English edition
Walking the Boeing 707
By Dr Lydia Shaketange
N$300The journey behind the title
It was not an aeroplane.
In 1974, fourteen-year-old Lydia Shaketange left Namibia. The promise of a “Boeing 707” created the expectation of a flight. What followed instead was a long and difficult journey on foot through Angola toward Zambia.
The name became a way of remembering distance, uncertainty and the strength needed to keep moving. Her life and education later continued through Sierra Leone, Finland and Britain before she returned to Namibia during the repatriation period.
This memoir preserves that experience in her own voice — including the lives of children whose presence, labour, education and sacrifice formed part of the liberation struggle rather than standing outside it.
- 1974
Namibia to Angola
Leaving home at fourteen and crossing into exile.
- 1974
Angola to Zambia
The long journey on foot remembered as the “Boeing 707”.
- Later
Sierra Leone
Schooling, language, adaptation and a widening world.
- Later
Finland and Britain
Education continued across countries and cultures.
- Return
Namibia
Repatriation, education and the work of remembering.
