Himba men are known for their fierce fighting; their
wooden sticks or machetes carried everywhere. Even in the dusty town of Opuwo,
men carry their weapons daily in preparation for fight. Confrontation often
breaks out over theft of cattle, division of cattle between siblings and rape;
but even small verbal disagreements can trigger these life or death matches. If
you kill someone in a fight you must give the deceased's family 37 cattle, only
8 if you maim or injure. It is hard to understand what little value is placed
on one's life.
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!
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!