Rosa Namises

Namises was born on 20 April 1958 as one of nine children to an Angolan father and Damara mother in the Old Location of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. She grew up with her father until she was 15 years old and attended the Augustineum Secondary School in Windhoek. After graduating she worked first as a cleaner, then as a nursing assistant, and in parallel she completed her matric through a correspondence course with Sukses College. Her political activism first landed her in jail and then led her into exile, conditions that forced her to discontinue her education. Only in 1990 when Namibia became independent did she resume her studies. She obtained a Diploma in Adult and Basic Education from UNISA and a Diploma in Gender Development and Planning from the University of London. She further holds a Diploma in Women in Management, has had some paralegal education, and acquired counselling and facilitation skills. ==Political career==

In the early 1980s Namises joined the then-illegal SWAPO party. She organised meetings, acquired new members, and distributed promotional material. She was caught and spent two months in solitary confinement but soon returned to her activist's activities. In 1985 ==Activism==

As Namises went in and out of politics, she spent the time in between as an activist and lobbyist. Her first formal role was her work at the Legal Assistance Centre in the early 1990s, a job she took after quitting SWAPO. She helped to discover and fight human rights violations there, a step she described as "revenge". She is the director of Woman Solidarity Namibia, an organisation fighting violence against women and children. Namises is also the founder and main operator of Dolam Residential Child Care, a day-care facility for vulnerable children. There are 21 children at the centre. ==In the media==

• Rosa und Uria, a German film about Rosa Namises and Uria Kariere's lives at the eve of Namibian independence • Portrait einer beeindruckenden Frau [Portrait of an impressive woman], by Dora Borer ==References==