About the People

The Himba are an ethnic group of about 30,000 living in northern Namibia, in the Kunene region (formerly Kaokoland) and parts of southern Angola. They are nomadic and pastoral descendants of Herero herders who fled into the remote northwest after being displaced by severe drought and wars. Both the Himba and Herero speak the same language.

The Himba have clung to their traditions. Himba men and women wear few clothes apart from a loin cloth or short goatskin skirt. Himba women are noted for their intricate hairstyles, traditional jewelry and the beautiful red coloring they get from rubbing their bodies with otjize (red ocher, sap and butterfat) twice a day to protect their bodies and hair from the sun. They also grind up herbs and mix them with the red ocher to use as perfume.

While the Himba keep an abundance of goats, they mostly tend cattle, which they use to measure their wealth and make dowry payments. The cattle provide milk and butterfat and are part of their daily diet along with cornmeal, vegetables and the occasional wild game.

The Himba trace descendants through both a child’s mother and father, creating a network of relations that bind together scattered groups of herders in an otherwise often harsh environment. Although a woman remains a member of their mother’s family all their lives, at marriage, she leaves her father’s family to become members of her husband’s. The wedding headdress stays within the matrilineage, passed down from mother to daughter.

Their jewelry is usually made of iron or shell, strung on leather. The men make thick anklets out of wrought iron beads strung onto a leather support structure for the women to wear. Although they are adornments, they function to protect the ankles from snake bites.

The standard Himba home is a hut constructed from sticks and mud mixed with cow dung and has a thatch roof. The wealthier and more influential of the Himba may have an occasional tin roof. Extended family clans construct buildings to surround the cattle corral. These buildings include food storage huts, raised dry food storage and several huts for family members.

The Himba are a monotheistic people but also practice ancestor worship. Each family has its own ancestral fire, kept by the fire-keeper, who is usually the father of the extended family clan. He acts as the priest for the family and approaches the ancestral fire every seven or eight days to communicate with God through the ancestors for any requests on behalf of his family.

About the Project

Gideon and Pam Petersen have been working with AFM to plant a church among the Himba people of Namibia since 1998. The Himba have resisted missionary efforts for more than 150 years. The Petersens’ work involved many trips into the countryside to visit their semi-nomadic Himba friends. They researched and developed new methods of outreach adapted to the Himba, a wise and contemplative people forever on the move with their herds of livestock, searching for water and grass for grazing. The Petersens’ goal was to introduce them to the Good Shepherd, who will give them living water and lead them to green pastures to find rest and peace amidst the hardships of life.

For a dozen years, Gideon had tried nearly every technique known in Christian circles to reach the Himba. First, he used traditional Bible studies. But it was all too foreign and irrelevant to their needs. Then he tried a visual approach with felt boards and picture rolls. But the contrast between the colorful felts and the stark wilderness surrounding the villages was too great a distraction. Then he used observations and object lessons from everyday life. But the Himba people could not remember his stories from one week to another. So he tried literacy. But teaching the Himba to read and write took painfully long. Besides, does God’s salvation require knowledge of reading and writing? Gideon tried living with the people as they lived. While this helped him forge strong friendships, he still had limited success in winning anyone to Christ.

Finally, Gideon noticed the Himba’s interest in songs, dancing and chanting. As he passed through a village one day, he saw a special ceremony where the traditional means of communication were in full motion. Graciously, the villagers let him observe. Afterward, they began to answer his questions and give him insight into their culture for the first time. It was the breakthrough for which Gideon and Pam had been searching and praying.

So in addition to their small, faithful church, Pam and Gideon Petersen and Charlie Eklund worked hard for several years to produce oral Bible stories in the Himba language using traditional poetry and chants and record them onto ambassadors—solar-powered MP3 players. They discovered the key to reaching this tribe was to use the rich Himba oral storytelling techniques that involve singing, chanting, poetry, repetition and interactive audience participation.

On Sabbath, May 22, 2011, the inaugural Himba camp meeting and the launch of the ambassadors were about to begin.

Half an hour into the program, the Himba began to arrive: first the children and youth, then the mothers. From a cattle trail between the thorny trees, a Himba man made his way to the meeting tent. He wore leather sandals dusty from his journey, a purple wrap skirt that flowed down to his knees, a double-edged knife secure in a sheath on his belt, and an unbuttoned shirt. He carried a walking stick with his left hand, and with his right, he held a green canvas-and-aluminum folding stool. Then another man arrived from the north and another from the west. As the program progressed, one by one, men came walking from every direction and every homestead in the area. These were the heads of households, the movers and shakers of their communities.

Kapitango, a local church leader trained by the Petersens, began talking about katjitwaenda, the long-ago time in Himba lore when all was well, and people worshiped their Creator. Modern Himba feel they are under a curse because their tribe has drifted away from the Creator God. But the sermon from Kapitango was not a monologue. Kapitango dialogued with his audience, much like a town hall meeting, about relevant and important issues of the day. Each person respectfully awaited a turn to speak. The Himba audience would sometimes burst out into spontaneous applause as someone would speak a truth that resonated in the hearts of everyone listening. At times, Himba men would break into omiimbo (poetry). Later, a group of women and a male leader chanted and sang scripture in their traditional style. God was speaking to the Himba. The topic of katjitwaenda struck a chord. After lunch, a group of Himba men gathered to discuss the proceedings.

Finally, the moment arrived for passing out the ambassadors. Kapitango gave instructions about their use and presented the first as a gift to the head chief. The chief expressed his thanks. Then Kapitango told the Himba audience, “Anyone who would like to have an ambassador, please sign up for Bible studies.” Fifty-three people signed up, both men and women.

God can and does speak to His people in different ways, and he sends us to meet them where we are.

As Himba are considered the most photographed tribe in Africa, there is much information available about the Himba people, their history and their culture. One of the better summaries of Himba life is given by the safari company, New African Frontiers, and Wikipedia also contains more details.

Here are a few links for more information.

• Sources: New African Frontiers, National Geographic, Wikipedia

People-Group Facts

• Population: 32,000
• Language: Himba/Herero
• Trade Language: Herero
• Religion: The Himba believe in one God, but communicate to him through spirits of ancestors.

Current missionaries serving

Kapitango (local)