Читать книгу Barriers on the Path to Freedom - Helmut Lauschke - Страница 4

The liberation stuggle had been carrying on in the north of Namibia since long before 1985. The apartheid regime was trying to hold on to the last threads of its existence. The Western powers continued their sanctions against South Africa. Decisions made by the United States and the former Soviet Union (USSR) ultimately led to the downfall of President P.W. Botha, and paved the way for resolving the issues in Namibia. After President Botha’sretirement in 1989, South Africa was pressurised to retreat and accept the inevitable independence of Namibia as a country with its own national sovereignty.

It was during the time of war in the north of Namibia that Dr Ferdinand set foot on African soil for the first time. He was met by the beauty and vastness of the country, the scorching sun and the face of poverty and deprivation at Oshakati Hospital, all in one day.

Barriers on the Path to Freedom is based on experiences of a medical doctor at Oshakati Hospital during the liberation struggle. The story touches on culture and traditions, ignorance and arrogance and the pain of the injured and the lost. It speaks against apartheid during the liberation struggle, the corruption and the inhumaneness.

The story tells about the suffering of innocent and helpless people, the hardworking nurses and the few doctors who kept the neglected hospital running inside the war zone. The story is set against the backdrop of the hospital, the village and the lokasie, describing the military activities, the dusty roads and the poverty of the black people.

The author introduces the characters in their emotional nakedness, the hatred and arrogance, but also the respect and companionship. He portrays the antagonism between the inexperience ot youth and the experience of age, between the military and civilian life, and how the evils become the ground for underhandedness and unscrupulous behaviour and competition, which in one case led to the death of a 14-year-old boy. The story describes the skills of doing operative procedures using improvisation due to the lack of the basic equipment and the shortages of drugs and blood units.

The author contrasts the reality of the war and the poor conditions at the hospital with the beauty of music and art, the spectacular sunrises and sunsets and the extraordinary friendships. It is an intriguing story with compelling characters, medical work and innovations, and the poor people, waiting … waiting for the doctors, waiting to be treated, waiting to be healed, waiting to b heard!