Ottilie Grete Abrahams (2 September 19372 July 2018) was a

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

, and

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

Personal

Abrahams was born on 2 September 1937 in the

Old Location The Old Location (or as it was known then the Main Location) was an area Apartheid, segregated for Black residents of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. It was situated in the area between today's suburbs of Hochland Park and Pioneers Park. Histo ...

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

outside of

Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

. Abrahams was the daughter of Otto Schimming and Charlotte Schimming. Her father was the first Black teacher in Namibia. Her sister Nora Schimming-Chase became the first Namibian

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

after the

independence of Namibia The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Angol ...

. Before obtaining a degree in Cape Town, she attended

Trafalgar High School Trafalgar High School is a government-funded co-educational secondary day school, located in Trafalgar, West Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. It officially opened in 1964 after running classes on the original Trafalgar Primary School grounds ...

District Six District Six (Afrikaans: ''Distrik Ses'') is a residential neighborhood in Cape Town, South Africa, located next to the city's Cape Town CBD, CBD. In 1959, people of color were banned from the area and most of them were resettled in Gugulet ...

in Cape Town. She and her husband

Kenneth Abrahams Kenneth Godfrey Abrahams (1936–2017) was a Namibian activist and physician. He was born in Cape Town and studied at the University of Cape Town. Abrahams later earned his MD in Stockholm. He became active in SWAPO politics in 1960 along with ...

raised four children, one daughter is the scientist and activist Yvette Abrahams, her son Kenneth Abrahams overtook the management of the Jacob Marengo School after her death. At the time of her death, she lived in the affluent suburb of

Klein Windhoek Klein Windhoek ( in German) is an affluent suburb of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. History The British explorer James Alexander had already visited the area in 1837. Klein Windhoek is the oldest part of the town, having been established in ...

The Namibian ''The Namibian'' is the largest daily newspaper in Namibia. It is published in English and Oshiwambo. History The newspaper was established in 1985 by journalist Gwen Lister as a weekly newspaper reliant on support of donors, which aimed to ...

newspaper memorialized her as the "Mother of Education."

Activism

Abrahams became politically active while studying in high school and university in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

; she joined the

South West Africa South West Africa was a territory under Union of South Africa, South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, Independence of Namibia, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. ...

Student Body in 1952 and later became active in the Cape Peninsula Students Union and the

Non-European Unity Movement The Non-European Unity Movement (NEUM) was a Trotskyist organisation formed in South Africa in 1943. It had links to the Workers Party of South Africa (WPSA), the first countrywide Trotskyist organisation, and was initially conceived as a broad ...

. She and other activists formed the

Yu Chi Chan Club The Yu Chi Chan Club was a minor militant anti-apartheid organisation which operated within South Africa. Founded in July 1962, its members included Neville Alexander, Dulcie September, Elizabeth van der Heyden, Ottilie Abrahams, Kenneth Abraha ...

, a secret

Maoist Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...

organization. In 1985, Abrahams founded the Jacob Marengo Tutorial College in

Katutura Katutura (Otjiherero for ''We do not settle'') is a township of Windhoek, Khomas Region, Namibia. Katutura was created in 1961 following the forced removal of Windhoek's black population from the Old Location, which afterwards was developed int ...

, of which she was still the principal until her death.

Politics

Abrahams was active in the independence movement with several political parties. Abrahams was part of SWAPO from 1960 to 1963. She, her husband and fellow activist, Kenneth Abrahams, fellow

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO ; , SWAVO; , SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia (formerly South West Africa). Founded in 1960, it has been ...

dissidents

Emil Appolus Emil Appolus (10 March 1935, in Vaalgras, ǁKaras Region - 28 May 2005, in Keetmanshoop) was a Namibian politician and businessperson. Living in Cape Town, Appolus was part of early discussions on Namibian independence. In 1957, Appolus becam ...

and

Andreas Shipanga Andreas Zack Shipanga (26 October 1931 – 10 May 2012) was a Namibian politician known for the " Shipanga Rebellion", a movement within SWAPO that sought to elect a new leadership and whose followers were in response detained without trial. Impr ...

formed

SWAPO Democrats The SWAPO Democrats, also known as SWAPO-D, was a political party formed from a break within the South West Africa People's Organization in 1978. Formed in Sweden on 10 June 1978, the party was led by former leading SWAPO members Andreas Shipanga ...

while in exile in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. However, she left SWAPO Democrats in 1980 and later joined the Namibia Independence Party, where she served as the Secretary General and Publicity and Information Secretary. The Namibia Independence Party was part of the

Namibia National Front The Namibia National Front (NNF) was an alliance of nationalist but moderate parties in Namibia. It was formed in 1977 as a merger of the Namibia National Convention (which had been marginalized after SWAPO's departure from it) and the Namibia Nat ...

coalition which won one seat in the 1989 election to the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

-writing

Constituent Assembly of Namibia Below is a list of members of the Constituent Assembly of Namibia, which became the National Assembly of Namibia upon independence in March 1990. Individual members were selected by political parties voted for in the 1989 election, the first ...

Life in exile

From 1963 until 1978 Ottilie Abrahams lived in exile with her husband and their children. They lived in

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (, ; from ) is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of the Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over 7 million people, Dar es Salaam is the largest city in East Africa by population and the ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

and

Lusaka Lusaka ( ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was abo ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

and for nine years in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. With

United Nations Security Council Resolution 435 United Nations Security Council Resolution 435, adopted on September 29, 1978, put forward proposals for a cease-fire and UN-supervised elections in South African-controlled South West Africa which ultimately led to the independence of Namibia. ...

they returned to Namibia in 1978.

Notes

References

External links

Interview with Ottilie Abrahams by Tor Sellström 16 March 1995 within the project Nordic Documentation on the Liberation Struggle in Southern Africa

Jacob Marengo Tutorial College
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abrahams, Ottilie 1937 births 2018 deaths SWAPO Democrats politicians Namibian expatriates in Sweden Namibian expatriates in South Africa Namibian expatriates in Zambia Politicians from Windhoek Alumni of Trafalgar High School (Cape Town) Namibian educators