WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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When I decided to study law once I was still in 
Namibia. I was told by a white school inspector  

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that my intelligence as a black child is much 
lower than that of a white child and that,  

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therefore, I can never study law. If there 
was anything that that white inspector did  

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for me was to make me resolute in becoming a 
lawyer, and to fight for justice for my people.  

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And so that is the impact of Warwick, that it 
allowed me to turn adversity into an opportunity  

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and that is what I have loved ever since.
What made me feel part of a community at  

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Warwick when I arrived was the sense of 
belonging, the sense of us doing things  

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together. I was not a very good cook but there 
was always food that others were willing to,  

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you know, to share with me. They took quite 
a keen interest to know about Namibia, to  

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know about the struggle that we were waging at the 
time against apartheid South Africa. So, in a way,  

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my flatmates became my protectors. They were 
always worried if I didn't come back to the flat  

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in time. As far as the law school is concerned, 
the lecturers were very, very supportive. 

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What has impacted me at Warwick was that 
when I was doing my law degree it was  

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always being reminded that law in context. 
In other words it was never about just the  

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letter and spirit of the law, but how do you 
apply law to promote social change. And so,  

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when I obtained my degree in 1986 I was very 
clear that that is what I wanted to do, and that  

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was not just to do litigation work in a court of 
law, but actually to use law for transformation. 

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My advice to students graduating from Warwick 
University is basically to love the ethos of  

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the university, and that is to always be in 
the service of people. Our achievement can  

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not only be measured by academic excellence, 
but it's the start of a journey. Only do that  

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if you have got passion, if you serve with 
humility and if you serve with integrity.