The Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) is mourning the loss of veteran employee Lamech Mwanyangapo, who died in a Windhoek hospital this morning following a battle with cancer.
He died aged 61.
"My name is Lamech Mwanyangapo, and I am a camera operator."
These are some of the voices one may miss, and this is because on the job, Mwanyangapo was one of those who worked behind the scenes as a camera operator.
It was a service – the one he loved and reminisced with fond memories.
"It was a wonderful year where we were young and full of energy, running around, carrying the big cameras. Because by that time anyway, NBC was a little bit advanced because they moved from the automatic camera to the Betacam camera. Those were the latest cameras in the industry. When we joined that team, particularly for the presidency."
He served the NBC for three decades, from 1995 until November 2024.
It was in 2023, when Mwanyangapo was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare cancer condition.
Along the way, he underwent treatment, and following his successful recovery, Mwanyangapo returned to public service.
As a cancer survivor, he was at the forefront, championing an education campaign on cancer.
This he did so when he established the Lamech Mwanyangapo Cancer Foundation, declaring war against cancer through outreach programmes and working with medical experts to close gaps that hinder access to service.
"We are focusing, aiming to meet the government halfway on treatment. But of course we have to do awareness creation among the communities. Soon in our plan is that we have to go deep in the villages. We need to acquire a mobile clinic," said Mwanyagapo in an earlier recording.
The foundation also has a vision to establish an oncology centre in the northern part of the country to bring medical care closer to the people.
His community work may not have come as a surprise because those who worked closely with him described Mwanyangapo as a dedicated, hard-working, kind and caring individual.
Because of his track record, post-retirement, Mwanyagapo remained in the records of the national broadcaster as a sales consultant.
Today, however, it was not to be.
A man with a dream to serve the underserved breathed his last, but what is left is legacy and a fight against cancer to be continued by those he had left behind.