Ms Sandra Annette Parr Tjitendero, Wife of late Mosé Tjitendero - First Speaker of Namibia's Independent Parliament - Laid to Rest in Berlin, Germany

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photo 1: from right to left, Hon Richard Kamwi, former Minister of Health; Mr Ernest Tjitendero, brother of the late Mosé Tjitendero; family members; Hon Prof Peter H Katjavivi, Speaker of the National Assembly; family members. Photos 2-6: family members and friends. Photo 7: Hon Nangolo Mbumba, Secretary-General of the SWAPO Party

On 04 August 2015, Ms Sandra Tjitendero, was laid to rest at the Berlin cemetery of the Jerusalem and New Church Community in the district of Kreuzberg.

A Namibian delegation, composed of family members, representatives of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'is of Namibia, and the Namibian government arrived in Berlin on Monday, 03 August 2015, to attend the funeral.

During a moving and emotional funeral service, Mr Ernest Tjitendero, brother of the late Mosé Tjitendero – first Speaker of Namibia's independent Parliament – spoke on behalf of the Tjitendero family; Hon Nangolo Mbumba, Secretary-General of the SWAPO Party, paid tribute to Ms Tjitendero on behalf of the SWAPO party; and Hon Prof Peter Katjavivi, current Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia, conveyed a condolence message on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Namibia. Other speakers included the Tjitendero children and grand-children, represented by Ripuree Tjitendero, the Parr family headed by Eric Parr, the brother of Sandra Tjitendero, Ms Nadiitah Nghipondoka-Robiati of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Namibia, and Ms Uta von Both, the Bahá'í International Counsellor. Earlier, the German Foreign Office had also conveyed their condolences to the family.

In his tribute to Ms Sandra Parr Tjitendero, the Hon Prof Peter H. Katjavivi, read a message from H.E. President Dr Hage Geingob, which read as follows:

"Monica and I would like to join you and all others who are grieving at this moment in mourning the passing away of our dear comrade Sandra.(...) Although we cannot all be in Berlin to say goodbye to our beloved Sandy, our special thoughts and heartfelt prayers are with you and the family at this time of sorrow. We pray that her soul is peacefully in the hands of the creator and that her soul shall find eternal peace."

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Click here for the full speech by Hon Prof Peter H. Katjavivi

The Hon Katjavivi also recalled how he had grown up with Mosé Tjitendero in Ovitoto and spoke of the closeness between his family and the Tjitendero family before and after Namibia's independence. Fondly remembering how Ms Tjidendero had first arrived in Namibia in July 1989, he said, "(s)he was welcomed by the Tjitendero family in Ovitoto, introduced to the ancestors and the elders, and given a Herero name, Vajoroka, meaning 'We have rejoiced'." Prof Katjavivi also described how Ms Tjitendero got married in a Herero dress and otjikaeva in attendance of the late Paramount Chief Kuaima Riruako. The Speaker quoted Ms Tjitendero as once having said that she and her children were a "tangible bridge between all people of African descent, whether in the Diaspora or on the continent. We are a bridge of love and unity, of continuity and change."

In closing, Prof Katjavivi, on behalf of the Government of Namibia, expressed heartfelt condolences to the Tjitendero and Parr families and prayed that Ms Tjitendero's soul may find eternal peace. Ms. Tjitendero's family members, including her children and grandchildren, were introduced to and acknowledged by the congregation, which consisted of about 80 mourners from all over the world. Amongst them were relatives from the United States of America and Namibia, representatives of the Namibian Embassy in Berlin, Namibians residing in Germany, and many others.

Ms Sandra Annette Parr Tjitendero sadly passed away on 26 July 2015, at a family gathering in the borough of Chorin about 75km from the German capital Berlin.

 

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