Behind her status as former first lady, Penehupifo Pohamba was a grandmother with a love for fashion and beauty.
To her grandchildren, complimenting her even while at home was a habit. She would dress her best, put on her jewellery and wear her perfume.
“Her love for beauty and fashion was just hard to miss,’’ her granddaughter, Leticia Hipangelwa, said at her memorial service in Windhoek on Thursday. Penehupifo died on Saturday at the age of 78.
Penehupifo, known to her family as Meekulu, is remembered by her children and grandchildren for her impeccable style, playful humour and love for hymns.
Hipangelwa described her grandmother as phenomenal, gentle, prayerful, generous, loving, funny and, when necessary, a little spicy.
She said her grandmother ‘bullied’ them for not complimenting her.
“Even when she was just at home, she was always beautifully dressed with her jewellery and perfume. If we didn’t compliment her, she would say we’re jealous of her,” Hipangelwa said.
“And if we did, she would say ‘Of course, I know, I am a very beautiful lady, but thanks’.”
It was a playful side of her grandmother that the family knew well.
The Pohamba family, Hipangwelwa said, also presented a place of refuge when she lost her father at a young age.
“Meekulu was my best friend,” Hipangwelwa said.
Penehupifo is known to her fourth child, Kaupumhote Pohamba, as a woman who was always humming.
She said her mother was rarely quiet. “She was always humming something, sometimes in the garden. The house was never quiet, and when you look for her, follow the hum,” she said.
Kaupumhote remembers her mother calling her on her bedside telephone to ask whether she had heard that her friend Whitney had died.
“I ask her, mom, who’s Whitney, and how did she die? She told me she was found dead in a tub from a drug overdose. I ran to her room, looked at the TV, and I saw American singer Whitney Houston. I laughed,” Kaupumhote said.
She told me they became friends when she watched the movie ‘The Bodyguard’, which starred Houston alongside Kevin Costner, she said.
Kaupumhote also remembered an incident involving her nephew, Pohamba, who arrived at their home at Eros, and Penehupifo asked if he ate He told her that Kaupumhote had hidden the bread in a suitcase, just for Penehupifo to learn that the suitcase was the fridge in the kitchen.
Penehupifo’s former senior private secretary, Faith Witbooi, recalled frequently hearing people refer to Penehupifo as Meekulu. Unfamiliar with the meaning of the Oshiwambo word for ‘grandmother’, she assumed it was her first name.
“One day I asked her, and she explained it to me. From there, I started calling her ‘Meekulu’ as well,” Witbooi said.
Witbooi, who shared a birthday with Penehupifo, said the two sometimes celebrated their special day together. One celebration at Okanghudi continued throughout the night, not knowing her husband Hifikepunye Pohamba would arrive the next morning, she recalled.
“Meekulu whispered to ask if everything was cleaned up and that her husband should not know,” she recalled.
Beyond the calmness, Witbooi said she took work very seriously. “When she called for a meeting, it was time to get serious, and I mean serious,” Witbooi said.
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