It is August.
This is not an insignificant month.
Five years ago the first issue of Doek! Literary Magazine was published. In that time it has been wonderful to share voices and work from Namibia, the African continent, and its rich diaspora. With the generous support of friends near and far, the magazine has gone on to birth an organisation that supports the literary arts through the provision of creative writing workshops, awarding literary prizes, and hosting literary festivals with local and international writers, poets, and visual artists. To walk is to see, and to have walked this long and this far is to have seen plenty.
One does not make it this far without friends, or, at some point, having to part with those who decide to pursue their own stars. Parting, too, is a part of the journey.
Since joining Doek! in July, 2020, Mubanga Kalimamukwento has committed her time and efforts to African and afro-diaspora writers wherever and whenever we have been lucky enough to find them. She has nurtured their talents and helped them to hone their craft. A quick eye, measured corrections, a generous spirit—these are the things that define Mubanga’s editing style. Her numerous successes and accolades have encouraged many writers—here and abroad—to pursue their ambitions to the highest heights. As she embarks on the next phase of her academic and literary adventures pursuing a PhD in Feminist Studies at the University of Minnesota and editing Ubwali, Zambia’s latest literary magazine, we wish her the best. Always and forever.
We do not say goodbye. We say “See you in the struggle.” Because we will meet elsewhere. In a short story or poem, in a photographic essay or an auralgraph, in another literary project that seeks to showcase the breadth, depth, and diversity of African literature, in another short story or a poem.
And now.
Beyond the cycles of shedding and rebirth, where reason ends, there is a hidden gem—a momentary escape from the city: an untethering that distils tears into nourishing rain.
In this moment one encounters uncomfortable truths: that when a man has loved a woman he will do anything for her, except continue to love her; or that the word casualty means not only those who have died, but those who have disappeared; or that when you have lost you learn to speak in measured, subdued tones—one of grief’s many lessons. One learns to question who really benefits from land restitution. We learn, too, that not all dreams are ours. Some of them come from the acoustic pasts and echoed futures, brought to us by voices carried on the winds and vinyls of history, or by the powers of misunderstood goddesses.
And so.
We pluck a sapling from our father’s fig trees and plant them in our gardens for our children to eat. We continue working despite all of the disappointments we have encountered and will continue to face. We squeeze our eyes shut, waiting for the crack, the rumble, the boom, the disaster that will end all of our efforts.
And yet.
It does not come.
This, we tell ourselves over and over, is a practice round—next time is next time.
Another day, another moment.
As long as there is a now, there is time “to dala”—to do, to hustle, to get it done, to make it happen.
We follow the Mubanga Kalimamukwento rule: you dala what you must with what you have for as long as you are able to.This is Doek!—a literary magazine from Namibia.
Rémy is a Rwandan-born Namibian writer and photographer. He is the founder, chairperson, and artministrator of Doek, an independent arts organisation in Namibia supporting the literary arts. He is also the editor-in-chief of Doek! Literary Magazine.
His debut novel The Eternal Audience Of One was first published in South Africa by Blackbird Books and is available worldwide from Scout Press (S&S). His work has appeared in The Johannesburg Review of Books, Brainwavez, American Chordata, Lolwe, and Granta, among others, with more forthcoming in numerous publications. He won the Africa Regional Prize of the 2021 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. He was shortlisted for the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing in 2020 and 2021 and was also longlisted and shortlisted for the 2020 and 2021 Afritondo Short Story Prizes respectively. In 2019 he was shortlisted for Best Original Fiction by Stack Magazines.