They are incredibly efficient with water, able to feed a family for
several days on a litre of water.
The morning ritual for the women starts with
a cleansing and the application of the bright red ochre powder (derived of
rocks from Ruacana) with butter. Acting as a natural moisturizer, the coating
lasts for days and gives the bare-chested Himba their striking appearance.
Hair and jewellery play an important part of the Himba's attire,
indicating one's marital status and puberty. Males wear a thick necklace made
from loops of shell and a black tarry mixture of manure and ochre. These
necklaces, over an inch thick, are donned as a young child, worn for life and
must never be removed. Similarly, women wear tall anklets made from metal beads
and fabric, again never to be removed. Young girls have hair matted down with
ochre and butterfat into long braids hanging down in front of their faces or
wound into two horn-like bumps with animal hide.
A nearby pile of ten cattle skulls, surrounded by stones, marks the
grave of a once prominent member of their group. Flies constantly settle on my
face, and I grow tired of waving them away.
Calvin & Sharon
photo:
Janin Klemenčič
(to be continued)
The chief shows me his arm which has a large weeping
wound, caused when he fell from his cattle earlier in the day. Putting on some
latex gloves I applied ointment, gauze and a tensor bandage for him and did my
best to explain how to redress the wound. Unfortunately I must have put on the
bandage a little tight as he returned later with a bluish arm and motioned for
me to fix it. Oops!
