Walvis Bay, Namibia - Day 1, #2 of 3

continued--- One of the more disturbing parts of the tour of this town was that the homes consist of large areas of legal homes (those that were built over many years and have utilities and services) but where there are very long waiting lists (many years) to get an opportunity to buy one of them. And then there are the many non-legal homes, those “shacks” that share outhouses, share electric with an extension cord, have no running water and overall poor conditions but have no choice because there is not enough housing.

Our next stop was to visit the home/office of a traditional herbalist, Velma. These herbalists or doctors as they refer to them are the source of all remedies for every disease or ailment. The skills required take many years to learn and are only passed down from generation to generation. It was very interesting as she showed us all the different roots, herbs (like Bushman’s candle herb, animals and their excrements used for making medicines. They passed around these “exotic” meds as we learned of their powers. The Aardwolf is important to them for good luck.

The local children quickly gathered around to great us and to listen to what the healer had to say. At the same stop we had a lesson on the “click” language (see video) and we learned the 4 notes they use which are their “consonants” and very difficult to learn to say.Read more