Book Presentation "The Story Behind"

© Jennifer Gatsi About the Author:
Jennifer Gatsi is a Zimbabwean  national permanently resident in Namibia. Born in Harare during the period of the  federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, she spent  part of her childhood years in Malawi before starting a working life  at the time when  colonial Rhodesia was transitioning into independent Zimbabwe. After several years of hoping from one job to another, she  was employed by an organisation which fortuitously thrust her into a role of working with women in refugee camps, despite not holding any formal qualification. Through sheer determination and a go-getter attitude, she rose to the position of  country coordinator of an international NGO before moving to Namibia in 1994 to  lead a women’s economic empowerment project in  the Zambezi region(then Caprivi). This was the beginning of her illustrious career in Namibia, which saw  her revive a women’s project, initiate a child feeding programme, pioneer a women empowerment NGO and introduce psychosocial support groups  in Katutura before coordinating national activities of the International Community of   Women Living with HIV(ICW). With a group of Namibian women, she pioneered and became the director of the Namibian Women’s Health Network(NWHN) focussing on Sexual  Reproductive Health and Rights, household economic strengthening  and youth empowerment(through the YEEP project) before retiring in 2020.


@ Max Shiimi About the book:
Jennifer Gatsi’s debut memoir, published this year(2023)by Africa Blossom Publishers in Windhoek,  is a tell-all account of her life experiences marked by twists and turns, adversity and adventure, lament and laughter, trauma and triumph. Utilising powerful narrative nonfiction devices, she shares a riveting story of a troubled childhood, a drifting life as a young adult, risky entanglements, falling into and ultimately clawing her way out of an abusive  relationship, surviving tragedies, a near death experience and an incredible transformation into  an activist with a burning passion to liberate and empower communities whose circumstances and experiences she related with.