Valentina: The Exile Child

On the dawn of Namibia’s independence from South African rule in 1990, around 43,000 exiles were repatriated to the country formerly known as South West Africa. Of these, many had left their country of birth to flee the brutality of South Africa’s apartheid regime, and/or to join the struggle (political and armed) for Namibia’s liberation, waged primarily by the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO). But included in the 43,000, were about 20,000 children who had never set foot in ...