Herero Villages

Our new tour guide, Israel, took our group to visit some different Herero Villages. Herero is a particular tribe of Namibian people. They originally were part of the Himba tribe, which are the tribe of people who wear little clothing and smear a red clay mixture onto their body. In the late 19th century, Christian missionaries influenced the Herero people to dress more modestly but were we unable to convinced the Himbas to do so, that is when these people split into two different groups. So now Hereros continue to wear the long, thick dresses that resemble western fashion from the late 19th century. Although their lives styles are more modern than the Himba, they would still be considering less technologically advance from our lifestyles.

Hereros are cattle people. They live in remote areas outside of Windhoek, amongst the Namibian hills. Cattle are their life and their money. They use them for the food that they provide like milk, butter, and meat. They also sell their cattle in order to pay for things like school fees, weddings, or other expensive. Israel is a Herero himself and took us to some villages to see their lifestyles. It was so relaxing out on the homesteads. It just felt simpler, like nothing was rushed. We got to go to a small homestead and meet the eldest man and his wife. They let us walk around and see the animals and their homes. We greeted them in the Herero language, which was fun because when I went back to school I told one of my Herero speaking students I learned some new words. He got a kick out of that. After we visited this homestead, Israel took us to his farm on top of a hill. It was beautiful! We also got to see where he grew up and we met some of his family too.

After we visited these homesteads, Israel took us to a school in the Herero village. This school serves the children in the area and even dorms many of the students. We were welcomed into the school and got to meet many of the kids. We had a blast playing soccer with them and singing camp songs to them. They were so sweet and nice. After the school visit we also got to visit an after school facility. This was actually the most beautiful classroom I have seen in Namibia! It honestly looked like an early childhood classroom in the States. This was shocking to us because our classrooms are so bare and have few materials. Seeing these schools makes us wish we could teach here!

It was an overall great experience being able to enter these people’s world that seems so far removed from life in Windhoek.