Himba tribe

Fix yourselves a cup of coffee or a glass of wine & enjoy:

Hello, everyone! I want to share with you a fantastic day we had last Sunday. We had a 3-day weekend in celebration of Namibian Independence which took effect March 21, 1990. We had ½ day of school on Friday, rented a car & took off Sat. morning. We were headed to Epupa Falls in the Himba area of Namibia. If you have never heard of the Himba tribe, look on the internet to see their pictures & get a little background. This was our first venture on our own, but felt quite confident--we had a new car & 3 road maps. Oh, to begin, Jim had talked to someone who said that there is a Roman Catholic church in Ondangwa. So, with our own wheels, we set out to find it before heading out of town. Namibians do not give directions. They wave their hand in a general direction & say, “Oh, just go this way & you will find it.” We saw parts of our town that we didn’t know existed--corrugated steel shanties of the obviously poor. We wonder how many of our learners live in that area. Anyway, we found the church, now we have to find out when they have Masses or some sort of service.

Headed out of town. All was fine ‘til we looked for a certain road that would take us directly to out destination. Again, asking was an exercise in futility, getting different responses from different people. It appeared that one town’s policeman didn’t know how to read a map. He tried sending us back home.
Anyway, after many delays & turn-arounds, we made it to the lodge. We had been unable to secure reservations, but had gotten one message telling us no problem, they had plenty of rooms open. Yea, but they were all luxury rooms, along w/ luxury prices. We signed up for a tour to the falls & Himba settlement. We had been told that we would need a 4x4 to get there & we couldn’t find one to rent. Had to pay an exorbitant price ‘cause it was just the 2 of us wanting to go. And we had to eat there, there was nowhere else to eat & those prices were awful. But we were celebrating our 2 birthdays & anniversary. But it was worth every bit of inconvenience & penny spent.

Left 8:00 Sun & got back to lodge at 6:30. We could have driven it ourselves w/o 4-wheel drive, as it turned out, but one never knows for sure. Stopped at a couple Himba settlements before we found one where the people were home & not out in the garden or tending their herds. Himba women are working very hard to maintain their heritage. They wear only animal skins as little skirts. They never use water to cleanse. Twice a day they cover their bodies with a mixture of butter & ochre powder. They put milk in a pumpkin, hang it from a tree & swing it back & forth for 2-3 hrs to make the butter. They take a reddish colored rock (the land there is red) & grind it down into powder. They start this practice when they reach puberty & continue it for the rest of their lives. They spread the mixture on their hair, “style” it, usually into something that looks like ropes, using extensions which sometimes are made out of the children’s hair that has been cut off, or they buy them in town. After 2-3 months, they take their “do” apart, chipping the mud-mix off their hair. They clean their hair by spreading cow dung on their hair followed by white ash from a fire that burns continually. Then they re-apply the butter/ochre mixture & style it again. They do all of this, because water is so sparse, they don’t want to waste it on themselves. The mixture protects them form the sun. They use water to drink & occasionally wash the children. A young girls demonstrated how they cleanse their bodies. They take small coals from the fire (it is probably something like incense) & hold it so the smoke rises up to their arm pits & then they crouch over the smoke to deodorize the groin area. The butter ochre odor, while not exactly unpleasant, seemed to permeate the entire settlement & I had a hard time washing it away when we returned to the lodge.

A settlement is a family group--could be 20-30 people. Tree limbs are stuck in the ground to form a fence around the kraal. There is a central area surrounded by the same type of fence where the holy fire is kept burning & where their cattle are sometimes kept. The Chief & his wife have a hut, then each of his additional wives have their own hut & her children stay in her hut until about age 7 or 8 when they leave their mother’s & join a hut that is all girls, or one for the boys. They sleep there, but are out & about mixing in w/ everyone else during the day. The Chief’s sons also have their own huts, again one for each son & his 1st wife, & additional huts for each of his other wives & children.

They eat 2 times/day. Both meals consist of porridge & milk. Even though they have very large herds of cattle, sheep, & goats, they only slaughter a goat every 10-14 days, so they then eat goat until that meat runs out, then it’s back to porridge & milk. They only grow the grain for the porridge in their “gardens”. Fruits & vegetables require too much water. They don’t slaughter the animals (except for deaths & wedding celebrations--both last 2 weeks.) because the herds are the men’s wealth. Some of our Americans hoard their money, Himbas hoard their animals. The men tend to the herds & that’s about it. They leave for 2-3 months at a time to take the herds to better grazing land. They also build the huts: they take thick tree limbs & form a tee-pee shaped frame. Then the women cover the frame w/ cow dung. No hole at the top, no windows or other openings--just a “doorway” that is very narrow & low. They sleep on animal skins. The one we entered was maybe 10’ in diameter. They usually cook outside or in one of the special huts made for cooking. The temperature stays constant, not really hot, but very stuffy!!!

When someone dies, they are wrapped in leather & buried. Above their grave they put a tree limb stuck in the ground & from there they hang cattle horns--pointing up to signify a man & down for a woman (or vice-versa). They are also beginning to put stone markers similar to our plain ones.

When the children have all of their permanent teach, the Chief has them lay on their backs on the ground, then he goes to each w/ a stick & a stone & knocks their 4 bottom teeth out. The only explanation I got for that is it’s a tradition.

Women & children may not say their husband’s/father’s sur name. So if we were Himba, & I wanted to refer to Jim, I would say, “Colleen’s father” (or one of the other 15 children’s father). The women want many children. If one has only 3,4 or 5, she is mocked by the other women saying she’s not a woman. One asked me how many I had (our guide was the translator) & asked why only 3. I couldn’t come up w/ a reason! If the 1st wife (who has a greater place of honor than the other wives) cannot bear children, the husband will have one of his brothers impregnate her. If she gets pregnant, then obviously he’s infertile & she remains his wife. If she doesn’t, then she’s infertile, & while she may stay, he takes a second “1st” wife to produce his first off-spring.

The women wear very heavy metal rings around their ankles up to their calves; partly to protect them from snake or scorpion bites. The rings that she wears on her right leg are given to her by her father, the one on the left leg from her mother. When one of them dies, she removes that parent’s rings during her mourning period.

The women who are married wear a metal belt around their waist. If they are married to the Chief, they have special hair ornament that they wear on top of their head--makes them look like roosters.

The 1st wife is chosen by the boy’s father. The boy & girl are not told until a few days before their marriage & they probably have never seen each other. Girl is taken inside her mother’s hut & for 4 days she doesn’t leave it. She is totally cleansed & polished. All the ochre butter mixture is removed. Then she & her family walk to the boy’s settlement where there is feasting & celebrations for 2 weeks. Chief says words of marriage for the ceremony. The boy’s father has to pay cows & goats for the girl. The boy chooses his next wives himself. Usually marries additional wives every 2-3 years.

We asked the chief’s wives how old they are (looked OLD). They didn’t know, just that they were born a long time ago, maybe 1000 years. We stopped to talk to 4 women along side the road. They were collecting water from a well that the government drilled for the area. It had been broken since January, but water was trickling out, so they caught it to carry back to the settlement--they have all the time in the world. Asked them where they live & they waved their hand around & mentioned a name. When the guide asked what country they live in, they looked puzzled. He asked them if it might be Namibia. One said she heard that word, but didn’t know what is was. Didn’t know America (very few Americans visit that area--most of the white visitors are from Europe).

The Himbas hate education. It is a waste of time. The children are needed to tend the cattle. But the government has a policy that all are to go to school. Mobile schools are at a few settlement areas, but the most that go to school are 8-12 year olds & then only if they are not needed at the settlement. When we went inside the one hut, I saw some letters written on the wall along w/ a picture of a house which is typical of a kindergarten or 1st grade student. The girl of that hut who was going to school followed us to the gate (along w/ most of the people ) & she got my attention & announced very proudly “My name is Lucia” Oh my, I wanted to take her home with us!!! There was a little boy (about 2 I think)--who picked up a filthy enamel cup that was all chipped & rusty. A little girl poured filthy water into the cup & drank it! His nose was runny, his body dirty. I wanted to take him back to the lodge & bathe him & give him some safe water!!! But they rarely get sick. Many babies die shortly after birth, though. HIV-AIDS is not an issue among the Himba. They don’t mingle outside their own.

The men don’t use the butter/ochre mixture. They usually wear western clothes. They are not concerned w/ maintaining the Himba traditions. There are many tourists, so the Himbas will probably not exist as such in another 30 years. We were cautioned not to give them candy or pop or anything “western”. But, of course, they are gradually picking up our ways. And as the government makes headways w/ education, that will definitely be the beginning of the end. They are friendly, warm, peaceful people. They have no stress in their lives. If they go 2-3 days w/ no water, it’s okay, they will survive.

I think that is all that I can remember. They are among the earth’s most primitive peoples. We felt honored to be among them, even for only a few hours.

That’s all for now. Sharon