After Germany's colonial forces crushed Herero and Nama fighters militarily, survivors faced unimaginable hardship, in concentration camps or on German-owned farms. But even here, stories like that of Mama Penee highlight the ways in which women continued to resist.
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00:00In the face of tremendous colonial violence, Namibian women stood up and resisted.
00:05But a lot of these stories have stayed in the shadows.
00:08In 1904, Herero and Nama people forged an alliance to fight the German colonial regime.
00:14Women were also on the battlefield, encouraging and morally supporting the men.
00:19German General Lothar von Trotter ordered his soldiers to kill men and women
00:24and children who entered German-controlled lands.
00:27Yajora Petronella Inavinite is 11 years old when she witnesses German soldiers murder both her parents.
00:36In her life story, as recounted by her grandson,
00:38the Herero woman recalls feverish, dreamlike moments of fleeing to her uncle.
00:42Ultimately, she finds herself with no choice but to work on a German farm.
00:47In her tale, she is known as Mama Pene.
00:50On the German farm, she looks after the colonialist children,
00:53cleaning their house, washing their clothes, preparing their food.
00:57Her job protects her from the worst.
00:59But a lot of women suffer a different fate.
01:03Many are taken to German concentration camps in Swakopmund or Shark Island,
01:07which was also known as Death Island.
01:10Here, women are sexually exploited, abused or forced to carry out inhumane tasks.
01:15Despite all this, Mama Pene did not end up hating white people.
01:19She used to ask her five children and grandchildren,
01:22If you hate, what will you become?
01:24Will you become a murderer too?