Like I have shared previously, I visited Namibia during summer. And of course we wanted to see how people actually live. Not only the people you see but also the people you don’t see – that is the tribes!
I concluded that it is not possible to actually see them unless you are local. Don’t get me wrong: you can get a scent of how they live by visiting some areas dedicated to tribes such as the Damara people, the Himba people and the Herero people. But some of them are rather touristic.
They show you how they light fires, how they live, what they eat and the medication they make but some are just actors. Such as this village of the Damara people. They are welcoming,
they lit a fire,
showed us how they used to resolve a fight (via this game)
and they did a traditional dance too. But at a price; you pay an entrance fee to see them. Which is acceptable. I mean, how are they supposed to live?
These people, the Himbas, are merely shepherds (the men) and sometimes tourist attractions (the women and children). They are not actors; this is their actual life. And the truth is, it is quite hard. They are very poor, the children are amazing, the women have this habit of putting red mad on their hair. Women never bathe! Never! They clean themselves only with smoke … Extremely hard living conditions...
Their villages are located in the northwest of the country but we saw them in mid-west... They told us the next day they planned to move. They are nomads.
These people live in very bad conditions. I am not sure if it is entirely their decision; but the truth is they don’t know ny other way. This is the reality they have learned and lived in for their entire life. Do they have a choice? I suppose so, but to change there has to be some support from the government such as schools and medicine. And in most cases the governments are corrupted. You see, this is a rich country in terms of natural resources, therefore Europeans (mostly Germans) massacred the tribal people in early 20th century and now, the Chinese are further exploiting the natural wealth. And where do proceeds end up? In whose pockets?
Needless to say we gave them all the food and money we were carrying. Hell we left our hearts there.
