E066 - Annina Van Neel - #WisdomPersonified - conversations with Dudu Msomi

Annina Van Neel is the founder and CEO of The Tiekie Box Project which is a black cultural #heritage organisation working to decolonise Black history and #archaeology and to make this heritage accessible to the African #Diaspora and descendant communities. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental, and Geographical Science and Archaeology from the University of Cape Town. When Annina emigrated to the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena Island in 2012 to work as the environmental officer for an airport construction project, she encountered the neglected, but most significant physical trace of the Trans-Atlantic #Slave Trade, The African Burial Grounds. Her journey is featured in the #documentary, 'A Story of Bones.' Annina is now living in her country-of-origin #Namibia, to learn about her own colonial history and the #genocide of the #Nama and the #Herero under #German rule. George Orwell said, 'The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history. Annina is an individual ensuring that #Africans are not only remembered by history, but their dignity is preserved even in death. Knowing #history provides us a context for understanding the present. Most importantly, understanding the history of the marginalised in our world, helps us to develop our critical thinking, to cultivate our compassion and an opportunity for you to do better and be a better human being. I hope this wise conversation deepens your compassion for humanity. For the perpetrators and those they strive to dehumanise and destroy. Unsuccessfully. Most of all. I hope you are touched to be a better human being today, than you were yesterday. #dudumsomi #wisdom #wisdompersonified #anninavanneel #storyofbones #sthelenaisland #NamibianGenocide #UCT