Himba Clan of Namibia
HIMBA CLAN OF NAMIBIA (PEOPLE LIVING IN PAST) BY: WARDAH BATOOL
Himba clan of Namibia can be considered as one of most outdated and uncivilized places yet known. Himba people are living in their own way; preserving their ideology and culture. While the world has developed and modernized manifolds those people are literally living in past. The Himba are an ethnic group of about 20,000 to 50,000 people living in northern Namibia, Recently they have built two villages in Kaman jab which have become tourist destinations. They are mostly a semi-nomadic, pastoral people, closely related to the Herero, and speak a dialect of the Herero language.
The Himba's history is wrought with disasters, including severe droughts and guerrilla warfare, especially during Namibia's quest for independence and as a result of the civil war in neighboring Angola. In 1904, they suffered from the same attempt at genocide by the German colonial power that decimated other groups in Namibia, notably the Herero and the Nama.
In the 1980s it appeared the Himba way of life was coming to a close. A severe drought killed ninety percent of their cattle and many gave up their herds and became refugees in the town of Opuwo living in slums on international relief. Since they live on the Angolan border, many Himba were also kidnapping victims in the Angolan civil war.
The source of income for Himbians is cattle. Their daily life is quiet like the villagers but women share equal works with man they milk the cows, take care of children, fetch water from wells and build houses while man handle political tasks. All the members of an extended family live in a farmhouse containing huts and surrounding cattle’s and ancestral fire. Himba people are monotheistic they believe in a god
Himba clan of Namibia can be considered as one of most outdated and uncivilized places yet known. Himba people are living in their own way; preserving their ideology and culture. While the world has developed and modernized manifolds those people are literally living in past. The Himba are an ethnic group of about 20,000 to 50,000 people living in northern Namibia, Recently they have built two villages in Kaman jab which have become tourist destinations. They are mostly a semi-nomadic, pastoral people, closely related to the Herero, and speak a dialect of the Herero language.
The Himba's history is wrought with disasters, including severe droughts and guerrilla warfare, especially during Namibia's quest for independence and as a result of the civil war in neighboring Angola. In 1904, they suffered from the same attempt at genocide by the German colonial power that decimated other groups in Namibia, notably the Herero and the Nama.
In the 1980s it appeared the Himba way of life was coming to a close. A severe drought killed ninety percent of their cattle and many gave up their herds and became refugees in the town of Opuwo living in slums on international relief. Since they live on the Angolan border, many Himba were also kidnapping victims in the Angolan civil war.
The source of income for Himbians is cattle. Their daily life is quiet like the villagers but women share equal works with man they milk the cows, take care of children, fetch water from wells and build houses while man handle political tasks. All the members of an extended family live in a farmhouse containing huts and surrounding cattle’s and ancestral fire. Himba people are monotheistic they believe in a god