The Himba

Last weekend we travelled west into the Kunene region of Namibia. We stayed in town called Opuwo which means ‘finish’. It was called this because it marked the end of the migration of the Himba people from a country called Angola in the 18th century.
The Himba have followed their traditional way of life for many, many centuries. They are a semi-nomadic people who rely mainly on the milk and meat of the cows and goats which they own. This means that they settle in one place during the rainy season when there is plenty of grass. They build huts from the trunks of young trees which they cover with dung and mud.

When the dry season comes, they move away for 3-4 months in search of food for their animals. At night the animals are kept in a kraal to protect them from predators. The amount of livestock they own represents their status and wealth.
We, with a local guide, travelled some way from the town of Opuwo, along dirt tracks and over dry water beds to a Himba village. When I was introduced to the chief he asked me how many animals I owned. When I told him that I had one cat, he was not impressed and asked how I managed to live with no goats or cattle. He thought I was a very poor woman. He thought even less of me when I told him that I had two daughters - to be a good Himba woman you have to have 12 -16 children. Even so, he did offer to marry me; Himba men have between 4 and 6 wives.

Each wife has her own hut which she shares with her youngest children, sleeping on animal skins. I decided not to accept especially as it meant I would have to have my four front teeth knocked out by a sharpened stick which he would have hit with a stone!

Whilst the men sit under a tree and watch the animals, the women do all the work! They rise between 4am and 5 am and walk 4-5 km to fetch water. Then they make a meal for their family, milk the goats, tend to the maize, look after the children and so on. The maize is ground using stones. Some of the milk is to drink – here some children are helping themselves – and some is to make porridge which they eat twice a day. They slaughter a goat about once a fortnight for the whole village. This is their whole diet.

The women also shake some of the milk in a calabash until the butter separates. They then grind a special stone to make a red powder and mix it with the butter. Every morning and every evening they cover themselves with this; it helps to protect their skin against the sun and is also part of their tradition.

As they do not wash, to stop themselves from smelling, they use an ember from the fire to burn fragrant bark and herbs.

They cover themselves with the smoke and then put the coals under a conical basket and drape their clothes over it.

Hairstyles are very important and signify different stages of life. Boys have their heads shaved apart from a circle on the top of their heads.

Girls of different ages have different numbers of ‘plaits’ over the front and back of their heads. When they become teenagers, their hair is worn very long over their faces and is covered by the red powder/butter and dung mix. When they marry, it goes back over their head and a cowhide headdress is also worn. They also wear beaded jewellery, heavy metal bands around their ankles and a conch shell around their neck.

They do not have clocks or calendars so measure time by the changing seasons. We asked one very old lady her age. She said that her mother had told her that that she had been born when the first locusts came to earth.
They do not worship God as Christians do, they worship their ancestors, visiting their burial places. They also have a sacred place in the village (the pile of sticks, surrounded by stones which you can see in front of the kraal) where normally, a fire is always kept lit. Weddings, funerals and other ceremonies take place here and people are taken there if they are sick. This village however decided only to light the fire for these special occasions as some of the children have been injured by it.

The life of the Himba is very simple in comparison to ours; they are very friendly – as are all Namibians whom we have met if we in our turn are friendly and respectful of their culture and beliefs. They seemed happy and none of the many children cried whilst I was there. Before we left they danced for us which they enjoyed as much as we did.
We felt very privileged to be welcomed so warmly into their community.