Child No. 95

by Lucia Engombe, Peter Hilliges

When I was seven years old, a white man asked me, “Would you like to fly to Germany with me?” I didn’t know what Germany was. I knew nothing but the African bush where I lived. But I wanted to leave, because I was going hungry in the refugee camp. For almost 11 years I lived in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR); originally I even stayed in a manor, and was often pampered.
At 17, almost as suddenly as I had been catapulted from the bush to Europe, I had to go back to Africa. In me, my mother saw the ‘German’ who could not even cook pap, the Namibian national dish. She remained as strange to me as the country she loved. I saw the unexpected drought, and experienced the poverty from which the GDR had protected me.
At the first opportunity I left Namibia for Germany. When I returned, my mother was mortally ill. It was too late. For her. For me. For us. For me all that remained were memories and unanswered questions.
Then my sister gave me an old black-and-white photograph: the woman in the picture tilts her head slightly to the right. The look in her loving eyes is clear and open. Her full lips smile gently, the straight black hair falls softly over her forehead. The white nurse’s cap sits on her head like a crown. She wears a high-necked, light-coloured blouse, over which the straps of an apron emerge. The slender left hand points to her heart.
I stood in front of a mirror, looking for her features in my face, and I felt that I had to look for the tracks of my own life. So that I could understand the almost unknown woman in the touched-up photograph. And perhaps, in this way, I could love her, like I had longed for her love my whole life.

“The book by Namibian author Lucia Engombe about her years as ‘Child No. 95’ in the GDR has shed a new light on this almost forgotten chapter of German-Namibian relations.“ Horst Köhler as President of the Federal Republic of Germany

“Lucia Engombe`s memories are detailed, quite personal and honest … Without self-pity, but with almost clinical precision, the author recounts her observations.” Insight Namibia, Windhoek

“Extraordinary and gripping” Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Germany

“Lucia’s life story – a path of suffering” Der Spiegel, Germany

“A fascinating historical account that fills the gap in the story of the GDR kids published thus far: the detailed retelling of a very personal fate that mirrored that of others, but was nonetheless so deeply distressing in its uniqueness. Related with a quiet sense of humour and successful arc of tension” Allgemeine Zeitung, Namibia

“Lucia Engombe succeeded in creating a fascinating, autobiographical report” Goethe Institute, South Africa


LUCIA PANDULENI ENGOMBE was born on 13 October 1972 in Oshakati, northern Namibia. In 1979, she was flown to the German Democratic Republic and returned to Namibia in 1990. After immense difficulties in the home country which was now foreign to her, Lucia completed her schooling in 1994. She is currently studying Journalism at the University of Technology (formerly Polytechnic of Namibia) in Windhoek, and is finalising her law studies at the Windhoek-based Triumphant College through the Open University of Tanzania. She is a Senior Producer for the German Radio Service at the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation in Windhoek, where she now lives.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography Memoir

349 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 31, 2004

Reviews

[Vorik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hochinteressante und aufrichtig erzählte Autobiographie, die das Leben in der DDR und in Namibia durch eine unerwartete Perspektive auf sehr persönliche Weise der Leserschaft näher bringt. Sehr empfehlenswerte Lektüre.

[Jedermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Die äußerst interessante Autobiographie der Journalistin Lucia Engombe beschreibt ihre Kindheit in der DDR und die Schwierigkeiten bei ihrer Rückkehr als Jugendliche nach Namibia. Ihr Leben als Kind und Jugendliche kennt heiter zufriedene und schwermütig bedrückende Momente. Erst als junge Frau erfährt sie die Gründe warum ihre Familie so zerrissen wurde. Lesenswert!

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but not can't-put-down. Note: I read it in German.

[Sea · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Dominik Sauter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Schönes autobiografisches Werk, das das Leben als namibische Person in der damaligen DDR und die politischen Zusammenhänge der Zeit beleuchtet.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Child No. 95 tells the story of Lucia Engombe and her family as an example for all the GDR children who were taken away from their families at a young age and all the families who were torn apart by SWAPO's fight for Namibian independence. It certainly sheds light on events and personal stories that were simply ignored and forgotten once the Berlin Wall fell and Namibia became independent.
Some of the final revelations were truly heartbreaking, but I wish the story had continued up to the point at which the book was written so that one could find out how she ended up studying and writing the book. I would have also enjoyed knowing what some of the other GDR children such as Anna, Mila or Mellie ended up doing.
But all in all this a good, insightful read.

[Sarien Lategan]

Very interesting insights into a part of history about which very little is written. A child's perspective of a war which was not her war in the first place. Touches one's soul.