Esperance Luvindao AS the new minister of health and social services embodies hope for people's health in Namibia.In French, her name means exactly that - hope.

I happened to be in Paris when the news of her appointment was announced, and there is a great deal this could bring to our country.

Luvindao is in fact the first Namibian of francophone origin in our Cabinet.

\Her late mother was my first French teacher, who told us she had come from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with her husband years before. Little did we know this noble woman would die the following year, when we were in Grade 9, with her husband having died shortly before I entered her class.

Mrs Kitenge's classroom was on second floor of the main building of our high school that stands where Sam Nujoma Avenue dips in Klein Windhoek.

It was also where her children were taught, including Luvindao.

Having Luvindao as our minister of health and social services represents an opportunity for Namibia to, for the first time, have a government officer-bearer whose origins are from not just outside Namibia, but outside our Commonwealth region.

Certainly Namibia ought to use this opportunity to leverage connections with the French-speaking world. Joining the equivalent of the Commonwealth for French-speaking countries would be a promising first step. Imagine all the opportunities this could open with our health minister canvassing for training opportunities for Namibians, including scholarships to study in France.

Furthermore, in terms of public health, France has a network of world-class centres of excellence in health research, the Pasteur Institutes, across francophone Africa.

Namibia could surely use one, as we still need to set up a national public health institute, let alone a clinical research centre of excellence. We hope these efforts would improve the quality of life of our population.

Let us now say 'Vive La Namibie' - long live Namibia.