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Published: March 25th 2015
Namibia is vast, we travel unimaginable distances overland, some days up to 450km to our next destination/campsite.
En route there is lots of time to think, to elaborate on past stories, there is much more to tell of the Himba:
The school is the first building upon entering the buffer Himba village, a small ray of hope...I think
Although governed by Namibian laws the Himba are recognized as a special tribe, separate and apart and are therefore allowed to govern themselves in the making of rules that affect and sustain the culture and way of life of their tribe. Very much concerned with the loss of their culture due to rampaging western influence certain practices have been set in place
Eg: the children of the buffer village who are around 5 or 6 years old will attend school for around 1 to 2 years. The teacher will then identify the brightest and the best ONE who will then be allowed the go on to boarding school and receive a modern education, the others will be returned to the fold of the tribe and raised in the stringent Himba traditional ways ensuring the culture is not lost.
Schoolhouse
Their fate is decided hereOf the 4 years that this practice has been in place there are only 5 children that have made it through this filter to boarding school.
There are however some other 'lucky' ones....the Born Free as they are called.
The Born Free are the youth who refuse to follow the traditional way, like parents the world over who want the best for their offspring but can offer no more nor maintain control, they have no choice but to let them go.
Our Guide through the village was a Born Free who after initiation (having his 4 lower front teeth removed) chose to leave the Himba tribe and make his way in the western world. He had done well, learned English and was now back serving as an intermediary, translator between outsiders and his tribe. Who pays him? This leads to another fascinating story...
The Himba Queen
Several years ago a wealthy white man with many acres of land was traveling through the bush and came upon a group of Himba. Their queen was very sick, she was dying of cancer. Moved by compassion the man brought her back with him to the city
to receive western medical care. Eventually the queen recovered and the man asked her if there was any any way that he could help her to do good for her people. Being a wise woman...a visionary and having no children of her own the queen thought long and hard and here is the project she put in place.
She asked the man to let her use some of his land on which to build an orphanage for Himba children. Not wanting the children to feel alone and misplaced she brought other Himba to care for them and to live there in a village setting. She built a school where the orphans receive a western education and will have freedom of choice in the world.
This village then spawned the idea of the buffer villages available for tourism the revenue from which goes to support the orphans as well as the roughly 50,000 Himba living traditional nomadic lives in the north.
The guides in the buffer villages are paid from tourist revenue, all generated from the vision of a queen.
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