanna has done - while breaking another barrier too. "We have never seen a black person in charge of a ship," says Evalisto Shipo. "It has always been a Spanish person actually."
Johanna hasn't entirely sacrificed a personal life, though it's been difficult. She has a 14-month-old son, Innocent. Her cousin Auguste takes care of Innocent while Johanna is at sea, which is most of the year.
"I met Innocent's father on land," she says, "although both of us work at sea. We didn't get the opportunity to work together on the same vessel because we have the same rank."
Early pregnancyWhen she first came to Luderitz, Johanna lived for six years in a house with no electricity, bathroom, or toilet. "People said to me, 'Wow, an officer living in the shantytown!' But I say, 'No I am here with peace of mind and I have (my) health.'"
She's not been back to her home village, Onyeka, for more than nine months.
Education was key to Johanna's success
The trip is a 1,500km journey across a harsh but beautiful land three times the size of Great Britain. More than 70% of Namibians are subsistence farmers, including her parents.
Johanna had a twin brother who died at birth. In Luderitz, when Johanna had complications, her doctor referred her straight to the capital, Windhoek, for an operation.
But many Namibian women still "do not know the importance of going to the clinic during their pregnancy," Johanna says.
Despite big improvements, maternal mortality is proving one of the hardest of the Millennium Development Goals for Namibia to reach - even if here, as elsewhere, statistics can be hard to interpret.
"The big challenge for young people is if they fall pregnant at an early stage," Johanna says. Too many, she says, believe abortion is a simple answer.
Johanna helped her parents on the farm at the same as working hard to do well at school.
She remembers how she used to chop wood on her own, and look after the cattle when the long school day was over. "Without education, your life is behind, it's meaningless."
But at Onyeka school there is evidence that empowering and educating girls, as the Millennium Development Goals require, may be having unintended consequences.
Onyeka seems to be doing just fine. There are now more girls enrolling for primary school than boys, and many completing secondary education. What's more, says the Principal, Hafeni Kapenda, "The girls are more serious... the boys are so-so."
"You mean the boys just want cell phones?" Johanna smiles.
Looking after cattleIn class, the pupils' questions for Johanna come thick and fast. "When steering a boat," one boy asks Johanna, with devastating common-sense, "does your boat have rear view mirrors like in a car to help you look in front and at the back?"
The principal is full of wonder too. "I teach geography very well, very well, but honestly speaking I have never seen the sea. I am teaching about neap tide and rip tide but I have never seen the sea! This is like a dream!"
But, he says, the problem with boys goes beyond their interest in hi-tech toys.
"This area is more rural, in the Oshana region, and the people here concentrate more on their cattle. So the boys are taking care of the cattle. The boys are not so serious."
Some families, it seems, decide somebody's got to look after the cattle... and if girls are excelling at school, even becoming trawler captains, maybe it had better be the boys...
It may not yet be a widespread problem, but it wouldn't be the first time in history that targets have had strange consequences.
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Trawler Girl
Out at sea, Johanna’s running the show... Namibia’s first female trawler captain has a crew of 23. But it’s not so long since she was living in a shantytown, with no running water, a girl from the villages who used to walk 14 kilometres to school.
Johanna trained with the Namibian Maritime Fisheries Institute. She got to be skipper eight years after serving as an officer and chief mate under a Spanish captain. Her company now has four more women doing similar training. "My responsibility is to command. Since I have 23 crew members on board they are all under my authority. Some of these people have this mentality of saying, 'I can’t be told to do this by a woman, since man is considered a pillar or head of the house.' It’s not working anymore..." Says the Bosun: "We have never seen a black person in charge of a ship... It has always been a Spanish person. Now that black people are here in command… we are very proud. Since we do not know all the foreign languages… they can now communicate on our behalf. Today, I can just ask Johanna for anything..."
Johanna is fortunate. Her relatives are happy to take care of her son while she is at sea. But not being fully in charge while on land still takes some getting used to. Namibia signed up to the Millennium Development Goals that aim to cut poverty by half in 2015. These goals include specific targets for women - on education, reproductive health and equality. Johanna’s an example of targets fulfilled – but going back home, how about her friends and relatives? On route to her aunt's house, she’s reminded of her humble beginnings, when she first came to Luderitz. Most people flock to this coastal town in search of job opportunities. Here, they have to live in shanty towns with no running water or electricity and no proper toilets - or at least until they can make a better life for themselves. Johanna is going home with Innocent to see her grandmother after being away for more than nine months. Johanna was raised by her grandmother who still has a big influence on her.
She thinks back to when she gave birth. "Being a mother is a huge responsibility. A child does not just appear and then disappear. If you don’t prepare for it you just attract problems for yourself. For me when it was time to deliver my Innocent, it was quite complicated. Because when I experienced labour pains, I went to my doctor and she said to me I think you need an operation. She referred me to Windhoek because here in Luderitz, the hospital does not have enough equipment." Many aren’t so lucky - maternal mortality’s proved one of the hardest Millennium Development Goal – MDG - for Namibia to meet. A recent report suggests maternal deaths actually increased, perhaps because of HIV. Antenatal services have actually improved. And the newborn death rate is still one in fifty. Says Johanna: "Here in Namibia the death rate of babies is caused by the ignorance of young people is who during their pregnancy they do not understand. They don’t go to the clinic. Some of them do not know the importance of going to the clinic during their pregnancy. Some have financial problems, and the hospital is very far. Some they just ignore. They ask, what for? 'I can even deliver at home, my mom and my grandmother they delivered here at home, I can’t waste my money there'." Next, she goes back to her old secondary school to talk to the Head and the pupils. Most girls here will most likely end up as teachers and nurses. Most boys will remain at the cattle post, taking care of the family’s animals. Coming home has been a reminder of the problems that still confronts other women – even if her story shows they can be overcome. On her way back to Lüderitz, Johanna is asked to help her company open a cold storage depot in Walvis Bay, Namibia’s biggest harbour.
Johanna’s time on land has ended. She just wants to catch fish, earn a living and bring up her child. Not everyone’s yet ready for a female skipper. Says Johanna: "You are up there, on top, operating the wheel, they are down there. Some are saying, 'what a young lady?' It’s a way of showing men that we women are capable of doing something at the end of the day. I enjoy it."
TRANSCRIPT Read the full transcript ofTrawler Girl |
