 What we read was, when you come in here, if you come to the Himba village, as he just explained, a man can give the wife to a friend, my brother, okay, yo, take care of him, sexually. Is that true? Yes. Fu-teh! Yes. Fu-teh! Wise man once said, The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn or learn and relearn. I just want to know what you guys think of the Himba people. On my end, I think there, I don't know much about the Himba people except what I was told, because there's this stigma around them that they are feared, you know, like because of the witchcraft or whatever, who do they take part in. So you never really get a chance to interact with them. It was always like as kids, if you see them in the street and they ask for anything of yours, don't fight them, just give it, or else when you go home, your family member is dead, or stuff like that, so we just fear them like that. Let me understand, who made you believe that the Himba's got witchcraft and all of that? Our parents, its stories most that you hear, like its stories you hear, so, I mean if your parent tells you like something about that, or like, even not like directly your mother, but your neighbours or like, your friends mother told them that and they'll come tell you like, it's a no media, quickly cross, the Himba guy is coming and you're like, why are you scared, no media, these people are gonna like, you know, like juju your family and you know, so it's like just that, we're like, oh, okay. I'm not here to blame them, neither their parents, but colonisation made so many Africans hate their own and I believe it's time to unlearn, re-learn and embrace our own. Look fresh, I think so, welcome to the Himba village, which is 40 kilometres away from Opo, I hope I'm mentioning it right, but hey, do you know the meaning of Opo? Opo means the end from the Hiro language, I mean the people of Himba are definitely Hiroro, so that's the language that they speak. We drove like 750 kilometres away from Vindu just to get here, I mean most of you will be wondering, Maya, why are you doing this kind of videos? I want to tell you that it's time for Africans to take control of their own narratives, it's time for Africans to tell their own stories. You know, I've always wanted to take Africa to the world, but I want to show you the positive aspect of Africa that no one shows you, but I also realise that stories like this are missing. Each time you see stories like this on social media, it's always told by Caucasians, people that don't look like us and I feel like these are our own people and we just have to come in here and live just like them, know the way they live their own life, that is why it's very very important and I'm not here to tell the our story for them, they are going to tell their own story, I'm just here to learn, I'm just here to educate myself and I will use my platform to educate you, so this is what I want you to do for me, like the video, very very important and don't forget to share because this video is going to be very entertaining, informative and also educated. It's so cold man, it feels so warm here man, I must work out for this time. Hi, so it's okay now, yeah? Okay, morrow, morrow, morrow, okay. We are going to sit there at the holy place and then we can talk stories, so everybody will be coming here, all the men will be coming to join us at the holy place, even the boys that will join us at the holy place, so we can sit here, we can sit here. Okay, let me throw one. He's so close to the fire. He's going to move when the fire starts to light up. So in most cases here it's only for men, women don't sit on this stone, so what do women sit on? This holy place, they only sit around the men, so in men here they have to share stories about what happened, what are we going to do, so most of the stories we keep it very secret from women because we believe that women do not have secrets, because they share too much. They share the gospel a lot. Yeah, the gospel is true. Maybe we need to go and we need to go to the place, we need to move from here to move all our animals from here to another village, yeah, but then we have got like temporary two villages, we've got a permanent one and we've got a temporary one, so a permanent one is like this one, yeah this is a permanent one, but a temporary village, we only go there because of the grazing, yeah. Oh, so you've got cattle in here? Yeah, when we have cattle and goats, any type of animals you have you're farming with, but especially the goats, and then we move them to that temporary village and when we have to move them, women are not always friendly with that, they always complain about moving, they don't like to move because they always stay here with the children and things, but when you decide that I'm going to take this and this, so you must keep it secret from them because you don't negotiate with them, you only tell them that we need some girls and maybe they can be who, can gather now, you know, like that, and then they can make a choice, if they are five or six, they can make their own choice to move to goat, which one will go to the temporary village, so and then you always, when you move to that temporary village, you always don't want them to split the news, that's why you keep it secret, because when your boyfriends come in the night, or friends come in the night, they will tell because they talk, women say talk, and then they will say, no, no, no, we hate that our father is going to move to a temporary village, to that area, to maybe to a Chinungua temporary village, and if you mention a Chinungua, then before you move, then the other homestead or the other village will move before you, so and then they will, their animals is going to finish the whole vegetation, so it's always good as a good farmer to be the first one together, yeah, and then you discover all the vegetations and then they eat, I guess this is for the animals, yeah, this is, yeah, we do that for the animals, do you guys worship animals, no, I think it's so important to you people, yeah, animals are important that we use them to our, during our ceremonies, we do now, like in our days, but mostly our animals are important not to sell, but to do lot of our ceremonial activities, like waiting, like different age of the children, the boys, the girls, the boys, mostly they go through circumcision, so we slaughter animals, the girls, they go through different stages when they are, for the first period, for their first time, when they are on period, they, you slaughter animals, when they have to change different hairstyles, you, we slaughter animals, what if your son is getting married, yeah, do women in here need animals or cattle that's dairy or something, yeah, we need, we need three kettles and two sheep when your, when your boy has to get married, is there any lady in here who is willing to get married, he's laughing because he knows that I'm shooting my shot, because, because you know, like two carers, two sheeps, it's not expensive, so definitely I can get a wife here, no, there are a lot, there are a lot single women, I don't know, maybe you have to talk nicely with them, it depends, okay, as the rooster crawls, everyone gets ready to start their daily morning routine, also the men sit and wait as the women prepare our bathroom ready for shower, I mean shower without water, can you believe that, it's all that happens here in the Himba village, everything off, yeah, oh my god, I want to change, as the saying goes, when you go to Rome you do what Romans do, so since I found myself in the Himba village, I need to dress and look like them, and this is what is happening right now before I take my shower with them, the Himbas don't wear pants under their costumes, so I had to remove my boxer shot, it was a funny moment, that's where I've been doing it, guys see, it's gonna be a good day, everybody is coming here now for shower, oh okay, shower together, shower together, oh wow, all of us, this is okra, okra here, and okra is this red stone, it's digged out of the ground, and it's coming in the form of this, I mean it's a stone, and then it's not a very hard rock, it's a very soft one, and then we crush it between stones and to make powder, yeah, and this powder is a one we wash with, yeah, we take bath, and to ask to take bath means to paint ourselves with okra, you don't use water too, we don't use water, this is our material, because I've no shower since morning, you know, because team has to have no shower, now you are going to shower, we are all going to shower, all the men are going to shower now, it's going to be a shower time now, yeah, so they are going to prepare it, all the ladies are coming here for shower as well, oh okay, yes, and what are they sitting on? They are sitting on the gold skin, gold skin? Yeah, on the gold skin, yeah, it must always be gold skin? Yeah, sheep, cow skin, oh yes, wait wait wait, one second, Wendemaya, you don't sit on that skin, on the backside skin, you don't sit, yeah, you have to do it like when you're sitting you have to do it like this yeah look look at me yeah we sit like this oh yeah yeah yeah and this one you have to cover the front okay yeah and then this one touch there yeah this is for this is butter yeah yeah so these people the Himba group or the Himba tribe is a nomadic group so they live from their animals their animals are the only source of living so they have no much influence or they had no influence of modernizations what do they migrate from? they migrate from southern west of Agola when they came in here who are the people that were present in here? they were bushmen which are sand people the bushmen left and gave them the land? they leave a place because of the pressure as they handed the cows of the Himba people and the Himba they were so mad at the bushmen because they were killing cows so they had a little bit of fight then bushmen they were a bit defeated they moved in the south and in the eastern part of the country they remain they settle the over Himba are polygamus with an average of two wives at the same time but oldest man in this village has only one wife he said oh so many years so many years he doesn't know the exact number he doesn't know my my years is one thousand and um he's married right? yes i'm married i'm married how many? one wife it's polygamy allowed in here yes it's allowed even even three three why are you doing my three? he said the other one he said he's unwanted the people of Himba also practice early marriages like if you want a wife you see this one you can marry her you see and then you go through the ceremonial activity and then you have to wait you must be patient to wait but then if you marry her when she's like that okay then the only last fight you have to do now is that you must win her so as we don't do anything with H's but we do things with H's so by this by his H then this is a time as a husband you I you go there and then you you have a chat so she she she gets to know you that ah I was married by this guy and this is the one that shocked me the most we read on the internet like if you're a visitor and come and visit the Himba village they have to give you a virgin like especially oh what come a virgin has to welcome you into the community is that true? okay for the beginning I haven't I haven't understood the rule but it's happened it's not a virgin if you come as in a visitor and you are my friend you got no place to sleep and I have as I have got married to three wives or two wives or maybe one so I can tell my wife that that's my brother or my cousin tonight go prepare a blanket for her for him it's happened no I mean in the house I don't understand how can I say it can I can I go go wrong bro listen like I read it and I couldn't believe it that's why I want you to say it for me you know you can't believe everything that you see on the internet right so that's why I want to know okay let me go wrong what we read was when you come in here if you come to the Himba village like as he just explained a man can give the wife to a friend my brother okay yo take care of him sexually is that true yes man but that's your wife yeah you were alone that's your that's your wife him but him but culture is so different because this is made is make the lady not to start cheating you know I want to know what really influenced the way of life of the people of him because when I came in here I'm not seeing men wearing shirts and I'm not seeing even the women not wearing bra everything is exposed what really influenced that yeah actually us as nomadic people our main source as I said it's animals we get everything from animals we wear skin from animals we get milk from animals we get food from animals we get butter from animals so animals is the whole source of our living yes so even the clothes that everyone is wearing is from an animal yeah yeah yeah so this what they're building a new house yeah they are building actually they are constructing a new roof okay yeah yeah and what are the materials that is used for building the material we use for building is this is actually more pane branches and then after that they they put on the cow dung they on it yeah on on on this on the roof okay yeah they will put the cow dung on the whole house they will put cow dung and then um and this is what they have yeah and this is the material this looks like clay mix with cow dung yeah actually yeah they mix the clay with cow dung with cow dung yes yeah so you can live in the house so that's why you said your whole life is around animal even your house is built with cow dung yeah with cow dung not to go waste in the village so what is he doing so what he's doing now he's cutting those branches okay so those branches we use it as plates for meat plates for meat yeah those are our plates we eat even men sometimes they sit on those branches and then they eat meat wow yeah so that it cannot get the soil you know we don't have plates oh okay yeah that's unique yeah and and our meat is being served in big pieces as well and it's being cooked in big pieces as well yeah yeah why are we doing this so where we're doing this is this is a holy place okay where we're communicating with our ancestral okay so it is always important that you put fresh leaves fresh branch of fresh leaves uh to show life anytime you slaughter a goat yeah a goat or cattle or ship that to put a fresh yeah branch yeah so I can count yeah you guys have been slaughtered one two three okay my one is four what this this gonna be lunch because they will cook it they will cook it for the oh almost like for three hours it will be prepared nice cooked him by way wow yeah yeah they're going to prepare the him by way we don't put salt we don't do anything we only cook until the meat is well nice cooked you don't put salt we don't put salt we don't put pepper what do you put then nothing water only only water yes just watch while the food is on fire and getting ready to be served they all come together to play and this kind of game deserves a lot of energy so now you have to take your plate we sit over there and then we eat okay well same table they used to slaughter the goat you see it's just to protect the things from dusty you know that's what's important can we get water to wash our hands man yeah water is here water is here wash wash no but I wash my hand is the red that is coming out okay oh my goodness you see that the okra is not it's still on my hand okra is healthy man it's healthy are you sure about that yeah yeah and why do I have to wash my hands then no no you just to take off the dusty bit yeah but okra itself is healthy you see when you see when children are sick oh the babies we put okra in water we let them drink and then they are okay in the summer so okra is so this was cooked just with water yeah with water only water only yeah yeah and this is popper yeah that is pop okay yeah i'm gonna taste it i'm gonna tell you guys how it tastes like yeah no just just have a bite come on no pepper bro no salt ah okay okay this is a new thing you just have to get used to it man yeah and that is healthy man pepper baby make you sick and no okay yeah yeah they make you sick but this this one original cooked one is doesn't make you sick you know man on their own man and how often did they eat this food so every day every day this is like a daily meal yeah for the people of him yeah amazing every day so where are we now so we are here at umongunda cave okay yeah is it about it's about singing and dancing that's all that's where the name is coming from because the bass or because of the bass that reflect down from the ground when people are singing and dancing so the dancing make the sound the clapping of the hands and the sounds make the echo so that's what we call if you the whole combination we call it umongunda umongunda yes oh more than 400 years ago because we do have paintings of the bushman as well they existed here before yes for the himba people came yes yes yes and the paintings existing more than 400 years ago most of the rock art and paintings they exist for those years oh okay yeah dancing here yeah okay dance all of them go back to their village this is how it is in the himba village yeah i mean this is such a beautiful experience i'm so glad that i really experienced this and all i want to tell each and every african out there i mean get to know your own people get to know your own people's culture and believe me nothing is beautiful than african culture i'm so glad i came to the himba village say bye bye today bye bye