Aids threatens Namibian tribe's traditions

Married young women often have several lovers

As a major international conference gets under way in Kenya, BBC News Online looks at the impact the Aids/HIV virus is having on one isolated community in Namibia.

The Himba people have over the years jealously guarded their customs and traditions, but these same cherished values now threaten to wipe them out.

Customs such as polygamy and overdependence on cattle as a pillar around which all economic activity revolves are making the Himba particularly vulnerable to HIV/Aids.

The Himba culture also encourages older men who are rich in cattle to monopolise the women - many of the men marry several young girls whose offspring help in the important task of raising cattle.

This culture - apart from ensuring that girls marry at a very early age - seems to punch holes in the lives of the young newly-weds.

"I have three boyfriends, in addition to my husband," admits a young Himba woman named Tjingee.

"When a woman has only her husband, other women will tease her saying she is useless for only having one man," Tjingee says.

Home Away

Himba women often reside at distant cattle posts where grazing is good while the husband remains in the homestead.

"This gives them an opportunity to have these extramarital relations," says Charles Varije, a Red Cross volunteer helping the Himba to protect themselves from HIV/Aids.

The Himba people have some difficult decisions to make

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The Himba culture also allows loose sex - an old uncle will readily offer one of his many wives to a nephew during visits.

This has contributed to the spread of HIV/Aids among the Himba - who lead a pastoralist life in north-western Namibia.

The Himba, who are estimated to number 46,000, have also in recent times been ignoring some of their age-old customs and traditions by intermarrying.

"The Himba have begun to intermarry with the Zemba and the Herero....by marrying out of their tribe they have exposed themselves to HIV/Aids," says Mr Verije, adding that last year seven cases of HIV/Aids were reported in the area.

Challenges

The main challenge facing the volunteers is how to convince the Himba to change a way of life that they have stubbornly held onto for so long.

The Red Cross is teaching the Himba about HIV/Aids and reproductive health

"Some will listen and live, others will not and will die," says volunteer Moms Mutambo, himself a Himba.

But even if some Himba grasp the catastrophic implications of HIV/Aids in their community, the daunting task will be to convince them about the urgency of the problem.

"A disease that can kill you in a decade does not concern the older men of our community," says Mr Mutambo.

To be able to curb the spread of the HIV/Aids pandemic the Himba people will have some difficulty choices to make - but in the end they will no doubt be forced to discard some of their cherished cultural practices and traditions.