The value of educational connections across time and continents

Foreign documentary filmmakers from Tacoma, Washington USA are currently in Windhoek, for the course of June to uncover what higher education meant to a group of locals who studied in the United States nearly 20 years ago.
The filmmakers, made up of alumni, faculty, staff and students from Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) in Tacoma, will unearth the stories of nine people who left their homes to obtain degrees in higher education in the United States and the profound impact this experience has had on their lives, careers, and nation.
“Namibia Nine” will be narrated by Edwin Tjiramba, Director for Communications and Marketing for the University of Namibia, who as part of a select group of 100 locals was awarded the opportunity of a lifetime in the late 1980’s to study at various universities in the United States of America.

The group left as part of a post-apartheid strategy by the Namibian Lutheran Churches in collaboration with their American and German counterparts to give promising young leaders the opportunity to obtain college degrees that were not previously available to them.
Tjiramba began his journey in higher education, along with eight colleagues, at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington.
“I was born in Namibia,” Tjiramba said. “But my future began at PLU.”
Over the years, a total of nine have graduated from the university and returned to their countries. Now, almost 20 years later, Tjiramba graduated from the University of Namibia this year with a degree in law.
His Pacific Lutheran University alumni colleagues have been equally successful in their careers, from forensics to foreign relations, education to environmental policy making. The US filmmakers are exploring the deep relationship these people have with each other and the university they call their “home away from home.”
“Namibia Nine” is sponsored by the Wang Center for Global Education at Pacific Lutheran University. The project is being supervised by Professor Joanne M. Lisosky, Ph.d. and Melannie Denise Cunningham, M.B.A. and Director of Multicultural Recruitment at Pacific Lutheran University.Foreign documentary filmmakers from Tacoma, Washington USA are currently in Windhoek, for the course of June to uncover what higher education meant to a group of locals who studied in the United States nearly 20 years ago.
The filmmakers, made up of alumni, faculty, staff and students from Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) in Tacoma, will unearth the stories of nine people who left their homes to obtain degrees in higher education in the United States and the profound impact this experience has had on their lives, careers, and nation.
“Namibia Nine” will be narrated by Edwin Tjiramba, Director for Communications and Marketing for the University of Namibia, who as part of a select group of 100 locals was awarded the opportunity of a lifetime in the late 1980’s to study at various universities in the United States of America.
The group left as part of a post-apartheid strategy by the Namibian Lutheran Churches in collaboration with their American and German counterparts to give promising young leaders the opportunity to obtain college degrees that were not previously available to them.
Tjiramba began his journey in higher education, along with eight colleagues, at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington.
“I was born in Namibia,” Tjiramba said. “But my future began at PLU.”
Over the years, a total of nine have graduated from the university and returned to their countries. Now, almost 20 years later, Tjiramba graduated from the University of Namibia this year with a degree in law.
His Pacific Lutheran University alumni colleagues have been equally successful in their careers, from forensics to foreign relations, education to environmental policy making. The US filmmakers are exploring the deep relationship these people have with each other and the university they call their “home away from home.”
“Namibia Nine” is sponsored by the Wang Center for Global Education at Pacific Lutheran University. The project is being supervised by Professor Joanne M. Lisosky, Ph.d. and Melannie Denise Cunningham, M.B.A. and Director of Multicultural Recruitment at Pacific Lutheran University.