Namibia’s Himba, distinctive for smearing their bodies with red ochre, say a planned dam that will flood the valleys where they live and their burial grounds also threatens their ancient traditions and lifestyle.
“We survive from the Baynes mountains. It is where we can move our cattle in springtime for grazing, where we get the honey sugar. It is our kitchen,” said Muhapikwa Muniombara.
“If they build the dam, they’ll kill us,” said the 35-year-old, who has traditional necklaces and bracelets adorning her ochre-tinged body.
The largely nomadic Himba also bury their dead in the arid hills around the Kunene River, which forms an oasis in the vast desert and part of Namibia’s northern border with Angola.
Generations of these graves will be flooded by the mooted 1,700-gigawatt hydroelectric dam and the Himba worry their ancestors will be angered and could react badly, causing havoc with their lives.
But moving the graves isn’t an option, Muniombara says, pointing to a dozen burial sites in the mountains surrounding her village of Okapare.
“If they move the graves, the whole spirit is going to die,” Muniombara says. “If they remove the graves, everything will get dry, there won’t be more grazing.”
The new dam will bring electricity and water to villages like Okapare, which has neither, but this does not convince Muniombara.
“We don’t want the water. We don’t want electricity. We have water at the fountains. We want to live naturally,” she says.
The dam, first proposed in the 1990s, was originally meant to have been built farther up the river but it would have swallowed a popular tourist destination — the Epupa Falls, fringed by palm and baobab trees.
So the government decided to move it toward Baynes.
“The dam will not affect the Epupa Falls and is situated in a deep ravine approximately 40km downstream of the falls, with a low population density of Himba,” said Mike Everett of the Environmental Resources Management consultancy that conducted feasibility studies for the dam.
Once Angola and Namibia give the final go-ahead to the project, the dam could take seven years to build, he says.
A group of young Namibians at the Epupa Falls are eager, saying it will help to solve chronic power shortages.
Namibia imports more than half of its electricity from South Africa, but hopes hydropower, new coal plants or even a nuclear plant could boost supplies and feed its money-spinning uranium mines.
“I’m for it because we need energy and it will create jobs. People go to school then they go back to the village looking after their parents’ goats again,” says 28-year-old Ratutji Muhenje.
“The dam will bring development with shops,” he says, in modern garb of jeans, a T-shirt and sunglasses.
But for older Himba, the new roads that will bring in thousands of construction workers to the dam site could also introduce ideas will erode their traditional culture.
In a sparsely populated nation of 2 million people, about 18,000 Himbas live on the Namibian side of the border, with another 9,000 on the Angolan side, according to anthropologist David Crandall.
Their ancestors migrated from the Great Lakes region of central Africa about 200 years ago, and they have survived with their traditions despite wars and droughts.
“Tradition changes. In the old times, we survived on goats and cows but now people can get many things because of the shops,” said Kambo Javara, who says he is the oldest man in Okapare.
With a scarf around his head, signaling that he is a married man, and necklaces over his bare chest, Javara wonders what the future will bring.
“Where am I going to live? Where will my cattle get food?” he said.
“I have no way to say no to the government.”
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
Despite the intense sunshine, we were hardly breaking a sweat as we cruised along the flat, dedicated bike lane, well protected from the heat by a canopy of trees. The electric assist on the bikes likely made a difference, too. Far removed from the bustle and noise of the Taichung traffic, we admired the serene rural scenery, making our way over rivers, alongside rice paddies and through pear orchards. Our route for the day covered two bike paths that connect in Fengyuan District (豐原) and are best done together. The Hou-Feng Bike Path (后豐鐵馬道) runs southward from Houli District (后里) while the
March 31 to April 6 On May 13, 1950, National Taiwan University Hospital otolaryngologist Su You-peng (蘇友鵬) was summoned to the director’s office. He thought someone had complained about him practicing the violin at night, but when he entered the room, he knew something was terribly wrong. He saw several burly men who appeared to be government secret agents, and three other resident doctors: internist Hsu Chiang (許強), dermatologist Hu Pao-chen (胡寶珍) and ophthalmologist Hu Hsin-lin (胡鑫麟). They were handcuffed, herded onto two jeeps and taken to the Secrecy Bureau (保密局) for questioning. Su was still in his doctor’s robes at
Mirror mirror on the wall, what’s the fairest Disney live-action remake of them all? Wait, mirror. Hold on a second. Maybe choosing from the likes of Alice in Wonderland (2010), Mulan (2020) and The Lion King (2019) isn’t such a good idea. Mirror, on second thought, what’s on Netflix? Even the most devoted fans would have to acknowledge that these have not been the most illustrious illustrations of Disney magic. At their best (Pete’s Dragon? Cinderella?) they breathe life into old classics that could use a little updating. At their worst, well, blue Will Smith. Given the rapacious rate of remakes in modern
RSS