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Namibia’s first female trawler captain

Slight, pretty, sharp-eyed, and quietly firm about things – Johanna Kwedhi is Namibia’s first female trawler captain. She is a living example of the empowerment of women in Namibia.

Johanna captains the Kanus, one of the largest trawlers operating from Luderitz Harbour, an old port rebuilt for today’s fishing boats. It’s her responsibility not only to navigate a coastline infamous for shipwrecks, but to bring in a profitable catch.

And this is an industry not used to women being, literally, at the helm.

Johanna’s story is part of the BBC’s new five-part Life on the Edge series, which looks at what is happening in terms of progress on the Millennium Development Goals in countries across Africa.


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