More Sinful to Receive

by Kunle Falade (Nigeria)

A leap into the unknown Namibia

Supporting someone with a gift is an expression of how much he/she means to you. An action that typifies how important the gift receiver is. It becomes more special when supporting the course of mission work with a gift, an act which I have always treasured each time I join my team to the mission field. Being the son of a one-time National Pastor of a renowned church in Nigeria with a branch in Namibia and presence in over 70 countries in the world, I was by providence a member of the youth wing of the church’s missionary activity, and I was involved in a number of visits to various rural areas of Namibia. Our journey of many hours to the great Land of the ‘‘generous’’ people of Himba started with an air trip and experience of the most fascinating walk. The trip which involved boat trip via the Kunene River with lots of birds and crocodile sightseeing landed us in a former Kaokaland which is at the heart of a country occupied by the people of Himba, an exceptional tribe made up of pastoralists whose dynamic way of life and tradition have survived a great history of famine and defied war and modernization. The beautiful dunes of the very Susuvlei desert land stretching from the Skeleton Coast to the arid landscape. I was taken aback on reaching the Himba people of Namibia with a reconsideration of the Holy Book that says ‘’It is more blessed to give than to receive’’. When a missionary is given a gift on the mission field, he feels appreciated but, in this case, great was the irritation. At Himba, it is safe to conclude that ‘it is sinful to give and more sinful to receive’. Receiving the ‘’special’’ gift of the Himba people in Namibia was an exception to Acts 20:5 whose culture is laden with lots of twists which a good number of right-thinking people will frown at. The Himba people are mostly referred to as the Ovahimba people in the region of Kunene, Namibia with lots of strange practices going on. The strange thing about the culture of the Himba people on one of our missionary visits was their giving of sex for free to any guest. Strange still, they refuse to accept civilization, believing offering strangers sex is the best gift to offer. From our little interaction, the Himba people are known to be wary of external contacts as the tribes live in isolation, though friendly but refused to buy into our religious beliefs. The women are majorly involved in firewood gathering, sourcing for freshwater, cooking and serving of meals. The men, on the other hand, are mostly livestock breeders and farmers. Despite their religious and social inclination towards worshipping an ancient god, they do not allow any interference of any kind in their culture. It is noteworthy to mention that, the people of Himba are not left out in the practice of polygamy that is generally practiced in most parts of the Africa continent as the majority of their young girls are married off at a very early age with both male and female given the privilege of marrying more than one spouse as long as there is mutual agreement among the parties involved. We were reliably informed that due to the very extreme/harsh environmental and climatic conditions of the Himba people, the people of Himba don’t take their bath. Don’t be taken aback, they still look fresh as lack of usual routine bathing doesn’t make them look less good. Since it became a serious difficulty taking their bath, they mostly make use of the red ochre on their skins while adopting a daily smoke bath in order to ensure that their basic hygiene is maintained. Talking about dressing, their traditional attires always have their way of looking good on them. Though, a number of their women do expose some parts of their body. Despite all the strange cultures of the Himba, I must confess that our trip to the unknown was rewarding, giving us the privilege to appreciate the big opportunity and modern culture we are enjoying in our own part of the world.