October 18:
- Travel from Grootfontein to Opuwo
- Try to call potential contacts (no success)
October 19:
- Contact and meet with Pastor Kapitango Ndjamba of the 7th Day Adventist Church of Opuwo.
- We share from both sides background, salvation testimony, and family details. Kapitango’s family came from Angola and settled among the Himba, where he was born. He has been receiving theological training in Zambia and is in the process of completing this.
- Kapitango shares next the history of the work he is engaged in and how he is now in charge with Gideon Peterson not being able to get his visa in Namibia renewed. The main challenge is still to really engage the Himba, especially the men. Several issues that are a challenge:
- Early ministry approaches pointed and some still point immediately to things Himba need to change… which is a threat to losing their Himba identity
- Traditionally men are the channels that bring information and values to their wives and children, targeting women and children (first) directly made men see Christianity as of no value for them
- Himba have an integrated system of how storying happens… the location, the occasion, the accompaniment together with their some of their music using their instruments, the accompaniment of a chanted song of the story together with a telling of the story their own style
- The Himba have to work with God’s Word only in Herero language which most of them don’t read, other materials are mostly in a second or third language. In a real sense they don’t have access to Bible
- The church needs to be mobile and move with the Himba as they are nomadic… this needs to be able to work within the communities that move around together
- Kapitango lets me listen to some of the scripture portion recordings and shows me how they do a program approach using a variety of communication art forms (see attached chart). He then gives me a copy of their recordings
- Kapitango definitely wants help from RTS in context of discovering relevant oral approaches to share scripture. He also wants to find ways to connect with the Himba as a people within their worldview context
- Meet with Carlo’o who shares about his background being Himba, but from his father’s side also Herero. He grew up in Himba community, was banned from school, had rough background but Pieter de Villiers took interest in him and he came to know the Lord, began to grow as he accompanied and was mentored by Pieter, even traveling to other countries including South Africa and Swaziland. He is a visionary and evangelist and now is working directly with his church to serve the Himba. He has a burden for the Damara, Herero, and the Himba (through a dream he felt God telling him that he is a branch that God want to produce three kinds of fruit through (Damara, Herero, Himba). He also has lived more recently remotely with Himba groups for several months at a time to build relationships and find bridges between Scripture and the Himba way of life.
October 20:
- In the morning we visit Carlo’o’s mother’s village where we meet his sister. The small community is mixed (traditional Himba and adapting to incoming cultures). We fellowship some with the people there and exchange questions with each other in the process (Carlo’o translated). They indicate an interest and a need for Bible in their language in a way they can listen to it. I ask them last what happens to them when they die… they give some possibilities, but are not sure. I then invite them to ask any questions about us. Their first question is the same one back to us, which gives an opportunity to share from my Christian worldview perspective. While I am taking a few pictures of the children, they ask Elliot how sin came into the world.
- On the way home we pick up a Himba couple that needs a ride to town (Carlo’o knows them to be people of peace and he talked with them before). They are amazed for us white people to pick them up (the women wear a skin lotion made of clay and local perfumes that easily rubs of and is quite potent). They spread a cloth they brought over the back seat and the lady takes her hair adornment off. This offers an opportunity for conversation about their hair and head dress. The ornament on top of the woman’s head shows her to be married (or betrothed), while a man normally will wear a covering over his (long) hair (traditionally a cloth tied together, but nowadays they sometimes wear a hat or baseball cap instead) and he also has a broad decorative band around his neck (which will be thin if his father has died). The favorite or chosen daughter of a family may also wear a decorative band. A young man will otherwise normally have an uncovered long braid in his hair on top of his head, which now sometimes is covered also in a tight bright colored sock. The hair of the women takes about two days to arrange and they keep it in for about three months at a time. The couple has seven children, with number eight on the way. He is 40 and she is 38. Their children are almost born a year apart. They ask about our family and Elliot, musing why he is big and they are small people. We talk about their life stock and I ask them also if they have chickens. They have a few, but they are not easy to keep, because if they are gone from home the wildcats will have them for lunch. The Himba we have met so far seem an inquisitive people.
- In the afternoon we meet with Carlo’o’s (half) brother from his mother’s side (Najaz Vakuateruevi), who is a teacher in a remote village, as well as a member of the Nazarene Church with a devout burden to share God’s love and hope with the Himba people. He confirms even in his teacher training to have learned to use stories combined with questions. He expresses his desire to have the Bible in Himba for people to listen to and wants to help in getting that done. He also asks many questions.
October 21:
- In the morning we go to Oukongo-Opuuo with Kapitango (and Carlo’o is joining us too) to meet with the Pastor of St. Johns Church, Uakatara Tjiyombo (Joseph).We don’t find him home where we’re welcomed by his second wife and one of his daughters. He is right across the main road in context of a funeral. We meet him there, but he needs to go to Opuwo. We then go and meet in Opuwo. Some Himba have up to five wives, and one has to have enough cattle to have more than one wife, so it is dependent on wealth. But when they became Christian their decision was to honor God in the situation they are in (despite some teaching to leave their wives and then just marry one). Once in Opuwo, Pastor Joseph (born in 1953) shares about him hearing for the first time about the God of the Bible in the 60’s, then preaching the first time in 1974 and being a pastor since 1976. He tells the story of there being in his area four groups that went slightly different ways out from the Herero, but who are all Herero:
- The Himba are the descendants of a group that went north during a drought into Angola and they asked the people there to help them… they gave them the name Himba, meaning beggar. They also made the Himba work for them like slaves, but later the Himba returned south again. The name in general doesn’t have the negative connotations anymore. The life style of these people remained traditional throughout this process.
- The Tjimba are the descendants of one of the groups that in their tribal fights was weaker and they didn’t want to lose their lives during cattle raids from stronger tribes and they hid in anthills that had been emptied out by the anteaters. The name Tjimba is derived from their word for anteater.
- The Banderu are the descendants of those that settled on the higher plateaus on the eastern side of their territory where the sun rises and they were named by those in the lower western region, where the sun sets. The name Banderu is derived from that issue.
- The Vandamuranda are the descendants of those that went further south and ended up in the land where the ‘boers’ were living, who called them ‘domland’ (stupid land), which ended up becoming Vandamuranda. They are the ones that took on the Victorian dress style for the women.
- Pastor Joseph identifies the need for Bible in their language… he feels that the need for a written Bible is met by the Herero Bible, but there is a need for oral Bible materials for people to listen to. He helped record (being a speaker) the stories for the 7th Day Adventist Church. He feels that understanding and knowing the Bible is what people need. He asks many questions and desires our help, which I say can come through them partnering at a local level and inviting us to follow through with them.
- Later in the afternoon Carlo’o tells me that there are some Himba people from Ondie (about 250 kilometers northwest of Opuwo, but I haven’t been able to find it on any map) that want to talk with me. They ‘happen’ to be in town to get a check up on a foot injury of Pastor Njamajehi Tjivinda. With him is his wife Kareve, a tour guide named Teunis who is convicted by God to return to Him, and two other ladies. One is Pastor Uaherura Tjingire and another believer named Zatika. They know Carlo’o from his outreach among them. They express a strong desire to see God’s Word in their language and have access to it by hearing it. We spend over two hours together where they ask me many questions and ask if we can help them.
- Throughout my time I try to make contact with Pastor Elton-John Hepundjua, but his phone never is answered. I did get to talk with Pastor Job Mukungu og the Nazarene Church, but he didn’t make it back to Opuwo at the time we were going to meet, but we met with Najaz Vakuateruevi instead. Pieter de Villers was in South Africa and would be returning by the end of the month.
October 22:
- Travel from Opuwo to Windhoek via Outjo (720 Kilometers).
- Meet in Outjo with Jacob Schoeman, who serves with the Dutch Reformed Church of Namibia, but also is partnering in broader initiatives. He serves the Himba, but also the Dimba in Angola and works even with theological education in Northern Angola. He serves in a large area and his ministry is quite broad. He is very interested in what we’re doing and would like to see a workshop serve the farms in the region, so the farm workers can be served as orally preferenced communicators. They are from various ethnic backgrounds and this could be a good inroad for him to see how it really works. They are willing to pay for the expenses to get me there from Cape Town. He spent almost three hours with us, asking many questions. I will follow through with sending him further information to process scheduling a workshop.
