In an interview with the First Lady, she spoke of how becoming a mother at the age of 19 did not discourage her from working hard and becoming the successful woman she is now.the interview aims to inspire the youth to make the right decisions in order to do something meaningful with their lives.
Born and raised in Namibia’s diamond town of Oranjemund, Geingos said that from a young age she was driven to succeed by people who only had standard six (now referred to as grade eight) and who became overnight millionaires. This motivated her to work hard and become successful too.
She said when she was growing up people assumed that everyone from Oranjemund was rich which forced her to act that way and to accumulate assets worth about N$60 million. During the show MTC had a surprise for Geingos, which was a series of video clips where her parents described her as a lovely daughter who questioned everything when she was a little girl.
Geingos said her parents, who have been married for 46 years, taught her well and shaped her character. She said she could not have been so successful if it was not for her parents’ efforts to bring up their children well.
“I never heard my father shout at my mother, he always calls her ‘my girl’,” she said.
Geingos has over 7 000 followers on Twitter. She said she has helped many people who tweeted her with problems that sometimes led her to just stare at her computer.
Advisor
Geingos says living in State House did not really change her life, adding that she takes it one day at a time.
Asked about her experience of the good and bad aspects of social media, the First Lady’s response was that so far she had a positive experience. She said she welcomes criticism because it’s better to know who is saying what about you than to remain in the dark about public opinion.
Geingos said her advice to the youth on how to manage their money is not to let others control their money, adding that people should be able to control themselves when it comes to lifestyle pressures.
She said people should not be influenced by what others expect them to do or own, because that would get them into unnecessary debt which could have been avoided.
Tackling poverty
Geingos, who described poverty as a vicious mindset, spoke about how she wants to curb the poverty cycle in Namibia. She said she would use her position as First Lady to tackle the issue of poverty and other challenges that affect Namibians, such as a lack of opportunities.
The First Lady said one of the ways in which she would address these issues was by donating to those in need and by engaging with other stakeholders that can form a network for people to get job opportunities.
A member of the audience asked whether the First Lady agreed with the Affirmative Repositioning group’s demand for land and whether she would have joined such a group when she was younger.
Geingos responded by saying that she commended the group on wanting the issue of land to be addressed, but that Namibia has done well in the distribution of land, the only problem being that it’s being done at a snail’s pace.
credit:http://www.namibiansun.com
