Namibia needs these painful engagements, in search of what happened as modest efforts to contribute to a process of healing wounds by coming to terms with a past that continues to be alive in the present.4 With a focus on the socio-economic trajectories of ex-combatants and other exiles, this study demystifies the heroism with which the struggle history all too often remains painted. It deconstructs generally attributed associations and offers a narrative of individual people, who (as the conclusion points out) “experience reallife challenges and are simply trying to make ends meet”.