National Archives of Namibia Findaid 2/55 Findaid 2/55 A.0555 Namibia Refugee Project 1981-1990 Compiled by Brigitte Lau, March 1996 Revised and updated by Werner Hillebrecht, August 2012 National Archives of Namibia Findaid 2/55: A.0555 Namibia Refugee Project Compiled by Brigitte Lau, March 1996 2nd ed., revised and updated by Werner Hillebrecht, August 2012 © National Archives of Namibia, 2012 Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike CC BY-NC-SA Republic of Namibia Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture National Archives of Namibia P/Bag 13250 Windhoek Namibia Tel. +264–61–2935211 (switchboard), 2935210 or 2935222 (reading room) Fax +264–61–2935207 [email protected] ii Findaid 2/55 Namibia Refugee Project A.0555 Contents Introduction iv About the second edition v 1 Administration 6 2 Solidarity and related agencies 6 3 Donations, fundraising and related matters 7 4 Training and scholarships 7 5 Namibian organisations 8 6 Projects and project administration 8 7 Draft/products: Literacy Campaign 9 7 a SWAPO Literacy Campaign 10 8 Teaching English 10 9 Namibian Literacy Project 10 10 General information packs 11 11 Conferences / Meetings 11 12 Audiovisual and other records 11 13 Items returned from Archives Library 12 14 Bulletin board 13 15 Telexes 13 16 Annual and other reports 13 List of items transferred to Archives Library 16 List of catalogued photographs 20 iii Findaid 2/55 Namibia Refugee Project A.0555 Private Accession A.0555 Namibia Refugee Project Introduction The Namibia Refugee Project (NRP) The NRP was established in 1981 by a group of exile solidarity workers, many of them Namibians, in close co-operation with SWAPO. At first it was called Namibia and Southern Africa Refugee Project. The Project was funded by a large variety of donors through its own efforts. It was committed, from its inception, to help create and maintain an infrastructure, especially with regard to training and education, in Kwanza Sul, Nyango and other SWAPO settlement camps in Angola and Zambia. By 1982 the NRP was running the SWAPO Women’s Council Literacy Campaign; a few years later the projects included skills training in shoe-making, construction, stove-making, carpentry, tailoring, and management. Furthermore, the NRP involved itself strongly in facilitating study and training opportunities for Namibian students elsewhere. It also played an active role in the worldwide solidarity movement in support of the Namibian liberation struggle. However, it seems that throughout the 1980s its main focus was organising and facilitating the teaching of reading and writing to Namibian refugees. The NRP dissolved itself shortly after the independence of Namibia in 1990. The records and their description The bulk of the archives of the NRP were donated to the National Archives of Namibia in 1992 by the University of York, who had held the records for about two years; some additional documentation was transferred in 1994. The records provide detailed insights into life in and the administration of the refugee settlements, but they also document the setting up, role, function and effects of international solidarity with SWAPO. Another aspect of the records is that they represent a general resource base on literacy and skills training, because the Refugee Project also collected data and materials from elsewhere in the world. Generally, the records reflect many aspects of the difficulties and achievements of Namibians in exile. At the broadest level, the archives were divided in three groups: unpublished, published, and audiovisual. The published materials were separated and transferred to the National Archives library. A listing is included in Box 47. The audiovisual materials were listed and packed separately; about 200 photos were fully identified and included in the National Archives image library. The unpublished records were divided into correspondence and so-called “other archives” (non-correspondence), and then again into 15 sub-categories. Substantial assistance was rendered by Justin Ellis and Marion Wallace, both closely associated with the Project, but the principle of original order could not be followed and the arrangement has in some measure remained arbitrary. Nonetheless, it is hoped that the study of these archives will prove useful in the project of writing Namibia’s history. iv Findaid 2/55 Namibia Refugee Project A.0555 Brigitte Lau Chief Archivist March 1996 v Findaid 2/55 Namibia Refugee Project A.0555 About the second edition A new edition of this finding aid was prompted by the detailed registration of individual files of the Accession A.0555 on the ACCPT database. At the same time several other changes were carried out: • The annual reports and other central documents of NRP and the “bulletin board”, which inexplicably had not been assigned file and box numbers in the first edition, were added at the end of the series and listed in more detail. (Box 50-55) • Several documents which had been taken into the Archives Library without being publications in the true sense, were re-transferred to this Accession (Box 49). • The items transferred to the Library, which had meanwhile been re-catalogued and mostly changed shelf numbers, were newly listed, and a list of the catalogued photos added. It is hoped that the indexing of the NRP material on the ACCPT database, which also provided additional keyword access points to the records, will lead to increased use of this very important resource, in particular as there are currently still very few accessible archival sources about the SWAPO camps in exile. This accession still warrants some additional future work in the recording and indexing of the “bulletin board” with its sources on the 1989 independence process, and the identification and cataloguing of further photos and slides. It should be noted that the Namibia Refugee Project’s colour slides are still uncatalogued. The ACCPT database (Private Accessions – component parts) is available like all other databases on the Reading Room computers. Werner Hillebrecht Chief Archivist August 2012 vi Findaid 2/55 Namibia Refugee Project A.0555 Box File Title Period 1 Administration 01 01/01 Enquiries from the public 1982-1989 01 01/02 Lifeline Literacy Container 1986-1986 01 01/03 Literacy Promoters Handbook Publication 1987-1990 02 01/04 Literacy Promoters Handbook Mailing Lists 1987-1988 02 01/05 Papers and pens 1987-1988 02 01/06 Subscriptions 1983-1986 02 01/07 Subscriptions 1987-1987 03 01/08 Books and shipments 1985-1989 03 01/09 Round Tree Office Machinery 1983-1983 03 01/10 SWAPO Women's Council Land rover 1982-1985 03 01/11 Andrew Folcy 1987-1987 03 01/11 Humanitarian aid 1985-1989 2 Solidarity and related agencies 04 02/01 Zimbabwe Project 1981-1987 04 02/02 Agencies miscellaneous 1987 04 02/03 NOVIB 1982 04 02/04 Namibia Ecumenical Group 1985 04 02/05 Papers for UN Commissioner and Council for Namibia 1982-1983 04 02/06 Christian Aid 1985-1987 04 02/07 International Disaster Institution 1982 05 02/08 African Refugee Housing Action Limited 1983 05 02/09 British Defence and Aid Fund 1988-1989 05 02/10 International Defence and Aid Fund (IDAF) 1981-1989 05 02/11 Jesuit Refugee Services 1982-1986 05 02/12 CORSO 1982-1985 05 02/13 Colin Winter Centre for Namibia 1986-1988 05 02/14 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 1981-1983 05 02/15 UN Protest Church in Belgium 1983 05 02/16 British Conference for Aid to Refugees 1984-1985 05 02/17 Justice and Peace 1983 05 02/18 Namibia Association 1983 05 02/19 Holland Committee on Southern Africa 1983-1987 06 02/20 United Nations Commissioner for Namibia 1982-1989 06 02/21 Episcopal Conference Office for Refugees (Zambia) 1980-1989 06 02/22 Namibia Peace Centre 1982-1984 06 02/23 Mark Noll Fathers and Brothers 1981-1982 06 02/24 Silvera House Zimbabwe 1982-1989 06 02/25 Caritas 1981-1988 07 02/27 Bishops of Windhoek 1980-1982 07 02/28 Bishops of Windhoek 1983-1989 07 02/29 Anglican Council of Churches 1981-1985 07 02/30 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) 1988-1989 07 02/31 Red Cross 1981-1984 07 02/32 Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) 1982-1986 07 02/33 UNHK/Justin Visa 1989 07 02/34 War On Want 1988-1989 07 02/35 EC Study Goodison 1989 7 Findaid 2/55 Namibia Refugee Project A.0555 Box File Title Period 07 02/36 One Word - Bernt Carlsson Trust 1989 07 02/37 Botswana 1987-1989 08 02/38 Lutheran World Federation 1981-1986 08 02/39 British Council of Churches 1981-1983 09 02/40 British Council of Churches and Christian Aid 1984-1989 09 02/41 OXFAM 1987-1989 10 02/42 World University Service (WUS) 1982-1984 10 02/42 World University Service (WUS) vol.2 1985-1989 10 02/43 Catholic Relief Services 1981 10 02/44 Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR) 1982-1989 10 02/45 Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR) 1984-1988 10 02/46 Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR): Profile Namibia 1989-1989 3 Donations, Fundraising and Related Matters 11 03/01 Catholic Institute for International Relations (CIIR) 1982-1982 11 03/02 Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund 1985-1989 11 03/03 Oblates of Mary Immaculate (O.M.I.) 1981-1990 11 03/04 Community Aid Abroad 1987-1989 11 03/05 Overseas Development Administration (ODA) 1987-1989 11 03/06 Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust 1988 11 03/07 CUSO (Canadian) 1982-1988 11 03/08 EEC/FOS Consultancy 1981-1989 11 03/09 Broederlijke Delen 1981-1987 12 03/10 Bischoppelijke Fastenaktie 1981-1989 12 03/11 CCODP (Canada) Development and Peace 1981-1989 13 03/12 CIDSE (International