OTJIKANDERO COMMUNITY TRUST

OTJIKANDERO HIMBA ORPHAN VILLAGE PROJECT

("Place of plenty milk")

About the beginning:

The Otjikandero Himba Orphan Village Project has started in 1999 when Jaco Burger moved for a certain period to Kaokoland to work and live with the local Himba tribe. He met Mukajo there already earlier and because she could not have children in her life she was on her own but desperately to have children for the future because she loves them so much. The reason is that she have leukemia, and she is one of the last queen in her blood line of the Ovahimba's which came here originally from Angola. For the Himba Orphan project Jaco and Mukajo had a traditional Himba marriage because women are not allowed to have children in their tradition when they are not married. Jaco then decided to live with the Ovahimba's in Kaokoland for a certain period where he was then also adopted by the Ovahimba's as well as the Chiefs. He also has a Himba mother with whom he lived for a couple of years with and adapted their language.

The traditional rules:

When you have as a Ovahimba more than 10 children and you can afford your first and second wife you must take a third wife, this is the tradition and rules of the Himba head Chiefs in Kaokoland. Everything is arranged by the chiefs and the head of the Himba families in order to continue with their tradition before it become lost. All first marriages are usually arranged, but you are more than welcome to live with your real love in this generation but the first wife is still head of the family! No jealousy in the Himba tribe! It is same like to break a law! At this stage Jaco is traditionally married to 3 Himba women and taking care with 15 other Himba volunteer women (with their own children between and that between 4 & 9 children per Himba volunteer woman!) 36 orphaned children from Kaokoland which the chiefs sent to assist and provide care for the children during a certain period. They stay between 3 to 6 months and sometimes even longer with their families and the children in one of our 4 permanent Himba villages before they return to Kaokoland again but other Himba women from Kaokoland come to live there as well to assist further on with the raising of the children.

These women are usually family related of the children and they ensure that the children get raised in the traditional fashion, 6 children of the now 4 villages are going to the local primary school but because of this the children becomes westerns such as us.

The Himba is one of the last tribe besides the rarely bushman in Africa living strictly within their tradition and in Angola it is even more so for there is Ovahimba's that has never even seen a white person before.

We are very proud of their lifestyle, tradition and culture; therefore we will ensure that the next generation will also live on our farm with us and that the project can grow even more. The money received for these tours is allocated into a Trust Account for this Himba Project; mainly used for food and certain things that they need to. Or for when they fall ill and their traditional medicine do not work out we are sending them to a private General Practitioner. The children are seen by a doctor almost every month; they receive sometimes injections against western disease seeing that they are in a lot of contact with westerns. Ministry of health is visiting annually for their injections; furthermore the project supports Himba families and related families to our children which have hard times as well when their livestock is not enough to sustain the family. To pay transport fees and all other expenses that they may need. They also get special support (meat & maize flour) especially if there are funerals or any other family occasions in Kaokoland. At this stage we support around 10 families in Kaokoland, 15 volunteer women with their children, 36 orphan children, the local schools around Kamanjab with food and clothes/blankets every year. This is just a small summary of what the money is used for.

The Project concern:

Nevertheless Otjikandero Himba Orphan Project is since March 2011 registered as Otjikandero Community Trust in Namibia and at this stage there is a lot of income tax and this is a huge loss on the project side as the expenses various every month more as the income itself. With Otjikandero Himba Orphan Project we try to give the local tribe a chance to survive in the western world and hope that it will be for long ahead in future!

We would like to thank you for your interest and support in our Project!

OKUHEPA – Thank you!

THE OTJIKANDERO HIMBA ORPHAN VILLAGE PROJECT TEAM