Namibia 4 Himba fighting

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)